At a Glance:  

Website: http://www.orangetheoryfitness.com/santa-monica
Address: 1431 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Length: 60 minutes
Price: first class free, 1 class/$30, 10 classes/$199
Sweat scale: high
Energy level: high

There’s nothing better on a Saturday than working up a great sweat and then vegging out on a yummy brunch. Luckily, I’ve had that perfect afternoon two weekends in a row, and am still feelin the pain as I write this.

Pre Sweat

Although the brand new Orangetheory is in the busy part of Santa Monica, they are located at the bottom of a city run parking garage—making it incredibly easy to find a spot and get to class on time. Parking is free for 90 minutes and then $1.00 for the next hour (it goes up a bit more dramatically after that). Inside the studio I filled out a waiver that included information about my weight and height. Make sure to fill this out accurately because it will be tied to your heart rate monitor which will let you know how many calories you burned at the end of class. I put my purse in a locker and headed over to the group of newbies where Juan explained the workout. We started on the rowers to warm up while a second group began on the treadmill.

Sweat

After warming up for a bit on the rower, my group headed to the weight room. At Orangetheory there are two groups going at a time—one doing strength and the other cardio. There are TVs located around the room that display everyone’s name and heart rate based on the monitor strapped around your chest. There are five color-coded zones and participants aim to spend 12-20 minutes of training at 84% of their maximum heart rate (zones orange and red). Throughout the hour, you check the screen to see how hard you are pushing your body—the “splat points”, or amount of time in the max zone, are displayed to easily see if you’re near the 12-20 min goal.

We spent about 10-15 minutes at each station—working out in the weight room twice and on the treadmills twice. In the weight room, we did squats with a shoulder press, wood choppers with a medicine ball, bicycles, jump squats on the buso ball, back extensions, TRX jump squats and rows, and a plank with punches. On the screen, each exercise was displayed with the number of reps in case you forgot what was next. For example, we would do 8 reps of three exercises and then start again until time was up.

At the treadmill we did interval work—sprinting to get our heart rate to spike and then walking to make it come down quickly. During the last 15 minutes on the treadmill we ran for 2:30, rowed for 30 seconds, then did 15 jump squats. This really helped me burn out and end the class on a high note. Just when I thought it was time to stretch, Juan called us all to the weight room to do a 3-minute plank. It was a KILLER but I managed to hold it—watching my heart rate spike on the screen. Finally, we stretched and Juan gave some shout-outs based on the final results.

Post Sweat

There is no shortage of things to do around here. Nekter is right across the street with reasonably priced smoothies, juices, and acai bowls. My friends and I walked over to True Food Kitchen for brunch where I enjoyed a sweet potato hash egg dish and an almond milk latte. Make sure to hit up the Lululemon flagship store or head to Lorna Jane, Nike, or 6:02 to get all of your fitness fashion needs. The Third Street Promenade has every store you could want, and the beach is only a block away!

Tricks of the Trade

• When class is over, you’ll get an email with your stats (seen above) so you can track your progress over time.
• They don’t have towel service for the workout (they do for the showers), so if you’re a sweaty person you might want to bring a hand towel.
• If you’re a newbie, start on the rower. The treadmill group is for the regulars who get a little less instruction and a little more difficulty.
• As you probably see on Instagram (@sweatandrepeatLA), I workout A LOT. Yet, tclass had me in pain for days. No matter how in shape you are, you’ll most likely be sore afterwards—it’s a great feeling