Yesterday, I hit a huge workout milestone. It’s something that I honestly didn’t know that I would get to, and I’m still a little surprised and in shock. Yesterday was my 1,000th Orangetheory class!
Because I track my workouts, I knew that this was coming up. I did only 3 workouts last week to make sure that my 1,000th class was in one of my regular classes (I’ll post more about my weird workout schedule in my recap on Monday). I wanted to have my milestone class be a class where I knew I’d have friends with me. While I’ve had other milestones with Orangetheory, this was one that seemed crazier to me for some reason.
I had been getting excited about this milestone for a while, and the staff at the studio knew what was coming up as well. But it still surprised me when I walked into the lobby and saw a giant sign congratulating me on doing 1,000 classes.
I’m not going to write about the workout much in this post since I’ll be doing that on Monday. But I want to share some of my thoughts after completing 1,000 classes.
I’ve said it before on here, but I had struggled in the past to find a workout that connected with me. There were other workouts that I tried that I just couldn’t do or coaches that treated me differently because of my size or medical conditions. I didn’t know it at the time, but I needed to find a place that treated me like everyone else but also helped me modify things when necessary. And when I walked in Orangetheory for the blogger preview, that’s exactly what I found. While I have been invited to check out other workout studios or classes, I’ve always compared it to Orangetheory and have always wanted to stick with it.
I started about 5 1/2 years ago and have consistently gone at least 3 times a week since I started. I started tracking how many workouts I did after a year or two so I could set goals for each year. But I also was able to track overall milestones. And I knew that getting to 1,000 classes was possible, but for some reason, I never thought too much about it until the beginning of this year when I started to add up how many I had done from every year.
I might not look different on the outside, but I know I am a different person than who I was when I started. I have gained so much confidence and awareness with my body. I feel more in control. I understand what I can push my body to do and what limitations I have. And I do think that I look a little different on the outside too because there is no question that I have gained muscle. Weight loss will hopefully come soon, but eating disorders are tough to beat and that’s a big issue for me with weight loss.
But I haven’t only made changes through the workouts directly. I have also made amazing friends from going to the same classes from week to week. I have brought friends and family to class with me and that’s been awesome too. I feel like it has helped me be a bit more outgoing being in class and the routine is a good thing for me (even though I did just complain a bit about being too much in a routine). I feel like I have more of a purpose each day and when I don’t get to work out it feels so odd to me.
I still don’t see myself as an athlete all the time because I know I don’t look like one. But after completing 1,000 classes, I think that I need to stop questioning that and believe that I truly am an athlete.
1,000 classes ago, I started a journey that I wasn’t aware was going to happen. So many things have happened for me because of taking that first class and I wouldn’t change it for anything. And next week, I start the journey of the next 1,000 classes and whatever that will bring my way.
Of course, I had to take a picture with some friends after my 1,000th class, and I wanted to compare it to the photo I took after my very first class. I feel like I look the same (which I’m trying not to focus on too much), but I also feel like you can see the difference in my eyes and smile. I have gained so much from these 1,000 classes and there’s no denying that.
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