Gyms & Showers

Yes, It would be unrealistic. Truck stops have free showers with fuel purchase. Make sure you get a rewards card at all major truck stops.

 

It won’t be easy finding a gym you can park at

 

Its not unrealistic, but as some people have said, parking will be the issue.

I say not unrealistic because on 2 or 3 occasions i was out of hours, had delivered at a place late in the day (5ish), parked there (reciever was a lowe's one time, think a farm and fleet another time, dont remember the other) and went and took a shower, then had dinner at a nearby restaurant (chilis, steakhouse)

What probably would be unrealistic is that you would be there often enough that it would be a really regular thing and that whatever chain you went with was going to regularly be an option for you. Each time i called em up amd asked for the manager, 2 of them, they just waived the fee, the other one charged me 9.50, which was still cheaper than most truck stop showers

 

You get free shower/ shower credits when you buy 50 gallons of diesel. TA/Petro you have to buy 60 gallons for free shower credits. You can pay cash $14 also or you your points.

Going to gym won't be easy. First you have find one you can even park at. Then you need the time off to go. Remember we have ELD no paper log books anymore. You will need time to driver after gym to get to truck stop. Plus find parking. We have a 14 hour day limit. If you start working or driving at 7am. You HAVE to stop the truck by 9pm.

You do have Personal Conveyance if company let you use that option. Dispatchers usually keep truck loaded and rolling. So not a lot of extra time to stop at gym. Plus you have loading and unloading time. They tell you when to pickup and delivery a load. It's your job to do it on time and legal. If a shipper takes 5 hours to load your truck. Your still expected to deliver ontime or what ever time you delivery appointment is. So depending on the load you might have time or not. Parking at truck stop is a problem of not enough parking available. Most drivers are always planning were to park vs going to gym. You need someplace to park for 10 hours at night plus still make pickup and delivery.

 

Certainly not at 2100. Plenty at 1500

 

Most truck stops have fast food. TA/Petro closed all their restaurants for covid-19 they are working on opening some again. All the truck stops have apps they tell you how many shower credits you have and how many showers are available or how many drivers are waiting for shower.

 

Now that the weather is warmer all you need is a pair of running shoes , maybe some resistance cables if you're into strength training. There's some trucking work out routines that you can actually do completely in your cab (assuming you're a solo driver ) just have to research online.

If you're not on some dedicated route where you know exactly where you'll be stopping going to the gym regularly is probably impossible. They're usually located right in the middle of cities that don't have good parking situations for 18 wheelers.

The thing that really sucks is our lifestyle really isn't suited for consistent exercise. Probably the reason you see so many out of shape drivers . You work 14 hr days with only 10 hr break. So if you're sleeping 8 of those you're cramming everything into 2 hrs of free time daily. Often times I'm so #### tired at the end of days I don't have the motivation to do it .

Best to go to sleep fairly early and wake up 1 hr before you go on duty and just do it before you even start driving .

 

The only way it would work is if you had a folding bike and parked at a truck stop close to the gym, but that would be a problem in winter. It seems that most truck stops are located on the edges and outside of cities, places where there probably won't be a gym. It just isn't realistic to plan on going consistently. Just a quick look on Google maps, I saw an Anytime Fitness down the road from the TA in Seymour, Indiana but that's an exception.

 

I've actually seen some people jogging around at truck stops occasionally but I'd strongly not recommend that with all the traffic. Some rest areas are nice with paths you can run or jog on but then again they don't have showers . Not ideal but I just wash up in my truck or in the bathroom if it's nice enough.