I work in the maritime industry for a living, often times I'm gone for months at a time, my fitness quest has been an endless back and forth of being dyel then working my way back to what I'm satisfied with just for it to all come crumbling down. I love my job, it's comfy, and I get paid very well but it's gotten to the point where I contemplate going back to being a land based wagecuck so I can have more consistency in the gym. It's a moronic idea that I'm playing with I know, but does anyone here have any similar problem where you're constantly gone from the gym?
I’m a merchant mariner too. Been sailing on my license for almost 7 years now. I’ve come to the realization that this lifestyle is not healthy for me. It’s a fun job and killer money but I’m also getting tired of leaving home for 3-4 months at a time. Trying to get my chief eng license then coming ashore. I’ve done a few short term land jobs here and there and the regular schedule allows me to be so much healthier, both with diet and exercise.
How's the pay?
This. Also curious. Is it actually good pay or just good pay because you're stuck on a boat half the year with have nothing to spend it on?
maritime engi here. chief mate. dont you guys have a gym in the ship? even the oldest rustbuckets got something going. even if not you can just talk with captain and owner, buy a barbel and some plates to donate them to the gym.
theres a problem to be sure but this is exaggerated only because of trying to super optimize a program. saying, if you're laser focused on program, sets and numbers to the fraction you're rip. me, I just focus on what I can do. for example if there was nothing but only the barbel and some weights I bought over and cardio, I focus on them, do ohp, curls, rdl, so on, 6 month later when Im off I hit the gym and switch up to focus more on the stuff I couldnt play with, like cables, bench or such. In my experience you dont loose much, maybe like 10-20% of your max in 5-6 months of doing nothing, It bounces back quick when you start hitting the gym again.
for the engineers hows easily breaking 6 figures in 6 months work / 6 months leave sound? and yes plus you dont have anywhere to spend in while working so you get off the ship with a boatload of $ in your pocket. lot of sailors from other less fortunate countries fill the ships because they get to earn like 10 times what you could earn back on land.
>for the engineers hows easily breaking 6 figures in 6 months work / 6 months leave sound?
Not bad a alternative for college/military age guys but it's not worth it to be away from family for such long periods. Can just as easily make that much with a couple years exp in basically any profession at home and still get to frick your wife at night.
>it's not worth it to be away
depends. if thats a big downside for you, obv its not for you. ask me if I want to work on settled wage hours every week day or a 6m/6m split, Ill pick the ship.
but also a common routine is people work on seas for a few years, secure a lot of money and switch to cushy lower pay stuff on land as de facto retirement, with the security of keeping your papers active in pocket to hit up another trip or two if you need more money. this also makes it easy to get a job on a ship when you need it, not too much competition, which also keep prices up.
idk what country you are from, but richer it is least worth it becomes. however idk where you could easily access a stay at home job w 10-20k monthly. you sure cant do it here. maybe very specific high end niche positions? also in comparison, if you achieve high end positions in maritime, namely some specific cruise ships or dangerous rigs that require more licenses, you can expect a couple times more the pay.
I'm an AB tankerman on an ATB, basically just a big push boat with rams connected to the back of a 600 ft barge making one big unit.
I get paid 570 a day every day I work which is every other month.
Funny how this stuff work. If you divide your daily pay by your waking hours it's like 35/hr. Which is similar to what a lot of trades average out to when you take overtime/travel into account. Also very similar to what I made in commission sales when you divided my income by hours "worked". It seems like there's a hard cutoff somewhere just above this range that's super hard to break through but tons of opportunities at this pay grade with strange scheduling/pay structures that make it seem like the money is crazier than it is.
Hmb
Just changed your life
Do you do calisthenics? If you are it seems weird that you would lose it all so fast. Especially if you're doing manual labour. The only time I was away from the gym for a prolonged period was lockdown so I guess I wouldn't know. I'm curious cause I love the ocean and considered a career as a deckhand but I know I'd have to give up a lot for it.
I do calisthenics and there's some gym equipment but it's not enough. The labor isn't too intensive as most of the time we're underway. It's the hours that make it hard.
is there any chance you could bring some adjustable dumbbells with you on da boat?
Get yourself a 24kg kettlebell or two, and crush shirtless workouts with that on the deck. You'll be a salty seaman in no time.
Jokes aside, it will help you maintain the gains until you can get back into the gym.
I wish I could hear that legend say that joke. I can hear it in my head though so that’ll have to do
Why does that sound like EXACTLY something Gilbert Gottfried would say?
Because it's in all caps
Isn't it hanged?
it's a double entendre
I know that
my autism just makes me notice the grammatical error
Does your boat have no gym? I hate the fricking boat I work on tbh. 120' fricking beer can tossing and turning everywhere all the time.
T. Diver
I got an adjustable bench, adjustable dumbbells, a pull up bar, bike, and all the other equipment is gay, resistant bands and fan row machines etc.
It's hard with the schedule and sometimes I have to share my stateroom.
Copy. Hope it works out well for you anon. If it were me I'd just spam calisthenics when I could. You can do a lot with just that bench, dumbbells, pushup variations and pull up bar. Maybe just make the volume sporadic for when you have a free moment here or there. Better than nothing.
I got my MMC but no one will hire me or even an interview. The only endorsements are OS/Steward/Wiper. It seems that these companies only hire if you are in a maritime union. What am I doing wrong?
I had a hard time getting hired too. I started off doing tugboat work, then hopped onto an ibu tug company.
If you're trying to get into deep draft on the West Coast I hear the SIU tries to get piney point AB gays mostly. But deep draft isn't my field.