Curves: A Different Kind of Workout for Women

My step quickens as I approach the Curves where I work out three times a week. I'm happy to be going there; I can't wait to work out! And believe me, this is not a lifelong attitude I've had toward exercise. No, I've been more likely to think a gym might be a necessary evil than that a workout might be something I really want to do and really miss if I can't make it three times every week. Curves is a different kind of workout space and a different kind of workout. In the first place, no men work in or work out at Curves. It's only for women.

I love men. I have a husband and many male friends and I enjoy hanging out with them. But working out with men is just embarrassing! So, having no men at the workout suits me very well indeed. Then, there are no mirrors in the workout space and leotards are not required. You can just wear your own comfortable clothes and be your own comfortable self. I've seen some attractive women at my Curves, but none of us look like supermodels.

The women who come here are all ages, colors, and sizes. I don't know about other places, but in my location, most tend to be over 30 and at least 15-20 pounds overweight. Even the trainers are normal looking women, with normal looking figures. The atmosphere here is full of talk and laughter. People enjoy coming here, and it shows. This morning, at my workout, there were six of us at the machines, and every one of us had a Curves t-shirt of some type on. It wasn't planned that way, we just all felt like wearing our affection for the world to see today. What kind of workout do we do at Curves? Well, it's only thirty minutes three times a week.In my location, there are twelve machines and twelve stations between the machines for doing cardiovascular exercise. That sounds kind of intimidating, but what it means is that after you spend 30 seconds on a machine, you spend thirty seconds at a station doing whatever you want to, as long as you keep moving, and then you go to the next station when prompted to do so.

The prompts are prerecorded on the music tapes so you know when to move. All of the machines offer strength training through hydraulic resistance. You push and pull rather than lifting and lowering, greatly reducing the likelihood that you might strain or pull anything. You go around the circuit twice, and then you do a couple of minutes of stretching to cool down, and you're done. Nothing is very hard, and if you don't like a machine very much, you know you've only got to do it for 30 seconds at a time, so it's no big deal. Does it work? Well, we have a "Super Losers" bulletin board which currently lists over 30 members who have lost between 30-50 pounds. Me? Last month, I lost 5 1/2 lbs. and 10 1/2 inches. I hurt my shoulder in 2004 on the job, and had some permanent loss of strength and range of motion, which I did not help by being afraid to use it much for fear of hurting it again. Since I've been going to Curves, that shoulder is much stronger and I can move my arm much more freely. I have more energy, and everybody notices the change for the better in my appearance. I only wish I had found Curves sooner. I encourage you to check it out; with almost 10,000 locations in 44 countries, there's probably one very near you!