Top Fitness and Exercise Tips for Tradies

As a tradie, you might do highly physical work, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to exercise as well!

In fact, the stronger and more fit and healthy your body is, the more productive you are likely to be at work. Not only that, a greater level of fitness can help reduce your risk of workplace injuries.

Trades work comes with some of the highest risks for injuries – especially musculoskeletal sprains and strains. These can arise from falls, and from lifting, bending, digging and the various other repetitive movements the job requires. Long hours of work and pressure to meet deadlines can also be factors.

 

How exercise can improve resilience and endurance

Exercise is often promoted as a means to lose weight and get the body you want. But really, exercise is not only about looking good – there are many other benefits as well.

These include better heart health, improved mood and energy, better sleep (crucial when you’re working long hours!), improved balance and coordination, and stronger bones, joints and muscles. All this can lead to reduced risk of falls and greater resistance to injury.

The general recommendation for exercise is 150-300 minutes a week, in a mix of cardio, strength training and stretching. The benefits of each are well-known:

• Cardio exercise – walking, running, dancing, swimming, rowing, and cycling is great for helping improve heart health, regulating weight, enhancing mood and more.
• Strength training – push-ups, lunges and lifting weights is good for building stronger muscles and bones, decreasing body fat, helping reduce chronic pain.
• Stretching – yoga, Pilates, or just general stretching movements promotes blood flow and better performance and helps reduce injury risk. 

In addition to general exercise, there are some tradie-specific fitness and exercise tips that can be beneficial. 

1. Rotate your body

As a tradie, you might be doing a lot of repetitive movements. Moving your body in different directions from those at work helps improve mobility and flexibility.

This includes movements that rotate your body, such as twists one way then the other, rotational swings and lunges, and throwing a ball around you in different directions.

2. Strengthen your core

A strong core helps strengthen your back and neck, in turn reducing your risk of spinal injuries. It also improves balance and stability. 

Core strengthening exercises include crunches, planks, bridges, leg-raises, and Pilates. Another less common one you might not have heard of is balancing on one foot while throwing a ball with your arms raised against a wall and catching it. 

3. Don’t repeat what you do at work

Avoid activities in your routines that match what you do at work.

So if you are constantly lifting heavy objects at work, don’t lift heavy weights at the gym. This will only lead to excess strain on your body, and could result in overuse injuries and weakening.

Instead, focus on a variety of physical activities and movements that are different from those you do in your job.

4. Strike a balance

Your routine should be balanced with periods of rest.

Rest breaks are important as constantly using muscles causes them to tear, which in turn allows them to rebuild and grow as they heal. However, without breaks this process is interrupted which can lead to fatigue, soreness and even increased risk of sickness.

5. Get good nutrition

Tradies that start the day early may do things like skipping breakfast and then grabbing whatever food is handy later. While this is fine occasionally, it’s important for best performance and health to pay attention to your diet. This includes focusing on getting plenty of vegetables, legumes, grains, lean proteins and dairy.

 

Want to find out more? 

Check out these two quick videos from the Australian Physiotherapy Association, created especially for tradies:

• Warming up / stretching – quick exercises you can do at work.
• Resistance band exercises – movements for increasing core stability.

As a tradie, it's crucial to look after your body - just remember to see your doctor before you start a new fitness regime, especially if you are carrying an injury or haven't been exercising lately!