In light of recent events, people are urged to self-quarantine within their houses. Consequently, all fields, gyms, and courts have been closed for public use.  As a result, some find it harder to come up with workouts or activities to stay in shape, while others lack the motivation all together. 

However, in a time like this exercise is just what is needed in order to help strengthen the immune system. 

Since  options are limited, people are finding new ways to stay active, or simply reinventing the old ones to stay in shape. 

Ashley Beilstein, parent of junior Gracen Beilstein and seventh grader Davis Beilstein, works at Orangetheory as head coach at the Dunwoody studio. Orangetheory is a fitness studio franchise that focuses on giving attendees high-intensity workouts by means of interval training. Orangetheory has members of all ages ranging from 16 to 84. 

As head coach of the Dunwoody studio, Mrs. Beilstein oversees the marketing of that specific studio as well as coaching some classes of her own. Normally she would coach anywhere from three to five  classes a day, but due to the closing of places such as gyms, Orangetheory has had to close their studios to the public.

Belistein and her studio have now moved their classes online to ensure that members can still do their workouts at home. However, the shift from being in person and running classes to moving everything online was quite difficult. 

“It’s been challenging for us because if you know Orangetheory, and the format of our classes then you know we use a lot of equipment….We use treadmills and we use water rowers and we use weights, which is of course something a lot of people don’t have access to at home.”

Belstein, along the other Orangetheory coaches, have had to be creative and assign exercises that are more body weight and if weights are needed, she, along with other coaches suggests using “a bag of flour instead of weights or something like that, just so people don’t feel like they can’t participate because they don’t have equipment.”

Thanks to apps like Zoom, Facebook, and Instagram, Beilstein is able to continue to teach her classes. Orangetheory conducts two live classes, one around mid-day and the other is posted in the evening. However, demonstrations for the exercises are posted by Beilstein on Facebook and Instagram around 5 a.m. for the early risers who want to get the workout done before the work day starts.  

Orangetheory, for many members who attend, is about the community that they can be surrounded with whenever they do a class. 

“The hardest thing is that….our foundation is really based on community. So the kind of people that come to workout at Orangetheory, really really like to see people everyday, otherwise they would workout at home or by themselves every time” said Beilstein.  

Enlight of this, coaches at Orangetheory have worked to make sure members still feel some sense of community. They have created fun exercises with games like UNO and BINGO for parents of kids so that the kids can have an entertaining break from online school.

Orangetheory also held a virtual 5k by having current members wear the heart-rate monitors and either run or walk a 5k around their neighborhood or on a treadmill.

Beilstein and all the other coaches who work for Orangetheory have created these online classes and workouts to give people an intense, simple, and effective way to workout while stuck at home.