Change Your Technique

Over the last eight days, I have been voluntarily participating in what Orange Theory Fitness lovingly calls "Hell Week." This Halloween themed annual event is said to be the highest participation week of the year for the franchise. The incentive for completing 5 of 8 days of pure "paid for" torture? A t-shirt (pictured)...

 The creators of the workouts for Hell Week were indeed demonic. The workouts were more intense and challenging than usual, by design. I knew what I was committing to, for the love of my health...and a t-shirt.

 One early morning, I arrived to find out that day's workout was called "Orange Everest." Now, I know what orange is and I know "Mt. Everest" so I was immediately concerned and knew that day I should have skipped the gym. But alas, I remained...

 "Orange Everest" is exactly what you are probably thinking. Over the course of many minutes, you "ascend" Orange Everest running at your base (comfortable) pace with increasing inclines every minute or so until you reach the "top" of a 15% incline (with no breaks, I might add). Here's what I noticed. For the first 6-8% inclines, how I ran did not change. My strides and my speed was pretty consistent. As I started to reach the 9-15% inclines and the hills became harder to climb, I had to make some adjustments. My physical and mental techniques had to change. My longer strides and loosely pumping arms were no longer sufficient. I had to lift my knees more, shorten my strides and pump my arms to climb the "mountain." Mentally, I had to shift from the "zoning out" that I often do when running effortlessly at base pace to an intense internal dialogue, encouraging myself to keep moving.

 When situations change and challenges come our way, we have to make adjustments. What worked for us when things were comfortable and normal will not work when the "Everest" in life happens. We have to be ready and willing to change our technique. Pump those arms, dig deep and tell yourself "I can do this!" because you can!

 #OTF #OrangeTheory #OrangeTheoryFitness #ChristyDemetrakis #theempoweredspeaker #mteverest #treadmill