After weeks of deliberating (and procrastinating), I finally made an appointment for my first class at Orangetheory Fitness. I was nervous as I walked in the door. I had heard descriptions about the classes from running friends, but those stories didn’t really paint a full picture of it for me. I wanted to experience a class. After talking about my goals with a manager, I met with the trainer who would teach the class. She showed me how to use the equipment — I had never used a water rower — and demonstrated the exercises we would be doing for that class. It was overwhelming to hear the sets of workouts we would be doing. How would I keep up? And lucky for me, that day’s session was a power class that would be extra challenging. The trainer explained how the zones work and that the goal is to be in the orange zone (84 percent or higher of your max heart rate) for 12-20 minutes. That, according to Orangetheory, produces an “afterburn” effect, or an increased metabolic rate for 24 to 36 hours after the workout.
I started on the rower before moving to the floor for rounds of exercises using 10-pound dumbbells. We did lunges, incline chest presses with the TRX straps, crunches with leg lifts while holding a dumbbell, and lots more. My muscles were burning in no time. That was just the beginning of the Orangetheory class. Then it was time to move to the treadmills. We ran for .25 mile, rowed for 250 meters, did 10 squat jumps, then went back to the treadmill for .2 mile, rowed 150 m, and did 15 squat jumps. Next we ran .15 mile, rowed for 200 m and did 20 squat jumps. We repeated this as many times as we could within the allotted time.
The Orangetheory instructor led in stretching at the end of class. It was upward-facing dog variation to child’s pose, repeated, though no yoga names were used. We also did wide-legged folds and standing forward fold. I left the class having burned 617 calories, according to the heart-rate monitor they let me use.
I was impressed with the Orangetheory workout and can see how you’d get results. I woke up the next day with sore quads and glutes. Now I’m debating how often I want to go. Should I sign up for an Orangetheory membership?
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| Photos courtesy of Orangetheory. |
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| Photos courtesy of Orangetheory. |
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| Your heart rate information, calories, and points are shown on the big screen, along with how long the class has been in session. Photos courtesy of Orangetheory. |
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| TRX straps are often used in classes. Photos courtesy of Orangetheory. |
Have you tried Orangetheory Fitness? What did you think?