Wednesday morning, 4:45 a.m., and I was up and ready for my first ever Orangetheory Fitness class. By no means would I consider myself a "morning person;" however, when a little motivation and a free fitness class are involved, I find the will to force myself to get out of bed while the sun still isn't out. As a fitness junkie, I was extremely excited to try out an Orangetheory class but was definitely a little nervous as to what to expect. Would it be as intense as they claim it is, or would it be just another fitness fad with a BS claim to help you burn more calories after the class ends?

Just my luck, of all days, I woke up feeling sicker than I had felt in weeks. My body was still recovering from sorority recruitment from the past two weekends, and my throat was completely closed and sore, my head was throbbing, and my neck was swollen and painful to the touch. So obviously, I gave up on the idea of an early-morning high-intensity workout and got back into bed… WRONG! I sucked it up, popped some Advil, took a few cough drops, and made my way out the door.

While my scheduled class was at 6:05 a.m., I was instructed to arrive a half hour early, in order to get fitted for a heart monitor, go over the dynamic of the class and the facility, and get introduced to the equipment and the trainer. Immediately, I was welcomed into the facility and any question I had was answered. Unfortunately, my voice was nonexistent, so communicating was a slight issue.

To my surprise, I learned that each day at Orangetheory Fitness focuses on a different fitness element, including endurance, strength, power or E, S, P, which is a mix of the three all in one. I love the idea that no workout is the same at OTF, and you don't know what the focus of the day is until you get to class. I got a sneak peek into the class prior to mine and immediately had mixed feelings since it was an endurance day.

I've always been an athlete and love working out, but the thought of rowing for a long period of time was honestly horrifying. I also didn't know how I felt about the group aspect of the class since I am used to one-on-one personal training at home or individual workouts on my own. Group fitness classes usually don't appeal to me; however, Orangetheory proved to be completely different.

I began my class on the rower, moved to the strength floor, and finished on the treadmill for cardio, which I absolutely loved! Finishing here also meant that I could finally read the screen to see my statistics from my heart monitor since I am blind as a bat. Here is where I earned the most "Splat" points, meaning the amount of time my heart rate fell into the orange and red zones or the zones spent using between 84–100% of your maximum heart rate. In basic terms, here is where you burn the most calories in the afterburn or hours after the workout. I was intrigued watching my heart rate go up and down on the screen, as well as watching the calories burned go up!

Most importantly, the trainer, Eric, was so supportive throughout the entire class and offered adjustments to help me get the most out of my workout. You could really tell that the other people in the class loved him as an instructor, too, and really fed off of his energy, even at the crack of dawn. Eric and I went over my statistics at the end of the class, and I had burned 572 calories in the hour, had an average heart rate of 156, and used an average 74% of my maximum heart rate. The trainer mentioned to me that he could tell that I work out often, since my heart rate did not change much, and I didn't earn "Splat" points until I hit the treadmill, since my body and heart has adapted to strength training and other high-intensity training.

It was only 7 a.m. and I was done with my workout for the day. Even better, I felt amazing, besides a sore throat and lack of an audible voice. Would I put myself through the torture of waking up before sunrise again to sweat for an hour? Absolutely! My first Orangetheory Fitness experience was definitely a positive and successful one, and I would recommend the class to anyone trying to mix up and amp up their fitness routine.