If you’re in the market for a new fitness club or curious to know how the newest one in town compares to the one you’re at, check out Orangetheory Fitness in the newly refurbished building at 364 Post Road.
Adam Krell, the owner, says Orangetheory constantly has new workouts, designed by physiologists in the chain’s national headquarters in Florida, that rely on scientific expertise to build and maintain your muscles and stamina rather than just the ideas of your local exercise coach (although coaches are there to help).
The one-hour workouts are customized for people at different fitness levels, so that even though members in the class might be doing the same exercises at the same time on the same machines as others, each person goes at his or her own pace, at a difficulty level set for the individual.
Community leaders welcomed Orangetheory to its new studio at 364 Post Road on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s a scientifically based, 60-minute workout based on heart-rate-monitored interval training,” Krell said. “It’s basically designed to charge our members metabolism and burn calories.”
Krell says he’s been in a class that included a former NFL player “and a woman who probably hadn’t worked out in 20 years.” Each was going at an individual pace and difficulty level, using treadmills, rowing machines or bicycles. He knows of clients as young as 14 and as old as 84.
“It’s not a competition with other folks in the room,” he said. “It’s more a competition with yourself.”
Aside from the team of physiologists at its Boca Raton, Florida headquarters and the experience that comes from being a the international chain, Orangetheory has another major advantage, Krell says — you can walk into any location, whether it’s near your job outside of Darien or even on a business trip elsewhere in the U.S., and get your workout there.
Orangetheory has 1,200 locations around the world, including six in Manhattan.
Exercise equipment at Orangetheory
Even on trips outside the United States, you can go to the local Orangetheory location (although you’ll have to discuss the added cost at locations outside the country).
At Orangetheory, your exercises are recorded by your own heart-rate monitor that keeps track of how well you’re doing and helps adjust the level of difficulty of your exercise routine, maximizing the effectiveness of the workout. At the same time, coaches on the scene are watching and are are there to help.
Memberships are month-to-month, although you can get a discount for longer-term periods, Krell said.
Krell, whose career was in finance, met Ellen Latham, the founder of Orangetheory, back in 2012 and decided to become a franchisee for the company.
Rowing machines and treadmills on the other side of the studio
“I try to live an active and healthy lifestyle myself, and my wife is also an avid exerciser, actually an athlete,” he said. His franchise covers the Tristate metropolitan region and now has 40 locations.
Both Orangetheory and his franchise are growing, and he recently opened a studio on High Ridge Road in Stamford. Other studios near Darien are in Norwalk, Westport and Fairfield.
Orangetheory Darien
- 364 Post Road (about half way between Rory’s and Duchess and on the same side of the street)
- (203) 309-1669
- Web page for the Darien location
The Darien location has about a dozen full- and part-time employees, including coaches and staff at the front desk. “Darien has been a key market for us,” Krell said, and he spent a lot of time to pick the right location in town. “Darien has a great community culture, and people here definitely and absolutely love a healthy lifestyle.”
Orangetheory is so new in Darien that Krell said on Friday that exact class times hadn’t yet been set, but the studio will be open early in the morning and in the evening on weekdays and from early morning to sometime in the afternoon on weekends.
Krell invites anyone in town to stop by the studio, see the new equipment and talk to the staff. You can even book a class Saturday morning.