It seems like every week, there are positive steps that seem to be bringing us closer and closer to whatever normal is. The new CDC guidelines for people who are fully vaccinated are showing us more about what is safe to do. And now, more counties in California are moving into a less restrictive tier. As of today, Los Angeles County is out of the purple tier (which is the most restrictive) and we are in the red tier. This means more things can open, including gyms! Right now, there isn’t a reopening plan for Orangetheory yet, but I hope that it comes soon!
But I’m getting excited for things to maybe be opening soon and that’s also bringing up a few nerves about how I’m going to do when I am able to go back, whether that is doing an outdoor workout or an in-studio one. I’m trying to focus on the positives more than the fears or the negative, but it’s not always easy. But I also won’t let fears stop me. So I am continuing my workouts each week and not giving up.
And this past week, 3 of my 4 workouts were what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks. I did the strength-based, weightlifting workout without worrying too much about cardio. I know it’s not the best workout I can do, but it’s one of the less frustrating ones I can do on my own. And I know that this isn’t a forever thing, so I’m not worrying too much about missing cardio.
But on Friday, I got to do a really special workout. The Orangetheory studios in LA are now doing OTF Live classes! These are virtual workouts that are coached live. It’s similar to what I was doing with the Zoom workouts. But OTF Live workouts aren’t over Zoom, so they can have more on the screen than just the video. On the top of the screen was the graphic/video showing what exercise we were doing. On one side of the screen was the coach and on the other side of the screen was my heart rate information. And at the bottom of the screen, we could see the videos of other people in the class. You had the option to make your video private to just the coach or it could be seen by everyone. I made mine able to be seen by all.
The class on Friday was coached by Coach Michael, who wasn’t one of my regular coaches but who I had as a coach several times in the past. So it was awesome to get to see him again. And while the actual workout didn’t have all the elements of an in-studio class, it was much closer to a class than a lot of workouts I’ve done lately. I would say it was between an in-studio class and the videos that OTF has been putting out on the app.
There’s no doubt in my mind that one of the things I’ve been missing about my workouts has been the live coaching. I can’t do the workouts on my own. And even if I was working out with others, there’s something about being coached that is different. And even if I’m not getting any specific coaching, having some guidance and encouragement is more than feeling like I’m on my own.
And I have to say that it was a tough workout! I think I might have overdone things a bit. There were a lot of squats in the workout and I was already dealing with hip pain. I tried to push through when I could, but the next day I was feeling the soreness and had to be very careful with what I did over the weekend.
And of course, I had to take a celebratory photo after the workout was done. My last in-studio workout was 363 days before my first OTF Live workout. As of today, I’m a year past my last studio workout. But having my first OTF Live workout was something to be proud of!
My plan for what I’m going to do for the next few weeks is still a bit up in the air. I think I’m going to try to do at least a few OTF Live workouts this week. But because of the times they are available, I’m not sure which days I can do them. And if I want to continue doing them, I do need to find out about restarting my membership. I know that they are doing a membership that is good for both the Live and Outdoor workouts, I just need to find out more about them. And like I mentioned, things are starting to open up and I’ll be considered fully vaccinated in about 3 weeks. So the next few weeks might be changing often. But my goal is still going to be to continue to do 4 workouts a week.
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