What are OrangeTheory’s Power, Strength, Endurance, and ESP Days?

OrangeTheory is slowly becoming everyone’s favorite fitness studio simply due to the fact that it’s a fresh take on the boring gym routine. Instead of coming up with your own set of workouts, OrangeTheory does that for you by providing daily classes, challenges, and events that are unique, fun, and challenging. A typical OrangeTheory training rotation usually revolves around three focus areas: Power, strength, endurance, and ESP. What’s the point and difference between all of them? 

In this article, we’ll talk about OrangeTheory’s Power, Strength, Endurance, and ESP days as well as the objective of each one. 

What are OrangeTheory’s Power Days?

As you already know, the majority of OrangeTheory’s workouts involve the treadmill, rower, as well as a floor area where you do bodyweight exercises or train using weights.

If you look at it from an outside point of view, the workouts may seem repetitive, but in reality, changing simple variables can significantly alter the “focus” area of the session. These variables include pace, speed, incline, distance, and so on.

A power day at OrangeTheory is one of its four “focus” areas and it revolves around the variables mentioned above.

During a power day, you usually focus on short pushes (lowest pace) and a bunch of All Outs (sprinting) on the treadmill, short bursts on the rower, and bodyweight exercises on the floor area.

The Objective of Power Days:

At first, you may think that power days are pointless or that they provide no benefits in the long term, and I totally understand how one might think that since they require a lot of effort.

Well think of them this way, power is what you need in order to apply maximum force. 

For example, let’s say you’re trying to take out the trash but the dumpster is 9 feet tall. Power is what allows you to lift that trash above your head and into the bin. It’s anything that requires maximal force output during a short amount of time.

Power days also increase speed and allow for a better sprint which you’ll never when you’re going to need.

Power Day Workout Example:

Tread Block 1:

1. 75-sec push
2. 45-sec base
3. 75 sec AO
4. 45 sec WR
5. 30 sec AO

Tread Block 2:

1. 1 min push
2. 1 min base
3. 1 min AO
4. 1 min WR
5. 30 sec AO

Tread Block 3:

1. 45-sec push
2. 75-sec base
3. 45 sec AO
4. 75 sec WR
5. 30 sec AO

Tread Block 1:

1. 30-sec push
2. 90-sec base
3. 30 sec AO
4. 90 sec WR
5. 30 sec AO

Floor Block 1 – 4.5 minutes:

1. 6 each x split stance to reverse grip single arm low row (explosive tempo)
2. 12 x speed skater lunges

Floor Block 2 – 4.5 minutes:

1. 6 each x single arm hip hinge swing
2. 12 x TRX high row
3. Floor Block 3 – 4.5 minutes
4. 8 each x split stance deadlift
5. 8 total x renegade row

Row Block:

1. 30 sec AO row
2. 90-sec recovery row
3. 30 sec AO row
4. 90-sec recovery row
5. 30 sec AO row

What are OrangeTheory’s Strength Days?

If you remember the variables that I mentioned at the beginning, we’re just going to alter them a little bit for this one to have a strength day which is another “focus” area at OrangeTheory.

During a strength day, you’ll focus on a lot of inclines with a slower pace on the treadmill, heavy weight on the floor, as well as some strength movements in addition to the row blocks.

The Objective of Strength Days:

Strength is one of the most important tools that anyone should have in their arsenal. And it’s what allows you to lift heavy objects.

If we take the same dumpster example as before and apply it to this case. Strength is what will allow you to lift the heavy trash in the first place (not necessarily above your head) and take it to the dumpster. 

Strength Day Workout Example:

Tread Block 1 (6.5 mins):

1. 90-sec push
2. 1 min base
3. 90 sec base at 5%
4. 1 min base
5. 45-sec push
6. 45 sec all out at 5%

Tread Block 2 (6.5 mins):

1. 90-sec push
2. 1 min base
3. 90 sec base at 4%
4. 1 min base
5. 45-sec push
6. 45 sec all out at 4%

Row Block (14 mins):

Repeat 3x

1. 90s row
2. 10 x MB tricep extension

Repeat 3x

1. 90s row
2. 10 x MB good morning

Floor Block 1 (6.5 mins):

1. 5 x hip hinge reverse grip low row
2. 10 x chest press to reach
3. 10 x tricep extension

Floor Block 2 (6.5 mins):

1. 8 each x bench bird dog low row
2. 8 each x hollow hold single arm close grip chest press
3. 8 total x plank pull through

What are OrangeTheory’s Endurance Days?

This one should be pretty straightforward. Endurance days is another OrangeTheory’s “focus” area that consists of long pushes on the treadmill (longer durations), longer distances on the rower, and a higher repetition count on the floor.

The Objective of Power Days:

Everybody knows what endurance is all about! It’s what allows you to never get tired even if what you’re doing requires a lot of effort. In other words, the more endurance you have, the less tired you’re gonna be.

And if we take the same example as before, endurance is what allows you to not get tired during the travel from your house to the dumpster (especially if it’s far away).

Endurance Day Workout Example:

Tread Block:

1. 30-sec push
2. 1 min base
3. 45-sec push
4. 1 min base
5. 1 min push
6. 1 min base
7. 75-sec push
8. 1 min base
9. 90-sec push
10. 1 min base
11. 2 min push
12. 90-sec base
13. 2.5 min push
14. 90-sec base
15. 3 min push
16. 90-sec base
17. 1 min AO

Floor Block 1 – 16 minutes:

Repeat 3x:

1. 6 each x single arm contralateral single leg deadlift
2. 12 x TRX bridge row
3. 12 x TRX rollout
4. 600m / 300m / 150m row (each round halve the distance)

Floor Block 2 – 5.5 minutes:

1. 6 each x half kneeling single arm to lateral step up
2. 12 total x plank hip touch

What are OrangeTheory’s ESP Days?

ESP stands for Endurance Strength Power and is considered a “focus” area at OrangeTheory. And from the name alone, you can already tell what it’s going to be about.

An ESP day consists of combining all other focus areas into a single session. The class will usually have a block that’s dedicated to each focus area (endurance, strength, and power).

The Objective of ESP Days:

Instead of focusing on one single area, the main goal of ESP days is to combine all three of them into one intense workout that is going to engage all parts of your body.

ESP Day Workout Example:

Tread Block:

1. 3 min push
2. 1 min AO
3. 2 min WR
4. 2.5 min push @ 2%
5. 1 min AO
6. 2 min WR
7. 2 min push @ 3%
8. 1 min AO
9. 2 min WR
10. 90-sec push @ 4%
11. 1 min AO
12. 2 min WR
13. 1 min push @ 5%
14. 1 min AO

Floor Block 1 – 9.5 minutes:

1. 2 min row for distance (400 – 600m+) once only

Repeat 3x:

1. 12 total x lateral floor hop overs with floor taps
2. 6 x sumo deadlift
3. 6 x sumo squat to frogger

Repeat until time:

1. 10 x toe reach
2. 10 x hip raise

Floor Block 2 – 7.5 minutes:

Repeat 3x:

1. 12 total x alt-pop squat
2. 6 x squat
3. 6 x skier swing

Repeat until time:

1. 20 total x static crunch with over unders
2. 10 total x plank kick through

Row Block:

1. 2 min row for distance
2. Beat your distance from block 1

Summary:

Here is a quick summary of what each day entails:

Day	Power	Strength	Endurance
Treadmill	Short pushes / All Outs	Inclines	Long pushes
Rower	Short distances	Strength movements	Long distances
Floor	Bodyweight / Plyometrics	Heavy weights	High rep count

And here is a summary of the objective of each “focus” area in the form of an illustration: