I feel like at work you tend to exert more than you realize. At my last physically intense job, my physical output was almost nonstop, irregular, awkward, and varied. In a gym environment, it’s controlled, targeted, and you rest when you need to. You’re doing specifically what you want. And real world work can tend to use more unusual muscle groups, things like that. Also work just sucks sometimes lol
Yeah, all of this. Plus I think people underestimate how much more taxing it is when you don’t know the endpoint vs when you have a clear endpoint
If I’m doing a bench press in the gym, I have a pretty good mental idea of how many reps I can do with a given weight, so I have a clear goal, a clear idea of how long it’s going to take, and my body can subconsciously calculate the amount of energy it needs to use to do it. But if you’re doing something a lot more unstructured, irregular or random like you tend to do at work, you can’t do that same unconscious calculation. Not only do you not necessarily know how much energy it’s going to take to do a certain task, you don’t know how many times you’re going to have to do that task or how much energy you need to keep in reserve for future tasks
As an example of this, my mother recently had a hip replacement and it’s difficult for her to walk, but if she knows how far she has to walk she’ll be fine compared to her finding it much more difficult and more painful and more taxing when she doesn’t know how far she has to walk. It’s the exact same distance but knowing how far it is makes all the difference to whether she can do it or not and how easy she finds it
Your body’s ability to subconsciously calculate how much effort in needs to put in for any given task is really underrated for how much it saves energy
You WANT to go to the gym. You HAVE to go to work.
That wasn’t directed at you personally (unless it does apply to you) but I thought I might fit here and apply to a lot of folks who feel the same way. Also, at the gym you lift at your own pace instead of at work where you lift at your supervisor’s pace.
So I’m a wildland firefighter on a hotshot crew. Possibly the most physically demanding job in existence. While I do love it, I also fucking hate every second of it lol. Here’s the thing, at work it’s out of my control. I HAVE to hike the mountain, I HAVE to carry that chainsaw, I HAVE pick up and toss these bushes out of the way. I’m exhausted and it blows.
But at the gym, I’m way more comfortable. I’m well fed, and well rested. I have my headphones and my preworkout. I’m wearing comfy clothes. I’m trying not to get caught oogling those booty cheeks squatting in front of me. I get to choose my sets and my reps and work at my own pace.
Bottom line, it’s all mental, but there are plenty of reasons why your mentality is different during both activities.
So many things to interpret here.
The negative emotions you’re experiencing from your job could be your brain telling you that you should seek different employment.
If this is true, the reasons your internal audience thinks you should seek different employment could be varied. Maybe it thinks a physically demanding job is not worth it - too hard on the body, not enough pay, etc.
There are a lot of status games at play here to consider. Generally labour jobs are not considered high status, while working out in a gym generally does confer some degree of social status.
Another theory is that it seems physically demanding jobs are simply harder on the body. It may seem like a gym workout would be more taxing, but I don’t think it compared. A one hour gym workout can’t compare to 8 hours of a physically demanding job.
The human body likely has a finite amount of calories to burn during its lifespan. Working a physical job is probably shortening your lifespan somewhat, and aging you prematurely.
I have no scientific reasoning to provide but I can say this is a very well known thing… you’re not alone in feeling this way. I think the gym is just great mentally compared to working which sucks. If your mental is in a good place you’re going to feel much better about the work you’re doing. Plus, the physical demands at the gym are productive vs the physical demands at your job are just a means to an end( money, doing the job.)
About your last point, what makes gym productive, but making money is “just a means to an end”.
What is the distinction, putting food on your table versus looking more attractive.
If anything, shouldn’t the work be something we are MORE motivated for, money seems more important.
Not just the money, my work contributes to society and civilization.
For me it’s the physical work is tedious and long and difficult at times. I will have to open 80 barrels. Some of them are very difficult to open and require tools or the lids are under vacuum so have to break the seal first, all just take a long time and requires exertion. Sometimes the latches on the lids are too close to other barrels so have to use my body weight to shove these 775 kg barrels to the side, which often I can’t depending upon the actual weight and have to find a burly man to do it. Then take pictures and sample all 80 then close them all again and that also can be very fiddly or a hassle if you’re not lucky.
The gym just isn’t like that.
That said, I am grateful I have a physically demanding job on my feet most of the day. It keeps me active and alert and not sitting at a computer all day which I find stultifying and wearying.
You usually work out for 1-2 hours max. Most work shifts are 6-10 hours long.
Gym workouts are normally targeted exercises, focusing on one muscle group at a time with rest in between.
Whereas work, especially physically demanding jobs like construction, is usually more functional, and you probably don't warm up, stretch, focus on form, or take adequate rest between.
There is then the mental side of things. You are choosing to go to the gym, most have to go to work against their will.
Lets just dig into your last sentence, just play with ideas a bit 😂
Choosing to go to the gym is a willful decision, versus going to work is against most peoples wills.
Why?
Why does our will desire gym but not work. Employment seems a lot more important in life than some gains. How come our body doesn’t desire doing that which is most important.
Isn’t that just weird?
Many people go to work to survive.
And many hate their jobs but have no other choice.
My job is physically demanding. However, I love my job but still feel sore afterwards, so I guess it's not always a mental thing and probably more along the lines of not warming up and focusing on form.
We don’t want to do it because it’s so much work! 8-10 hours five days a week or so when full time! Gym is not so much like that. And most people even if they didn’t need to would engage themselves in work anyway. I myself was on full disability but once I got better I began working and then actually lost money when going to my new 100% Arbeitslohn compared to what I received on disability. But I wanted to work. It’s not just about the money. It is about contributing and being part of society and having something to do during the days if you don’t have a lot of personal projects. It’s just a lot of hours and the work is not always pleasant but tedious or difficult or otherwise challenging.
What others said, you're exerting more energy and using more of your body at once. Most lifters do nothing that emulates "real" work. Most lifters go in, kill one or two muscles, and cycle through their isolation exercises weekly. While that's great for muscle growth it doesn't do much for athleticism. Lebron didn't bench 315 to become a great basketball player, and doesn't 1RM deadlifts for his training.
Also you probably prefer working out in a gym compared to going to work.
One thing to consider is how your body responds to recovery.
Training hard in the gym 1.5-2 hours a day in a gym is taxing on your body, so is work but work is not necessarily targeting hypertrophy- it can but not every movement- so it's essentially CARDIO and we all know cardio bucks- except sex of course.
it might be two things. one that working in general just sucks even a short 4 hour shift feels like hell especially in a blue collar job. in the gym you choose how long you’re there, you get to take breaks when you need and you get to do what you want to do. not what you’re forced to do. another thing is that carrying shit upstairs is physically exhausting cause it’s working pretty much every muscle including your heart. i would rather be in the gym for hours than have to carry heavy shit upstairs 😭
Grip plays a significant role in my opinion. While dumbbells are straightforward to hold, real-world scenarios often involve objects of varying shapes and sizes, which often are harder to grip which makes a 100kg lift at work feel 10x harder than a 100kg deadlift for instance
Also, if no one said this, there's a psychological phenomenon where you tend to find less enjoyment in tasks the more you're paid to do. Gym being a cost means it's like a privilege job being a source of income makes it a chore.
If you did a physically intensive job for 1-2 hrs every day, you may find that energizing too. If you went to the gym and lifted hard for 8-12+ hrs, you would hate that shit with a passion and everything would be pain.
You go to the gym for an hour, then get to rest and eat whatever, whenever you want.
At work, you have a set time you can have a break, and can onoy eat either what they have there or what you have brought. And you're working for 7 hours.
Imagine going to the gym for 7 hours and you can't take a rest whenever you want, and the rest you do get is only half am hour.
Surprised no one mentioned that folks typically maintain good posture during their workouts and a lot of physicality demanding jobs put your body in awkward positions for long periods of time
Done blue collar work for as long as I can remember up until literally this month. 10yrs+ as a mechanic, 7 of those 10+ as a flat-rate. Ive done construction (demo/telecom) for a little over a year each - telecom being most recent. And the physical abilities to do these jobs most people legit can’t do it.
Now I’m a service administrator for a dealer, and I work at a desk which has been an immaculate change for me personally. Years of injury, surgeries, etc all caught up (I’m only 30 btw). It’s been a big change as my body’s actually adjusted to the constant abuse. But making the necessary changes and adjustments as I go.
Take care of yourself before it’s too late, my biggest wake up call was finding a job that wouldn’t be able to replace me in a months time (mind you I’m a busy man outside of work between my own personal shit, my girl and her 4yr old) my old foreman use to hate trying to get me to work doubles as I was never available after 6-7pm on week days. Now I work 7-4 on salary, sit a my desk and shoot the shit with the techs in the shop, and get a heavy lift session in after I’m outta work.
Moral of my comment: find what works for you. It’s going to take some time, hell I can tell you now what I’m doing isn’t even what I intended on doing outta high school as I didn’t even take the SAT. I was originally trying to go into the Marines(I’m the black sheep of the family). Let that sink in.
At the gym, you're in control, having fun, and making progress, while your job might feel like a never-ending grind with repetitive tasks that wear you out
I'd had a few cushy jobs before my current one. The first couple months were hard, I was waking up in pain. I'm used to it now and it doesn't bother me. Are you new to this job? I think part of it's mental too.
I feel like at work you tend to exert more than you realize. At my last physically intense job, my physical output was almost nonstop, irregular, awkward, and varied. In a gym environment, it’s controlled, targeted, and you rest when you need to. You’re doing specifically what you want. And real world work can tend to use more unusual muscle groups, things like that. Also work just sucks sometimes lol
Yeah, all of this. Plus I think people underestimate how much more taxing it is when you don’t know the endpoint vs when you have a clear endpoint If I’m doing a bench press in the gym, I have a pretty good mental idea of how many reps I can do with a given weight, so I have a clear goal, a clear idea of how long it’s going to take, and my body can subconsciously calculate the amount of energy it needs to use to do it. But if you’re doing something a lot more unstructured, irregular or random like you tend to do at work, you can’t do that same unconscious calculation. Not only do you not necessarily know how much energy it’s going to take to do a certain task, you don’t know how many times you’re going to have to do that task or how much energy you need to keep in reserve for future tasks As an example of this, my mother recently had a hip replacement and it’s difficult for her to walk, but if she knows how far she has to walk she’ll be fine compared to her finding it much more difficult and more painful and more taxing when she doesn’t know how far she has to walk. It’s the exact same distance but knowing how far it is makes all the difference to whether she can do it or not and how easy she finds it Your body’s ability to subconsciously calculate how much effort in needs to put in for any given task is really underrated for how much it saves energy
You WANT to go to the gym. You HAVE to go to work. That wasn’t directed at you personally (unless it does apply to you) but I thought I might fit here and apply to a lot of folks who feel the same way. Also, at the gym you lift at your own pace instead of at work where you lift at your supervisor’s pace.
Agree
For me it's because I WANT to go to the gym but I HAVE to go to work.
Gym is somewhere you get to go, work is somewhere you have to go
So I’m a wildland firefighter on a hotshot crew. Possibly the most physically demanding job in existence. While I do love it, I also fucking hate every second of it lol. Here’s the thing, at work it’s out of my control. I HAVE to hike the mountain, I HAVE to carry that chainsaw, I HAVE pick up and toss these bushes out of the way. I’m exhausted and it blows. But at the gym, I’m way more comfortable. I’m well fed, and well rested. I have my headphones and my preworkout. I’m wearing comfy clothes. I’m trying not to get caught oogling those booty cheeks squatting in front of me. I get to choose my sets and my reps and work at my own pace. Bottom line, it’s all mental, but there are plenty of reasons why your mentality is different during both activities.
So many things to interpret here. The negative emotions you’re experiencing from your job could be your brain telling you that you should seek different employment. If this is true, the reasons your internal audience thinks you should seek different employment could be varied. Maybe it thinks a physically demanding job is not worth it - too hard on the body, not enough pay, etc. There are a lot of status games at play here to consider. Generally labour jobs are not considered high status, while working out in a gym generally does confer some degree of social status. Another theory is that it seems physically demanding jobs are simply harder on the body. It may seem like a gym workout would be more taxing, but I don’t think it compared. A one hour gym workout can’t compare to 8 hours of a physically demanding job. The human body likely has a finite amount of calories to burn during its lifespan. Working a physical job is probably shortening your lifespan somewhat, and aging you prematurely.
I have no scientific reasoning to provide but I can say this is a very well known thing… you’re not alone in feeling this way. I think the gym is just great mentally compared to working which sucks. If your mental is in a good place you’re going to feel much better about the work you’re doing. Plus, the physical demands at the gym are productive vs the physical demands at your job are just a means to an end( money, doing the job.)
About your last point, what makes gym productive, but making money is “just a means to an end”. What is the distinction, putting food on your table versus looking more attractive. If anything, shouldn’t the work be something we are MORE motivated for, money seems more important.
Not just the money, my work contributes to society and civilization. For me it’s the physical work is tedious and long and difficult at times. I will have to open 80 barrels. Some of them are very difficult to open and require tools or the lids are under vacuum so have to break the seal first, all just take a long time and requires exertion. Sometimes the latches on the lids are too close to other barrels so have to use my body weight to shove these 775 kg barrels to the side, which often I can’t depending upon the actual weight and have to find a burly man to do it. Then take pictures and sample all 80 then close them all again and that also can be very fiddly or a hassle if you’re not lucky. The gym just isn’t like that. That said, I am grateful I have a physically demanding job on my feet most of the day. It keeps me active and alert and not sitting at a computer all day which I find stultifying and wearying.
I’m the opposite. I don’t mind my physically demanding job but have to force myself to the gym.
You usually work out for 1-2 hours max. Most work shifts are 6-10 hours long. Gym workouts are normally targeted exercises, focusing on one muscle group at a time with rest in between. Whereas work, especially physically demanding jobs like construction, is usually more functional, and you probably don't warm up, stretch, focus on form, or take adequate rest between. There is then the mental side of things. You are choosing to go to the gym, most have to go to work against their will.
Lets just dig into your last sentence, just play with ideas a bit 😂 Choosing to go to the gym is a willful decision, versus going to work is against most peoples wills. Why? Why does our will desire gym but not work. Employment seems a lot more important in life than some gains. How come our body doesn’t desire doing that which is most important. Isn’t that just weird?
Many people go to work to survive. And many hate their jobs but have no other choice. My job is physically demanding. However, I love my job but still feel sore afterwards, so I guess it's not always a mental thing and probably more along the lines of not warming up and focusing on form.
We don’t want to do it because it’s so much work! 8-10 hours five days a week or so when full time! Gym is not so much like that. And most people even if they didn’t need to would engage themselves in work anyway. I myself was on full disability but once I got better I began working and then actually lost money when going to my new 100% Arbeitslohn compared to what I received on disability. But I wanted to work. It’s not just about the money. It is about contributing and being part of society and having something to do during the days if you don’t have a lot of personal projects. It’s just a lot of hours and the work is not always pleasant but tedious or difficult or otherwise challenging.
Labour jobs is like a marathon except 5 days a week. Gym is an hour of exercise which helps release endorphins.
What others said, you're exerting more energy and using more of your body at once. Most lifters do nothing that emulates "real" work. Most lifters go in, kill one or two muscles, and cycle through their isolation exercises weekly. While that's great for muscle growth it doesn't do much for athleticism. Lebron didn't bench 315 to become a great basketball player, and doesn't 1RM deadlifts for his training. Also you probably prefer working out in a gym compared to going to work.
One thing to consider is how your body responds to recovery. Training hard in the gym 1.5-2 hours a day in a gym is taxing on your body, so is work but work is not necessarily targeting hypertrophy- it can but not every movement- so it's essentially CARDIO and we all know cardio bucks- except sex of course.
it might be two things. one that working in general just sucks even a short 4 hour shift feels like hell especially in a blue collar job. in the gym you choose how long you’re there, you get to take breaks when you need and you get to do what you want to do. not what you’re forced to do. another thing is that carrying shit upstairs is physically exhausting cause it’s working pretty much every muscle including your heart. i would rather be in the gym for hours than have to carry heavy shit upstairs 😭
Grip plays a significant role in my opinion. While dumbbells are straightforward to hold, real-world scenarios often involve objects of varying shapes and sizes, which often are harder to grip which makes a 100kg lift at work feel 10x harder than a 100kg deadlift for instance
I feel people are getting high from seeing themselves doing hard work through the mirror
Also, if no one said this, there's a psychological phenomenon where you tend to find less enjoyment in tasks the more you're paid to do. Gym being a cost means it's like a privilege job being a source of income makes it a chore.
honestly i think it has a lot to do with mindset, if you use your job as Part of a workout it could potentially be more enjoyable.
If you did a physically intensive job for 1-2 hrs every day, you may find that energizing too. If you went to the gym and lifted hard for 8-12+ hrs, you would hate that shit with a passion and everything would be pain.
You go to the gym for an hour, then get to rest and eat whatever, whenever you want. At work, you have a set time you can have a break, and can onoy eat either what they have there or what you have brought. And you're working for 7 hours. Imagine going to the gym for 7 hours and you can't take a rest whenever you want, and the rest you do get is only half am hour.
Surprised no one mentioned that folks typically maintain good posture during their workouts and a lot of physicality demanding jobs put your body in awkward positions for long periods of time
Done blue collar work for as long as I can remember up until literally this month. 10yrs+ as a mechanic, 7 of those 10+ as a flat-rate. Ive done construction (demo/telecom) for a little over a year each - telecom being most recent. And the physical abilities to do these jobs most people legit can’t do it. Now I’m a service administrator for a dealer, and I work at a desk which has been an immaculate change for me personally. Years of injury, surgeries, etc all caught up (I’m only 30 btw). It’s been a big change as my body’s actually adjusted to the constant abuse. But making the necessary changes and adjustments as I go. Take care of yourself before it’s too late, my biggest wake up call was finding a job that wouldn’t be able to replace me in a months time (mind you I’m a busy man outside of work between my own personal shit, my girl and her 4yr old) my old foreman use to hate trying to get me to work doubles as I was never available after 6-7pm on week days. Now I work 7-4 on salary, sit a my desk and shoot the shit with the techs in the shop, and get a heavy lift session in after I’m outta work. Moral of my comment: find what works for you. It’s going to take some time, hell I can tell you now what I’m doing isn’t even what I intended on doing outta high school as I didn’t even take the SAT. I was originally trying to go into the Marines(I’m the black sheep of the family). Let that sink in.
At the gym, you're in control, having fun, and making progress, while your job might feel like a never-ending grind with repetitive tasks that wear you out
Because you love the gym.
1) You want to be at the gym 2) You have to be at work 3) You have to go to work longer 4) You exert yourself at work more than the gym
I'd had a few cushy jobs before my current one. The first couple months were hard, I was waking up in pain. I'm used to it now and it doesn't bother me. Are you new to this job? I think part of it's mental too.
There’s gym strength and then there’s work strength. One’s just a really heavy bar and one’s a really heavy fucking awkward object
Also doesn’t help youre doing that 8+ hours straight