Hurt So Good

Ever done something that hurts, is hard, and you want to quit, but when you are done it feels so good??? That's how this week has gone for me. This week on my fitness tour brought me to Revved Fitness.  And it hurt so good.
Revved is almost identical to Orangetheory. They do a combination of cardio and strength. You wear a heart rate monitor and the goal is to to elevate your heart rate and work in certain zones. The only difference I noticed is that Revved uses stationary bikes for cardio and Orangetheory uses treadmills.
Revved offers a 7 day trial for $10. I signed up online and went to my first class Monday morning. Monday morning came and was stormy, early, and a line was almost out the door when I arrived. Yikes! I signed in and wandered into the room. It was a BIG class. All the bikes were full, and there were people on rowers and the strength area. The trainer split us in half. Half the class started with strength the other half started with cardio. I got in the strength group. The trainer explained the moves and got us started. After about 3 moves he came over and modified my form. I muttled through the rest of the strength block. I felt like a flopping fish and was pouring sweat. However--everyone else was sweating too! Whoo! Winning! I was pouring buckets. Then we moved over to the cardio portion and he says "Today is endurance!" W. T. F. Seriously. I cannot get away from endurance. I think the universe is sending me a message. We start on the bikes for a while, move to the rowers, then back to the bikes. I am having a hard time getting into the red zone he wants us in. I try. My lungs feel like they are going to explode. I survive. After the class was done I felt great. The rest of the day I feel great. I did notice that I was getting a little sore as the day wore on, but it wasn't horrible.
Tuesday morning rolls around and breathing hurts. I get out of bed and can barely walk. My office at work is upstairs. I go up and down the stairs multiple times a day. I. wanted. to. die. And as the day goes on my soreness level just gets higher. By Tuesday night I am trying to talk myself out of going Wednesday morning. Mr. Mayer tells me "The second day is always the worst." He's right. Tomorrow will feel better. I hope.
The alarm goes off at the crack of dawn Wednesday morning. I had tried to talk myself out of going a zillion times. Wednesday morning I don't hurt as bad as I did Tuesday. I go back to class. The lady sitting next to me on a bike is very sweet. She's a regular and says that Monday's class was abnormally large. Usually there is only 8-10 people in the early morning classes. Today's class was about that size. Today the class works together. We do 6 blocks, and alternate between strength and cardio each time. Again it was tough. I did get into the right zones. I thought my lungs were going to explode. After class I feel completely amazing--again. I missed Thursday and Friday, but went back this morning. This class was set up the same as Wednesday, and about the same size. I have worked out the soreness. I still struggle to get my heart rate into the red zone. I can make it, but I don't stay there long at all. I still feel amazing afterwards which is a great motivator to do it again.
I liked Revved. I liked is as much as I did Orangetheory. The pricing is the same. I will make my ultimate decision after vacation. As it stands now Revved and Orangetheory are my top choices. It's going to boil down to location. Orangetheory is actually a smidge closer to my house, and there are a lot fewer stop lights between me and Orangetheory. Because of this that's probably where I will go.