I'm a construction worker in a skilled trade. We build power plants, you can imagine how heavy duty that is. As an example the other day I roped up heavy ass (80 pounds?) insulated box rib panels up about 8 stories or so all day on a pulley. Destroyed my arms, back and chest. I often spend the day climbing on scaffold ladders, lifting heavy material like I mentioned, sweating my ass off on an otherwise generally doing man things. Some days I spend the day leisurely doing pipe lagging.

I mostly work 50 hour weeks, so I've been doing long workouts where I destroy my whole body on Saturdays. Takes about 2 - 2.5 hours. I've seen some gains; I'm visibly more muscled and I have less fat since I eat low carb <100g per day since I tolerate carbs pretty well and get lots of protein from the high quality lunches I pack ( I live by several organic grocery stores where I source my grassfed beef and non-soy whey etc). It's slow going, but it IS working. For some reason my neck and shoulders respond extremely well to isometric hold shrugs and super-setting dumbbell bench has worked really well for my chest. I vary my workout often, but I always bench, squat, and curl. I only use dumbells (heavy ones) but I will by buying some barbell gear so I can dead-lift better and heavier. I try to take it easy on my back since it gets worked hard all day every day.

I'd like to optimize. It's hard to lift after work if I have to work the next day. I leave in the morning at 4, and don't get home til 6, which makes it hard to do anything more than shower, eat, relax for a second, fix breakfast and lunch, sex the wife, and then sleep. I won't sacrifice sleep to lift because it makes the job and my life miserable and I can literally feel the tole it takes on my T. Sacrificing sleep to lift isn't optimal since sleep is so needed for any decent gains. You must sleep well to do this job. I'm 28, 6'7 275 lbs, and I eat A LOT.

Should I keep going like this lifting once a week, since it's working okay, or should I break my workout up and lift less everyday? I don't ever feel too sore, since I've gotten used to everything hurting from the work. When I am laid off, I go on the standard 4 day a week workout until the next job.