Your job can make you a strong man. Society in the modern age has made it less demanding for men to get the job done. Machinery, computers and other technology take most of the workload off of us. There are still thousands of us that work in jobs that make you a stronger man but that vast majority of young men do not work in these fields if at all.
A job that is physically demanding, has high danger risks and requires problem solving skills in harsh environments are perceived to be more manly than sitting at a desk in a climate controlled office. These jobs also require stronger and more resilient men to handle the conditions and tasks.
Think about it, who seems more manly and is probably a stronger person overall? The guy sitting behind a desk from 9 to 5 in an air conditioned office?
Or the guy who is stuck out in a dust storm in the desert taking gunfire and has to figure out how to save a hostage with getting himself, his co-workers or the hostage killed? Or the guy who is carrying 150 pounds of lumber and framing walls to a house out in the hot sun while it is 100 degrees out for 8 hours or more?
There is nothing wrong with an office job. Especially if it pays well because they are required for the world to function nowadays. They solve big problems and manage enormous amounts of people or money at some levels and are very important to the economy of the U.S.A. and the world.
Jobs at a desk are just not going to scream manly and strong and these jobs will not do much for you in regards to strength and all the benefits that come with it. Read this to see the many benefits of being strong.
Aside from deciding to leave my law enforcement job, I have always worked in the construction trades. I started as a young kid working in Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and Sheetmetal work. Then I went on to be a construction laborer and worked my way up become a carpenter. Mixed in there I spent some time in law enforcement but decided to leave the field. Now I work for a construction company building and remodeling homes. I do everything from carpentry to welding to operating heavy equipment. Rain or shine.
Lets look at what jobs and job industries are the most manly and how your job can make you a strong man.
Physically Demanding Jobs can Make you a Strong Man
Using your body to do hard labor for hours is challenging. It requires you to exert yourself to accomplish your job for hours on end. The construction trades are where I have most of my experience when it come to the most demanding jobs. Many of the most physically demanding jobs in the united states are one of the trades.
There are also other jobs like tree fallers, firefighters, mechanics, soldiers, etc. In order to be able to complete your job you have to at least be strong enough to do it in the first place.
The top physically demanding jobs in the U.S. are fitness trainers, athletes and sports competitors. That is kind of a no brainer. Dancers are actually the highest ranked as far as the most physically demanding jobs in the U.S.
Although, I won’t be directing my attention toward these top physically demanding careers. For one, I’m not a professional athlete or dancer. Secondly, if you are in these fields you probably have experience and training already and are well on your way to becoming stronger and are probably not the person reading this.
All of these other really demanding jobs and careers are by no means easy. You probably won’t become as rich and famous as a professional sports athlete, but they can make you a strong man. You will also become more capable of a man and will be able to do more with your skills.
Better yet, there is a demand for jobs like these. They require less schooling to obtain and can teach you valuable skills that will help you elsewhere in life. As you can see so far, your job can make you a strong man.
In no particular order, these are some of the top most physically demanding jobs and career fields in America. They require a lot of strength and stamina and are viewed as masculine jobs. Most of them are low tech and manual labor oriented. a lot of them are in construction.
The Business Insider used data from the Labor Department to rank the most physically demanding jobs in America. Here are some of the jobs that they listed no particular order.
The Construction Trades
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- Carpenters
- Stonemasons/Brick Masons/Marble and Tile Setters
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
- Rebar and Reinforcing Iron Workers
- Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
- Roofers/Roofing Helpers
Construction is where I have most of my working experience. I have worked on projects where I have played the role of all of the above position. I have had to do the work of all of the listed jobs above and still continue to this day.
I primarily do mostly carpentry work. Although, the company I work for tends to do most of the work on a job site ourselves before sub-contracting out to another company. They do the larger amounts of the corresponding work (electrical, plumbing, etc.).
For example, I recently had to build a staircase foundation and the staircase itself. I had to dig a large hole by hand, build the concrete forms and make up a rebar cage to reinforce the concrete. I then mixed 18 bags of concrete mix by hand to pour and finish the slab and stem walls. My co-workers and I then hung the large I-beam steel stair stringers (the main structural portion of the staircase where the steps rest on, weighing 660lbs a piece). After that we had to frame all of the steps. Next, we had to weld on all the handrail attachment points and build a concrete wall underneath the stairs for support. Lastly, we covered the stair stringers in sheet metal and applied waterproofing material before the plastering company could start to plaster the stairs.
We did this for 8 plus hours a day in temperatures ranging from the 40’s in the morning to the 80’s by the afternoons (sometimes over 100).
Just in that extremely brief description of this particular project, there are five of the top physically demanding jobs that were involved in this project on the current remodel I am on. My two coworkers and I did all of the work, we didn’t sub contract out to a concrete company, or a welding company or a structural steel company.
This is not a past example that I did years ago. This example I just described is a current project and the work I listed is what I’ve spent my day time on as of writing this article.
Being strong was required to accomplish these tasks. Digging a hole in the hot sun is taxing and hard. Mixing 18 separate 60-pound bags of concrete is pretty draining (and annoying if you have done it before). The structural steel stringers were 19 feet long and weighed around 660 pounds each (total overkill). Welding always comes with heat and burns. This one way and how your job can make you a strong man.
Furthermore, the point I am trying to make is that working in the construction trades is hard work. It is very physically demanding a lot of the time and puts you to the test on some days. There is a lot of problem solving and heavy lifting required in these fields as well. I know from experience. This is a great example of how your job can make you a strong man.
Other Jobs That Rank As The Most Demanding
The jobs listed below were others that are on the list of top ranked physically demanding jobs in America. These jobs can make you a strong man.
- Landscaping Workers
- Machine Installation, Maintenance and Repair Workers
- Tree Trimmers and Pruners
- Correctional Officers and Jailers
- Mining Roof Bolters
- Municipal Firefighters
- Forest Firefighters
- Tree Fallers
- Fitness Trainers
- Sports Competitors and Athletes
- Dancers
I have some experience doing work in a few of these areas. Enough to know that they are also extremely demanding.
It is pretty obvious that sports competitors, athletes and fitness trainers would be at the top of the list. They work out constantly for a living.
Dancers are the top ranked for the most physically demanding job in the U.S. as of the article written by the Business Insider. I am not a dancer and don’t really ever dance but I can see how it ranked at the top.
These are not the only jobs that can make you a strong man. They are just examples of some of the top ranked physically demanding according to data from the Labor Department.
There are others like military personnel, security contractors and law enforcement that I personally believe are extremely demanding and will make you a strong man. they were not listed in the list from the Business Insider for some reason.
Reasons your Job can Make you a strong Man
There are so many reasons to have a career that requires you to be stronger and one that is so physically demanding. It will make you happier, healthy and more fulfilled. You will feel more accomplished.
Most of the work I am referring to is located outdoors and men thrive out in the elements. Working outdoors is good for the soul.
A lot of the most demanding jobs have the gratification of seeing what you have accomplished. You see the physical progress of a day’s work and that is a satisfying feeling.
When you have a difficult job where you worked your ass off all week and see the results on Friday, you feel like you have earned the weekend. When you are off the clock and are relaxing or doing something enjoyable you can feel more at ease knowing you put in the work to earn that rest. For me, that has always been a good feeling. I have always hated the feeling of guilt for not having done anything productive or exhausting during the day.
On top of these reasons, there are others that add to the argument of having a more physically taxing job that can make you a strong man.
A Degree Requires Lots of Time and Sometimes Serious Debt
There has been a trend go to college, rack up debt through student loans and get a degree to eventually hope to obtain a high paying white-collar career.
While you can definitely make tons of money doing that. The problem is that there is rising student debt in the U.S. and they just can’t get a job because they either aren’t there in the first place or it’s not in their location.
Going to college for 4 years and getting a bachelor’s degree has some positives but the cost and time involved in attaining that degree demands a high price. Over half of bachelor’s degree students leave college with debt.
The average bachelor’s degree costs around $125,000 and even more if you factor in the interest on a student loan. Not to mention that you have to go to school for 4 years. That is 4 years of your life possibly out of town and away from family. You’re also not doing any work or making any money and probably are partying a lot.
I have heard countless stories of people going out to get degrees with random majors. They get into debt and just come back home and work for their father’s, uncle’s or friends company doing a job that didn’t require any degree in the first place. All of them said the same thing. They just couldn’t get a job in the field of study that they went for.
They went out to school at some college, racked up tens of thousands of dollars or more of debt and eventually never found work so they came home and starting working in some form of attainable work to pay off that debt.
So much wasted time that they could have spent learning new skills, making money and furthering their progression to more money and experience! IN the mean time these people could have become stronger men through a job that requires less to obtain.
Skilled Trades Offer Job Security
The world is full of so many different jobs.
With the online and tech industries booming there are so many new jobs that don’t require you to change out of your pajamas. Many require you to be inside and sit at a desk all day closed off in a cubicle.
Some of these are good paying jobs and are a great fit for some people. I say if the shoe fits then wear it. These types of jobs are a part of how the world works and it is not a bad thing to do white collar work.
Although these jobs are reliant on technology and they usually require a lot of schooling to get, IF you can land one.
Another big problem is that job security is somewhat of a myth in the economy nowadays within the industry. Jobs are being taken over by robots, computers and also being outsourced overseas.
Hard physical labor that goes hand in hand with the skilled trades and cannot be outsourced. The workers need to literally be hands-on at their place of work getting the job done. It is what keeps the world running, and I believe that most people forget about that.
The world might not always require big tech and information jobs from humans. Or jobs in customer service or even blogging, but it will ALWAYS need the skilled trades if humanity is to keep progressing or even maintain our current progress.
Think about what runs and fuels our society today. Strip away everything else and you are left with the power grids, roads and bridges, buildings and homes, vehicles of all kinds and so much more.
Our country and whole world would shatter and crumble if these jobs disappeared and could not be maintained. It would become like a post-apocalyptic movie.
The world will always have a need for mechanics, welders, carpenters, electricians, technicians and any other skilled trades job you can think of. They cannot be sent overseas for a cheaper cost or outsourced in any way. They are here and in high demand for that matter.
Despite popular belief, they can have high starting salaries comparable to white collar work as well. Another bonus to why having one of these hard jobs and how your job can make you a strong man.
There is a Demand for the Trades, A Demand for Strong Men
There are so many opportunities for jobs in the trades all over the country. The number of jobs available in blue collar work far outnumbers the number of skilled workers available to fill those openings. These jobs tend to be secure if you work well and there is such a high demand for them and that number is expected to grow. In a study published by The Conference Board the found different factors that attribute to the shortage of labor workers, the high demand for them and ways to solve the problem.
The study found that blue collar work has a lot of workers from the Baby Boomer generation. They are retiring by the masses and will continue to for the next decade. There are not enough men and women willing and able to join the manual labor work force so this adds to the high demand of these jobs. On top that there has not been an increase in the working-age population in America. So, with thousands of workers retiring, no rise in the number of workers and a minimal influx of workers into the workforce the demand has sky rocketed.
This has created a tighter labor market which has drawn in more workers into the labor force. The thing is there has not been enough workers coming in to stop the job market from tightening more and more. It is causing companies to have a difficult time with payroll, keeping workers and making profits. The incentives to attract workers (higher pay, benefits, etc.) strain these companies and it hasn’t brought in enough workers to turn it around. It is temporarily good for the worker that does work in the trades, but bad for the companies that hire.
In addition, young adult workers are more likely to pursue higher education and not likely to join the trades. The overall numbers of young adults with bachelor’s degree have grown and the number of young adults without one, which are typically blue-collar workers, has decreased. This means that the labor pool for blue collar work has decreased significantly. Companies can’t hire because there aren’t enough young, less educated workers who consider the trades or blue-collar work.
Furthermore, overall labor productivity has slowed, which creates a rapid need for more workers to meet the demands, tightening the labor markets. From 2010 to 2019, labor productivity in the nonfarm US business sector increased by 0.9 percent per year on average. That is compared to 2 to 3 percent annually in the decade prior to the Great Recession. So the productivity is definitely slowing in the non-farm business sector.
Manufacturing labor has been in a flat line, in terms of growth, compared to a 4 percent growth per year in the prior decades. This sparks a high demand for actual workers. Not to mention that the e-commerce surge has created a really high demand in blue collar work, especially in transportation and warehouse jobs.
The natural gas industry in the Midwest is booming as well.
There are jobs in the labor force out there and there is a high demand. The demand is there and that makes it easier to get so your job can make you a strong man.
High Demand Benefits the strong Worker but Hurts Companies
Wages are rising fast for new hires and blue-collar workers. Because of this, the labor market for jobs that do not require a college degree is tighter than for highly educated white-collar workers. For the first time in recorded history, wage growth for white collar (management and professional workers) is significantly lower than for blue collar workers. At the same time, rapid wage growth for newly hired workers is adding to large levels of pay compensation and higher labor turnover.
For the last 9 years straight job satisfaction has improved. This is due to plenty of job opportunities in the blue-collar sector and the rise in wages. Although, companies that are hiring are facing challenges hiring and keeping workers. With wages and job satisfaction on the rise, if more workers joined the workforce, we could turn this trend around, meet the demands of the country and get paid historically high wages in the process.
In addition, the dragged-out tight labor market has led to record low poverty rates among minorities because of higher wage gains.
Although, with this rapid growth in wages brings some challenges for companies that hire. Rapid wage growth has led to a higher number of new hires jumping from job to job to take advantage of the higher wages. The rates of workers choosing to quit is higher than it was back in 2007. Many companies are operating with unfilled positions and over stretched workforces.
Furthermore, as I mentioned above, companies are having a hard time hiring qualified workers for their respective positions. They then are hiring less qualified workers which overall lowers labor quality. This partially attributes to historically high levels of concern about labor quality nationwide.
All of these reasons combine to lessen the profits made by all of these companies. The corporate profits are reducing in the U.S. and it is because of the rising wages for workers, quitting rates, and lower productivity. This trend seems like it will continue on for years to come as the labor market keeps tightening.
Aside from the labor that makes you stronger, Higher income makes you more self-reliant. This is how your job can make you a strong man.
Tying It All Together, men in these jobs equals more strong men in the country
The country is facing a challenge in the manual labor industry and blue-collar work. There are not enough workers to fill the demands of the country and it is having a major effect on it.
For decades kids have been raised thinking that getting a higher education and avoiding manual labor jobs is the path to follow to become successful. Today younger adults are going to college and adding the nation’s extremely high student debt. They are getting an education in a very specialized major that may or may not be practical. As a result, they are not finding jobs. Also, a portion of these people are not finishing their degrees and end up staying at home and not working at all.
If they do finish their degree, only some of them go on to find a meaningful job, make a lot of money and make a difference in the country by working their ass of in that line of work.
The same could be said for someone on the other side of the coin but it isn’t quite the same amount of time or money lost.
Meanwhile, there are a very small number of young adults that get started in a blue-collar job and work their way up to make more money while contributing to fill the country’s need for these workers. Some are spending their time investing in a trade school to learn and gather the skills of a particular trade and doing it in half the time and cost of a bachelor’s degree. Then they get a job that helps the extremely high need for blue collar workers and receives a starting wage that is likely higher than a white-collar job wage.
At the end of the day there are some people who like working in the outdoors with their hands and there are some that find meaning in crunching numbers behind a computer. There isn’t one career path that is right or wrong. It is just my opinion that manually working hard with your hands out in the elements and exhausting yourself can make you a stronger man.
After highlighting the positives and negatives of the two types of work you can apply that to how it can make you a better and stronger man. It is ultimately your choice for the line of work that you go into. Any sort of work that provides, helps the collective and makes you happy is a successful career. If it challenges you, hardens you and makes you stronger that is a huge bonus and for me, that is something that I strive for.
We all have to go to work to pay the bills. Well, most of us do. Why not choose a career that has a demand for workers and also can teach you valuable skills that can be helpful in your own life while not at work?
I use my job skills and tools for so many personal projects. There is a huge amount of overlap and in the end, it saves me tons of money being able to do so much repair and work myself. Check out my other articles on how having skills like these can make you that much stronger of a man.
Read More:
Why Become a Stronger Man in 2021? (Free 7 Day Training Plan)
Proper Nutrition To Build Muscle and Lose Fat (An Ultimate Guide To Nutrition)
What Type of Training is Best for Me? (Free 7 day Strength Training Plan 2021).
