N. caught the sign first: Orangetheory Fitness, the exercise studio that uses rowing machines and treadmills, as well as weights and resistance machines, to keep their clients fit, has taken the former Ninja space at 25 Hudson, between Reade and Duane. As you will recall, that space is largely underground — and maybe you will still get to go through a spooky tunnel to get to your workout class!

(Ninja closed in early March 2020 — prescient since that setup was about as un-covid friendly as they come.)

Orangetheory is a franchise, founded in 2010, and it’s pretty big as specialized gyms go: they say they have nearly 1 million members and more than 1500 fitness studios worldwide. (Compare that to CrossFit, which has 12,000 locations in the US alone.)  There’s an Orangetheory in the Financial District at 100 William and in Soho on Crosby Street, and more than a dozen more in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Here’s the pitch: “During our heart-rate based HIIT workout, your coach will guide you through our 5 different heart rate zones: resting, easy, challenging, uncomfortable and All Out, telling you when to push harder and when to pull back for recovery. The goal is to spend 12 minutes or more with your heart rate elevated in “The Orange Zone” to boost your metabolism, burn fat and burn more calories.”