It just depends on who you are and how much pain you can tolerate. I have a low resting heart rate but will spend 30mins in red zone and get about 40 odd splats combined with time in Orange zone.

I have a low resting heart rate (when I’m loitering right before class, the board shows me at around 27-34% most days). I’m in okay shape, not peak shape. I usually make my splat points just fine, but in the teens— haven’t quite gotten over 20 splat points. The trouble I have due to heart rate is that my heart rate plummets when I get off the treadmill. I can go from red to gray while they go over the floor exercises. I think if you’re having trouble hitting orange, and it is important to you, you should try my trick. What I do is- I run faster than I should for my base and push pace. So if a comfortable base is 6.5, I will run 7.3. Then once I see I’m well into orange I will step it down a bit.

Elite runner here. Guys a lot of the comments here are wrong about fitness levels and zones. The more fit you are the longer you can maintain 80-100% of your max heart rate. Thats why fitter people have more splat points. yes fit people have low resting heart rates but they also can clear lactate acid more than others which means they can get to a high heart rate with out feeling the burn in their legs as quick. and remember splat points are based off your max heart rate, its gonna vary from age to fitness etc.

Anonymous wrote:I did otf for 9 months or so, and I'm not generally a fitness person. I literally never got into orange. I would us and push and push, I wanted to die, and no orange. It was so discouraging. Especially after class when they would mention peoples achievements and I consistently felt like I was the fat girl who couldnt swing it.

They mentioned my resting heart rate might be low and offered to charge a couple of hundred dollars for metabolic testing, which I declined. (Interestingly, around the same time my grandfather was ill and I learned that he had a low resting heartrate, and 2 other close family members told me they did too, so I guess it runs in the family.)

I stopped wearing the strap altogether at that point.

they wouldn't just lower it? I have heard and read on reddit that they will lower your max HR if you ask but that they require VO2 Max testing to be done to raise your max HR (probably a liability issue).

FWIW I too am someone who rarely gets a lot of splat points. I have a low resting HR. At one point my HR was completely off in the system (200) but when the refreshed it it went down to 191. So i get more splat points these days, but still nowhere near what others get despite working just as hard.

I did otf for 9 months or so, and I'm not generally a fitness person. I literally never got into orange. I would us and push and push, I wanted to die, and no orange. It was so discouraging. Especially after class when they would mention peoples achievements and I consistently felt like I was the fat girl who couldnt swing it.

They mentioned my resting heart rate might be low and offered to charge a couple of hundred dollars for metabolic testing, which I declined. (Interestingly, around the same time my grandfather was ill and I learned that he had a low resting heartrate, and 2 other close family members told me they did too, so I guess it runs in the family.)

I stopped wearing the strap altogether at that point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anybody just stopped wearing the monitor?

I stopped. I was tired of it constantly not working. In some of the older studios (with people that have been doing OT a while), I have been in classes where 1/2 the class isn't using one.

Same here, at my OTF, I would guess 30-40% are not wearing the monitor and sometimes I don't wear it.

I have been speaking with the staff over the last few workouts about my inability to obtain splat points-- I earned 12 splat points yesterday, but I was essentially doing "jogger" Push Pace and All-Out the entire time (for me-- as I consider myself a PowerWalker because I just started working out). I was miserable and dying. ;P Meanwhile, my friend is doing the PowerWalker and regulating her pace according to the coach, and earns 20-25 splat points. The staff has only said, "Let's check your weight in the system" (it's correct) and "You just have a low resting heart rate".. They have never offered or mentioned the ability to change any other setting as mentioned in a different comment. I think I'm going to have just have to get over the fact that it looks like I'm a slacker on screen sometimes.

Anonymous wrote:

they do not. they base it on a formula that takes age and weight into account. So i do suspect it is not completely accurate. Thus the reason some people hit 85% more easily than others.

Well that's just goofy. While I can understand using the formula as an approximation for the first class or so, they really should fine tune it based on performance. And what does weight have to do with HR zones? Calories, sure . . .

Anonymous wrote:Did the front desk input your age in the computer correctly? This is a part of determining your stamina in reaching the zones.

In error, my Orange Theory location inserted my age as 16 years old (I was 33 at the time of joining) in the computer system. I had to be near passing out on the treadmill to be in the orange zone.

+1. My weight was entered double my actual weight.

I only get 4-5 points her class but I don't care. It is a great workout and I enjoy it plus I am getting stronger.