Has anyone tried Orange Theory?

[Sancho]

Lreidgreen, How did it go ?

[lreidgreen]

I liked it! It was a "power" workout so not much time on the strider or rower. I found the weights easy(ish) but I went a bit light because I didn't know what to expect. The strider tension adjust was like a joystick and a pain to use but otherwise liked it. I was only 9 minutes in the orange/red zone and I am pretty sure most of it was on the strider. I was dying on there! Seriously the endurance days are going to stink although I am sure my time in the zone will go up.
The instructor was very good, showed me the ropes, checked in on me regularly and was very engaging. She was impressed with my form and level of fitness for my age.

So I am thinking this would be great during the summer because I hate walking in the heat. And the bugs, ugh. However the new place isn't open until late August early Sept. If I can't start the pre-opening special to use at another location during the summer, I might just buy a 10 class package to use before the local place opens. The problem is, the closest places (4 of them) are all about 38 minutes from where I live, one is closer to where I work. I need to figure out the logistics but I think I will cave on this.

BTW, my calves have been REALLY sore and now my quads are starting to feel it too.

[sherry7899]

Leslie- I think they opened one on Route One in the shopping center with Wegmans/Target.

[wishiwasinhawaii]

There is an OT very close to where I live. I never paid much attention to it until I read this thread, but now I'm intrigued. I don't understand the heart rate thing though. Are you in competition with others to have a certain heart rate or is that just displayed to motivate you?

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by sherry7899

Leslie- I think they opened one on Route One in the shopping center with Wegmans/Target.

That is the one I went to the other day. I picked that one to try out because it was the closest one to where I work. The ones closest to where I live are 40minutes away (according to Google Maps) Doylestown, Newtown, Bedminster, Princeton.

I don't know how I am going to fit this into my schedule until the one near me opens. If I go to the Princeton one I would rather go on days I work so I can do other things on my days off. But that means either going very early in the morning (which isn't happening) or at 6:45 PM which is later than I would like. I would have to stay later at work and that would mean cutting into family time. I will look at the Bedminster schedules and see what I can work out.

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by wishiwasinhawaii

There is an OT very close to where I live. I never paid much attention to it until I read this thread, but now I'm intrigued. I don't understand the heart rate thing though. Are you in competition with others to have a certain heart rate or is that just displayed to motivate you?

Your target heart rate is individualized. The monitor is programmed for your age as your maximum heart rate is 220-age. You are striving to reach a certain percentage of your maximum depending on the exercise and type of workout for the day. It is displayed on a screen in colors. So the goal is to be in the orange zone or red zone for 12-20 minutes during the 1 hour workout. This does not have to be consecutive minutes. In fact because it is basically HIIT your heart rate is supposed to vary and will vary according to the activity and pace which the instructor will cue you to reach.
I forget exactly what percentage of your maximum the orange zone is but I think it is in the 80-85% range.
There are certain types of workouts: Strength, endurance and Power. My understanding of this is the following:

For strength the floor work is high weight low reps and the cardio is a lot of hills, so slower pace.
Endurance workouts are low weight high reps for the floor work and longer bouts on the treadmill/rower.
Power I am not sure exactly what the goal is but when I was there we did shorter periods of high intensity work on the rowers and treadmills (I used a strider instead of a treadmill) and a lot of weight work that had some plyometric moves. I started with the weight work and we did as many circuits of 4 or 5 exercises in a given rep range that we could do in a certain amount of time. Then we had a second circuit with different exercises set up the same way-4 exercise done one after the other in X minutes. Then I went to the strider for a certain distance, got off to do X number of reps of a strength move (bent over one arm rows) and then back to the strider. I think there were 3-4 rounds of this. The same set up for rowing. We had to do a certain distance then a strength move then back to the rower for about 4 rounds.

The class is broken up so some start on rowers, some on treadmills and others on floor then everyone switches when they are done with a given set of exercises.

[Daphne M]

Piping up to join the others who've been going for a while. I usually go 2x a week. I'm addicted! I broke my ankle a couple of months ago and am thrilled to finally be back at Orangetheory. (Monday was my first day back.)

On the three parts of the class:

• The treadmill is never dull. Good tunes and constant changes in pace keep it interesting.
• Rower is great. It is hard! And I love that it's usually interspersed with plyometrics or a set of weighted exercises.
• Floor exercises -- sometimes I think they're easy but other days I am d-y-i-n-g. Usually when they string a lot of TRX and upper body exercises together it gets to me.

They are always mixing things up.

[Daphne M]

Originally Posted by wishiwasinhawaii

Are you in competition with others to have a certain heart rate or is that just displayed to motivate you?

It's a motivational tool and a way to have constant feedback on whether you're achieving your target goals. I think they want you to get 20 minutes in the two toughest zones, but no one is grading you or really cares -- it's all about what you want.

[Sancho]

Originally Posted by Daphne M

It's a motivational tool and a way to have constant feedback on whether you're achieving your target goals. I think they want you to get 20 minutes in the two toughest zones, but no one is grading you or really cares -- it's all about what you want.

I know having your HR up on a screen sounds intimidating, but you can't compare yourself to other people's numbers. It's all relative with age, gender, weight, fitness level, etc. So another persons numbers are really just gibberish. Besides, everyone is working way to hard to pay any attention to anyone else's stats but their own.

It is very much a non competitive environment. Some people are running, some are jogging, many are walking. It doesn't matter, as long as you are challenging yourself.

[bee]

Originally Posted by Sancho

It is very much a non competitive environment. Some people are running, some are jogging, many are walking. It doesn't matter, as long as you are challenging yourself.

I think it may depend on the Orange Theory you attend, and perhaps even which class at the location you attend. As with anything, there are sometimes nice, supportive people who make it awesome, but there can also be that group of competitive moms who make it intimidating. YMMV -- give it a try and see which "flavor" of Orange you find.