My brother retired from UPS. He started as a loader and went on to become a driver. He had a route in Alexandria VA and he hustle all day, every day. In some ways, he’s in great shape, he’s very muscular and doesn’t have an ounce of fat, but his hands and feet are shot and he can barely walk in the morning.
The type of workout will have a huge effect on how well you can do other activities. You may be working out in a way which builds muscles but doesn’t necessarily build endurance.
For example, doing biceps with a heavy weight for 10 reps will give you big, strong biceps, but you may not be able to lift things for very long. If instead you did biceps with a light weight for 5 minutes, you would develop biceps which could work out for a very long time.
Plus, if you did that 5 minutes of biceps free standing, your whole body would be involved in the exercise. Your back would pull your shoulders back, your abs would keep your body straight, your glutes and thighs would lock to keep you from rocking, etc. You would end up with muscles that are more suited to varied activities, such as working in the yard.
I think being able to maintain an effort all day long is an entirely different form of fitness that can’t be reproduced from exercising just a few hours a day. One time I went from a desk job to one that required standing eight hours, and it was murder at first but I did acclimate to it.
That’s why always laugh when I hear people in a high tax bracket complaining that they worked hard for what they’ve got. If hard work were such a wonderful thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves.
Digging a ditch is hard in a physical way, but being an executive, physician, or lawyer can be hard in an emotional and mental way. There are usually reasons for why certain jobs are well compensated - not everyone can do them or would want to do them. It’s not like everyone just waltzes into a cush well paying job because they know the right person.
And this is primarily the reason why you rarely see a working chef or baker who’s over the age of 50, give or take a couple of years
I’m there myself right now. I’m in better shape now than when I was right out of school, but most of my major joints will tell you otherwise. My feet are an utter mess (I’m looking at surgery down the line), I’m lucky my knees haven’t actually crumbled (yet), and one of these days I’ll no longer be able to withstand whatever’s going on in my hips and neck.
Right now I’ve been (thankfully) put in a position that’s much less physically taxing, but there’s going to be a time where I’m not going to be able to keep doing it. Scares me half to death whenever I think about it because I CANNOT imagine ever having a sit-down job.
I have always been amazed at how little work athletic types could actually do if they did not do it in thier everyday life. I used to hand stack over a 1/2 million pounds of coffee beans every day on to pallets in metal box cars that were well over 100 degrees inside. I worked right next to guys over 60 doing the same thing who smoked and drank like crazy.
Last few years I worked starting about 58 years old pain was just a fact of life that never went away. I feel for the guys who are not able to work into easier jobs as they age and gain experience. I also have a major resentment against companies who fire guys when they start to slow down. When it comes to hard work age will slow us down but we also learn how to pace ourselves and can often outwork the younger guys. Hauling heavy loads of lumber up ladders and other strenuous fast paced operations are best accomplished by the youngsters though.
I worked in a steel mill in the 70s for a summer; it gave me a world of respect for my dad and other “old farts” who did that day in and day out until age 65 or later. Whenever some sports star starts making retirement plans because of a sore toe or something I think about coal miners and others. Try it – something like it – at least once in your life. Consider it ignorance fought.
(The all-time winners, though, have got to be some of the older OOD/Amish. I’ve been lucky enough to attend a couple building raisings and after watching some 80some year old swing a 30 ounce hammer literally all day ------- thank God they are pacifists. Otherwise they could kick our gawking tourist asses from Lancaster to Goshen and back)
Had a great uncle that for a relaxing time after Sunday church was to go out with his 16 pound sledge hammer & bust rocks.
At 87, he could take that sledge and hold it with either hand with only his thumb, index finger & middle finger with his arm straight out in front of him & touch his nose with the face of the hammer & then return it to vertical.
Best I ever did was in itty bitty 6# and at 6-8 " from my nose I would lose it.
That old man was scary strong. Uncle Coonie.
My grandfather was a farmer, and he certainly did “strenous physical labor every day” past forty. My great-grandfather on the other side did the same, as a lumberjack and sailor.
Young adults need to be willing to perform that labor, though. There was a report in 2006, don’t recall where, of a California orchard owner trying to hire non-illegal workers at a government-run labor program. The owner offered $10/hour and ended up hiring only one guy, who didn’t bother returning from his lunch break.
You get used it somewhat, but I think anyone in their 50’s who has had a working life of any physical labor is much worse for the wear at that point. Personally I think many of the cultural differences between blue and white collar revolve around this. At that age, the blue collar guy or gal is waking up in pain, trying to deal with it how he can and just trying to get through the day. Most of the older guys I’ve worked with are angry and a little volatile. I came to the conclusion that after a point to do the physical labor at that level you need adrenaline, and anger boosts the adrenaline if you don not have that temperament you need to develop it, otherwise you would not be able to produce appropriate output at that age unless you are an outlier.
There are stories like that all over the country.
I won’t disagree that for many people, a lifetime of physical labor can cause chronic conditions due to repetitive motions, and general stress on the system. I do know some people who are not in great shape and, as you say, plagued with pain most likely due to a lifetime of physical work. They don’t seem particularly angry, though. 
It’s not universal, though. See my post #7. Anecdotal I know, but I know and meet plenty of people in their 40s and 50s and older who are career skilled trades workers, or retired/older GM “shop rats” (I live in GM country) who are healthy and active. Anecdotally again: now that I am thinking about this, for the most part the sickest people I know are overweight and have been sedentary most of their lives. Being sedentary and overweight for decades clearly leads to poor health and chronic conditions later in life as well.
Yeah, its kind of weird; when I worked in an office everyone was overweight and had heart conditions by the time they were 50. I thought, “I gotta get out of this,” as I’m getting older, I look at the guys doing what I do and having the joint pain etc. and I’m thinking, “I gotta find a more sedentary line of work.” Probably for ideal health its best to win the lottery and take pilates and yoga 3 times a week.
A lot of it probably depends on where in the country you live too. Around here, a lot of tradesmen are having harder times making ends meet, because a lot of the new-construction work is done by Mexican immigrants for a pittance, and effectively price the apprentices and journeymen out of the market as far as grunt work is concerned.
I’m sure there’s some regulation that requires a master electrician/carpenter/plumber/etc… sign off on each job, but there’s likely nothing requiring anyone to employ licensed underlings, and Mexicans are cheaper and work hard.
True, I’ve lived here for 13 years and there isn’t a big number of immigrants competing for construction jobs.
But even when I lived out west (Colorado, and before that, California) it was an issue. But assuming the immigrant competition was legal - and very often it was - I saw it as akin to WalMart or Amazon or Home Depot or McDonalds - offer the same product or service for less, and people will buy from you in droves. Hence my “American Way” comment upthread. It doesn’t seem fair, but isn’t this simply the free market at work?
My dad worked pretty hard most of his life, and at almost 80 is in good shape considering his age. I put in some 12 hour days on the farm as a kid, but I’m sure I couldn’t do it now.
I saw a different article claim that smoking is 4x more important to your mortality in your 70s than physical inactivity (ie smokers had 4x higher mortality risks than the physically inactive in their 70s). So the studies can be contradictory.
Plus I’ve met people who worked in physically demanding jobs their whole lives. By their 50s their bodies are usually shot. Terrible knees, backs, shoulders, ankles, etc are common. I’ll take working an office job my whole life and dying at 81 over working a manual labor job my whole life and dying at 83 but having to spend the last 35 years of my life in chronic pain and with limited mobility.
That was my thinking when an article came out recently saying sitting more than 2 hours a day was bad for you. I’ve met people who stand all day, I’ll take a year or two less life expectancy over decades of chronic pain.
57, do a lot of physical labor on my warehouse/loading dock job. Keeps me fit, sort of. Will probably die working.
I retired at 63 from physical work mostly due to the fact of being in too much pain. Once I retired the pain went away, I still work hard and stay active but I control my pace and when I decide to quit. It makes a big difference.