Bodies Built for the Branches

How Wellness Practices Keep Workers Aloft

Long hours, heavy lifting, and unpredictable conditions make tree work punishing – yet most workers approach their bodies with less planning than their gear bags. Sprains, fatigue, and dehydration cost workers time, comfort, and sometimes their careers. Thanks to emerging guidelines from those in the field, though, there is a surprisingly simple solution: better fueling and movement habits.

With small shifts in hydration, nutrition, and daily mobility, arborists can stay safer aloft, work longer with less pain, and protect the muscles that carry them into the canopy.

Here are the main components that industrial athletes should consider building into their daily routine to keep performing at the highest levels – figuratively and literally.

You Are What You Eat – and Drink

Nutrition

Proper nutrition is necessary for any athlete, and arborists are no different. A breakfast that includes protein, carbohydrates, and fats is an ideal way to fuel the body until the next meal, which in turn helps with muscle recovery after a long day.

While ideal, Bill Burley, owner and founder of Heli-Ax, North America’s only helicopter tree removal company, noted that most tree workers are cutting corners where their nutrition is concerned.

“The majority of the industry doesn’t eat well,” Burley said. “Most arborists are stopping at the gas station, or McDonald’s … you’re not stopping somewhere better.”

Burley attributes the nutritional gap to time – or lack thereof. He noted that most workers grab what they can because crews rarely have a free moment once they hit the job site.

“It’s not like they’re sitting there calorie-counting, making sure they get their 75 grams of protein … or the recommended 2.2 grams of protein per body pound,” he said.

Dave Hall, an occupational physiotherapist, agreed.

“When work makes them time-poor, [arborists] will tend to buy and consume food that is quick and easy to obtain, but not necessarily nutritious,” he said.

Ideally, according to Hall, an arborist’s diet should include “crunchy vegetables and salads” during the day, but those don’t always keep well in the summer months, nor are they easy to chow on during a quick break.

Hydration

Equally important, and largely ignored, is staying hydrated. When the body begins to signal that it’s thirsty, you’ve already reached the beginning stages of dehydration. The goal is to prevent getting thirsty by continuously drinking water – even when it feels like you don’t need it.

According to Hall, being dehydrated not only can affect you physically, but cognitively as well, which can be a distinct disadvantage for those working at heights. In later stages of dehydration, lightheadedness, nausea, and muscle weakness may come into play, adding unnecessary risk to an already dangerous job.

In addition to fueling muscles, brain function, and energy levels, water also dissipates lactic acid – a chemical your body produces when your cells break down carbohydrates for energy. Lactic acid build-up during the day can cause a burning sensation, fatigue, and pain, forcing you to slow down or stop as your muscles cannot function effectively.

“Hydration should be twenty-four-seven,” Burley stressed. “Drinking water throughout the day doesn’t happen as often as it should. When your body’s fatigued and you’re still trying to perform at the same level, something’s going to give, and it’s usually your awareness level. That’s when you’re going to have more injuries or accidents.”

To that end, adding electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and magnesium) can be critical to keeping your body functioning at its peak. Sports drinks such as Gatorade can be helpful in replacing electrolytes and providing carbohydrates, which will boost blood sugar levels and increase energy.

Supplements

Echoing her counterparts, Lisa Tadewaldt, founder and owner of Girl Boss at Urban Forest Pro, agreed that arborists often eat for convenience first, grabbing whatever quickly fuels the day’s workload. This can leave nutritional gaps that may impair the body’s ability to regulate temperature and recover.

Adding a daily multivitamin can serve as a simple insurance policy.

“A multivitamin is an easy, low-effort way to help close those gaps and support resilience in extreme conditions,” she explained.

Indulge – in Moderation

Eating well doesn’t mean (entirely) giving up your favorite snack cakes, drive-thru fries, or after-work twist-top. As with all things in life, it’s about balance and moderation, not perfection. So long as your body has the proper help it needs to keep you healthy and fueled for the day, there’s room for a treat or two.

Train Like an Athlete

While some arborists may not vocally consider themselves athletes, nearly every aspect of their job requires core work, upper body strength, and cardiovascular fitness.

Like proper nutrition and hydration, training and exercise play an essential role in keeping arborists safe and protecting the muscles that keep limber for the lumber.

And yet, many undertrain in general, but the core specifically.

“Overall, everything’s underworked,” Burley shared. “Stretching the obliques, stretching the traps, the rhombus, the scapula can make a huge difference.”

By definition, the core includes not only the deep muscles in the abdomen, but also the back and pelvis. All these areas help improve posture, assist with balance and movement, and prevent lower back pain. Hall noted that core stability training can be helpful for the muscles around the trunk and in the shoulder blade area.

“Arborists may not realize that core stabilizing muscles are really important for their safety and work performance and also injury prevention,” he said.

The reality is that any movement outside of work can help prevent injuries on the job.

“Everything from yoga all the way to weight training” as Burley put it. “Any aerobic exercises.”

Hall added that basic stretches before climbing — for the quads, the hamstrings, and the trunk muscles in particular — are a must before engaging in any climbing, rigging, or lifting activities.

Your Body Deserves a Break

Rest and Recovery

One of the most underutilized aspects to health and wellness is the role rest and recovery play in allowing the muscles to rebuild from the punishing work that arborists face day after day.

“I think doing some hamstring stretches and back stretches can really help to keep the spine and the hamstrings be more flexible which has a great effect over a long career,” Hall said.

Meanwhile, Tadewaldt is an advocate of heat therapy for recovery.

“There are countless techniques available, but heat consistently ranks as one of the most effective – and commonly used – among arborists,” she said.

This type of therapy can take many forms such as sauna, hot yoga, hot stone massage, heating pads, or even just a long, hot shower after a long day.

“Heat improves circulation, relaxes tight muscles, and helps flush metabolic waste, making it a practical, accessible recovery tool for anyone whose job demands intense physical output,” she added.

At the heart of it, downtime allows the body to refuel and rebuild its energy stores, preventing fatigue on the job.

Catch Some Z’s

Sleep is key for industrial athletes since this is when muscle tissue rebuilds and the body recovers. Without sleep, there can be physical and mental decline, as well as coordination and agility issues. Like other parts of the health and wellness wheel, however, many in the industry like to work hard and play harder.

“Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for all elements of health… You tend to make better decisions and have better physical performance when you’ve had good sleep,” Hall said.

Other effects of chronic sleep deprivation include poor concentration, impaired motor function, a decrease in coordination, and poor reaction time. In turn, this creates the possibility, if not likelihood, for an increased risk of an accident.

Treat Your Body Like Equipment

Treating your body like a piece of equipment begins with recognizing that your physical capacity is one of the most valuable tools you bring to the job. At the end of the day, it is about making small, sustainable changes and shifting the way you think about daily routines.

Pre-shift warm-ups become as essential as inspecting a rope or checking a saw. Intentional hydration, electrolyte intake, and meal planning function like proper fueling for a chipper or loader—preventing stalls, strain, and unnecessary wear. And evening recovery habits, from stretching to sleep hygiene, serve the same purpose as end-of-day maintenance on the tools you expect to last.

The message from emerging guidelines is clear: when arborists view themselves with the same care and attention they give their gear, they improve performance, reduce injuries, and extend the longevity of their careers. In many ways, teaching crews to think – and care for themselves – like athletes may be one of the industry’s most overlooked safety tools, and one of the simplest to implement.