having a job that involves physical stuff is great, provided they give you the stuff to protect your back and you actually use it. There's a lot of laborers that end up with chronic pain if they don't use some care. I worked some outdoor landscaping when I was younger as a job and that was a much better workout than I would ever get in a gym. There was this machine called a "ditch witch" that would dig straight lines in the ground for hiding cables or water pipes and this thing would jump like mad if you hit a stone. I've never found a forearm workout that can come even close to operating that machine for 20 minutes or so.