WORKOUT REVIEW: ORANGE THEORY FITNESS

Not sure if the universe conspired to remind me to Health Away while we were taking the elevator up to Indulge Away in hotpot at Causeway Bay two weekends ago, but it was in the 30 seconds then that I discovered a floor labeled Orange Theory Fitness in the same building.

I've heard so much about Orange Theory classes, mostly from my stateside friends, many of whom swear by it as the only workout regime they need. So why not try it out, I reckoned, and convince my fellow hotpotter, Rach, to come along too?

In a nutshell, Orange Theory classes involve a heart-rate-monitored full body workout that focuses on the afterburn, or what is more scientifically known as EPOC — excess post-exercise energy consumption. 

Its official website says:
"Backed by the science of EPOC, Orangetheory’s heart rate monitored training is designed to maintain a target zone that stimulates metabolism and increases energy. We call it the afterburn. Our members burn an estimated 500 to 1,000 calories in 60 minutes. And keep burning calories for up to 36 hours." 

I hear they have over 900 branches all over the US now and have also opened their doors in global cities like London and Singapore. In Hong Kong, the sales rep we spoke to informed us they have plans to open at least 2 more branches in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui in the near future. 

Other than what the website said about EPOC and a full body workout, we didn't have much other information to prepare us for what to expect, so we pretty much rocked up clueless to what was an extremely well-kept and modern gym. It was NICE! Where everything was orange, bien sûr.

We had been told to arrive 30 minutes before the class started since it was our first time, and were given a quick tour of the place and introduced to George, our coach for the class. He took us into the space and explained how the class would be laid out, getting us familiar with the water rower (my first time on the contraption, which is very different from the regular ERG we usually use) and the treadmill settings. This was great as first-timers can sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the foreign equipment at a new gym, especially when the machines here are wayyyyy up there on the high-tech charts. 

We were also given heart rate monitors to put on, with our weight and height information programmed in to give accurate calorie burn levels. 

George also explained that the goal was to enter the orange and red zones for at least 15 minutes out of the 60-minute class.

So, on to the class. After our first-timer run-through, we had to wait outside the class room. We noticed a couple of ladies who had started stretching on their own outside and assumed (rightly) that there would be no warm-up incorporated into the workout, so we did the same. on our own. 

Class started very much with the same fanfare as Barry's Bootcamp (just without the illusion that you're entering a dark cave with neon laser lights, but more like a very orange box) — with high fives to the coach and a run-in not unlike that done by soccer players at the World Cup.

I kid. (Maybe they do this at Barry's, but this was a lot more subdued, thankfully)

The workout was split into two stations: treadmill and weights. You start off in one station and then do a switcheroo in between. Our hour-long workout saw us at each station twice. 

I really liked the treadmill portion. This might actually be the BEST treadmill I've ever run on  — extremely light on the joints, and it was very easy to control speeds and inclines. The machine was also super fast to react to speed changes, with none of the clunking choke that sometimes makes you feel like you might fly off as the speed gets altered. I also loved that there was a fan function built in that kept us feeling a lot more comfortable during the run intervals, especially when we were told to go up to 14-15km/hour during the All-Out phase. 

I didn't find the weights portion particularly engaging, as the coach demonstrates the movements once, and then after that you just rely on images on a TV screen to remind you of what it should look like. Maybe it's because we're so used to our Perform coaches really engaging with us, pushing us on and correcting our form during class, that this felt a little strange and detached. 

It was also slightly challenging trying to hear the coach give instructions over the loud, pulsating music.

The hardest part of the entire workout was this section that had us do partner work, with one on the rower and the other doing jumping overhead jacks with a medicine ball. We had to do 10 freaking rounds of this and by the end of it, I was one sweaty mess. It was a good stretch that pushed us to our limits, and I really liked it.

One thing that happened during the workout was that the heart-rate monitor they gave me stopped working. It would basically just keep stating that I was in the blue and green zones at either 62% or 75% work levels, and never change from that. So it was a little more challenging to stay motivated to push harder to get myself into the orange and red burn zones, since nothing was showing up on the screen. My total calorie burn was also not accurate at the end of the workout as a result. 

We ended off with a 5-minute cool-down, and then a short debrief by George for Rach and I. That's a nice touch — to summarize the workout for us and what went on, as well as to give us some pointers on how we could improve and the things that he observed. For instance, he said he noticed my base run speed actually should have been higher than the 8.5km/hour that I had used, according to how he had seen me run. 

All in all, it was a really fun experience and I'm glad we tried it out. It probably won't be a regular thing for me because the focus on strength training and hypertrophy isn't really at the front of center of the Orange Theory workouts, with HIIT being the mainstay here. I also personally like more engagement from coaches during classes and always find myself pushing harder when I'm being challenged and engaged with constantly. But it definitely is a fantastic workout and I'd be game to give it a go during my HIIT/cardio days!

Orangetheory Fitness (Hong Kong)
23/F, Soundwill Plaza II - Midtown, 1 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay
T: +852-5804-9081