There will soon be a place to make good on those New Year's resolutions when Orangetheory Fitness opens in town.
The Orangetheory sign was up and construction was in full swing at 102 F St. when franchise owner Raymond Bautista arrived to chat and show me the progress.
"We'll have the front desk here," he said. "We have two bathrooms, a shower; we have lockers, kind of like a beauty bar where you can get ready after your workout...a drinking fountain and then this will be the double-doors into the actual fitness studio, so we'll have our treadmills in rows here and our weightlifting area.
"It's a pretty small space but it gets the job done" he laughed, before adding that they have a, "January 4 opening projection date" but they are hoping it will be sooner.
It was too loud to have a conversation so we sat in the Hilton Hotel's lobby, just around the corner, where I found out that Raymond and his wife Stephanie also own Massage Envy down the street. They used to own a Massage Envy in Napa but were looking for "new opportunities in Davis" because they "love Davis."
Both Raymond and his wife were born and raised in Woodland which he sees as "kind of an extension of Davis." The couple have been members at the Vacaville Orangetheory Fitness which had opened in 2018 before Covid, and had not initially considered owning one themselves, simply enjoying "the environment, the atmosphere, and the workout."
After searching for various options and reaching out to different franchises they thought would do well in Davis, Raymond and his wife decided to invest in the subdivided space that had once been the restaurant, Seasons. It was a long process but they're well on their way now, "doing the part that" they were "meant to do."
During our conversation I finally found out why it's called Orangetheory.
"So basically it got started in Florida by a woman named Ellen Latham," Raymond said. "About 20 years ago, she was a Pilates instructor, a group fitness class instructor...she wanted a workout that basically combined the endurance, power, strength aspects of all those workouts and she didn't really feel there was anything out there like it. So she started actually in her garage, doing the circuit training type workout that included all those things, the 60-minute workout...and the only reason that orange was chosen was it's basically like a vibrant color, an energetic color. If you meet her, she's very energetic and vibrant ... and that's why in the studio, there's orange lights, when you walk in it creates this atmosphere of like, ready to go."
On their logo there's what Raymond called "a splat" as the "O" for orange, and apparently that's "a symbol for a fat cell being blown up," he said, adding the sound effect of the explosion.
He continued explaining that "the good thing about Orangetheory, too, and this is kind of Ellen's vision ... at the time there wasn't a lot of ways to track what your heart rate's doing" when you're at a particular pace, when you're lifting weights or running as opposed to jogging or walking.
"So what we do now, which kind of sets us apart, is we have heart rate monitors so we put one around your arm as you're working out and then on the screens throughout the workout you can see your heart rate and where it's at..." He continued that there are, "different zones; there's a gray zone, a blue zone, a green zone, an orange zone and a red zone. So all those are your heart rate intervals, basically letting you know this is your max potential, this is how many calories you're burning."
Raymond added that "the best thing" is that you can check your phone app after the workout, and you will know how many calories you burned in which zone. For instance, if you go for a walk the next day, it will show you which zone you're in, what progress you're making, information that will help gear you "towards creating a healthy lifestyle ... once you get in the door and you actually do the workout, it's something that you start to learn and adapt to."
They already have a head coach, Dan Aeschliman who is coming to them from the Natomas Orangetheory fitness where he was first a member then a coach. "He's very well versed in Orangetheory, and he has his PhD in physical therapy from UC Davis." They plan to have about five other coaches who will all teach 60-minute group fitness classes.
These individuals "have to do a corporate training and they have to pass. Then they have to do our own training and they have to pass that. On top of that they have to be CPR certified, and their last certificate is through Orangetheory. So it's a pretty rigorous process, we don't just choose anybody ... it all comes down to your knowledge in fitness, how well you are on a mic, how well you speak to people, coaching them through certain movements," as well as how good they are at instructing in a group setting.
Raymond shared that they are, "just super excited to be here. For us, it's like people first ... we want people to feel special when they come through the doors. It's a community, right? So we want people to feel like they belong. Working out can be intimidating, especially in a group atmosphere. But we want to take that factor out of it."
"It is membership-based ... and right now, before we even open we're offering founding member rates ... they're the lowest rates that we'll offer and it's all monthly, so there's no contract. If you want to cancel you can cancel that month ... once we open we'll go into our normal rates, so there's a huge discount, and the best thing about founding member rates is they stay locked in for life. If our price increases as a gym, those never increase."
They will be offering anywhere between nine to 11 classes per day except on weekends, when they'll be offering 3 or 4 classes. "We have what's considered our Orange 60 class which is the core class that Orangetheory offers. It runs you through the treadmills, the rowers, and the weight training.
"Our traditional class which will be offered the most, and then we will be offering as well, strength classes which is pure lifting classes, those will be offered less. And then tread classes, which is just pure treadmill. For the older demographic, our treadmills eliminate around 30 to 40 percent of the force off your joints; they're called Flex Deck.
"Free-motion treadmills -- specially made for Orangetheory -- take the impact off your joints. There are options for every workout" except for rowers, since that involves a "singular motion."
From Raymond's explanations, it sounds like your workout is designed by a, "team of about 12 people who design every single workout every day for the whole entire year," targeting "all muscle groups," trying to "eliminate fatigue, injury...so it's basically like a curated workout, that's kind of what you're paying for," and Raymond thinks that's "pretty awesome."
For more information and to sign up, call or text 530-504-0996, or go to orangetheory.com, where you will be taken to a landing page where you can search your city. You can also email [email protected].
-- -- -- --
The next Davis Craft and Vintage Fair will be on Sunday, Dec. 7, under the Farmers Market Pavilion in Central Park. The cooperative is a twice-a-month, open-air market for local artisans and vintage vendors, with food and live music, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For information and directions, go online to https://daviscraftandvintagefair.com/org.
-- New in town? Opening or closing? Having a milestone? Let us know about it at https://www.davisenterprise.com/site/forms/announcements/new_business_announcement/.