Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Orangetheory brings high-intensity workouts to West Chester area
Workout sessions designed to get the heart rates of participants in the ‘orange zone’
When Steve Egan took his first Orangetheory Fitness class, he was immediately hooked.
“The workout was fun and intense and different. And I loved it,” Egan said.
Orangetheory is a high-intensity fitness franchise with more than 570 locations nationwide and 12 in foreign countries.
Egan’s personal interest in Orangetheory eventually grew into a new venture. He and business partners Andy Titus and Ted Clements recently opened a Orangetheory Fitness branch at Bradford Plaza just outside West Chester Borough.
Each week, the membership-based fitness club offers 38 high-intensity, heart-rate monitored classes.
It now has 330 members since it opened Dec. 31, according to manager Rebecca Campbell.
The name refers to the socalled “orange zone” heart rate that many reach during a tough workout. The orange zone is where a person’s metabolism spikes, energy increases and the body continues to burn calories for up to 36 hours after a class, Egan explained.
Each 60-minute workout, which combines cardiovascular, strength training and stretching elements, is designed to keep heart rates ele-
vated from 12 to 20 minutes in the orange zone. Exercise physiologists define the zone as 84 to 91 percent of a person’s maximum heart rate, a number that varies according to age, weight and other factors.
Individual heart rates are posted in real time on huge TVs anchored to the walls.
Much of Orangetheory’s 4,050 square-foot space is, in fact, orange. Treadmills, rowing machines, ellipticals and stationary bikes, TRX suspension equipment and free weights: All are a vibrant orange, as are overhead lights, walls and workout towels.
Cost of opening an Orangetheory ranges from about $430,000 to $775,000, depending on location and size, according to a recent Orangetheory Franchise
Disclosure Document. Equipment, a proprietary heart-rate monitoring system and other costs add another $100,000 to $130,000.
Membership ranges from $59 a month for once-aweek classes to $159 for an unlimited number of classes, said sales associate Chelsea Lutek. The first class is always free. Members sign up mostly via the Internet or an Orangetheory smart-phone app.
An educator who helps autistic kids through the Chester County Intermediate Unit, Lutek is a parttimer at Orangetheory and has lost 15 pounds since starting there six weeks ago. (Employees are required to take at least two classes a week.)
“I love this workout,” Lutek said. “It has a different focus from other workouts and motivates me to do my best.”
A voluntary six-week weight-loss program, which includes before-and-after pictures, has attracted more than 50 participants.
Instructors – there are four currently – undergo rigorous and lengthy Orangetheory training. During a recent visit, new instructor Lisa Prince energetically circulated around the room, exhorting members to push harder and sweat more while using proper exercise form.
Ellen Latham, a life-long fitness aficionado and exercise physiologist, developed The Ultimate Workout eight years ago, which soon developed into Orangetheory. She remains as a partner in the business.
Corporate headquarters are in Boca Raton, Fla. Chester County has two other Orangetheory sites, in Exton and Paoli.
Egan and business partners Titus and Clements hope to open a second Orangetheory later this year in Lancaster County.
Titus and Clements also own the SkyZone Trampoline Park franchises in Lancaster and Hagerstown, Maryland. Egan is general manager in Hagerstown.
Said Egan about choosing
the 161,000-squarefoot Bradford Plaza as a site for a new Orangetheory, “We looked at several spots. Bradford Plaza has a lot of foot and auto traffic and it’s a family-oriented shopping center anchored by Giant Foods. And it’s close enough to West Chester University that students can come here too.”
A resident of Havertown, Delaware County, a slimmed-down Egan (he has dropped 20 pounds since starting to work out at Orangetheory) takes three or four classes a week and laughingly called himself “the sweat equity partner.”