So in a bid to fulfill one of my 2015 goals right off of the bat, I tried not one, but two new workout classes last week. They were both awesome on their own. The not awesome part was that I did them back to back, so, as you can imagine, I am seriously feeling the burn.
The first new workout I tried was at Orange Theory Fitness. This is a one hour workout. What I loved about this, is that you show up, and someone tells you what to do the whole time. You switch between running on a treadmill (or power walking), rowing, and doing strength training exercises. If you are someone who gets bored with working out, this is really great because the intervals that you do never last more than a few minutes. (And since you are catching your breath the whole time, there is no chance of getting bored!)
The class is limited to about 20 people, and you all have heart rate monitors that track your stats on TV screens. Along with your heart rate, you can also see your stats of how long you are in each zone: blue, green, orange and red. Blue is essentially your normal zone, green is an active zone, orange is the ideal zone, and red means you are about to pass out. They want you to build a pyramid with your zones. Apparently there is a lot of science behind the workout – the amount of time you spend in the orange zone is the best, because it provides an after-burn of calories for hours. Check out how they explain it on their website, because they do a way better job than I do!
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The other workout that I tried was a bar class. Haha, just kidding…a barre class! Since I did dance as a kid, I thought easy peasy. But don’t be fooled ladies, this class is brutal! I felt the burn even more in this class than in Orange Theory (also probably because my muscles were so burned out). I took my class at Studio Barre and really loved it. Similar to Orange Theory, this workout keeps moving from thing to thing, so you don’t have time to zone out or get barred :)
Essentially they want to make you long and lean like a dancer – hey, sounds good to me! The first class here is free, so no commitment, although in my opinion, definitely worth it. The teacher was great – energetic and supportive – she kept the class moving and played great music.
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To be honest, I had gone in to each workout feeling optimistic but not necessarily excited. But I came out of the workouts feeling great! And I think that that is really the best thing. If you come out of a workout glowing (sweating), feeling like you are ready to conquer the day, and feeling strong, that’s a win in my book.