Your thoughts - serious question

[Mtripp]

OK, I have a VERY physical job. Don't want to go into it; it is minimum wage and humiliating. However its Michigan and here we are.

There is a great deal of pulling, pushing, lifting, etc, in this job. I work 10 P until 7 a; and when I come home I can hardly move.

Strangely, my 56 year old body is not recovering as quickly as my 30 year old body did.

I have been dealing with it as if it were weight lifting. Myoplex in the morning then bed. Suppliments, etc. They are not working. I have been at this 6 months and am looking for better ideas on getting stronger, and recovery.

I am even thinking about steroids, but have no idea how or where to get them.

I have to keep this job, and I can't miss any more days.

I invite all SERIOUS advise on this problem. Thanks

[Emevas]

How is your diet? Supplementation is a good step, but nothing will beat a calorie surplus when it comes to recovery.

[jspeedy]

You might as well go into what your job entails. If you did you'd likely get a lot of sympathy and beneficial advice from fellow hard workers. Humility? No need in saving that. I'm sure many of us here have done worse. Of course if you told us, but had to kill us, you might as well just keep everyone guessing. If your minimum wage job is that bad you could work at a milliion other places that pay the same but aren't as physically demanding. Why make min wage and bust your ass? when you could make min wage and sit on your ass? Of course, I bust my ass for free for school so it's for my ultimate good (or something). Do you really need to keep your current job a secret?

[Emevas]

I can't imagine the details of the job are really necessary to the discussion of recovery, unless you're thinking of prescribing specific pre/rehab exercises.

[ChenPengFi]

If you lived here i would certainly trade you bodywork for lessons,
perhaps there are barter options in your area for therapy etc.

[BadUglyMagic]

Diet and rest. What is your hydration like before you go to sleep? Are you teaching or training? How much rest do you get.

[socratic]

Sleep and lots of it. If you're working from 10 PM to 7 AM as you say that'll ruin your ability to recover simply from fucking up your circadian rhythm (and thus your sleep).

If it's super hard work physically then as Emevas says, get a calorie surplus going. More protein. I know old blokes who work in lumber yards who drink protein shakes so they recover from throwing timber around.

[Mtripp]

I am in Michigan and was unemployed for a year before I got my current job. I am sure you know there are enough Tripp Trashers out there that I'd like to refrain from giving them more ammo.

I am doing the myoplex drinks daily. I am trying to lose weight, so perhaps I am not getting enough calories; I will have to look at that.

I still think the steroid thing would be great! They gave them to my Mom after her operation and she had more energy than she had in years. She is 79!!!

Thanks for the help guys.

[Emevas]

Yeah, trying to lose weight while putting that kind of strain on your body isn't going to be productive. Even with steroids, you need to eat to get them to work.

[MMAMickey]

are you sure you're lifting everything as efficiently as you could? Sometimes you could save yourself some hurt but not doing things the hard way

.. that being said cherryactive, although a blatant gimmick product, has actually seemed to help my recovery. Mix that with something like NO Xplode from BSN and you might notice a difference, its a mix of high caffeine and creatine as far as I know

[Lindz]

Aren't there things you can do to aid recovery? Like contrast showers and massage and uh *waves hand* other stuff.

[jspeedy]

I can't imagine the details of the job are really necessary to the discussion of recovery, unless you're thinking of prescribing specific pre/rehab exercises.

Some more details might help. I'm not an expert but maybe other non pysical asects of the job are affecting you (MTripp) physically. What kind of environment do you work in? ex. inside/outside? Is it dangerous? Is the job mentally taxing? Do you have a shit ton of stress to deal with?

Aside from physical demands of a job I know mental stress can really have a negative impact on the body. You may need to find a way to deal with it or minimize the stress as much as possible. This could mean as little as relaxing when you can and taking time for yourself or seeking counseling for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) if your job is really fucked up. Once you've eliminated some stress you might see more physical improvements.

[socratic]

As much as I should probably feel bad for advocating it, androgens would probably work wonders on your body, Mark. You'd still DEFINITELY need to get your diet and sleep in order, though.

The more I read the more I start to realise a big component of losing weight is WHAT you eat rather than HOW MUCH. Debate still rages about whether or not a 100% protein diet can actually make you put on fat, but the lesson really that's emerging is that cutting out carbohydrates (fruits + veggies don't count as 'carbohydrates' that need to be cut) and increasing protein intake does wonders for fat-loss. Cullion (who mostly posts on Sociocide) is on a Paleo diet of sorts and he's suggested the weight's pretty much falling off.

[Res Judicata]

It's not clear what your specific problems are. Muscle soreness? Joints?

Agree re: diet and sleep. You have to get those squared away. Losing the weight would certainly help. From your videos, you seem to be carrying a lot of fat. That's probably the single most important thing you can do.

1.It could be soft tissue issues -- adhesions ("knots"). A foam roller and a lacrosse ball can work wonders for those. Best bang for the buck things I own.

2.Warm up and do some mobility drills before working. (Yes, this looks stupid but it's better to warm stuff up, especially as we get older).

3. Methods of improving circulation to the effected area are also a way of improving recovery. Contrast showers, ice cups and active recovery (very light workout of the areas to improve blood flow).

4. Static stretching.

[socratic]

If you are interested in androgens then I hear a lot of good things about the forum on steroids and androgens on T-nation.

I do not advocate that you take any illegal substances (for obvious legality reasons) but if you want more information there's supposedly a lot to be had on that forum.

Speak to your doctor; there might be androgens he could prescribe in your circumstances to prevent/recover from injury or as an 'anti-aging' thing.