Curves fitness centers for women are springing up all over the place. The premise is you go three times a week and work through a circuit of eight to twelve strength training machines (using hydraulic resistance) each followed by a recovery station where you march, dance, or jog in place. You spend 30 seconds at each station and complete the circuit two or three times followed by a stretching routine. If you come regularly and watch what you eat, you are suppose to both lose weight and become healthier.
At 300 plus pounds, I thought I was a perfect candidate for Curves. I have no health problems that prevent me from exercising, and the quick, complete workout appealed to me. It helped that my girlfriend had been utilizing the Curves workout off and on for a couple of years, and both liked it and had lost some weight. One day last November, she dragged me in, and I signed up. The staff was friendly and tried to be helpful although they weren’t always able to answer my questions about the program. The registration process involved getting weighed and measured, signing papers to reduce their liability if something happened to me and to allow them to take the monthly fee out of my bank account, and doing a guided workout during which one of their fitness technicians taught me how to properly use the machines.
My first day, I was nervous so I attributed the problems that I had getting into and out of the machines to anxiety and not knowing what I was doing. After returning for a few more workouts, I realized that that wasn’t the case. The machines are not proportioned right for my size. My stomach gets in the way in some of them actually making it difficult for me to use the machine at all and getting into and out of many of the machines is difficult for me. The actual workout is easy enough, but I am fairly active. I was surprised that the fitness technician didn’t talk about modifications for those who might need to slowly move into a fitness program due to inactivity. I felt that the whole set up was not suitable for someone who is inactive and obese; that is for the very people who would need Curves the most!
I have been attending Curves for nearly four months now. During this time, I have noticed some other ways that Curves does not cater to the heavier population. The stretching exercises are difficult for someone with access body fat to do (fat gets in the way!) No modifications are provided. Our Curves offers daily games with prizes. Many of these games require the participant to bend over and pick things up off the floor, a task that is definitely not easy for me. Prizes for things like games, and weight loss, and getting weighed and measured on a regular basis are often Curves t-shirts. Our Curves displays many of these shirts on the wall. All of the shirts on display are size x-large or smaller! I did ask about this and was told that there are larger shirts in the storage room, but it makes me feel a bit unwelcome to not have prizes on display that would fit me. There were other little things that are not set up for fat people. The changing rooms are cramped, and the arrangement of chairs and tables has me sitting on top of the people next to me.
I suppose the real question though is does Curves work? Well, the first few months I was there, I actually gained weight. Some of that is certainly my fault though. I didn’t attend as often as I should have, and well, the winter holiday season was rather hard on my waistline. In January, our Curves started a weight loss challenge program though complete with a cash prize, and that was the motivation I needed. I started going to Curves three times a week and doing three circuits every time, taking a 30 minute walk everyday, and counting calories. Since then I have lost fifteen pounds. Curves is definitely a part of it, but without the walking and calorie counting, I doubt that it would be enough for me to see significant weight loss.
My thought is that if you have 10 to 50 pounds to lose Curves might just be the perfect solution for you, but if you are carrying around more extra weight than that, you might want to consider another program. If you do join Curves, keep in mind that you might have to find some other support, and add to or modify the program to get it to work for you.
