Getting Fit at Orangetheory Fitness Santa Clarita!

Have you heard of Orangetheory Fitness? It is a workout studio that offers high energy, group fitness classes. I took several sessions at the Orangetheory Fitness studio over in Brentwood & immediately fell in love with the workout concept. I’ve been anxiously awaiting for an Orangetheory Fitness studio to open up closer to my home, so I was thrilled to hear that a new one opened up in Santa Clarita!

I consider myself an active person, taking Pilates & spin classes. However with my 10k race looming (I’m participating in a runDisney race in May), I made a decision to ramp up my workouts in a big way! The one hour Orangetheory Fitness treadmill workout combined with water rowing machine, TRX & weight lifting exercises was just the thing for me.

How Orangetheory works is that you are split into two groups at the beginning of class. Half of the class is on treadmills & the other half start on the water rowers or on floor exercises (weights or TRX). Personally I like to get my running out of the way, so I always do the treadmills first. My thought process is that if I start with do the heavy weights first, I might get too tired to run on the treadmill. Plus, I hate running – unless it’s for race bling (and even then) so I like to start with the thing I dread most. That’s just me though! 🙂

Depending on the workout of the day, we might do running drills for endurance (like that time we ran/jogged for 24 minutes straight) or do short bursts of “all out” & then a return to your “base pace.” If you attend an Orangetheory class, that is the lingo that they use – “base pace” for joggers is usually at a speed of 4.5-5.5 mpg & an incline of 1.0. During an “all out” for joggers, I’ll then bump it up to a speed of 5.5 or 6.0. At times the instructor will call out different inclines, but I always stay at 0.5 or 1.0 or no incline at all.

Bear in mind that I suffer from plantar fasciitis, something that I tell all of the instructors at the beginning of class. The instructors will ask at the top of the class if anyone has any injuries, so I’ll tell them about my issues. At that point, they’ll advise me to go at my own pace & not use the incline. My other option is to use this elliptical machine that they call “the glider.”

After about 24 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical, then it’s time to switch. The folks who did floor exercises now move to the treadmill & my group heads on over to the water rower.

In the workouts that I’ve done, we usually only workout on the water rower once during the class. They might ask us to do a 1000 meter row or some other sort of combo. At first, this machine was not my friend, in fact I had a love-hate feeling towards it! It’s gotten better thought & I think it has to do with my form & technique improving.

After we finish with the water rower, then it is time to move on to the weights/TRX portion of the class. The instructor always demonstrates the drills to us first. I’m a big fan of TRX because I like that we are using our own body weight & gravity in the exercise moves. The floor workout is great since we do deadlifts, squats & other exercises. Plus we’ll do planks & crunches on the BOSU ball that strengthen our core.

At Orangetheory, they are really good about motivating & giving you feedback. All of the instructors are awesome & of the ones that I’ve taken, Ethan is probably my favorite! He plays good music (reggae/island music during the cool downs) & his no-nonsense, yet encouraging style of training works best for me. Scott is tough, yet supportive & Sonia is great too – plus her French accent makes her exercise commands sound so cool! 🙂

But back to the feedback…one of the ways that Orangetheory Fitness gives you real time feedback is through the data that gather from the heart rate monitor that you strap around your chest. When you first try out the classes, you are given a heart rate monitor strap & shown how to put it on.

During the class your numbers are projected on the screens above the treadmill, your own personal leaderboard. That way you can tell how hard you are working out. Generally you are in the green zone for the majority of the time, but the idea is that you try to aim for 12-20 points (combined) within the orange & red zone. You are also automatically emailed the stats at the end of class!

Orangetheory is running an awesome “Get 3 FREE!” special! You can take three classes for free at the Orangetheory Fitness Santa Clarita studio. It’s a great deal & allows you to try it out before committing to a membership. Personally I liked it so much that I decided to join! For more info on Orangetheory Fitness (OTF), visit their website here & be sure to go to the OTF Santa Clarita Facebook page to get the phone number so that you can book your FREE 3!

Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for this post. I attended complimentary sessions at Orangetheory Fitness Santa Clarita which helped facilitate this review. All images & opinions are 100% my own.