Workout Wednesday: Rock the EPOC

Hey there! I can’t wait to share my review of the brand spankin’ new Orange Theory Fitness in Chelsea. I had previously heard a lot of amazing things about OTF and was so so excited to finally check them out for myself. Thanks to their great grand opening special I get to take unlimited classes over the next 2 weeks before they officially open in March. I’m already making good use of the special and cramming in as many classes as I can. Stay tuned for a full review of the studio and class, but until then I’ve got a fun workout based on Orange Theory.

Each class I’ve taken so far has been half treadmill, half strength training with a focus on intervals and getting that heart rate up. Why is this method so awesome– EPOC. EPOC aka “Afterburn” as many people also call it, means the body is still burning calories and revved up from your workout. It’s not just about the amount of calories burned during that workout– your body continues to be a calorie torching machine thereafter. Check out this great article from Daily Burn that goes into further details about EPOC and HIIT.

Here’s how you can Rock the EPOC on your own:

After a warmup, start on the treadmill (or you can substitute with any cardio machine) and do the entire left side of the workout before moving on to the strength portion on the right. In the strength section do each set AMRAP (as many reps as possible) for 6 minutes before moving on to the next set.

How to find your pace:

BASE PACE should be the pace you could comfortably stay at for a long period of time. Think of it as a conversational pace.

PUSH PACE should be about 2 MPH higher than Base Pace. While you’re not totally going balls the the wall yet, it’s a bit more challenging than Base Pace.

SPRINT All out balls to the wall! Should be a pace that you can maintain for 1 minute without y’know, falling, but challenging and leaves you breathless.

RECOVERY is whatever it takes to recover and catch your breath after the sprint. If you sprinted at the correct pace your recovery will be lower than your Base Pace.

Give it a whirl and let me know what you think 🙂

Previous Workout Wednesday:

• The AM Workout