I'm sure you've seen or heard about Orange Theory Fitness. They seem to be popping up everywhere lately. But just what is it all about? I went on Tuesday to the Jasper Gates location off Stony Plain road and 149 street and checked out a class.
I went in the week before to check their schedule and sign up for a class and she told me I had to be there 30 minutes before class for orientation. Since I was in a time crunch she let me fill out the form ahead of time and only come 15 minutes earlier then class.
I got a walk through of the space and quick meet up with the trainer before class. They went over everything I would need to know in order to be effective without stopping the workout to much, which is great to be able to just do my thing!
The space
The workout room is kind of cool with the orange lights. Definetly a different experience from a traditional gym light. The music was upbeat and fun and the trainer was that hard to find balance of perky, motivating and not irritating. (As someone who instructs fitness it's really a hard balance to find!)
The workout
It was a great workout for sure. I enjoyed that it was a group thing but you were able to really individually push yourself, especially since you wear a heart rate monitor. The monitor is then put on the screen and you can see what zone you are at any given time. The idea being you spend most of your time in the hard work but not dying "orange zone" or recovery "green zone. That's the THEORY anyways..... see what I did there?
K kidding aside though. We did some strength training and rowing and then switched and did cardio on the treadmills half way through. The strength training was a tad easy for me, but you can add more weights to moves making them harder for sure. I suppose you want to reserve some energy for the rest of class too!
The cardio was good. I like they give variations for those who wish to be more power walkers and those more into running. I noticed they even had a few bikes and an eliptical for those who have knee/ankles issues or whatever.
