A few weeks ago, I wrote about my strength gaining goal and the issues I face with sticking to it. In sum, training is not the problem, it’s my lack of a caloric surplus.

After that post, I had a couple people reach out to me offering their help and support. One of those people is Tony Huynh, a personal trainer and owner of the site Good Guy Health. Tony has been extremely helpful by creating a solid nutrition plan and training routine. I urge you check out his site and reach out to him about your own fitness goals.

I did make changes to his original strength routine, but mainly because I have Avery in the garage with me and felt it might take too long for her patience to hold. That, and it gets hot fast in there, like our own personal sauna. Too bad we can’t control the heat, I literally have my shirt and shorts (even my socks) drenched in sweat after just 30 minutes!

Here’s my current routine:

Saturday and Sunday are rest days, but I always include some conditioning by running, swimming, or rowing. Nothing too extreme, but enough to get my fitness “fix”. I’m currently on the 85% week and will take it down a notch next week before increasing my RM (rep max) and going through the cycle again.

This, along with following the macro breakdown Tony setup for me, is yielding results. Nothing big (yet), but mainly b/c I’m still struggling with eating more than I’m used to and being less active than before.

For eating more, I’ve reduced the over-abundant amount of raw veggies I usually eat with more calorie dense foods like nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. Extra spoonfuls of NuttZo with Greek yogurt and cherries do the trick too, and I’ve been enjoying them daily!

I just have to be sneaky or Avery will go crazy and demand it all to herself!

Which leads me to why her crazy toddler temperament as of late just might help me with my strength/weight gaining goals. You see, I’m one to constantly keep pushing myself when working out despite what my mind and body is trying to tell me. This results in overdoing it most of the time, and therefore, burning those precious calories my body needs to use to grow.

Since Avery’s early onset of the terrible twos only seems to grow in intensity each day, her mood can change in an instant. And patience? Fogettaboutit!

Long gone are the days of quite little Avery hardly aware of her surroundings….

I love that picture. But her patience level has dropped dramatically in the past 2 weeks which means I need to get my lifts in and be done with it. No more messing around trying to think of some elaborate “finisher” to get that burning pump and sweat pool going on. As much as her fussiness has been driving me up the wall, I find the silver lining is possibly helping me on my journey to strength.

Time will tell, and then I’ll tell you, but hopefully I can look back and thank our crazy little girl for being, um….crazy.

Can you find the silver lining in your kid’s craziness?

Do you get a “free” sauna in your garage during the summer too?