Bulking while working a physically demanding job

[AllKinds]

I work long hours 50 P/W (10 hours a day 5 days per week) doing a lot of lifting and general manual labour...

Currently workout 5 days per week.
Getting around 6/7 hours of sleep max per night (sometimes less). Fully relax and recover on Sat and Sun...

I'm losing stregnth on most of my lifts although my diet is on point and am not losing weight...

Is there anything I can do to keep my stregnth and muscle?
And supliments recomended for this situation?
Maybe even less training for more recovery? Or vise versa?

 

[polarcat]

Creatine,bcaas, and probably more food.

 

[comtox]

If your losing strenght but you keep your weight, maybe you just need to reduce total volume a little bit and focus on intensity, main lifts, rather than doing a lot of exhausting isolation work, take one more rest day in the middle of the week, and eat a lot of carbs, additionnaly during workout some quick acting carb can help, think dextrose, maltodextrin or waxy maize, 20g sugar/Liter of water is a good ratio. Try and see what works for you. No problem, only solutions

 

[TheMovement]

What's your current program looking? How long you been bulking? What's your macros currently looking like and although you say your diet is on point sounds like your under eating.

 

[AntM1564]

It definitely sounds like you need to eat more. How many calories are you currently consuming and what is your macro breakdown? Also, what is your height and weight?

if you are weight training and working a physically demanding job, I would suggest consuming more protein than just one that lifts.

For recovery and strength gains, I would also supplement with an ergogenic aid such as PowerMax XT or Ergonine. Both contain ergogenic ingredients that help with not only recovery, but strength as well. You are looking at full doses of creatine and betaine for performance as well as a hydration complex to help with performance as well.

However, I think the biggest issue here is under eating.

 

[Justlooking5]

1/2 - 1 gallon of grass fed whole milk / day can add a lot of calories and protein.

 

[Ray Donovan]

More food.

 

[ericos_bob]

Same situation as I was in for a decade. I found keeping my training sessions short (30 mins max) and infrequent with a focus on high on intensity while utilizing only compound movements kept me progressing. It's very easy to overdo it on a physically demanding job I know I would frequently overtrain until finding a balance/compromise. Bare in mind that most programs online do not cater for physically stressed individuals so you will have to taylor any program to suit your needs. Usually when you're losing strength it's just a matter of time until you lose size.

 

[hazard12]

Weed, food, sleep, repeat

 

[Twill]

I use to have same problem, i work for Ups as a driver n my hours are anywhere from 8am till usually 7pm mon thru fri.

N i never hardly have time to take lunch, bc my route is so demanding.

I started to lose weight, size and strength fast bc i was not eating at all hardly bc i simply didn't have time to.

So what i did was eat a big breakfast, get me a half gallon of milk n take me a weight gainer 2 times a day.

N eat one footlong sub a day, then eat a small protein bar before i went to gym n have my main meal n the evening or after i worked out.

This has helped me, hope it helps u!

 

[travelerscode]

I'll agree with what everyone says. Eat more. When I was in the schoolhouse for my military occupation, we had hour and a half cardio sessions EVERY. DAMN. MORNING.... And some afternoons too.

But I arrived at the schoolhouse at 160 because of boot camp and got up to a decently lean 195 while doing that because I ate everything I could that was even remotely close to being clean. I would have a protein shake and a fast carb before we ran, then have a protein shake and fast carb after, go to breakfast, pig out on eggs and oatmeal and peanut butter. Lunch was the same with meat veggies and rice, then I would do the protein and fast carb after training and go lift, then another protein shake and fast carb, then eat dinner. I'd have one more shake before bed, without the carbs. I also kept nuts with me in the schoolhouse and snacked on those randomly. I wasn't as lean as I could have been if I had been eating fewer carbs maybe, but I left the school house at 195 and 10 percent body fat by caliper.

The point is, eat like you mean it. I heard one time there's no such thing as over training, just undereating. Its hyperbole, but the general point is true.