No, not the juice!
Not the color!
The power of Orangetheory Fitness (OTF). 
My sister and I are vacationing in Hilton Head Island with our families (that’s 11 of us, by the way!). My sister has been going to her OTF in Haymarket (Virginia) and I’ve been intrigued ever since. Why? Because my sister loves HATES to exercise…so if she found something she enjoys…it’s a MUST that I go and experience the workout!! 😂. I didn’t even have to twist her arm to go workout!!!
The alarm went off…EARLY…and off we went to make the 6:15 am class. I actually prefer to workout in the morning because it’s done and one less thing to do for the day!
Since I was new to the gym, we arrived early to allow me to sign paperwork and obtain information on how the class ran during the 60 minute session. I was also fitted for the OTF heart rate monitor to utilize during the class. 
If you’ve never been in an Orangetheory class, you could be overwhelmed with all of the equipment. This ain’t your regular gym …..
Rows and ROWS of Water Rowers!!!!!
But trust me when I say, the instructor not only explains all about the equipment but leads the class with friendly prompts and reminders of what’s to coming next in the work out. 
I saw my name on the TV screen (AngieA.08) with everyone in the class but really didn’t understand until AJ explained it all.
Let’s chat about these heart rate monitors that you receive prior to the workout. The basis of OTF is to get you to work within the 5 Heart Rate Zones:
(Source : Orangetheory)
Zone 1 (Grey): Consistent with light activity
Zone 2 (Blue): Basically the Warm Up or Cool Down periods
Zone 3 (Green): They refer to this as “Base Pace” which a pace that you can maintain for 20-30 minutes
Zone 4 (Orange): This is the MONEY shot for OTF. This is where you burning the most and achieve the “Afterburn”/Orange Effect. Why is this important? If you maintain 12 minutes or more (in a 60 min class) to achieve the maximum caloric burn 36 hours AFTER the workout is completed.
Zone 5 (Red): usually seem in “All Out” effort ( 92% or greater of Max HR)
Obviousl the goal is to be in the Orange zone for the duration of the workout. Today was an Endurance workout which consisted of 3 blocks of treadmill work (including Base pace, Push pace and All out) and 3 blocks of floor work with the rower. The floor workout was 12/16/20 of :
- Jump overs
- Jumping squats
- Plank punch outs
- Sit ups
- TRX core
600 meter row after the round. After each round, decrease rowing by 100 meters.
Man…THAT was a workout!!!
Oh..but wait…there’s more! You get to earn Splat points! What’s that, you ask?? They are the amount of time that you spend in the Orange or Red zone. It is ideal to earn 12 Splat points per class. Until this was explained to me…I totally thought I was sucking at the OTF game!! 😂
Sorry, ErinW…but I earned 46 Splat points today! 😂. My sister was right under me at 44. #goGIRL
What’s that other stuff mean?
🔥 I burned 643 calories during this workout….that’s freaking incredible!
❤️My average heart rate was 167
❤️/❤️ Average maximum heart rate percentage
I survived!!! I mean…I didn’t think I was going to die, but I thought I was going to die!😂. I really enjoyed a different type of workout than what I’m used to…DREADmill and strength training. 
#BasePace #PushPace #AllOut
What did I think about it all?
Honestly, I figured since I come from a strong workout base that I was going to do fine; that maybe it wouldn’t be too overly challenging. It was a straight up CHALLENGE to get through the workout. This ain’t your Mama’s Jazzercise class! You will come here to WORK and work you shall do! Don’t ever underestimate the #powerofORANGE!
I can’t WAIT to get home and go to my local Orangetheory!!!! Thank you, HHI for welcoming this gal into the OTF family.
Have you tried Orangetheory before?
Your thoughts??
PS…this was me later on in the day at the pool….
Mom, Miles, and Mishaps...... 