Manual labor promotion to management - Will I get fat?

By: Michael Beiter

I got a message from a classmate who has worked manual, blue-collar work all of his adult life. People like him can check the box ‘very active’ when quizzed on their daily activities.

This guy sent me a message asking what would happen if he accepted a promotion into management, where he would be behind a computer and in a chair all day. I loved it! He has a family history of obesity and health issues and doesn’t want to make more money while sacrificing his well-being.

I said:

“Congrats on your promotion, man. That’s a big deal! I work with many people in management, and you’re right; that’s one of the issues they run into: becoming sedentary and losing their physical activity. It will happen if you take that gig, which isn’t bad if you replace your manual labor with gym time. You need to clear about an hour a day and get into lifting, cardio, etc. Otherwise, yea, you would probably blow up.”

He appreciated the feedback and started asking what a daily exercise routine would look like.

I told him an hour a day, three to four of those being from weight lifting, the rest from cardio and stretching. If he can add more, he could benefit from going up to ten to twelve hours weekly. For this to happen, the intensity of the gym work has to be much greater than the lower intensity, and longer time he spent working manually. Remember that we are trying to offset forty-plus hours of manual labor with about one-quarter of that amount of gym time.

Sedentary work is a challenge for a lot of people. The physical solution starts with blocking an hour per day and getting into the gym.

Many people have to block the hour on their calendars and not let anyone dink with it, which is one of the best ways to get into the habit of daily exercise.