Orangetheory Fitness — Attraction in Foster City

This is a long overdue review for OTF Foster City! A tad bit long so read at your own leisure.

First off, I’ve always wondered about OTF (see them all over the bay area) but never really liked (or tried) any workout classes in general since I'm quite the introvert. When I go to the gym, I’m not there to socialize, I just want a good workout. Plus I’ve peeked inside OTF before and I wasn’t so sure about how dim and orangy the classrooms looked 😂.

After gaining "COVID +19" pounds and failing miserably on my own to regain my health, I decided to give OTF Foster City a try. Free introductory class, why not?

When I arrived, I was greeted by Rachel (the mgmr) who gave me the spiel on the philosophy and approach of OTF. I was immediately impressed by how patient and knowledgeable she was in answering all my questions. Why is the room orange? Do we actually use all three areas (treadmill, rower, weights)? How do you squeeze in so much in 1 hour? Is this like a competition where you try to beat other classmates? How much interaction is there between the members during class? 🤔🤔😂

Soon it was class time, my mind was racing and feeling anxious about what the experience was going to be like. Fast forward 1 hour later, my shirt is drenched in sweat (not a great visual, I know😄). All I can say is “Wow, that was a good workout!” but I wasn’t sure if I heard/followed all the instructions correctly 😅. In my mind, I was amazed how Coach Vic was able to coach 3 groups of people in different areas all at the same time! And each group even gets new instructions every couple of minutes with her counting down the time and cheering everyone on. (I told Coach Vic that I get a workout just thinking about how to run a class like what she did!)

After the trial class I shared with Rachel that the class was amazing and I did get a good workout,. But I also thought it was fast paced and a bit hectic. She then explained it’s a 3G class (3 groups) which she then offered a 2G class for me to try again. As it turns out, there are actually a couple different class types that we can pick from, some even have special focus areas. I still wasn’t sure if I was going to get the hang of the class but why not. In my mind, I thought I did get a good workout and because the class was kinda dim, the introvert in me didn’t mind 😄 I also noticed socialization was minimal since the other members were too busy pushing themselves to get the best workout as well.

The 2G class experience was equally just as amazing😆! I had an excellent workout and this time I knew what to expect and started to notice my heart rate and the colored zone I was in during the workout. Fast forward again to 2 months later, I’m happy to share that I'm half way toward my goal of ridding my “Covid +19” 😁. I now look forward to my weekly OTF classes, uses the OT Beat Burn monitor to make sure I’m pushing myself hard enough and got to know many more awesome coaches at OTF Foster City (👋Coach Ashley, Jazz, Toni).

If you are curious and still debating whether you should give OTF a try, I...

Worst experience ever had. Scheduled for a class free trial online, then a person called me asking for credit card info., (what kind of free trial is that?)and being told without providing the credit card info. class spot couldn’t be reserved, I denied the request because I’m not sure who’s asking for my credit card info. The next day, I showed up at their front desk and the same person who made the phone call asked me to provide foster city address in order to be eligible for the trial! This male front desk employee is extremely unfriendly, called me “Mr.” twice and in favor of saying “NO” to the potential customer. After spending 10 minutes filling the form, and hear him saying several unreasonable requirements (for example, “ again, you have to live in foster city, in order to get a trial class in foster city, you said you live in San Mateo, so you can not be here...blah blah....”), then he asked me to reschedule the class as he spent to much time explained his point! How absurd, customer can’t choose where they want to take the class. Be careful, we have an unprofessional front desk here at foster city branch, keeps requesting his customers, provides no help, depending on his mood, sometimes even tries to make it difficult for you to join the fitnesses club.

Later on, I dropped by San Mateo branch, the front desk employees explained everything to me and they were super friendly and helpful, I took the trial class directly (Danielle is a very good coach), so I signed up for the membership. Anyway, Orangetheory is a nice place for me to burn...

Foster city orange theiry fitness team is very rude and not responsive after paying the fees. they have lot of hidden fees and conditions that they wont showup while signing up.While signing up they say we can freeze for any number of months for freezing they will ask for additional fee and only can freeze upto 2 months. You will be paying 15- 20 $ without using any service. that too you need to go to store to sign a different conditions for freezing. This is a digital world asking us to come to a store to sign it is very strange.

They charge and When we speak with them they say you can freeze account. I frozed and when I asked to cancel the service they said like you need to pay extra month fee. I already paid and didn't use this service.They are saying that wont go into notice period. Britney is the front desk person. She just hung up on me while speaking. I dont know what to call that - Is that arrogance or good custoner service.

Hidden fees - They wont keep their word. No exit plan You need to loose atleast couple of months pay to exit OTF foster city.

I like OTF workout but these rules and their arrogance ...