Curves for Women

H

honeybunch1

Cathlete
These franchises are cropping up everywhere, and I'd heard that they are very successful, so I visited one and came away impressed.

This is a workout facility that is for women only, and is based on the cardio/weight training circuit concept. Machines and cardio "pads" are alternated in a circle, and the members spend 30 seconds or so at each "station," exercising to music, and are cued to move to the next station by a recorded voice. The weight machines have no weight stacks, and are very non-intimidating.

I can see why women flock to these places, because it caters to beginners, and they are surrounded by people just like them - no jocks, and no buff chicks. More and more I see why folks join gyms and don't follow through because they take one look at the weight rooms, turn on their heels and walk out the door, UNLESS they are VERY motivated, mentored, or guided by a capable staff person.

At the location I visited, the staff person was a college student who was almost finished with her exercise physiology degree, and was going to take the ACE exam. She very obviously was genuinely excited about her place of employment, and that was encouraging.

I'm sure a lot of you were wondering about these places, so I thought I'd throw in my 2 cent review.

If I had the money, I'd be in line to get set up with one of those franchises.

Just Do It! :)
 
Hi HB,

We have a Curves in our area and I've given a lot of thought to working for them. I've heard it's great for beginners and/or very overweight or out of shape women. I've gotten the "learning aids" from ACE (I wasn't going to say anything in case I fail miserably!) and I'm really thinking about trying to get a job with Curves to see if I'm going to like the "industry" as much as I think.
I saw an add that said they were running neck and neck with McDonald's for new location openings! :)

Donna

Fitness~It's a journey, not a race!
 
In all honesty, I have very conflicted feelings about Curves For Women, and the numerous clones that are popping up. Curves facilities have sprung up like rabbits here in the Twin Cities, as well as all over the rest of the country.

There's been a lot of newspaper journalism about Curves in the past 12 months or so, as well as a lot of discussion among fitness professionals, and from what I gather there is no requirement for any Curves staff to be certified through any major exercise certifying agency like ACE, AFAA, ACSM, NSCA, or an accredited academic program. I'm not even sure if Curves staff are required to be CPR/AED certified, a given in traditional fitness facilities. It's my understanding that Curves franchisees go through a 5-day course thru Curves corporate, that encompasses franchise management, marketing, and some exercise physiology. Not much, if you ask me, and not enough when one considers that Curves caters to a relatively deconditioned, and probably unschooled population in terms of exercise science.

Perhaps I'm being defensive on the issue. Part of my conflict is my feeling that, "Hey - whatever gets 'em movin' is alright with me!" But I do believe Curves' practices could be a little safer, and more in line with traditional fitness facility management. The staffer Honeybunch met, one who is studying for her ACE exam, is a rarity from what I've read, but perhaps that too is changing.

JMHO - I'd be interested in hearing others' opinions on the topic as well. Thanks for bringing it up, HB!

A-jock
 
I just visited one facility, and fortunately for the members, the staff person knew what she was doing. Of course, we don't know what other Curves look for in staff people. I plan to visit others to see gets qualified people to work there.

We can only hope that the consumer will be smart and ask lots of questions. Look at the mess I got into when I joined Bally's! You can hope these place have qualified staff, but they do not always.

Just Do It! :)
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-16-03 AT 12:54PM (Est)[/font][p]Miz D -

Please look into taking the class from Exercise Etc. to help you pass the ACE test. It was well worth the money. I think you'd be great! What an example you would be to your clients! Good luck. If you have questions, just e-mail me. I prepped for the test and took it in 8 weeks, start to finish, thanks to the Exercise Etc. class.

Just Do It! :)
 
I use to belong to a women's only gym back in Chicago, it was called Women's Workout World or W3 as the staff called it. However, they didn't have the set up like Curves. It was your traditional gym with weight machines, free weights, aerobics classes, I wonder if they're affiliated with Curves. Of course, that was years ago but they were pretty popular and had new location popping up all over the states. I just don't think they had the same name hence the reason I wonder if there is some relation between the two.

-Jilliana
 
I joined Curves last April. I was 25 pounds over weight and hadn't exercised in a few years. I committed for one year. Curves got me back into the exercise habit. After about one month, I started doing my Cathe videos again. I was doing 2 to 3 days at Curves and 3 days of Cathe's videos. After incorporating Cathe's videos, I realized that Curves is not challenging enough and becomes very BORING. I've lost the weight, but I know it was due more to Cathe's tough workouts then Curves. The other thing that really bugged me was the instructors constantly talk about how you are building muscle. A beginner may build a little, but the resistance is just not there to continually progress. There is no way you are going to build biceps and triceps with their stupid arm machine. After doing Cathe’s crazy 8’s, I starting skipping that machine. I didn't feel like the instructors were very knowledgeable about fitness. I could tell that they were just repeating what they had learned from the Curves franchise. It also irritates me that they allow people to exercise without shoes – just socks. Everyone knows that is not good on your feet – yet the instructor thought it was fine!
In retrospect, I'm glad I joined because it got me started exercising again. However, if I had to do it all over, I would have committed month to month rather than for a whole year. I'm now paying for something I rarely use. I would have rather used the money for Cathe's videos. My term is up in April - that's when I'm buying CTX!

Margie
 
I had joined this past summer thinking oh boy I can use the machines. Well after 3-4 months I was completely bored with it and people just were not moving fast between exercises. They actually preferred to chit chat. I got out of my contract after 4 months. I just called and asked how to cancel my membership and they said I needed to write a letter saying to cancel and send them a check for a certain amount. It was much cheaper than them taking the money for the full year.

The staff at this Curves was not knowledgeable. I kept seeing people doing the squats totally wrong, in socks, and just doing the motion without really doing it (hope that makes sense).

I went back to my Cathe tapes and am enjoying them much better, especially the Intensity series.

Rhonda
 
Its funny you should mention this - my twin sister, who is the original Catheite in my circle has just started going there with a friend of hers who is very new to exercise. She had been scoffing at it because of her years with Cathe BUT over the last year she has completely fallen out of shape because of stress, she just stopped working out all together, except for occasional bursts of energy where she'll do a step tape. We did Power Hour together a month ago or so and I couldn't believe that I could use WAY heavier weights than her I'm used to her being much stronger than me. Anyway she has recently gotten engaged which kicked her into gear. So she went to Curves with her friend and was very pleasantly surprised at how much she liked it! She says she is positive it will get her back into shape so she can do Cathe again.
 
I surely don't know much about this place but I can see how it would appeal to a begginner. I can also see how it would have NO appeal to an advanced exerciser. Like me. I think to myself "How boring". Same machines over and over. UGGGHHH!!! But then again, I don't look at weight rooms and spin on my heels! I think it is nice though in the sense that it forces women to weight train. I am sure that 90% of the women that join Curves would not even think about entering a gym weight room. So that is nice.
Janice
http://www.picturetrail.com/thrashej
 
I have to be honest, I just saw one of these the other day (in our little town) and it said "workout in just 30 minutes" and I looked at my husband and said "yeah right, that would be like a mini warmup, what on earth can you get from 30 minutes". After I read your posts, I'm feeling guilty for sounding so high and mighty. I'm sure there is a purpose for these organizations, and we all started somewhere. And Donna you would be an inspiration and encouragement to so many.

But I can definitely see Aquajocks point, there are many uneducated people teaching others how to either injure themselves or at the least, not use proper form thereby training ineffectively. I was one of them, I was hired at Bally's when I was 15 (underaged, but they didn't check or care) just sell memberships and teach a fun aerobic class, whatever works(scary huh!)

Briee
 
I joined a local Curves about a year ago and had enough after about 2-3 months. It was good at the time because it got me back into exercising, but there is no way that you can't reach a plateau at a place like that because there is no way to increase the resistance and they really discourage you from going thru the cycle more than 2 1/2 times 3 days a week.

I also found that except for one of the employees, no one knew anything about fitness, how to use the machines or even cared. That one good employee was shipped off to a newer franchise about 1 month into my membership because the owner opened a new franchise where all the customers had health problems.

As for the employees that stayed, they were just as out of shape as the customers. Most spent their time chatting with the customers and I rarely (probably never) even saw someone being corrected when they were using the equipment improperly.

I coughed it up to a jumpstart into a serious exercise program. It got me moving and that's about all it was worth.

Interesting though, I live in NY and NY has a health club law that allows you to break a health club contract on 30 days written notice - no strings attached. So, I had no problem getting out of my Curves contract.

Caryn
 
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