Orangetheory Fitness opens its doors in New Lenox

After a plan to open in May fell through because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Orangetheory Fitness franchise owner Adryenne Hearne and her team had to make a “mad dash” to figure out what the future had in store.

Being a new gym in town also made things tougher because some people were unaware they were opening.

“We didn't know if we were going to make this happen,” she said. “We did a few things like sending video messages to show how we were cleaning, spacing things out and that everyone is wearing a mask. We wanted to show everyone this is how we’re going to keep you safe.”

Orangetheory finally opened its doors on Thursday, Oct. 1. Hearne is also the owner of the Frankfort location, which opened five years ago.

“As a business owner, I want to make sure everyone knows about us,” Hearne said. “We found that people would come by and they didn’t know we were opening. But when I talked to people at the Village, they said people are excited. We had some members coming from New Lenox to Frankfort. This is great because New Lenox is a huge community of families. This makes it more convenient and better for them.”

Orangetheory usually opens with a larger membership base, but that was not possible right now.

The concept behind Orangetheory is not like all gyms.

“It is a 60-minute total body workout,” Hearne said. “It’s high intensity interval training, but it’s heart rate based. Everyone in class is wearing monitors and that is how the coach gauges if you're underworking, overworking or just right. They love gamification. When people come in, we split them in two groups. Since it’s 60-minutes, we switch after 30.”

The gym features a number of treadmills, rowing machines and free weights.

A number of TVs around the gym display each member’s current heart rate, among other stats. And Hearne and the coaches encourage everyone to focus on themselves.

“That is why the monitoring is great,” she said. “You could be on the treadmill next to an Olympic athlete and someone’s grandmother is next to them. You’re only competing with yourself. We check in on you to make sure you feel OK and have a great understanding of the equipment. We’ll ask you to come in early if you want to work on your form on a certain machine.

“There is no one that would not be able to do the workout. Find what works for you and go at your own pace.”

Hearne has been with Orangetheory after she opened her first one in Oak Park five years ago. She was a member elsewhere before becoming a franchise owner.

She put herself through college as a personal trainer and opened her own small training gym while in her 20's, which ended up not working out.

“This has always been my passion,” she said. “I was in the medical device sales arena for 10 or 11 years and always wanted to get back. I got experience under my belt and one day when I was out calling on hospitals, I saw an Orangetheory, did a class and I was hooked.”

The community feel to the gym is what brought her in and keeps her around now.

“Even when our businesses were shut down, we talked on Zoom and kept up with each other,” she said. “It really is a community. We’re missing that a bit now, because we’re trying to stay apart and social distance, but this can be a way to bring people together in a safe and healthy way.”

Those interested in joining Orangetheory Fitness are offered a free session to get a feel for what the gym offers.

But overall, Hearne said she is excited to introduce Orangetheory Fitness to the New Lenox community.