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Truck driver Alan Larde is sick of hauling around a spare tire that is slowing down his rig.
A quarter-century of life on the highway has taken a physical toll on the man from Rockwood, Tenn.
“I’m overweight,” he said. “I’m concerned about my health. I really need to bring it in check.”
Gesturing to his mid-section, he can joke about how his load of unburned calories has shifted over the years. Humor aside, though, Larde knows too much risk is riding on his failure to change lanes. Both his parents died of cancer, and high blood pressure and heart disease run in his family.
He is hoping lessons learned from the Rolling Strong Driver Wellness Tour could put the brakes on health problems down the road.
But first the program needs some traction.
The tour made a stop Wednesday at the Flying J Travel Plaza on the Harrisburg Pike where Larde was taking a break from transporting a cargo of steel plates on a flatbed truck bound for Cleveland, Ohio.
Bob Perry is president and founder of Rolling Strong, a Las Vegas-based company dedicated to getting truckers healthy. Known as the “Trucker Trainer,” Perry is from a family of truckers who have been in the industry for 70 years.
Larde explained how truckers also have to deal with erratic sleep patterns along with stress brought on by weather, other drivers and the constant pressure of meeting tight delivery schedules. All this combined leads many truckers to be overweight and to have problems with blood sugar and high blood pressure.
“The average lifespan of a professional truck driver is 62 years old,” Perry said.
To symbolize hope for a longer lifespan, Perry is rolling a Goodyear truck tire seven miles at each of the nine national events Rolling Strong has planned this year for a total of 63 miles.
The Harrisburg Pike Flying J was the second stop in a tour that started in April and will continue through December. The tour includes destinations in Arizona, California, Indiana, Oregon and Florida.
Perry and other Rolling Strong trainers took drivers on 10-minute workouts Wednesday, using a truck as a fitness machine. All too often the only exercise truckers engage in routinely is using chains to secure the cargo they are hauling, Perry said.
Federal law requires truckers to work a maximum of 11 hours before resting for 10 hours straight. “By the time you come off your shift, you are too tired to do anything,” Larde said.
Exercises using big rigs include stepping up and down the cab of the truck, doing leg squats off the front bumper and walking laps around the tractor-trailer combination, Perry said. He added his company is working with Flying J to develop fitness centers at travel plazas that truckers could access during their downtime.
Truck driver Romero Harris of Chicago said he would use the fitness centers if they were available. “All of us are out of shape,” Harris said. “We’re just sitting there driving for hours.”
Larde knows of drivers who weigh in excess of 300 to 400 pounds and are so fatigued just getting in and out of their cab that they are no longer safe to drive.
“If you are overweight, you are more tired and less likely to pay attention,” he said.
He explained how insurance companies are coming down harder on trucking firms using the possibility of higher premiums as an incentive to get their drivers to lose weight.
“We need these men and women,” Perry said of truck drivers. “We need to give them resources to take care of themselves on the road. Everything we get from stores is brought in by trucks.”
Truck driver Alan Larde is sick of hauling around a spare tire that is slowing down his rig.
A quarter-century of life on the highway has taken a physical toll on the man from Rockwood, Tenn.
“I’m overweight,” he said. “I’m concerned about my health. I really need to bring it in check.”
Gesturing to his mid-section, he can joke about how his load of unburned calories has shifted over the years. Humor aside, though, Larde knows too much risk is riding on his failure to change lanes. Both his parents died of cancer, and high blood pressure and heart disease run in his family.
He is hoping lessons learned from the Rolling Strong Driver Wellness Tour could put the brakes on health problems down the road.
But first the program needs some traction.
The tour made a stop Wednesday at the Flying J Travel Plaza on the Harrisburg Pike where Larde was taking a break from transporting a cargo of steel plates on a flatbed truck bound for Cleveland, Ohio.
Bob Perry is president and founder of Rolling Strong, a Las Vegas-based company dedicated to getting truckers healthy. Known as the “Trucker Trainer,” Perry is from a family of truckers who have been in the industry for 70 years.
Raising awareness
One mission of Rolling Strong is to raise awareness of
health problems common among truckers brought on by a lack of exercise
and a poor diet that is heavy on fast food and high in carbohydrates,
Perry said.Larde explained how truckers also have to deal with erratic sleep patterns along with stress brought on by weather, other drivers and the constant pressure of meeting tight delivery schedules. All this combined leads many truckers to be overweight and to have problems with blood sugar and high blood pressure.
“The average lifespan of a professional truck driver is 62 years old,” Perry said.
To symbolize hope for a longer lifespan, Perry is rolling a Goodyear truck tire seven miles at each of the nine national events Rolling Strong has planned this year for a total of 63 miles.
The Harrisburg Pike Flying J was the second stop in a tour that started in April and will continue through December. The tour includes destinations in Arizona, California, Indiana, Oregon and Florida.
Perry and other Rolling Strong trainers took drivers on 10-minute workouts Wednesday, using a truck as a fitness machine. All too often the only exercise truckers engage in routinely is using chains to secure the cargo they are hauling, Perry said.
Federal law requires truckers to work a maximum of 11 hours before resting for 10 hours straight. “By the time you come off your shift, you are too tired to do anything,” Larde said.
Industry response
Even if the trucker is motivated to exercise, most truck
stops and travel plazas lack fitness centers, Larde said. “They don’t
have anything to do but go in and eat, maybe get a shower and watch TV
in the lounge.”Exercises using big rigs include stepping up and down the cab of the truck, doing leg squats off the front bumper and walking laps around the tractor-trailer combination, Perry said. He added his company is working with Flying J to develop fitness centers at travel plazas that truckers could access during their downtime.
Truck driver Romero Harris of Chicago said he would use the fitness centers if they were available. “All of us are out of shape,” Harris said. “We’re just sitting there driving for hours.”
Larde knows of drivers who weigh in excess of 300 to 400 pounds and are so fatigued just getting in and out of their cab that they are no longer safe to drive.
“If you are overweight, you are more tired and less likely to pay attention,” he said.
He explained how insurance companies are coming down harder on trucking firms using the possibility of higher premiums as an incentive to get their drivers to lose weight.
“We need these men and women,” Perry said of truck drivers. “We need to give them resources to take care of themselves on the road. Everything we get from stores is brought in by trucks.”
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