Small Business Spotlight: Couples bring love of fitness program to Wichita

When Haylee Shaver and Annie Walsh found a new workout facility they liked in Denver, they didn’t realize it meant they would be moving to Wichita.

The two women introduced their husbands to Orangetheory Fitness, and now the couples have opened a franchise here.

“That’s how it all started, taking a class and falling in love with a product,” Shaver said. “Then our husbands – we got them to go, and they were hooked.

“Annie and I spearheaded it, for sure.”

Orangetheory is a Florida-based company with 300 locations and another 400 expected to open within the year, said Shaver’s husband, Joe Froehle. The Wichita location is in 3,200 very orange square feet in the Waterfront Plaza at 13th and Webb. The partners, including Walsh’s husband, Pat, opened it on Jan. 8.

Orangetheory offers 60-minute group sessions throughout the day, with the first starting at 5:15 a.m. and the last at 7 p.m. They’re made up of indoor rowing, treadmill training and weight training.

An exercise leader tries to coach participants into five different heart rate zones to increase the rate at which they burn calories.

“That’s what we call the ‘orange effect,’ ” Froehle said. “You burn calories for up to 35 hours after the workout.”

And, lest anyone consider slacking off, exercisers all wear a heart rate monitor, with the results shown on three 60-inch flat-screen TVs.

“You get results in real time up on the screen,” Froehle said. “There’s a high degree of accountability.”

Memberships are available on a month-to-month basis ranging from four sessions per month up to as many as a member can squeeze in, and they can be used at other Orangetheory locations. The facility includes locker rooms and showers.

Although up to 24 members work out together at one time, Froehle said they each have their own workout station and attention from the coach. Because members of the same class may be at different fitness levels, he said, “We coach people to be a power walker, a jogger or a runner.”

A different workout is given each day, all designed to improve both strength and endurance. Froehle said that removes another obstacle some people face: simply figuring out what to do when they get to the gym.

“All you have to do is get in the door here,” Froehle said.

Froehle said it was a big decision to leave Denver, but both couples have family members in Wichita and had spent time here. He said the two couples have varied business experiences, ranging from commodities training to running a yoga studio.

They spent a week at Orangetheory’s headquarters in Florida. The Wichita location has 11 full- and part-time employees, including coaches who went through a weeklong training and tryout process.

Shaver said the owners don’t work as coaches themselves but still “absolutely love” the workouts.

“That never goes away.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Small Business Spotlight: Couples bring love of fitness program to Wichita."