Orangetheory Fitness is as good as it gets. I came out here to work out because the studio was…read morewalking distance from my apartment, so it was very convenient location wise. All the staff members are super nice, and have greeted me by my first name when I would come in to work out. All the coaches have been very helpful, motivating, and peppy (even for those early 5AM sessions), and they play really cool upbeat music. Musical genres depends on who is coaching that day! I was mostly impressed with all the coaches checking on me and everyone else individually to make sure we were exercising the proper form and technique when it came to weight lifting, TRX, and rowing portion of the work outs. That is crucial to getting most out of a work out and preventing injuries.
I LOVE the heart rate monitor system they use to track how hard you are working. To simplify my explanation to a newbie, there is a "Resting," "Working Hard," and a "Pushing Yourself" heart rate that's color coded as blue, green, and orange, respectively on a big television screen. The screen displays the heart rates of every student presently working out. Your goal is to get 12 "Pushing Yourself" points. hence, the signature "Orange Splat Point" logo part of the franchise. They provide everyone your choice of a chest strap or a watch for purchase to use during the class, and it's yours to keep. I've used them both, but I'd recommend the watch because it picks up your heart rate faster. The chest strap I found was more inconvenient and annoying to try to find the "perfect spot" to wear. It would be 20 minutes into the work out before the chest strap senses heart rate.
For those curious about Orangetheory, you can try out your first class for free, and then decide from there. I personally signed up for the unlimited classes per month package, which was approximately $150 a month. That may sound expensive, but if I were to get my own personal trainer, that in itself would have been 70$-100$ per session. So the way I look at it is I'm getting a really good deal for work out sessions with personal attention from a coach. Unless you are super disciplined in working out by yourself and you already know what you are doing, I'd highly recommend Orangetheory.