What’s up, fellow Obsessives?

Hell Week is just six days away! Like last year, my plan is to take all eight classes and rate/rank each of them at the end. It’s a demanding challenge, but a fun one.

This year, I’m also adding a challenge of my own.

A lot of you told me during the reader survey that you’d be willing to help support OTF Obsessed and help cover the cost of putting it out each week. So for the next two weeks, running right through Hell Week, I’m holding the first-ever OTF Obsessed Pledge Drive.

Producing this newsletter by myself costs around $2,500 a year, and I just got a letter that my hosting costs are going up even more. I make a little from ads, but not enough, and my employment situation the past year has made it more of a burden. My goal is to cover a little more of that cost with some help from the community.

I’ve come up with two ways to support:

This isn’t a subscription. No recurring payments or auto-renewals. Anyone who signs up will get an ad-free newsletter, a supporter badge at the top and some other perks I’ll be rolling out throughout the year.

I understand if you can’t chip in right now, because money is tight for a lot of people. Every issue will keep landing in your inbox, and forwarding this to a few friends from your studio helps just as much.

Thanks in advance and let’s see how this goes!

— Kevin

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There are weeks where everything lines up perfectly for your Orangetheory workouts.

And there are weeks where they do not.

I think the mark of a true OTF Obsessive is how you respond to your routine getting broken and how you fight through to get your workouts done anyway.

I’m writing this because I just had one of those weeks.

The Easy Way Out

Early Monday morning, my daughter woke up with nightmares. Then she woke up again. And again. There was no actual sleep happening on my end, so by the time my 4 am alarm went off, I knew there was no way I’d be able to stay awake through a workout.

So I did what I usually refuse to do and ate the late cancel fee. I always say to “never miss a Monday,” but I knew sleep was more important at that point.

Bouncing Back

When your week starts with a missed class and a fee, it’s really tempting to write the whole thing off. Well, the routine’s already broken. I’ll just start fresh next Monday.

I’ve done it before in my eight years of attending Orangetheory. Maybe you have, too. One bad or busy day turning into one bad or busy week is how a lot of people fall out of the habit entirely.

But while I’d have to catch up on sleep by punting a few of my 5 am classes, I also knew I needed the workouts.

Plan B

So instead of writing everything off, I moved things around and knocked out three classes in unusual time slots. I took classes with coaches I don’t normally see, and one even joked she didn’t know it was possible for me to work out when “it was light out.” It all felt a little off at first, like sitting in someone else’s seat at the dinner table.

But I got my workouts in.

And then on Thursday, the 12-minute run benchmark came around. Running on short sleep and a scrambled schedule, I finished third in my age bracket.

It felt like a perfect reward for bouncing back.

Figure It Out

I decided to write about this because I was thinking a lot about my week during the long tread block. Many of us are attracted to Orangetheory because of the “show up and do what you’re told” aspect of the workouts. But that downplays how getting past life’s obstacles and into the studio is far from automatic.

And look, in the whole scheme of things, my obstacle was relatively minor. There are plenty of Obsessives who get workouts done in between caring for a sick family member, outrageous demands from work and who knows what else.

The common thread is that we find a way to show up. When our weeks go sideways, we don’t scrap them. We adjust and find a way to get in what we can.

I’m glad I did this week, and you will be, too, the next time it happens to you.

Reflection Point: What’s the toughest week you’ve powered through at OTF? How did you get through it? How did that make you feel?

Congrats to longtime OTF Obsessed reader Missy D. for hitting class 700 on a challenging Hyrox class (Phase 4, Week 4)! And then for taking first in her age category for the 12-minute run this past week.

"The best piece of advice given by Coach Danielle was ‘Embrace the suck!’” Missy writes. “60 broad jump burpees before 7 am … why not? I didn’t die but came close as evidenced by the red zone!”

Have a milestone, PR or big win to celebrate with everyone else? Hit me up at [email protected] to share!

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Note: OTF Obsessed is an independent fan-created newsletter and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially associated with Orangetheory Fitness.