Marathon Trucker
I am lucky. I get to discuss the industry with people inside and outside the industry. People outside the industry use me to help them, help truckers. They tend to have preconceived notions about truckers. The truth about truckers is that there is no absolute. We are diverse. I also get to debate with truckers who say that they don’t have the time to exercise regularly.
This week, I was answering questions from a health professional. She is about learning truckers’ lifestyles. Like many outsiders, she wants to help. You can’t help without understanding what we do. I was also having a discussion with some fellow trucker athletes. The truckers were telling me that it is hard to find the time to exercise more than once a week. The health professional was asking me about educating truckers. I am telling the health professional that we aren’t dumb. We know what to do. We just don’t do it. The truckers were proving my point. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not easy for truckers. That’s why it has to be a priority.
That is the problem. We need to make health a priority. The biggest false stereotype of truckers is that we are lazy. That is bull. The truth is that we work too hard. Work becomes our top priority. Don (Roadcookin’) Jacobson has a line. “We don’t have slave tattooed across our foreheads.” We should not have to eat with our fists all the time. Take the time to eat with a fork. Eat a salad. It doesn’t take much longer than getting that fast food meal to go. If the load was that important, they should have loaded it sooner.
We are legally bound to take a 10-hour break. Make time to exercise. Sometimes our priorities dictate that we do something else. The same thing holds true for our eating habits. Eating healthy should be a priority. Your health is more important than that load that was loaded late. That shipper did not make you a priority. Why should you make them a priority?
If you are too busy to exercise, then you are too busy. Cut something else out of your life. Nothing is more important than your health.
