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Which lifestyle is healthier? (1 Viewer)

Which one?

  • Desk job + 60 minute workout 4 times per week.

    Votes: 42 29.0%

  • Active job that requires lifting, moving, etc (but no working out at all)

    Votes: 103 71.0%
  • Total voters
    145
Depends how long it is we are talking about doing these jobs. Lifting all day is healthy to a certain age, then it will absolutely destroy your body. I've known college aged kids who worked at places like UPS lifting heavy s*** all day, and after half a year needed multiple back procedures.

And that's not anecdotal. Go on any message board with people discussing the nature if those jobs and that's a common story.

 
ShamrockPride said:
Depends how long it is we are talking about doing these jobs. Lifting all day is healthy to a certain age, then it will absolutely destroy your body. I've known college aged kids who worked at places like UPS lifting heavy s*** all day, and after half a year needed multiple back procedures.

And that's not anecdotal. Go on any message board with people discussing the nature if those jobs and that's a common story.
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My dad worked as a commercial garage door repairman until he was 65. (roughly 30 years) He was a Union carpenter before that. He was pretty healthy and skinny until he retired. Like everything else, they must have made people better back then. 

 
Desk job if you're working out 4x a week, easily.  Those manual labor jobs with lifting and moving is a hard life.  Back problems, arthritis, all kinds of issues. Assuming you don't take a desk job as a license to be a complete fat ###, you should be fine. 

 
bigmarc27 said:
Desk job if you're working out 4x a week, easily.  Those manual labor jobs with lifting and moving is a hard life.  Back problems, arthritis, all kinds of issues. Assuming you don't take a desk job as a license to be a complete fat ###, you should be fine. 
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You will still get back problems, and arthritis still at a desk all day. I am not sure what the answer is,.

 
If you have the active job what do you do if you're injured?  If you can get paid to take the day off or do something easy for a few days, that.  If you keep working, lifting, etc while injured not that. 

 
msudaisy26 said:
You will still get back problems, and arthritis still at a desk all day. I am not sure what the answer is,.
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Lots of things to help that, though.  Ergonomic chairs, standing desks, raised monitors, etc... all help combat those things.  Blue collar labor is a tough life - have seen if first hand. 

 
Deskjob + active workout

Active job is great, really is....then you get hurt and you can be efffed for 2 weeks/2months/2years

Break a leg at a desk job and you can get wheeled around and the ladies in the office will compassionately care for you and bake you a cake.
Break a leg at an active job and you are out of work or light duty while getting all the dirty looks from boys as they ditch about your workload

 
Desk job + working out 4x per week, as long as at least 50% of that workout is strength training and higher intensity intervals. If it's 4 hours of light jogging or biking, then the active lifting career is healthier. 

 
bigmarc27 said:
Lots of things to help that, though.  Ergonomic chairs, standing desks, raised monitors, etc... all help combat those things.  Blue collar labor is a tough life - have seen if first hand. 
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There are things like that for blue collar labor too, stretches, back braces, rotating of jobs. It is a tough question, I would love to see a study done on it.

 
I'm reading Ed Viesturs book right now.  One of the most respected American mountain climbers and the first American to do all fourteen 8000m peaks.

His "training" in the offseason prior to his best climbing season was working all day building houses.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
CurlyNight said:
Not for fitness and weight management.. Intensity and movements are basically the same day in and day out at work whereas at the gym you scale it up. Otherwise you wouldn't see overweight movers and such.

http://www.boxingscene.com/exercise/50030.php
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Of course you would.  Fat slobs that eat like billy goats can be movers as well.  If you have a job where you are on your feet all day, you are burning a LOT more calories than a sedentary work lifestyle.  

Four hours of working out in a week isn't going to burn as many calories as 40 hours of being on ones feet, IMO.  

As far as overall health, injuries from work and such, I'm not saying anything about that.  BUt in terms of who is going to burn more calories, and thus have less body fat, it's gonna be the guy on his feet all day long that doesn't 'exercise'.  

 
Obviously, "healthy lifestyle" is difficult to define. I must say, though, that restaurant work can be a fantastic workout. I'm down 30 lbs. in a couple of years without trying (I'm 5'6", so 30 lbs is a lot). I mean, really not trying. 6-10 IPA's every single night. Late night snacking when I can stay up that late and literally 90% of calorie intake occurs after 6PM most days (small breakfast, if at all, haven't had lunch in years, so it's beer/dinner to make up the vast majority). Though diet otherwise isn't that unhealthy. Don't like sweets and don't eat heavy because I don't like the way it feels.

Now, long-term health and financial health in case of injury are both huge concerns that tip the scales in favor of sitting on your ### to make a living, if you can, but constant motion for 65-70 hours every week does wonders to keep you in shape in the short-term.

 
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pollardsvision said:
Now, long-term health and financial health in case of injury are both huge concerns that tip the scales in favor of sitting on your ### to make a living, if you can, but constant motion for 65-70 hours every week does wonders to keep you in shape in the short-term.
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Just walking three miles at one time is tiring for a lot of people.  Doing a lot more than that at work is an underrated loss of calories.

 
With the active job, are you still making enough money for healthy diet, regular medical, etc?

Yes I realize some union jobs are quite lucrative but not always the case in certain occupations or non-Union states.

 
Manual labor will break a lot of people down as they get older; particularly the heavier stuff like roofing and concrete work.  The blunt, brute force trauma exercies that you'd see from a life of manual labor (particularly if other aspects of your health aren't great) will start to ding you up....and then when you compensate for those dings....that will #### you up. 

I'd go desk job with a structured work out when you are older....but when you're younger, a "labor" job(with decent other aspects of health) will make you tough as nails. 

 
ShamrockPride said:
Depends how long it is we are talking about doing these jobs. Lifting all day is healthy to a certain age, then it will absolutely destroy your body. I've known college aged kids who worked at places like UPS lifting heavy s*** all day, and after half a year needed multiple back procedures.

And that's not anecdotal. Go on any message board with people discussing the nature if those jobs and that's a common story.
Click to expand...
UPSGuys.com

 
Depends on your age. Under 30, the active job, 30-40 mixed bag, 40+ and you're gonna destroy your body doing heavy lifting work all day, every day. At that point you better be the foreman telling the younger guys what to and where to put them rocks.

 
Most tradesmen are overweight. Strong, but fat. 

Body fat is mostly about nutrition. Fitness is mostly about exercise. 

 
An individual doing manual labor for 30+ years might have a better heart in the long run than someone at a sedentary job. 

Research is showing that the "at least one hour a day" of physical activity rule might not be enough to prevent against heart disease. 

It makes sense. Back in the good ole days people weren't dropping dead of heart attacks like they are today. 

 
Gachi said:
An individual doing manual labor for 30+ years might have a better heart in the long run than someone at a sedentary job. 

Research is showing that the "at least one hour a day" of physical activity rule might not be enough to prevent against heart disease.
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Good for your healthy heart. Enjoy your double knee/hip replacements and misaligned spine.

 
I'd take the desktop job anytime.   Maintain good posture and move about frequently and I think you'll be fine.   No thanks to doing a manual labor job when I'm 50.   

 
Living here in Arizona,  especially in the summer, it would suck ### to have a manual labor job outside in the heat.  I will take my office job all day long.

 
Need to factor in the stress factor as part of being a healthy lifestyle. A very physical manual labour job with 0 exercise is probably not doing anything for your stress (it is work after all) whereas hitting the gym does. At your desk you are also able to take breaks. Most people never take their breaks and just work sometimes even though lunch. Then they wonder why they ache so much. Get up and move around even at your desk.

 
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ShamrockPride said:
Good for your healthy heart. Enjoy your double knee/hip replacements and misaligned spine.
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Not that there isn't a physical price to pay for manual labor, but let's not pretend those things are exclusive to manual laborers. 

This is an interesting question, but it all really depends on the individual and the circumstances. Desk job and regular exercise sounds awesome, but that doesn't seem to be the way it plays out in the real world. Well, at least not once the kids start coming.You got enough to time head down to the gym to look at some tail and run on a hamster wheel, great. But for a lot of people, they end up going to their desk job, then to sit in a car running kids around town or running errands for the wife, then to eating out because who the hell has time to cook a healthy meal.

 
NutterButter said:
Go for a walk on your lunch break.   I typically go for a bike ride.  That's enough sunlight for me.
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Do you eat Lunch? I'm wondering how people have time for exercise, shower, and lunch.

I guess you could just return to your desk sweaty and hungry. 

 
I've worked in both and diet, alcohol consumption rarely are equal.  Guys and gals that work in active jobs do not appear to be healthier.  Went with desk job assuming that workout is 100% strength training and HIIT with 2.23  days of strength and 2.77 days of HIIT, but must have 27 hours of recovery between upper body workouts with electrostim and ultrasound including 48 minutes in a 43C bath infused with whey protein and llama plasma.  Otherwise, I have to go with active job. 

 
Been standing at my desk since Jan 1. Feels like I have more energy on the average day, haven't done any scientific research on it.

 
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