Does Orangetheory Work? On Heartrate-based Workouts
Heartrate-based workouts are nothing new but there is a new gym chain in town that claims to have cracked the code. So I did some undercover investigation to get the goods on whether or not the theory behind Orangetheory is flawed or fit.
Brock Armstrong
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Does Orangetheory Work? On Heartrate-based Workouts
There is a new-ish chain of gyms popping up around the world called Orangetheory Fitness, and after hearing a few of the athletes I coach rave about it, I figured I should give it a try. Happily, they offer a free trial session, so I really had nothing to lose. Except for perhaps my fitness dignity. So, I put on my fake nose and moustache and headed to the Davie street location to experience it for myself.
Orange Endurance
The first class I attended was on a Thursday at 7:30 am. The staff informed me that today’s workout is called Orange Endurance and interestingly, everyone who happens to be in any Orangetheory Fitness location around the globe will be doing this same group endurance workout all day today. From Vancouver to Melbourne, Tampa to Seoul, Winchester to Lübeck, everyone is getting sweaty with the Orange Endurance workout.
This is how the workout went. After a three minute warm-up on the rowing machine:
Dumbbell Set
This set was a combo of:
- Step-ups (with dumbbells)
- Mountain climbers
- Lateral Raises
- Weighted bicycle crunch
- And a 600m effort on the Rowing Machine between each set.
TRX Set
This was a combo of:
- Chest Press
- Bicep Curl
- Lateral Pulldown
- Squat jumps
- With a 600m row between.
After that was done (approximately 26 minutes later) we moved over to the other part of the gym where the treadmills and rowing machines are.
Treadmill Set
The treadmill set was a descending duration of different paces. We did some easy pace (or baseline), some push pace, and a few all-out efforts, starting with 3-minute intervals and working our way down to 30 seconds intervals.
We finished the class with a 3-minute cool-down with a few more minutes of stretching at the end.
Orange Everest
My Second class was on a Tuesday at 7:30 am again (yes, I am a glutton for early morning punishment). They called this one the “Orange Everest” workout and they claim it is one of their most popular workouts.
This is how it goes. After a 3-5 minute warm-up on the treadmill:
We all started the 23 minute “Everest climb” at an incline of one percent and then we simply increased the incline by one percent every minute until we reached a challenging climb of 15 percent. During this, we were allowed to adjust our pace but we had to keep up with the incline that was being dictated and monitored by the coach.
After we spent one minute at the maximum of 15 percent incline, we started coming down the other side. When we reached the bottom we did one minute at the “push pace” and the final minute “all out.” Being someone who loves to kick at the end of a race, this is where I really shone. And when I say that I shone, I mean that I flung sweat in all directions.
Then we hustled (well, some of us hustled) over to the weight area of the gym and started the next phase of the workout which consisted of:
- Narrow Grip Dumbbell Bench Press
- Hammer Curls
- Seated overhead press to standing
- With a 250m Row between each set.
We did this four times through, with 12, 10, 8 and 6 reps.
Then we moved on to:
- Plank Dumbell Rows (on each side)
- Tricep Overhead Extension
- Supine Leg Lifts
This set we added reps instead of dropping them. We started at 6 reps, ended on 12 reps, and then collapsed. After a brief stretch and chat, we were sent on our way. Foolishly, I rode my bike to the gym, so my workout wasn’t done yet. Needless to say, it was a more leisurely ride home than usual.
What’s the Science?
Ok, enough reminiscing. Why did I decide to give Orangetheory Fitness a try now?
Well, after referencing a study done at the University of California that evaluated the effects of concurrent strength and aerobic endurance training on muscle strength and endurance, body composition, and flexibility in female college athletes, listener Erika wrote to me on Facebook and said, “I work out exclusively at Orange Theory and looooove it. Would you equate that workout to the one in the study that saw the crazy improvement in the various health metrics?”
I responded to Erika, saying “Sure… with a few caveats:”
- The lifting must be done at a high enough weight to reach muscle failure.
- The bursts of cardio must be short and very intense.
- The study only lasted 11 weeks. If the study had continued longer there definitely would have been diminished returns. Those kinds of results will not go on forever.
- The subjects in the study only did that workout 3 times per week so they allowed for adequate recovery.
- I also added that I had not been to Orangetheory but I promised that I would give it a try and let her know what I thought.
To find out more about that particular study’s outcome and how to combine (or not combine) cardio and resistance training, make sure you check out my article on whether to keep weights vs. cardio separate or combined.
What Makes Orangetheory Unique?
As I said before, every day Orangetheory gyms around the world (from New York to Kuwait) all do the same workout. Sometimes it is the Endurance Workout (like the one I did), or a strength workout, or straight up HIIT (high-intensity interval training). I have to admit that when I asked more specifically about the workouts they had planned for the remainder of the week, they seemed pretty cloak and dagger about it, so I didn’t push it. But that did make my coachie-senses tingle. If participants don’t know what type of workout they are in for, how can they plan correctly to achieve a specific fitness goal beyond “get in shape?” More on that later.
According to their website, “Orangetheory is a 1 hour, full body workout, focused on training Endurance, Strength and/or Power. We use Heart Rate Based Interval Training, which burns more calories post-workout than a traditional exercise. When wearing our Heart Rate monitors, your real-time results are displayed on large screens throughout the studio.”
They go on to talk about how intensity is based on your individual Heart Rate zones (which they calculate for you based on the extremely rough equation of 220 minus your age), which they claim makes the workout effective for all levels of fitness. This is something I only partially buy at this point, but having had my butt handed to me today, I can’t really complain.
The gym space itself is definitely one of the most high-tech exercise spaces I’ve ever been in! There is a TV screen above the treadmills that displays your name, heart rate, percentage of your max heart rate, calories burned, and “splat points” which we’ll talk about next. There are also TVs in the weight room that display the exercises and reps so you can reference them during your workout if you forget what the instructor demonstrated.
The “splat points” are awarded to you when you are in the Orange and Red heart rate zones and are particularly sought after by Orangetheory goers not only because we all love to gamify our workouts (and have a way to quantify our hard work) but also because of a thing called “afterburn.” The OTF folks refer to those zones as the afterburn zones based on the notion that when your heart rate is up to or over 85 percent of your maximum, you continue to burn calories for 24 to 36 hours after the class is over.
Afterburn or EPOC
Getting in the “orange zone” produces what exercise physiologists call the “EPOC” effect (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) AKA the afterburn.
Getting “splat points” for being in the orange zone produces what exercise physiologists call the “EPOC” effect (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), AKA the afterburn.
The suggested biological reason for EPOC is “to restore the body to its resting state and allow for physiological adaptations” which will help the body handle the exercise (or stress) more easily in the future.
EPOC is at its most powerful immediately after the exercise session but some studies have found that EPOC can last up to 24 hours. (I didn’t find any that indicated 36 hours like OTF claimed.) It should also be noted that other studies have found that it lasts much shorter than 24 hours. In fact, some found that EPOC lasts less than an hour in some cases. There are many reasons for this discrepancy (gender, genetics, body composition, fitness level, etc.) but the important part is that the jury is still out on how much benefit you actually get from EPOC, or the afterburn.
Other research suggests that not only the duration but the actual calorie-burning effect of EPOC is much smaller than advertised and probably makes only a minor dent in weight loss compared to the energy cost of the actual exercise itself. Unless the exercise is undertaken regularly which is when the EPOC would have a cumulative effect.
In one study they found that the amount of extra energy burned during EPOC is only about 6-15% as much as is used during the exercise itself. So, 20 rounds of 1-minute running intervals performed at 105% of VO2max (which is an effort that we refer to as very, very uncomfortable), separated by 2 minutes of rest, burned an average of 537 calories during exercise, but only an extra 64 calories in the 9 hours after the session. Insert sad trombone sound.
The Downsides of Orangetheory
Now back to why my coachie-sense was tingling when I found out that the workouts are kept secret (unless you discover the Subreddit group that is devoted to sharing the workouts as they happen across the timezones). I generally coach people for specific events like 10k Road Races, Marathons, Triathlons, or Fitness Model Competitions. All of these require that we do at least 90% sport specific, periodized, and specifically targeted workouts.
For example, I am currently training myself for a triathlon. Had I known that we were doing the Orange Everest workout on Tuesday, I would not have crushed a bike-swim-bike workout the day before. And I would have planned a recovery day for Wednesday. As it was, I am a little more worn out than I wanted to be at this point in the week. and my inner coach is not happy with my inner athlete.
I should add that when I brought this clandestine point up with the fine fellow working at the front counter of my local Orangetheory, he did assure me that if I was to call them the day before and explain my dilemma, they would indeed reveal what the workout was going to be the next day. Call me lazy but that seems a little cumbersome. Based on that, I will dissuade my clients from using Orangetheory on a regular basis especially at key moments during our training blocks.
The other issue I had with the theory behind Orangetheory was this idea of using heart rate as a measure of your success at the workout. As I pointed out earlier, the equation of 220 minus your age does give a rough estimate of your maximum heart rate from which you can calculate your Heart Rate Zones, but this only goes so far for us fit folks. Many of us have resting heart rates that are considerably lower than the general public. According to the Mayo Clinic, a normal heart rate is 60-100 beats per minute. But mine can get down into the forties when I am sitting comfortably reading a book and this has an effect on my maximum heart rate.
If you are working toward a very specific fitness goal, there are some monkey wrenches in the Orangethery experience.
I have also been a runner long enough that I knew instinctively to shorten my stride and increase my cadence when we set our treadmills above a 10 percent incline during the Orange Everest workout. This technique results in more efficient hill climbing and thus a lower heart rate. So I was awarded a measly 12 “splat points” after what I considered to be a killer workout. Not because I wasn’t pushing myself but because I am efficient and a life-long mover.
Again, I should add that the fine fellow at the front desk did assure me that if I came to them with the results of Lactate Threshold or VO2 Max test, they would adjust my zones to match what the tests indicated. That is cool and gracious of them but similar to having to call them the day before a workout to see how I should plan around it, I think I would rather just workout on my own.
The Bottom Line on Orangetheory
In the end, anyone who is interested in a killer, fun, full-body workout, in a high-tech setting, that does a good job at gamifying the gym experience, this would be a great fit for you. I actually walked away describing Orangetheory as Crossfit, minus the “Bro.” For someone like Erika, who sparked this entire adventure, that is likely perfect and will help her reach her general fitness and fat loss goals. Especially when I consider how hard it is to get anyone to say, and I quote, “I looooove” a workout.
On the other hand, if you are working toward a very specific fitness goal, race, or event, there are just enough monkey wrenches in the Orangethery experience to make Orangetheory not worth the (not small) cost per workout. So for now, I will see you in the pool, bike path, running track, and gym.
For more gym trend info, the latest workout tips, and to join the theoretical conversation, head over to Facebook.com/GetFitGuy or twitter.com/getfitguy. Also don’t forget to subscribe to the Get-Fit Guy podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play or via RSSopens XML file .
About the Author
Brock Armstrong was the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast between 2017 and 2021. He is a certified AFLCA Group Fitness Leader with a designation in Portable Equipment, NCCP and CAC Triathlon Coach, and a TnT certified run coach. He is also on the board of advisors for the Primal Health Coach Institute and a guest faculty member of the Human Potential Institute.