Fitness Center Wants Your Heart Rate to Go 'Orange'

Rockville Centre’s newest fitness center aims to be where science and fitness collide.

OrangeTheory Fitness, set to open in December at 313 Merrick Rd., claims that class participants can burn 500 to 1,000 calories per hour session. What’s the secret? Knowing your body, and sharing that information with everyone around you.

Everyone in an OrangeTheory class (between 10 to 25 people) is hooked up to a wireless heart rate monitor that is displayed on a big screen. The goal is to push yourself into the orange zone, the fourth out of five zones. Stay orange for 15 to 20 minutes, and you’ll continue to burn calories hours after you’ve stopped working out, according to OrangeTheory employees.

“It’s so different than your normal gym concept,” said Landis Clayton, pre-sales coordinator for OrangeTheory, visiting from Florida, where the company started. “We’ve been able to combine all the elements in one class. It’s very fun and exciting.”

The center’s hour-long training sessions, led by “fitness coaches,” feature 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training. Exercises include running, suspension training, water rowers and free weights.

And since it’s based on an individual’s heart rate, you don’t need to be a fitness pro to take part and get in shape, according to Jaclyn DiLorenzo, a sales associate at the RVC location.

The staff at OrangeTheory said that their approach is so different, they don’t even see gyms as competition. DiLorenzo said “we don’t want people to quit their gym.”

Does OrangeTheory get results? It did for one East Northport man, who won $2,500 after dropping 37 pounds by limiting his calories and working out at OrangeTheory. The RVC location will hold a similar contest.

OrangeTheory Fitness, which was founded three years ago, has 45 locations across the United States and Canada, with 160 more locations on the way. The Rockville Centre location will be the second on Long Island after East Northport.