rant; make me feel less alone!

this will be long winded but if you read the whole thing then you are the best.

i started orange theory last november in vermont and fell in love with it. the williston studio is great. great coaches, amazing personalized form corrections, balanced workouts, and great music.

in february, i moved back home to florida. my local studio is like a quarter of the size of the williston studio so i got excited thinking it would be even more intimate, but it’s not.

the coaches rarely give form corrections. one specific coach actually offers like condescending comments? that i suppose we’re suppose to interpret as a form correction but there is no real direction. the music sucks, it’s like they hit shuffle on the greatest hits from 70s to now. i can even commit to like a random un motivating genre, but i can’t go from an 80s classic to a 2020 rap song.

my final point, is that the workouts are a completely different format than williston. i pretty much only do 2g classes because i have the elite and i feel like doing full body for the twice a week is the best option to make me feel like i’m getting the most out of the membership. however, i feel like we’re always doing a power walk on the tread (which works for me but it’s weird when i’m in the mood to run and it’s never an option?). the floor exercises feel so upper body focused with random HIIT moves. i go to orange theory because i like the class setting, being able to turn my brain off, and i don’t have weights at home. so when i’m doing skaters and lunges during the floor blocks, it feels like a waste. so on the floor today, we did many of these bodyweight HIIT moves. the only weighted moves were different variations of lateral raises and bicep curls.

i felt like every class in williston was a strong balance between front, back, upper, and lower. aren’t the strength50 classes for focused muscle groups and the 2g suppose to be full body? also, if i’m using a set of 40lb weights for lower body exercises, then i feel like skaters and lunges are just not giving me the glute workout im looking for. like what is up with all the lunges?

this location only has like 3 coaches, one coach has a bad habit of trying to shoot the shit with individuals during floor blocks which is distracting to me because i don’t want to talk while i’m lifting. this coach even came up on the treadmill next to me while i was running (i’m not a runner so i was dying) and tried to chat with me. this coach has *never* offered any corrections on form. this coach also constantly like stretching and yawning during class like as if bored? i try to avoid this one’s classes but teaches a lot since there’s only a few of them and sometimes the only classes that work with my schedule are this coaches.

anyways, sorry for the long winded post. i LOVE orange theory and it’s my safe space so i’ve just been a little disappointed with this specific location. working out is like therapy for me and i moved home after leaving a bad situation so i definitely was looking for a safe space and just feel weird at this location.

my point in posting this is to see if y’all have had similar experiences or also feel confused about the recent shift in format for the 2G classes. i just want to feel like i’m not alone!!!