One Year at Orangetheory Fitness (and Why I’ve Stuck With It Longer than Anything Else!)

I got an email on Tuesday celebrating my one year anniversary as an Orangetheory member. ONE FULL STINKIN’ YEAR!

This is HUGE for me because I’ve never stuck with a fitness regimen this long as an adult. In the last 11 years I’ve tried:

• regular big box gym memberships
• countless group fitness classes at aforementioned gyms
• working out on post for free
• personal training sessions
• hot yoga
• swimming
• Crossfit
• running routinely outside (including a ton of road races up to half marathons)
• home DVD plans
• and 9Round.

With the exception of 9Round, I never craved going to any of these. In fact, I usually dreaded going to all of them, but threw my workout clothes on anyway and went. I never regretted going, but getting out the door was hard.

But! But but but! Here me out. One thing I’ve learned about fitness is that the same thing doesn’t work for everybody. Everybody finds their “outlet”, their “therapy”, and their fulfillment from fitness via different sources. My dad and brother love running and always have. Jamie loves the solitude of creating his workouts and working out in our garage. My neighbor bestie works out every night after work with Beachbody DVDs and thoroughly enjoys it. My cousin could crush you in any Crossfit competition and couldn’t imagine her life without it. We are all soooo different when it comes to what works for us. So, definitely not knocking the above list. Just saying that those outlets SO did not work for me personally.

Anyway!

My former motivation…

My motivation for working out has always exclusively been to lose a few pounds, or occasionally I just felt like I “should” be working out because it’s the healthy thing to do. Unless I was combining a strict diet with my fitness though, I never saw any real, lasting changes. I would usually slack off with healthier eating first, and then slowly but surely my interest in whatever fitness I was doing would begin to fade as well.

When things turned a corner…

I joined 9Round in Kansas as soon as it opened at the end of 2017 as yet another attempt to try to enjoy fitness, and I was surprised by how much I loved it. It wouldn’t matter what we had going on on any given day; I made time to squeeze in a workout five days a week for four straight months.

I realized that the formula of the “boutique” gym was actually something I surprisingly enjoyed, so even though I didn’t enjoy the local 9Rounds here in north Alabama when we moved (the one in Manhattan, Kansas is hard to beat!), I was hopeful that I could quickly find something else to maintain my fitness high. I was so scared to lose the enjoyment of fitness that I had finally found for the first time in my whole life!

Why I tried Orangetheory…

I had tried out two 9Round gyms and my Orangetheory gym all within the first six days of arriving in Alabama and joined Orangetheory after the first class. I’m telling you – I KNOW myself and knew that if I took time away from working out that I would absolutely lose the love that I had found for fitness through my Kansas 9Round.

To be honest, I didn’t totally love Orangetheory at first because it all still felt very confusing to me, but I was hopeful that I could learn to love it like so many other people said they did.

After repeatedly going for a couple of months, I started to realize how much I was really enjoying being a member. I liked seeing the same friendly faces each morning, I liked the morning routine Jamie and I were falling into together, and I liked feeling like a stronger, healthier version of myself. I was running faster and stronger than I had in my whole life, and I was learning so much about weight lifting and strength training.

About weight loss…

I continued to weigh myself every day last spring and summer out of habit, and though I wasn’t losing weight working out at Orangetheory, I shocked myself by honest to goodness not really caring. I still wanted to go anyway! It was like I was finally realizing that there are other benefits to exercise (imagine that, Erica!), such as more energy, a better mood, better fitting clothing, and generally just being able to “live more” with my kids since I felt so much better physically. I also had a moment during a routine physical in August where the lady taking my vitals said “Wow, you must be really into fitness with a resting heart rate like this!” I freaking BEAMED and thought for the first time about how even though I wasn’t any slimmer on the scale, my insides were healthier. I never used to think about this. I don’t share that story to boast of course, but rather demonstrate my mindset and all that I have learned.

Then in September and October, I decided to clean up my eating to make it match the hard work I was putting in at the gym. In the first month I lost 7.4 pounds and so many inches! That really proved to me that slimming down is so, so, so much more about cleanier, healthier eating than it is busting your tail in the gym. But combining the two = GOLD. And I’m soooo glad I did this before I got preggo the end of October.

Why Orangetheory is my jam…

I’ve thought a lot about why Orangetheory works for me personally:

1. The 5 a.m. class fits into my life and my schedule perfectly (what else would I be doing at this hour?)
2. I can’t decide to sleep in and not go because I would have to pay a $12 late-cancel fee (Jamie would keeeeeell me, haha)
3. I don’t have to think about what to do in the gym. I just hop on a treadmill, rower, or weight station and do what the coaches say. It’s the only time of the day that I can zone out, forget my troubles, and better myself.
4. I never get bored because the workouts are so different every single day.
5. I like the community of coaches and friends that I have built and start most of my days with. Everyone is so nice, so driven, and generally just a great group of humans to be around. I think the hefty monthly fee is actually somewhat beneficial in this regard because nobody pays that kind of money to mess around, be a distraction, or not take that hour seriously.
6. While I’m not competitive with others, I am very much with myself, so I really enjoy pushing myself, watching the heart rate monitor screen, and breaking my own records.

Like I said earlier, Orangetheory won’t be the “end all be all” for everyone. While the formula works magic for me, it may not work for everybody for one reason or another. If you haven’t tried it, I’d encourage you to grab a willing friend so that you don’t have to go alone, sign up for a free class, and see what you think! It might just be the game changer you’ve been waiting for.

Let’s chat!

Have you tried Orangetheory? If so, what did you like or dislike about it?

Do you love another form of fitness? I would looooove to hear about it!

More:

Similarities and Differences Between 9Round and Orangetheory

FAQs about Orangetheory

What we actually wear to workout

Strengthening our marriage one workout at a time