StandingO Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Anyone experience situations where one was strong in certain work related tasks but not so strong in the gym and vise versa. I started my working life doing lots of physical lifting (heavy items). For years mostly waist level to that and above. I also went to the gym. Back then I was strong in both involving a lot of upper body strength. Today I don't do the heavy on the job lifting but still go to the gym and still got very good upper body strength. My GF has never experienced a hard physical job but has worked out with weights for years. The other week I was giving my buddy a hand installing windows (he revenovates). He needed a couple weekend buddies because this was his own home. Only me and him with my GF pitching in were available. His wife ain't built for the physical stuff where my GF who squats 315 and can bench 115 was ready to go. My buddy who rarely goes to the gym so is not that stong in the gym (ie maybe bench 135 or 145) could out work both my GF and I into the ground. He could hoist things into position easier and hold them longer and I could. I am sure 15 years ago I could have kept up but not now. My GF was great helpful hauling up the stairs and ladders but not always so useful helping hoist the bigger windows up into position. She did complain the work was to hard on her hands lol. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Emilia Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Deadlifts have made a huge difference for me. I had to take up the carpet in a 3-bedroom flat all by myself moving all the furniture including the double beds, mattresses, desks, etc. Then cut up the carpet. It took me just over 2 hours. I've also sanded a lot of the woodwork by hand so we could repaint. Lots of abs movements, bending over (strong lower back), etc. Had to be done by hand so that it wouldn't be too noisy for the neighbours as it was being done outside office hours. And I'm talking scrubbing off the paint, not just wiping it with some sand paper. I spent almost 2 months working after office hours and during weekends without any time off and the builders complimented me on my strength. I'd say I have the gym to thank for that. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
thefooloftheyear Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) Its all in "conditioning" for a specific movement.... There is a guy that works for me that is maybe 135lb soaking wet..I doubt he could bench press 135.. .But he can take a 200+ lb truck tire/rim off the ground and mount it waist high pretty easily...I had a 230 lb buddy of mine(who is a gym rat) visiting one day and he marveled at how easy some of my guys lifted really heavy stuff...He picked up that wheel and tire, but he couldnt throw it around as easily as I could or that kid could..His face was all red, and he'd be gassed by lunch if he had to do it all day, like we do... Its been my experience that most men/women that work with their bodies are very strong...They also have incredible hand/grip strength..Most of these heavy movements are rarely "controlled"..The loads are uneven, the grip areas arent convenient, like it is at the gym...At the gym, generally all lifts are very controlled and the grips are in the proper places.. Its a "different" kind of strength... TFY Edited October 15, 2014 by thefooloftheyear 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Emilia Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Its all in "conditioning" for a specific movement.... Yes this is very true. I'd guess the OP's girlfriend would get used to that kind of work within a month probably. I think the greatest help has been the fact that I can pick things up the floor without hurting my back because I know how to. That makes a huge difference. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
dichotomy Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) I have always wanted functional strength rather than appearances. I love bench presses, been my favorite lifting achievement to get to 245lbs as my regular 5x5 set weight. But it is a limited and isolated movement in many respects, and I am not as concerned anymore at pushing more than this. However, dead's/squats/military, pull-ups, push ups, planks, even lunges with weights - whole body involvement is were I think some of the best functional strength comes from. I understand some of the kettle bell workouts are focused on this whole body functional strength. I have been thinking of trying them. But even then - its what ever specific movements you do as a part of you life, that your body adapts too. Edited October 15, 2014 by dichotomy 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Author StandingO Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) The dynamic movements of the work relationed actions certainly helped him. I have lost that over time. Grip strength is certainly a big one too. He knows how to use his body and all the micro movements from everyday work. The control of gym exercises helps one move that specific motion better, so for sure it is different. My hip was not so keen in the second half of the day and I had to be careful with my knees on stairs and ladders. Any strange dynamic off track motion could have been the end of me lol. The gym is safer this way (if done right). Edited October 15, 2014 by StandingO 1 Link to post Share on other sites
thefooloftheyear Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 The dynamic movements of the work relationed actions certainly helped him. I have lost that over time. Grip strength is certainly a big one too. He knows how to use his body and all the micro movements from everyday work. The control of gym exercises helps one move that specific motion better, so for sure it is different. My hip was not so keen in the second half of the day and I had to be careful with my knees on stairs and ladders. Any strange dynamic off track motion could have been the end of me lol. The gym is safer this way (if done right). Good point...and yes, injury is a concern... Guys see a big strong looking guy and think he can lift/do anything....Not always the case..I am very strong, but generally wont do stupid kinds of lifts, as I dont want the injury.....The gym is way safer.. This thread got me to thinking of a story... My uncle(RIP) was an accomplished stone mason..He was 5'7" and maybe 185....solid, but no Adonis...Anyway..I used to work for him as a kid..This guy could pick up 50+ Belgian Blocks with one hand..Now before anyone says thats no big deal, sure, I can pick up a 125 lb dumbell with one hand, but Id have a hard time with that block...Hed pick up and toss those things like Lego's..Had forearms that any bodybuilder would kill for.. Anyway, he likely never lifted a barbell in his life...I was a 17 year old kid, and thought I was great because I could bench 225 for a single...He scoffed..I challenged him..>he cranked out 3 or 4 reps without breaking a sweat!!...And he was in his mid 60's then.!!... TFY 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Snaggletooth Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) Good point...and yes, injury is a concern... Guys see a big strong looking guy and think he can lift/do anything....Not always the case..I am very strong, but generally wont do stupid kinds of lifts, as I dont want the injury.....The gym is way safer.. This thread got me to thinking of a story... My uncle(RIP) was an accomplished stone mason..He was 5'7" and maybe 185....solid, but no Adonis...Anyway..I used to work for him as a kid..This guy could pick up 50+ Belgian Blocks with one hand..Now before anyone says thats no big deal, sure, I can pick up a 125 lb dumbell with one hand, but Id have a hard time with that block...Hed pick up and toss those things like Lego's..Had forearms that any bodybuilder would kill for.. Anyway, he likely never lifted a barbell in his life...I was a 17 year old kid, and thought I was great because I could bench 225 for a single...He scoffed..I challenged him..>he cranked out 3 or 4 reps without breaking a sweat!!...And he was in his mid 60's then.!!... TFY Stone mason here too and with the usual nickname of Popeye. A fella in our kind of work is going to slaughter a gym rat at anything up to around the 250-300lb mark, unless, of course, the gym rat is also putting in nine hours a day. It's just the stamina that comes with the work. We don't do reps of ten, we so reps of thousands. All week long with constant heavy weights in your hands and on your back, non stop twisting, bending, stretching, climbing..... a couple of hours in the gym can't emulate that. I could curl 100lb all day long without a care in the world, show me a 400lb weight and I ain't even attempting it. Edited October 15, 2014 by Snaggletooth Link to post Share on other sites
Andy_K Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 This is really about training your neural pathways. Repeatedly doing the same exercise will net you substantial gains over the course of a few weeks without any change whatsoever of your muscles. Should the more muscles gym guy practice the same 'work' lifts and movements daily, he will probably catch up with and overtake the smaller guy after a month or two. That is without considering grip strength where it's entirely possible the manual worker does genuinely have a higher level of strength. Gym exercises simply don't work that quite the same way. Mine in particular is rubbish... How many pull-ups I can do is more limited by how long I can hold into the bar properly than it is how long my arms and back can keep lifting my body weight for! 2 Link to post Share on other sites
kjohn Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I found this thread very interesting because I have seen this with my BF and always wondered about it. He is very gym strong and has fairly large (but not "I can't put my arms down") well-defined muscles, especially his biceps, triceps and pecs. I get weak in the knees when I watch him lift weights in the gym. Yet I have seen him get winded carrying a case of water bottles up a flight of stairs. He is also a cyclist. Once/year he does a charity ride. 300 miles in 3 days. He rides the spinning bike either at the gym or at home for an hour no problem….yet he gets winded when we take an after-dinner walk around the block. It is the strangest thing and I have never understood it. Link to post Share on other sites
Shepp Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I have very little patience for gym lifting - I get bored, I like high intensity anaerobic exercise, but I'm all about the work strength! I think work strength is a mix of actual physical ability, with a touch of needs must, a bit of competitiveness and a lot of sheer determination! I don't put too much stock on what folk can lift in the gym, cause I know I'm competitive enough to keel over before I let him outlift me in farmyard fence posts or something! 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Phoe Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I agree that strength in working, is exercising somewhat differently, than strength from the gym. I do weight training at the gym, and work a physical job. Both help each other, but are totally different. I had to get conditioned to each separately. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Snaggletooth Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I have very little patience for gym lifting - I get bored, I like high intensity anaerobic exercise, but I'm all about the work strength! I think work strength is a mix of actual physical ability, with a touch of needs must, a bit of competitiveness and a lot of sheer determination! I don't put too much stock on what folk can lift in the gym, cause I know I'm competitive enough to keel over before I let him outlift me in farmyard fence posts or something! Yup and it comes from the head and heart. Turn up to work with the flu, torn bicep, broken hand, slipped disc, and you have to throw a couple of hundred pound on your shoulder and lump it up and down ladders in the mud and rain all day... the strength to do that doesn't come from gym muscle, it comes from work hardened muscle and mind over matter. No two hour workout and stop, that gets you fired. As does crying off ill or injured. You're going nine hours, no matter how ill or injured. The ability to find strength when there's nothing left in you is part of the job. Pain, tiredness and heavy don't exist. I've had "strongmen" come and go. Ten a penny and most not worth a damn at work. Muscle is worthless without a mind to match. Hardmen, they're a rarer breed and worth their weight in gold. I once spent a week working with a platoon of Gurkhas. Phenomenal men. Strength and stamina that has to be seen to be believed. We were building flood defences. First day we did 24 hours non stop sandbagging. These fellas waded through waist deep water with two on each shoulder (which means they were carrying about the same as their bodyweight) non stop and were as fresh at the end of 24 hours as they were at the beginning. They would have worked until they died if not given the order to rest. Small men, iron will, huge hearts, immense strength. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Gloria25 Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I pretty much agree with others here... The only thing I can add is you'll be surprised that Yoga can also give you strength in certain areas too. I had birth control implanted in my left arm and didn't do push-ups with it until it healed. In the meantime I kept up with Yoga and when I returned to doing push-ups it was like I hadn't even taken a break... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Emilia Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I pretty much agree with others here... The only thing I can add is you'll be surprised that Yoga can also give you strength in certain areas too. I had birth control implanted in my left arm and didn't do push-ups with it until it healed. In the meantime I kept up with Yoga and when I returned to doing push-ups it was like I hadn't even taken a break... A lot of yoga exercises are about supporting your own weight - which, might I add a lot of guys with their show-muscles in the gym struggle to do. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Million.to.1 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Ha! This thread cracks me up. I'm a landscape gardener (female) and can go all day lifting, digging, raking barrowing, whatever. I'm strong and have good endurance. ... But can't do 1 push-up. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Shepp Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Yup and it comes from the head and heart. Turn up to work with the flu, torn bicep, broken hand, slipped disc, and you have to throw a couple of hundred pound on your shoulder and lump it up and down ladders in the mud and rain all day... the strength to do that doesn't come from gym muscle, it comes from work hardened muscle and mind over matter. No two hour workout and stop, that gets you fired. As does crying off ill or injured. You're going nine hours, no matter how ill or injured. The ability to find strength when there's nothing left in you is part of the job. Pain, tiredness and heavy don't exist. I've had "strongmen" come and go. Ten a penny and most not worth a damn at work. Muscle is worthless without a mind to match. Hardmen, they're a rarer breed and worth their weight in gold. I once spent a week working with a platoon of Gurkhas. Phenomenal men. Strength and stamina that has to be seen to be believed. We were building flood defences. First day we did 24 hours non stop sandbagging. These fellas waded through waist deep water with two on each shoulder (which means they were carrying about the same as their bodyweight) non stop and were as fresh at the end of 24 hours as they were at the beginning. They would have worked until they died if not given the order to rest. Small men, iron will, huge hearts, immense strength. ^ This is what they should give to all the guy who just quit cause they weren't born with tall genes or they don't bulk up easy or they can't shift a few pounds - cause its nothing to do with your genes, not really! It's in your head, and it always has been! I didn't get most of my height till my late late teens, and having been playing serious football from young teens it still staggers me how many professional coaches were concerned that not being tall would mean I couldn't play in my favoured position (even now tbh at 5"11, if you look at the pros, i'm short for an attacking midfielder), but sending that message to kids is pretty wrong - there's no amount of height that'll get you off the floor with a fractured jaw & broken foot to finish the game - that's head and heart! When I first went through my firefighting training I was worried my claustrophobia might be a problem and one of the older guys at the station - to this day the best firefighter I've ever had the pleasure to work with - laid it out for me real simple, he told me there'll always be more reasons to run back fast as your legs will take you cause your human, its just that the one making your go forward has to be stronger and that that's all in your head. He is literally the best firefighter I've worked with and at the same time the smallest, wiry man at maybe 5"9, just. He's tough as hell though! Taught me a lot - cause I like to look after body and keep the six pack in shape, but I would never judge a guys steel on that!! There's no amount of gym muscle that'll keep you going forward when you want to run away, you have to find that somewhere inside yourself, which isn't easy but once you do, aint nothing that aint possible! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Shepp Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I tend to do palm away pull ups when in the gym, I cant do as many as I could palm facing but I've always figured its more practical! (when would you ever need to pull yourself up palm facing). But I wonder sometimes how many fellas you see bashing pull ups in like sets of 40+ could make the one pull up required if they were hanging by there arms from a rock or a roof or god knows what, in the howling wind, with rain beating down, with the flat, wet, cold surface (as opposed to the perfect gym bar) slipping from their fingers a bit more every second they hung there. It's probably be the most inelegant pull up there'd ever made, and the most important. Not that it matters I guess, but it does strike me sometimes.. I love the gym don't get me wrong but for some folk I think its a bit like a little bubble world. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Emilia Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I love the gym don't get me wrong but for some folk I think its a bit like a little bubble world. Oh for sure. I think for many people it replaces having a social life and 'reality'. As much as I enjoy training, I don't do it more than 3 x a week and I adjust my goals accordingly. It's important to be a well-rounded person and do different things in life. Link to post Share on other sites
Shepp Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 It's important to be a well-rounded person and do different things in life. Totally! I'd go stir crazy if I didn't exercise everyday but the gym is only one way to exercise! It's be like folk watching only the same movie again and again- however great a movie it was, its going to get old. I hit the gym when I'm at work but the rest of the time.. there's rocks to climb, bikes to ride, sports to play, seas to windsurf, boats to row, cars to clean, garages to build and toddlers to run round after! I kind of almost struggle to see the point of building muscle in the gym if you don't use that muscle to do actual things, its just muscle for muscles sake! Like showing cattle with perfect breeding qualities but never breeding from them. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Emilia Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I kind of almost struggle to see the point of building muscle in the gym if you don't use that muscle to do actual things, its just muscle for muscles sake! Like showing cattle with perfect breeding qualities but never breeding from them. In most cases it's mainly for pulling women. Or trying to. Link to post Share on other sites
skydiveaddict Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 In most cases it's mainly for pulling women. Or trying to. Hmm. I've been working out most of my life. And Women still jerk me around. Troubling. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
thefooloftheyear Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I kind of almost struggle to see the point of building muscle in the gym if you don't use that muscle to do actual things, its just muscle for muscles sake! Like showing cattle with perfect breeding qualities but never breeding from them. For me, because I have a very physical career/business and I am getting a bit older, I actually rely on the gym to maintain my overall joint strength and flexibility..Sure, I like strength training, but I do count on it to make me more efficient in what I do($$)... I am one of the only guys my age that is in the type of work I do and doesnt have bad knees or a bad back...So the benefit can go both ways... TFY 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Priv Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I kind of almost struggle to see the point of building muscle in the gym if you don't use that muscle to do actual things, its just muscle for muscles sake! Like showing cattle with perfect breeding qualities but never breeding from them. You know, I could give all kinds of 'noble' reasons about health (actually started for mental health reasons, but thankfully that is a long time ago) or something but truthfully I can't. I just love the iron. Every time I PR it gives me a rush like nothing else. I am no professional, never going to be, and the 'glory' is personal but so what? I find fulfillment in it. It is my sport. Yes, my relations define me, so does my job, but so does my sport and that is the iron (powerlifter). I love it. I look forward to it knowing when I am going to train again. Not going to defend that by needing it to be functional. You get functional by training for the first half a year or so. It is, like all sports, just love for the game IMO. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Emilia Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Yes that's fair Priv. There are days when I just look at it and don't want to go near anything heavy but give a little more time and I miss it. Link to post Share on other sites
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