Trend Tracker® Talks Fitness With Orange Theory Creator

MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- For this fab and fit edition of Women To Watch, Trend Tracker® Tara Gilani caught up with exercise expert Ellen Latham.

For 40 years, Latham has been honing her expertise via personal sessions and group classes in state-of-the-art gyms in South Florida that offer the latest and greatest training techniques and tips for beginners, regular exercisers and athletes alike.

Ellen Latham is the creator of "Orange Theory Fitness," a top-rated metabolic workout system that is fast becoming one of the most popular and successful new ventures in fitness, nationally and internationally.

Tara Gilani's fitness routine of choice is Orange Theory Fitness. "This stuff works. That it was invented by a woman? Even better!" said Tara.

Orange Theory Fitness is a one hour, five-zone heart rate, high intensity, interval workout lead by top-rated personal trainers.

Orange is the most productive zone to be in, hence the name: "Orange Theory."

Ellen Latham has done it all.

"I have been doing this from the leg warmer days, to step, to aqua aerobics, to the whole gamut of spinning. Eight years ago I opened up a Pilates studio. I really loved that kind of work but there was no metabolic work in Pilates," explained Latham. She turned a positive into a negative by realizing there was a niche to be filled. She kept on innovating and managed to fill that niche.

Watch Trend Tracker® Tara Gilani's Interview With Ellen Latham

"I created a special kind of metabolic training. I called it "Ellen's Ultimate" in the beginning. It was like Grand Central Station in my studio. I was approached by a franchise company who heard about this strange little studio in Davie, Florida, across from cow pastures and they said 'we want to take a look, branch out and put one on every corner in America', and I thought, 'I'm game'!"

There are now 120 Orange Theory Fitness studios in the U.S. and around the world, with new ones opening every week.

Classes are manageable for all fitness levels and students work at their own pace.

For Latham, it's a natural progression, personally and professionally.

"I'm in my late 50's, I'm climbing through the aging process," said Latham. "Being able to share something with people who go, 'Oh wow, finally something I'll stick with, a little uncomfortable but I enjoy it because of the results', that's all I need," she said.

One of Ellen's biggest inspirations is her father who was a punter in the 1940s.

"I have a big picture of him with his leg up in the air punting a ball and it reminds me to 'keep that leg up and kick hard, Ellen!'"

In Tara's lightening round, Ellen took part in Tara's fill-in-the-blank game.

When Tara said, "I won't _____?"

Latham replied, "I won't ever stop exercising."

When Tara asked, "I want _____?"

Latham's answer was, "I want everyone to feel that feeling of fitness in their body which I believe is a gift."

Finally, Tara said, "I promise _____?"

"I promise to try to live in the moment. I'm trying cause I don't want to miss too many," she replied.

When Gilani asked Latham to rate her Orange Theory progress, first she confessed, "Today's not a good day. I had a little Taco Bell last night. Is that bad?"

Ellen laughed out loud. Tara went back to the rower.

For more on Ellen Latham and Orange Theory Fitness, check out these links:

Online: www.OrangeTheoryFitness.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/OrangeTheoryFitness

Twitter: @OTheoryFitness

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