It turns out I needn't have worried about either, because something else, entirely unexpected, happened.

I am on the treadmill with the setting at 18, a slight incline and my heart rate climbing into the red zone when head trainer at Orangetheory, Ben Fisher, strolls over and tells me I'm pushing too hard and to tone it down.

What? I thought pushing it was the point.

Not necessarily.

"People are used to training to excess," Fisher, a former NRL professional, who has played in two world cups for Scotland. "But, you don't have to train to excess."

Rather Fisher says, we could be training more efficiently and in a more enjoyable way.

"You don't have to train harder," Fisher reiterates. "Train smarter."

Training smarter means not maxing out, according to the philosophy of Orangetheory.

During a 60-minute session, which comprises running, rowing and TRX, the aim is to get the heart rate into the "orange" zone, which is about 80 to 90 per cent of your maximum heart rate, for 12 to 20 minutes.

"The result is an 'afterburn' that we call the Orange Effect, which increases your metabolic rate to produce significant toning and extra energy consumption for up to 36 hours after your workout," according to Orangetheory.

Why go into the red zone if you can get the can get the same results with less work?

It's an idea that has been a hit in the States, where 258 studios have opened since the inception of Orangetheory in 2010. It has now launched in Australia with new studios open in Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney.

The counter-intuitive concept that results are not always synonymous with hours spent or limits pushed is not exclusive to the brains behind Orangetheory.

"You don't have to work out a lot to lose weight, it's quite the opposite," Guy Lawrence, founder of 180 Nutrition, says.

"Too much exercise [cardio in particular] raises cortisol levels [the stress hormone] and can lead to low-grade inflammation."

Head trainer for Fitness First Australia, Michael Cunico​ agrees.

"A common mentality that people approach their fitness with is that more is always better, I remember reading a long time ago that 'better is better'," Cunico says. " I took this to mean, find where the returns from my training/efforts begin to fall away?"

Heart-rate monitors are one way to find where that threshold is. They are, of course, not the only way.

"When programmed well and if nutrition is optimal (not perfect, because I'll have chocolate and wine with everyone else) I think some people would be surprised at how little training is actually required," Cunico says.

"Using programming principles such as progressive overload, where, over time, we supply the body with ever slightly more load, intensity or volume, you can quite quickly make significant gains in both physique and performance.

"An hour a day three to five times per week is all you need to sacrifice, although I guarantee when you start to see and feel the benefits of regular exercise it's not a sacrifice at all."

The only sacrifice is when we push our bodies past their limits and no longer get to enjoy what they can do, Fisher says.

"If you're pushing yourself to excess, you're not going to come back," he says. "It's OK to relax a bit, drop it down – we don't want you to go over the edge."

It's a concept I've intuitively (I've always thought lazily) adopted in the way I exercise. One, it is heartening to know that many of the best in the business say is important for sustainability and results.

"We've learnt to recommend our clients to be moderate in their approach to exercise," co-owner of Flow Athletic, Ben Lucas, says. "From the hundreds of clients I've trained over the years, those who come out too hard, too strict, too quickly realise it's not sustainable.

"You don't need to train every day, you don't need to watch every gram of food you eat. And if you're really sore or don't feel like exercise, be kind to yourself and try something less intense that day."