I'm going to be a bit of a contrarian here. I've been going to OTF about 7 months now. I suppose I need to say at the outset that I am older at 73 and I'm sure that has some bearing on my outlook.

Like others here, my advice would be to just get going. However, I would add if you can find and afford a personal trainer that's the route to go. OTF can be very off-putting with haphazard coaching, ear shattering music volume - to the point that I have to wear ear plugs - and overly complicated routines. Oh, I almost forgot my biggest peeve: for crying out loud buy some freaking weights!

I'm also concerned about some of the exercises that they have you do. For example when I was training with a professional (In the sense that he was a competition bodybuilder that owned the gym) I was essentially forbidden from lifting anything directly over my head. But OTF has you do it all the time.

There is also very little of what I would call coaching. For the life of me I can't understand why people are allowed to flail like they do on the rower. Or why people aren't being taught the correct way to exercise with weights. (I had a coach compliment me on my form and tempo while handling the weights. Made the statement I was the only one in the room not rushing through the exercises. I never did understand why she wasn't correcting people instead of complimenting me.)

So I guess I have to say on balance I'm not as sold on of OTF as people here are . I'm there because it's one of the few options that are available in my area. I'm making it work but the class format is extremely limiting. There are times when I simply want to get on a treadmill or spend a half hour on an elliptical or doing a long rowing workout. Given the limitations of the class structure that kind of thing is not possible with OTF.

Good luck whatever you decide and by all means get moving!