39M, 1.94m, 88kg, no idea on belly fat, but I’m athletic. I lift 3x a week since I was about 16 non-stop, 82.5kg BP, 102kg squat, 97 deadlift. Married 10 years with 3 boys. Sex is 3 to 4 times a week, not quite with the enthusiasm and drive as I’d like.

To the point, I go to the gym in morning, 5:30 AM, I sail on Sundays from 10:30 to 6. Morning are my domain. The wife will sleep until 8am every morning, I give kids breakfast at most because fuck if I’m going to get them dressed for her to sleep in longer.

I’ve had a tough but good year at work, got an unprecedented bonus at work (cap was 20%, but a select few of us got 40%), so this year I’ve bought a new fridge, upgraded the car (previous one was deemed a total loss due to hail damage, but insurance paid), bought her a new surf board for her birthday. I work full time for a multinational, she works part time with a business partner.

So she’s been getting enthusiastic about surfing again, started jogging and working out during the week in the morning, working around my gym schedule. Yesterday she comes up and says she wants to surf one more morning, and that I should drop one of my gym days given I sail all Sunday. My reaction is fuck no, I go to the gym 3 times a week.

Now I’ve been negotiating with hard-nose contractors all day long and had no more fucks to give. But I like that she’s getting more active, and enjoying doing exercise in the morning.

I see this as a compliance test. It seems like this is because of the sudden influx of new stuff, leading her to test if I’m a beta-bux. To me hard no is the way to go.

That said, I do see value in her being more self-motivated and being more physical. I recon if she asks nicely (rather than demanding as if I were some bitch), I might be willing to change one of my workouts to after kids are in bed. I would add the caveat that if she starts missing her wakeups because the surf is not good enough, or she’s gone to bed too late, I’m back on the morning schedule.

Men of TRP, give me your thoughts.