Truck drivers' general health rates have been the subject of much discussion throughout the years. According to Newjobs4you research, more than 50% of truck drivers in the US are obese. Long hours spent on the road reduce your chances of maintaining your fitness compared to someone who has free time after work. Rather than eating healthier meals, many truck drivers frequently bring snacks like chips, cookies, or donuts on their trips. It requires a great deal of commitment and perseverance for a truck driver to maintain good physical health. A truck driver has very little chance of being healthy without these two elements.
Maintaining both physical and mental wellness requires exercise. Frequent exercise can enhance physical fitness overall, assist truck drivers in maintaining a healthy weight, and reduce their chance of developing chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. In addition to improving your energy and alertness while driving, exercise also helps other drivers, which is crucial for both your safety and theirs.
Exercise has been demonstrated to lower stress and elevate mood, and this is particularly beneficial for truck drivers who may be traveling far from home and dealing with the difficulties of life on the road. Truck drivers can retain a happy attitude and manage the demands of their profession by exercising.
The best workouts for truck drivers are running, planks, mountain climbers, push-ups, and squats. All of the workouts are weight-free and can contribute to a healthy way of living while traveling. Whether you're a novice truck driver or have been driving for years, a well-rounded fitness program may significantly enhance your life.
We'll go through each exercise's proper technique as well as possible modifications so you can get the most out of your training. But firstly, let’s find out what dangers can lead to inactivity.
Despite the dismal statistics, a large number of truck drivers have active, healthy lifestyles. You can begin by giving some minor adjustments to your everyday routine, such as those mentioned below, top priority:
Additionally, walking is the best exercise for everyone to stay and be healthy and fit.
The advantages of walking are:
Exercise while you drive. You may perform a few exercises while operating a vehicle. And no, we're not referring to taking out a resistance band while operating a vehicle. You can use both hands on the driving wheel and work different areas of your body. The abdominal crunch is a fantastic workout when you're spending a lot of time sitting still. For at least two minutes or the duration of a song, clench your abs.
This can be done each time you come to a halt at a red light. The shoulder shrug is another workout you may do while driving. As though shrugging, raise your shoulders to your ears. Hold the position for a short while, then slowly lower them. It's also an excellent activity to perform at red lights. To release the tension that can accumulate around your neck after a long drive, repeat the exercise fifteen times in succession.
Whatever the level of effort, physical activity increases fitness. However, you should always warm up your body with activities.
Why to warm up each morning?
Warming up reduces muscle pain by boosting blood flow to the affected areas, according to the experts. In addition, warming up activates your cardiovascular system, which prepares your lungs for aerobic activity. Warming up your body and muscles before engaging in more strenuous exercises helps you to increase your intensity gradually
Regular warm-up exercises include power walks, sprints, and stationary running. You can work wonders with a brief on-the-spot light run for a few minutes till you start to perspire without having access to a treadmill.
Another useful tool for warming up the arms and other upper body muscles is a windmill. By repeatedly swinging your arms, you can release joint tension and prepare your body for action. Aim for 100 repetitions, but pay attention to your body and don't overdo it.
Every morning before getting into your truck, you can also spend a few minutes stretching like a truck driver. Stretching helps you concentrate your exercise on particular body areas. You can also increase the resistance during your morning and evening stretches by using elastic bands.
Developing mastery over your own body weight is one of the most fulfilling experiences possible. The focus of these exercises is to use the equipment on your truck or the equipment nearby as support.
1. Pushups
For good reason, pushups are the most popular bodyweight exercise. They have been used for millennia to aid in the development of arm, shoulder, and chest muscles.
You may do pushups in your sleeper bunk or even in a parking lot with ease. A rubber yoga mat or exercise mat is a smart purchase if you intend to perform these exercises in a parking lot so that you are not pressing your palms into the asphalt.
2. Bench Dip
Exercises like bench dips are excellent for strengthening your triceps. To perform this exercise, position a bench or stationary bar behind your back and grip it with your arms fully stretched to shoulder width. Maintain a "L" form with your legs extended forward and bent at the waist. Then, gradually lowering your body until your arms are nearly at a 90-degree angle, bend your elbow. Repeat by raising yourself back up with that same action.
These are simply performed on an exercise bench in a gym setting. Bench dips can be performed by a truck driver while they are driving on the stairs leading up to their cab or at a bench at a rest area.
3. Planks
Planking is more than just a passing trend from the late 2000s on the internet. It's an excellent workout for strengthening your abs and core while burning fat.
First, you lay on the ground with your face down. Then, while keeping your legs and body in the air, place your forearms and toes on the ground. Your body ought to be erect, much like a plank. You now serve in this capacity for a predetermined period of time. Once you get the hang of it, you may increase the time you spend performing it from 15 to 20 seconds to more than a minute.
Planks are just as easy to perform in a parking lot or your sleeper berth as pushups are. A modified version known as a "side plank" is another exercise you can use to strengthen your external obliques.
4. Shoulder Shrugs
Shoulder shrugs are perhaps the simplest exercise on this list, but they do a terrific job of relieving stress and strengthening the muscles in your neck and shoulders. As though you're saying, "I don't know," raise your shoulders to your ears. After a few seconds of holding the position, release it. Do 10 to 15 repetitions, then repeat for as many sets as desired.
When you're waiting for a shipper, at a red light, or just taking a break, try this workout.
5. Running/Jogging
There's no better way to burn calories than with a solid run or jog. The unfortunate thing is that most parking lots aren't the best places to run, so you can only sometimes do this when driving. However, there are workarounds for this. See if the stop you're headed to is close to a park or trail that you can walk to by using the Maps app.
Running is an excellent kind of exercise, but it's not for everyone. Try high-intensity interval training (HIIT) running if this describes you.
This is a fancy way of saying that you walk for a predetermined period of time after a predetermined length of time, perhaps a minute or two of running. Until you meet your time or distance target, you keep doing this.
You can increase how long you run and decrease how long you walk as you become more comfortable. Compared to trying to run constantly, this is a lot easier method to get started.
6. Mini Trampoline
An excellent workout that can increase the energy in your joints is using a little trampoline. Since truck drivers spend a lot of time sitting down, weak joints might be an issue for them. Weight loss, enhanced bone mass, decreased cellulite, enhanced oxygen circulation, better balance and posture, and more are among the advantages of this workout.
7. Plank
You have nowhere to go and are at a stop, gassing up. Spend some time lying down and performing a two-minute plank. You can go up to ten minutes of this kind of exercise after a while, albeit it will start slowly. The plank is a fantastic exercise to tone your abdomen and improve your appearance.
8. Situps
Sit-ups are an excellent method to maintain your health and acquire a better stomach. With this workout, you can lose excess belly fat and strengthen your lower back and mid-waist muscles. Additionally, it helps with posture correction, hip and core strength, and flexibility.
Make sure you set up at least 15 minutes a day for your workouts in order to get the most out of them. Maintaining such strictness will help your health and make you appear nice.
Even while bodyweight exercises are fantastic, having some lightweight exercise equipment in your truck will allow you to try out a whole new variety of routines.
1. Grip Strength Trainer
For strengthening your forearms and improving your hand dexterity, grip strength trainers are fantastic. Grip strength trainers are fantastic since they allow you to work out while unwinding before bed, watching TV, or using your phone.
2. Resistance Bands
The Swiss army knife of exercise equipment is the resistance band. Numerous exercises that target your arms, legs, chest, abs, and shoulders can be performed with them. There are several varieties of resistance bands that are typically color-coded, with black or red typically offering the strongest resistance.
There are countless workouts you can perform using resistance bands, but some of the more popular ones are the chest press, triceps extensions, and squats.
3. Dumbbells
Even though you definitely won't want to pack a whole set of dumbbells weighing anywhere from five to one hundred pounds in your taxi, having one or two on hand can be quite helpful for drivers who wish to engage in mild strength training while driving.
Better still, think about purchasing some adjustable dumbbells. These are locked into a base, and you may adjust the weight by moving a notch. Further details on these are available here.
Dumbbells can be used for various workouts, such as shoulder presses, triceps extensions, lawnmower pulls, and bicep curls.
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of eating healthily if your goal is to transform your lifestyle and improve your physical appearance. Even with the greatest exercise routine available, getting in shape will be more difficult if your diet is off.
Along with exercise, small lifestyle adjustments like making your own nutritious lunches before heading out and consuming less sugar will help you notice benefits more quickly.
Exercise is only sometimes possible for truck drivers, but it's definitely doable. You can do it while traveling if your goals are to improve your physical health, reduce your risk of illness, or simply feel better about yourself.
You'll be able to identify any bad eating habits or the reasons behind your workout skips by keeping a log of your workouts and food intake. It will be simpler to alter these patterns and habits and adopt better eating and exercise routines if you are aware of them. To assist you in reaching your fitness objectives, there are a number of truck driver fitness smartphone applications that can track your diet and activity as well as provide you with extra workouts to perform while driving.
Being a truck driver means that you're constantly on the road and frequently don't have time to fit fitness into your schedule. The healthiest meal alternatives are also scarce at truck stops and petrol stations, so it's much simpler and more convenient to grab some chips and a hot dog and go. Bringing along some healthy snacks can be a healthier option than stopping at a gas station to buy junk food.
Compared to the national average of 26.7%, the National Institute of Health indicates that almost 50% of truck drivers are obese. Being overweight may prevent you from passing the DOT medical exam, which could affect the validity of your CDL license.
Just as bad eating habits can have an impact on your weight and health as irregular sleeping patterns might. When you resume driving, don't forget to take the appropriate pauses as needed and make an effort to obtain the recommended amount of sleep. In an attempt to cope with weariness, some truck drivers start smoking, but this might eventually cause further health problems. Smoking raises the chances of coronary heart disease, emphysema, stroke, and lung cancer. If you're feeling worn out, discuss your driving hours with your carrier and how you can cut them down to manageable hours that won't affect your health.
If you can find the time to incorporate the best exercises for truck drivers into your regimen, it will greatly benefit your physical and mental well-being.
We took this video from ET Transport YouTube Channel.
Our Review
We recommend using the plank as part of your regular routine and then selecting a few other exercises from the list for your 15-minute workouts. Running is a fantastic method to boost your mood and shed pounds, but you don't have to do it every day. Incorporate that into your routine in addition to going out for fifteen minutes per week.
Some people believe that by skipping breakfast and lunch, they will be able to maintain their weight because they will eat less. When hunger really strikes later in the day, skipping a meal might lead to a larger eating binge. It is far simpler to gain weight and develop other harmful eating habits when one indulges in binge eating. You can regulate your hunger desires and lessen the need for extra-large meals and snacking when you eat a full meal for lunch and dinner and start your day with breakfast.
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