2y ago

I need a better body for my job

I started working in a fast food kitchen 2 weeks ago and it’s physically stressful so far. I do a lot of meal prep which includes a lot of chopping, carrying, and cleaning. Being on my feet for ~7 hours a day is slowly taking a toll on me and I really want to take preventive measures for long term problems that come with it. My right thumb is numb as I type down this post at 1am because I somehow woke up before 4:30am.

For a little background, this is my first official job where I’m being paid actual money for my work. As per usual, I can’t quit because of finances and I like my coworkers and managers so far. I just want my body to cope with it better and I’m not sure how I should go with it. I was pretty sedentary before I started working. I wear comfortable non-slip shoes with orthotics to better support my arch. I also bought a muscle rolling stick to help massage my feet and leg muscles after work. I think the compression socks I recently got isn’t doing much so I’m going to invest in some Bombas socks soon. What else can I do to prevent breaking my body doing this job?

33 comments

As others have said, there's always an adjustment period, and before you know it you'll be doing it without even thinking about it.
When I started at my current workplace five years ago, I was out of shape after spending almost ten years either at uni, or in a succession of office jobs. So going back on my tools as a welder was a massive shock that I wasn't really expecting. But suddenly, six months or so in, I realised that I was finding the work much less physically demanding, which felt really gratifying. I wasn't fit by any means (I never have been), but fit enough to do the work.
Then, 18 months ago I got promoted to a desk job, and I'm fat as shit again. I'd be fucked after a day back on my tools.

There is always an adjustment period. I find after am extended time off from physical labor it takes me about 3 weeks to get fully used to it again. As you work more and more, your muscle tone will return and your cardio performance will improve.
STRETCH STRETCH STRETCH! you might think you stretch but you definitely aren't doing enough. and it does wonders for keeping your muscles working. Stretch before you start. Stretch during breaks. Stretch when you quit and when you get home too. Yes it looks goofy but IT WORKS. Keep that shit loose before it gets sore and cramped. Look up YouTube videos on proper stretches and focus on legs and back.
HYDRATE! You should be sucking water from a bottle constantly when sweating in a hot physical labor environment. You need to drink probably 3x or more your "normal" water intake, you should be peeing only light yellow on every break. You get dehydrated and you'll feel like shit.
- Stretching and drinking water are ABSOLUTELY essential. Make sure you stretch before your shift, a couple times during your shift, and after your shift. If you notice any particular muscle groups feeling sore or uncomfortable, Google stretches that target those areas.
  I worked in the receiving warehouse at Lowe's for a while and the manual labor resulted in a pretty intense adjustment period for my back and legs. But after learning some stretches that specifically targeted those muscles and doing them regularly I improved quickly. After a month or so I was pretty used to it (and shedding extra weight quickly, which also helped).

Seconding the recommendation to S T R E C H and hydrate yourself, aim for minimum every couple hours. This will help keep your body in shape for longer no matter whether you work at a desk, standing, walking around a warehouse, a kitchen, a school, jobsite, WFH or whatever you do.
- Yes please!
  Also warming up your body with a short 5-10 minute walk might help as well. I do this before working out to loosen up my muscles and it really does help.
  Personally, stretching, small amount of cardio, and hydration on three long life habits I never want lose
- I’ll definitely hydrate better. I might just try doing a good sip every top of the hour to make sure I get enough during my shift. Guess I need to do more stretches throughout the day though

How's your hydration? Poor hydration can lead to muscle cramping, among many other issues.

A lot of great advice in this thread.
Adding a note here about socks. Don't bother with Bombas. They are fine, but no better than other generic socks you will find out there. I was all in to the hype of them too but after using them for a few years i found they don't hold up any better than other socks. I wouldn't consider them an "investment".
Now, if you want to invest in a sock, consider getting Darn Tough. They are more expensive, however their wool and synthetic socks are pretty solid. I find they hold up way better than my Bombas ever did, are much more comfortable, moisture wicking of wool is very good and, best part, if they fall apart, wear down and get holes, Darn Tough will replace them. They will have you send them back and give you a credit to get a new pair. Full credit. It's fantastic. Highly recommend.
- I’d love some Darn tough socks too but they’re made of wool and I’m an ethical vegan so it’s pretty much out of the picture. I saw that they only had a few selections for synthetic socks 🥹
  
  Even the synthetic ones are great. Your options for colors are a bit more limited but the quality is still good. Would still recommend those over Bombas. I was disappointed in the Bombas quality and found myself having to buy them more often due to wearing down quickly.
  Ultimately I hope you can find what you need! All the best to you, friend!
- I recently started a similar service job and compression socks sold at outdoors stores do a great job at preventing the aching.

+1 for all the advice here, with one extra one: Make sure you're getting enough protein in your diet. Your muscles are getting torn up, and that's good - that'll make them grow back stronger! But only if you're getting enough protein to build them back. I boil up 6 of these guys at a time and pop two a day for breakfast for just a little extra protein: https://food52.com/recipes/35930-momofuku-s-soy-sauce-eggs
- As much as I’d love to have some soy sauce eggs, I unfortunately don’t consume eggs anymore. I’ll keep in mind to increase my protein though! That means more tofu soup in the morning :D

Placing orthotics bellow your arches is very harmful in the long term. In general you shouldn't prevent your foot doing what it is designed to do (big heel drops, fat soft shoe soles, orthotics) unless there is a problem (read injury) and only temporarily (until you recover). So are narrow toe-boxes in shoes, your toes should be able to move freely and naturally. If they can't, the restriction will create irreversible (read: even surgery won't completely fix what they cause) problems, that mess up all the bio-mechanics of the leg. I wish I knew this when I was younger, working 8-10-12 hour shifts (yeah, I know), as a waiter/barman.
Btw, it might sound counter-intuitive, but proper running, relaxed and a little each day (even as little as 10 minutes) can help getting your legs stronger, relieve stress, restore fascia (without stretching, static stretching never ever worked well for me) and keep it flexible and strong, reset nervous system firing patterns on your shoulders (moving your hands like you do in running with the proper form is way more effective than PT exercises like trap-3-raises for the traps) to counter balance the amount of time you spend looking down, help re-align your spine, and pretty much invigorate your whole body.
But most importantly, rest and eat well. This will be the defining factor on whether your body will adapt and get stronger or not, and how long it will need to do it. We are supposed to be standing all day (not facing downwards though), your feet shouldn't be the issue here, your neck & shoulders are the part that is assuming the unnatural positions for extended periods of time, so as often as you can break them and do some gentle full range of motion movements (a.k.a dynamic stretching) the better.
Regardless, good luck with your new job! :-)
- Is there a "barefoot" shoes community on here lol. Edit : I agree with you
  
  XD
  Don't think so.. I don't even wear shoes when I run anymore. Been letting the ground re-introduce proper running technique to my body and it's been doing wonders at that. I am approaching 40 and had begun to think I 'll never be able to run without pain again, before I tried tossing the shoes. Now I actually enjoy running.. I got some barefoot shoes, but I only wear them when I can't be without shoes at all.
- I unfortunately had a surgery a few years ago and I recently got bursitis on my right foot. The only relief was wearing the orthotics so I thought I’d benefit a lot from wearing them while standing long hours. I’ll look into better posture, dynamic stretching, and more you’ve mentioned below. Thank you!!
  
  Well I am not a doctor, things like my first comment is what I would say to myself if I could go back 20 years. It's been my experience that the more support my feet got from the shoes the weaker they became. Weakness traveled upwards until my hips started misbehaving. I mean, at some point it was painful to even walk without hip pain. But I wouldn't even recommend switching to barefoot shoes if you are using too much support at the moment. Yes, barefoot shoes enable the feet to get stronger (and function as they are supposed to), but it takes time to adjust. Wide toe-box though is important and carries no risk. What I will note, again from my personal experience, is that supportive shoes are useful only in cases of injury and should be temporary as they increase weaknesses (I tend to think of them the way I thought of casts used in bone fractures -the longer I used the support, the more work my muscles and fascia needed to recover). So, with that in mind
  I unfortunately had a surgery a few years ago and I recently got bursitis on my right foot.
  maybe consulting the doctor that diagnosed the bursitis, on what is needed to recover optimally would be a good place to start.
  As for posture, the thing is that our brain constantly re-aligns everything so we can keep functioning the best way possible even in non-optimal conditions (i.e. chair, or standing but looking down). And it's really a very complex sum of way too many details to consciously control. At least for me, even though I know quite a few things about proper posture. This is why a little time doing something repetitive like running, that requires good posture in order to run properly and without pain, creates a habit of standing better without thinking about it. Walking (with little or no support on the feet) can be a place to start after you recover. A nice walk can be stress relieving too!
  Dynamic stretching is nothing more than moving (as opposed to holding a lengthening position) certain parts of your body to the full range of motion, without placing load on the movement, slowly and slightly increasing the range in each repetition. If you want to try this, you 'll have to look for the movements that relieve tension created by assuming a certain position for a long time. Tension is created when muscle tissue is shortened for an extended period of time. For example, I bet you can feel some relief if you do 10 circles with your shoulders. Simple movements like this.
  Finally, I know that in the beginning it can already be too much to handle the load from the time spent at work. This will get easier, as long as you rest well and eat healthy, adequate, nutritious food. The rest of what I wrote, I wrote because you asked how you could get a more resilient body. It doesn't have to be at the same time with the initial adaptations to the new work environment ;-)

Stretch and do some light exercise right before you leave for work just to get the blood flowing. Take regular breaks just to stretch as well, and make sure to use as much of your breaks as possible off your feet. I've worked a few of these jobs and the worst thing you can do to yourself is ignore your breaks or even taking your breaks but not sitting down.
Make sure to get good sleep before your shifts and go to bed at a reasonable time. At the risk of accidentally sounding pro-capitalist here when I'm not trying, human bodies are actually uncommonly great at exercising and being on our feet for extended periods of time, so you should get used to it eventually. The first few weeks are definitely not going to be fun though.
- To add to this, I'd recommend practicing your deep squats. Squat deep and stay there. It'll build your leg endurance and becomes a great way to rest your legs.

I've been working in kitchens for about ten years. I was pretty much sedentary before I started too, and yeah, the first few weeks are the hardest, but you do get used to it. NGL it's hard work though. It's rough on your body, mind and soul. Good on you for taking steps now to look after yourself, I wish I had when I first started. Aside from @bermuda@beehaw.org's advice, here's some tips from an old line cook:
If there are rubber mats in your kitchen (this is OHS in some places), stay on them as much as possible. Aside from the non-slip aspect, the extra bit of cushioning is easier on your knees/ankles than tiles/concrete.
Other usual stuff like proper lifting technique.
If you're standing at a bench or grill for long periods try not to hunch over too much, it's easy to do if you're concentrating on what you're doing.
Alternate your posture by either bending your knees a little or spreading your legs a bit. Try not to stand flat footed for too long, and try to avoid keeping all your weight on one leg for long periods.
A good sharp knife that fits your hand along with proper cutting technique will save your wrists/shoulders from a lot of strain.
- I read your advice this morning and caught myself in bad posture several times today. Bending knees and feet apart were comfortable while doing all my prep work. I think I still need to work on my knife technique so I get a good use of my shoulders instead of depending on my wrist alone. I do always sharpen my knife though because nothing’s more frustrating than a dull knife. Thank you so much for this!
  
  Finally found it in my youtube history. Took ages because I was thinking of the wrong celebrity chef. It's a sponsored / marketing video but mostly educational.
  
  Good knife technique is in the wrist a lot, that's why you need a sharp one. I watched a video years ago by Heston Blumenthal that helped me heaps. I'll see if I can track it down for you.

sleep with wrist guards on. the kind with the metal plates in em, that keep your wrist tilted back a bit. both hands. uncomfortable at first but easily the best long term investment for your wrists you can make (this applies for your thumb too, it's all connected)
the fact your thumb is going numb is pretty worrisome. if you can, baby it in the shower hot water and massage it. or alternate running hot and cold water on it (4 min hot, 1 min cold). stretch it, your wrists, arms and shoulders (it's all connected). look up nerve glides and do those as well
i went to wrist pt for a while, this is all stuff i learned from it. hope it helps, seems like you're covered on feet/leg stuff
- Sleeping with wrist guards really does make a world of difference. And maybe there is some way to do the repetitive tasks in a more ergonomoc way? For example, I crocheted a couple of pieces for friends' weddings in quick succession out of very tiny yarn, and it destroyed my wrists for several weeks after. Turns out, I'd been holding my crochet hook in a really stress-inducing way; I had just never had a reason to question my form until it started causing a repetitive stress injury. By just changing the way I held the hook, I started to see improvement almost immediately.
  
  i actually dropped crochet because of the wrist issues (well, i got bored too, but still). do you happen to have a graphic of the different hand position you do for it? i dunno if i'll pick it back up, but i'm curious nonetheless

I dont know how old you are OP or in what good state of health you are, but assuming youre young and ablebodied it should get easier.
I worked fast food for years and while it was emotionally and physically draining to do more than 40 hours a week it became mostly second nature after a while.
I made friends and spent time with good people in my fastfood, including finding my future college roommate which admittedly helped change the trajectory of my life(I may not have gone to the uni I went to if I had to go alone). In a lot of ways I was the perfect age for it because a lot of my coworkers were people close to or around my age and it made the experience a bit more fun and the hard work of it all was a bonding experience that brought us together. Future jobs I would take didnt have that.
That said, get out as soon as you can. It's easy to let the fuzzy rose colored filter of time make it out to be good, but it was work. Long nights, long shifts, lots of angry mean customers, stupid workplace drama from people fighting for what little crumbs we got paid as shift and team leaders. It's unjust but I find that the more money that I make in progressively newer jobs the less I have to work. Believe me I understand leaving is easier said than done, and you only just started, but if you can get better reach for it and grab it.
I say this not to preach some bootstraps nonsense, but because fast food workers are underestimated. Good ones have to have strong customer service skills, thick skin, an ability to quickly learn and multitask, and the ability to quickly make and prep the food. I also mention this because it's easy, especially when youre tired from working your fast food hours, to get stuck. I myself worked that fast food for close to 5 years and I know others who are still working there all these years later.

Get a remote customer service position if possible. Better pay and they usually ship you the equipment.

I am in a similar position in my job. I am more of a farmhand, so I do a little bit of everything. I just cope with energy drinks lol. Maybe I should get some compression socks.

33 comments