My First Orange Theory Fitness Class

The past few months I have been hearing a lot about Orange Theory Fitness, so last Friday afternoon I got online to sign up for a class (your first class is free!). When they called me to set up a date and time I decided to take an early afternoon class on Sunday. Sunday's are typically a very lazy day for me and I end up wanting to 'eat all the food!!!!' so this was a great way to get me out of the house and get me moving.


The theory behind Orange Theory is that it is a 60 minute workout that creates EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) which will allow you to continue burning calories for many hours after your workout. It's funny because I just studied EPOC last week while preparing for my AFAA Primary Group Exercise Certification!

After I arrived I filled out some paperwork, signed a waiver and I was given a heart rate strap to wear. Our trainer, Sarah, took me and one other first-timer into the studio to explain how things worked. Basically the workout is broken down into 3 parts: indoor rowing, weight room/resistance training, and treadmill work.




Once you strap on your heart rate monitor, your name and heart rate will be visible on many screens throughout the studio in real time. The color that correlates with your heart rate will change as you increase your effort starting at green, then orange and finally red. The goal is to spend 12-20 minutes in the orange zone which is 84-91% of your max heart rate. Hence the name, Orange Theory.

At the end of the class you are able to see an overall snapshot of your workout to see how you performed.


At the end of my workout you can see that my heart rate was at 62% of my max heart rate and I had burned 633 calories.


You are also able to see how many minutes were spent in each of the 5 heart rate zones. Ideally you want to see a pyramid structure, similar to what mine looked like.

Certain aspects were challenging for me (the treadmill work) and certain aspects could have been a bit more challenging for me (strength work). Overall, it was a great workout and it was nice to try something different and get active on a Sunday afternoon. I highly recommend that you check and see if Orange Theory has a location near you, and if so, sign up for a class and give it a try!

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