health

Why OrangeTheory is the perfect fitness program

Several of my husband’s co-workers have raved about Orange Theory for the last few years. I didn’t get the hype. What’s the big deal about a color-coded workout?

A lot, as it turns out.

I haven’t had a consistent fitness routine, or been in any sort of decent physical shape since before I had children. The fall of 2010, to be exact. I ran Hood to Coast, and it was amazing, and then my health dove off a cliff.

Since then, I’ve been a member of a gym more than I haven’t. I’ve had fits and starts, and fizzled out for a variety of reasons. I’ve lost weight and gained weight – but never gotten back to pre-baby weight.

This summer, it hit a breaking point, and I was (am) the heaviest I’ve ever been non-pregnant. Something had to give. Not only were my clothes tight, I just felt (feel) like crap.

I want to feel better. I want to be able to keep up with my kids. I need a fitness routine that fits my schedule and my mental capacity.

Somehow Orange Theory came up again, and since there’s one just down the street from my house, I decided to give it a try. They offer a free trial workout, and I dutifully got up at 5am to make it 30 minutes early to the 6am class for an orientation.

I loved it! I wasn’t sure about the cost – it’s pretty expensive. I knew I was traveling that month, so decided to wait until that was done, and to make an effort to get into an exercise routine on my own in the meantime. I also considered joining the local rec center, which is quite a bit cheaper even than the last gym I had belonged to. The routine didn’t work. And I never got around to joining the rec center.

About that time, my company announced that they were opening a corporate-subsidized Orange Theory gym on campus. Amazing! It was just the motivation I needed, with the added bonus of being quite a bit cheaper than the other Orange Theory.

It just opened up this month, and I took my first class opening day. I’m not far enough into it to say if it will be an unqualified success or not, but I do believe I have the highest chance of success with Orange Theory than with any other workout program – and that could be true for you also.

Orange Theory is the perfect workout for making it easier to get life and business done.

Four Reasons Orange Theory is a perfect workout

1. It requires zero mental effort.

Decision fatigue has derailed my workouts entirely too many times. Should I take that class at the gym? How do I decide which weight workout to do? Should I run intervals or go for distance on the treadmill? Should I also be using any of those other machines? What about that new, bright, shiny object?!

Orange Theory is a set workout that changes each day. Each workout is full body, and days focus on strength, endurance, etc. I may get bored with it, who knows. But for now, I simply show up at a scheduled time, do exactly what I’m told to do, and leave 60 minutes later with a solid full body cardio and weight workout. Done and done.

2. It costs money to not show up.

Similar to the mental energy required to decide what to do at the gym, it’s entirely too easy to talk yourself out of going in the first place. Orange Theory’s genius way to combat this is to charge you if you don’t show up and haven’t cancelled in the cancellation window (8 hours before the class time). If you’ve got a punch card-style pass, you use up a punch even if you don’t show up. And if you’re an unlimited monthly member, you’re charged $8 on top of your monthly membership fee for each class.

Given that it’s almost a budget-buster anyway, this is serious motivation. In fact, this morning I can guarantee that if I didn’t know I would be charged for not showing up, I would have skipped the workout.

3. Results are measured against your own fitness level, not anyone else’s.

Orange Theory’s whole methodology is based around how your personal heart rate corresponds to ideal zones for fitness. The goal is to be in the “orange zone” for at least 12-20 minutes per class. I’m currently averaging about 32 minutes in the orange zone per class, which means I’m working hard, ridiculously out of shape, or both. I am ridiculously out of shape, and there are plenty of times I’m on the slower end, if not the slowest, in the class. My competitive side can’t win competing against actual physical performance. But the way Orange Theory is structured, my competitive side can “win” at points, as the entire comparison is based on our own personal baselines.

4. “Exercise releases endorphins, and endorphins make you happy, and happy people don’t kill people.”

My most recent weight gain has been primarily a result of an incredible amount of stress eating. The last several months have been stressful in a way I only imagined I was stressed a year ago. And without fundamentally turning my life upside down, there’s no quick way out. Actually, even with turning my life upside down, there still isn’t a quick way out.

Who I recommend Orange Theory for:

Anyone who has some experience in a gym and lifting weights, but needs super clear motivation to stick to a fitness routine.

I don’t recommend that anyone who’s never lifted weights or spent time in a gym join Orange Theory. With 20 people per class in a fast-paced high-intensity class, the instructors simply aren’t able to give individualized attention to teach you how to do the exercises. They do a great job at giving brief overviews of each of the exercises and routines, and do spot check performance, but this is very much group instruction, not individual tutoring.

It is expensive. Quite a bit more expensive than simply belonging to any gym I’ve ever belonged to. But it’s much cheaper than paying for a personal trainer.

Does your workout reduce decision fatigue, reduce stress and motivate you to show up and push yourself to your absolute limits? If not, give Orange Theory a try!

(Orange Theory has no idea who I am beyond the direct payment I send them every month. This is an affiliate link, but I have no idea what sharing my affiliate link even gets me. I would have written every word exactly the same even without an affiliate link.)

How do you relieve stress? (plus four keys to getting stress levels under control)

By Sarah Leave a Comment

Last week was one of those weeks. You know, the ones where it seems like anything that can go wrong will.

There was nothing truly major; it was just one thing after another after another.

We had:

A stomach flu (which included a day out of daycare and parents trading off childcare based on who had meetings at what time)
A case of pink eye (which necessitated a first-thing-in-the-morning urgent care visit. Also, did you know that there are non-contagious strains of pink eye? Me either, but I sure was grateful mine was one of those!)
Forms, updates and billing challenges with health insurance, auto insurance, home insurance, and medical bills (with the usual array of endless paperwork, red tape and back-and-forth phone calls)
Signed papers for our new house, which officially closes next Tuesday (see: endless paperwork)
Then there were the Christmas parties (two one of us attended, two more that were skipped)
Normal home life (see: terrible two’s in full swing, and why didn’t anyone warn me that age four is harder than age two? Also, #kidsnotsleeping)
And slightly-busier-than-typical work weeks

On top of that there was the endless rain, and with it, the worse-than-normal traffic that I didn’t adequately prepare for. Then the fun experiences like calling an office that should have been open, only to find out they weren’t when I had planned around getting phone calls done in a certain time frame and other small annoyances that added up quickly.

Monday brought the greatest December 24-hour rainfall on record in Portland with 3.32 inches in a day. My attitude felt like the weather outside.

I’d love to say that I handled it all with grace and perspective.

I didn’t.

I found myself stressed, tense enough that I was feeling physical pain and grumpy angry enough that I wasn’t all that pleasant to be around (Sorry, Charles).

By about Wednesday, I was calm enough to think, “Hmm, I clearly can’t control how my week is going, but I need to get my stress levels under control regardless of the circumstances!”

Four Ways to Get Stress Levels Under Control

1. Acknowledge that it’s hard – without any caveats – and then move on.

Please tell me I’m not the only one that needs to start here. If I don’t acknowledge what’s difficult in my life, and attempt to go straight to “Well, others have it worse off,” I just get angrier. Especially if it’s someone else trying to rush me along. Don’t make me feel like what I’m experiencing isn’t real. Are there times I need to buck up and get over it? Of course. But typically in the middle of it isn’t the best time to address that.
Note: There’s a difference between acknowledging something is hard to yourself or another trusted person and whining, complaining or wallowing in it. Also, acknowledging your own hard doesn’t minimize anyone else’s hard.

2. Recognize what triggers you.

Take a step back and look at the big picture. What’s really stressing you out? There are some obvious stress triggers that affect most of us: lack of sleep, poor nutrition, money.

Then there are stressors that may be huge for one personality type and non-existent for others. Know your personality and recognize what triggers you – so that you can do something about it.

Time stresses me out. Being on time specifically. Being late due to traffic, poor planning on my part, toddler tantrums, meetings that started late, meetings that ended late, or any other reason makes my neck knot up faster than you can say, “Merry Christmas.” I know this about myself.

Knowing this doesn’t prevent the stress, but it does help me to plan around it. How much earlier should I plan to leave the house to account for traffic and kids? (Then take that buffer time estimate and double it). What meetings can I reschedule in anticipation of others running late?

3. Take a deep breath and cut out the non-essentials.

There were a few moments where there was nothing I could stop doing in that moment – but I could stop and take a few deep breaths.

Lack of sleep and lack of health meant my energy levels were low – and entirely used up on getting the essentials done. My eyes hurt, my body ached and I was exhausted. I let Charles take over as much of the home front as possible, let the laundry, dishes and emails pile up, and went to bed early.

The two Christmas parties that were skipped were work parties of mine. I would have liked to go, and it likely would have been good professionally to be there. But they weren’t essential.

4. Find reasons to be thankful.

There’s a reason gratitude journals are so popular – intentionally focusing on being thankful and positive works. It took me a day or two longer than it should have to get to this point, but it really is true. All of our health concerns are minor. We have insurance – of all kinds. The hospital bill is from an injury Charlie fully recovered from. I am fully recovered from the auto accident. We didn’t have any flooding with the major rains this week, and we each had at least one co-worker who did. I truly do have much to be thankful for.

How do you get your stress levels under control? Any additional tips for me?

That nagging task you’ve been putting off? Do it today.

By Sarah Leave a Comment

I put off making the call for months. This is entirely too common a habit of mine, particularly when it comes to phone calls. Can you relate?

A year and a half ago, my dental insurance changed and my current dentist was out of network.

I cancelled my appointment on the theory that I could find an in-network dentist and save money.

That’s logical, right?

I was quickly overwhelmed by the options, and didn’t take action.

Eventually, I was embarrassed that I had waited so long, so continued to avoid the issue.

I had endless internal, mental excuses.

And dread over how bad it was going to be.

And knowing that once I made the call, it would be a long wait to get in. I love my dentist, and apparently so do a LOT of other people.

I spent months with this weighing over my head. Endless questions, fears, doubts and thoughts looped through my head: Which dentist should I go to? How do I even pick a dentist? I can’t possibly go back to mine. I’m so embarrassed that it’s been so long. My teeth are so horrible. When am I going to find time to make the call?

One random September day, my boss was talking loudly in our open office area about needing to go to the dentist. She had also put it off, though not nearly as long as I did. I casually mentioned I hadn’t been in forever either.

I made a snap decision to just do it now. After all, if the boss is going to the dentist, that’s an easy way to say I need to take a longer lunch, or come in a bit late for the same thing.

I dialed the number so quickly that I didn’t have time for my typical phone call fear to set it.

Amazingly, there was an appointment available the next day. What?! Yes, I’ll take it.

The fact that the appointment was less than 24 hours later meant that I didn’t have time to build up (too much) dread about the appointment.

To my shock, it was a pleasant experience. Nobody said anything about how long it had been since I’d been in, or referenced how horrible my teeth were. It was just like any other dentist appointment. Perfectly neutral once I got up the courage to go.

As I was signing out and chatting with the receptionist about health insurance and how I almost didn’t come back because of it, she commented, “Nobody leaves Dr. Bletscher.”

She’s right. Why was I going to leave the one dentist I’ve ever semi-enjoyed when just the decision-making process for finding a new one meant that I would never actually get around to doing it. Besides, what’s more expensive – spending more on a cleaning, or major mouth issues because I didn’t go to any dentist for years?

My phone calls and the dentist are two areas I am prone to procrastination. What about you?

Today’s task:

Identify an area that you procrastinate in. Pick one nagging, lingering to-do. Go do it today! Then let me know how it went.

This post is part of 31 Timesaving Tools, Tips & Templates, read the rest of the series here.