OrangeTheory Fitness (or Pushing Myself)

This past weekend, I was invited to check out OrangeTheory Fitness. This chain has been around for a couple of years, but their first Los Angeles location is about to have their grand opening in a few days. So before the grand opening, a couple of us were invited to take a free class and see what OrangeTheory is all about.

The studio is in Brentwood, so it’s not super close to my house but not unreasonably far either. There’s valet parking in the building and OrangeTheory validates your parking so you get free valet for 90 minutes (the class is an hour long so you should be able to not have to pay at all to park)!

When I walked in to the lobby, I checked in and tried to get ready for a workout that I had no idea if I could do.

OrangeTheory is like group personal training. Each class is an hour-long and the class is split up into 2 groups. Each group does cardio and strength, but one group does cardio first and the other does strength first.

The group I was in started on the rowing machines. We did about 4 minutes of rowing (which I had only done maybe once or twice before in my life) and then we moved on to strength training. We used TRX suspension bands and did some squats and lunges. We were told what each exercise was and how many times to do each one, but the number of times we did the circuit was up to us. I made it through the circuit twice before we went back to the rowing machines.

Then it was about 5 minutes of rowing and we headed back over to the strength training area. We did some arms and shoulder exercises and then ended with some planks.

Then it was time for the groups to switch. My group moved on to the treadmills (the other group started on the treadmills and when we switched they did the workout that my group just finished). On the treadmills, you were given the option to run, jog, or power walk.

Of course, I went with power walking. You started at a base level and every couple of minutes you would push yourself. The runners and joggers went faster and the power walkers made the treadmills go up in incline. It was tough.

When the class was over, we all came together to stretch and cool down a bit. Then it was time for something that I found super cool.

Everyone in class wore a heart rate monitor. This is something that I’m used to, but I only really wear mine to tell me how many calories I burned in my workout. During the entire class, there were tv screens showing everyone’s heart rate. And the heart rates were divided into zones (basically easy effort, light effort, medium effort, tough effort, and maximum effort). The goal of the class was to spend a majority of the time in the medium and tough effort zone (the tough effort zone is the orange zone, hence the name OrangeTheory). I didn’t make it into the orange zone too much, but I did do a pretty awesome job.

I spent about 50 minutes of the class in the green, or medium effort zone. That is also known as the fat burning zone. So I pretty much spent the entire class burning fat.

That chart was also emailed to me so I could keep it for my records. And fortunately, the heart rate monitors we had to use in the class also tracked calories burned (at the front desk they got our age, height, and weight so the calorie burns are pretty accurate).

This class was extremely tough for me. My hips started to kill me toward the end but I burned so many calories in this class! And when it was done, I was absolutely dripping with sweat.

I’m thinking that I might add this into my workout routine. It’s very different from anything else I’m doing and it totally pushed me (just like how at SoulCycle I work harder than when I bike on my own).

The only downside right now is that I pushed myself so hard that my body is having a bit of a tough time recovering. This class was on Sunday morning and I’m writing this on Tuesday evening. My legs are still a little wobbly and very sore. I probably pushed myself too hard, but this proves to me that I need to be working harder.

They are offering free classes at OrangeTheory Fitness through this weekend (when the grand opening is happening). I encourage everyone to try to check it out! And once it’s open, there are options to buy various types of memberships and class packages. I’m seriously looking into what option is the best for me.

All I have to wait on now is for my soreness to go away so I can take another class!

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Going Orange Again (or Having A Successful Second Workout) Not Loving Early Workouts (or Trying My Best) Week 3 Of Orangetheory (or Pushing Myself Even In Extreme Pain) 4 Workout Week (or Getting Some Friends To Come Try Orangetheory) Orangetheory Week 4 (or I Can’t Believe I’m Halfway Done!) Getting Weighed In (or A New Orangetheory Challenge)