Curves For Women: Weight Bearing Exercise
Written: Oct 29 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Tailored workouts, no weights to worry about, friendly atmosphere
Cons: None so far
The Bottom Line: Curves has been a pleasant surprise, I love my workouts and the strength training.
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| elzora's Full Review: Curves For Women |
Over the past few years, I have done a lot of exercising with Leslie Sansone walk aerobics, and sometimes I use barbell weights as I exercise. When my doctor told me I needed to do more weight bearing exercises to help increase my bone density (I am osteopenic), she suggested Curves. She felt it was a more controlled atmosphere with less chance of injury.
My first visit was low key. A friendly employee walked me through the facility, let me try a few of the exercise machines, and when I decided I was ready to make the commitment, she signed me up.
Curves In a Nut Shell
Curves is an exercise program just for women. Children are discouraged, this is "me" time. It offers a full body workout in only 30 minutes, via circuit training. The employees are upbeat and pleasant. There is peppy music playing at all times, and a woman's voice says "Change Stations Now" about every 30 seconds.
Signing On The Dotted Line
They took a short medical history, I signed a contract and waiver to not hold Curves responsible if I were to injure myself on their equipment. They also took my weight and measurements, and gave me a small card to scan that keeps track of my attendance.
The monthly fee in Alaska is $54 a month, but if you sign for a years membership it is only $45. Even though I did join for a year, I noted that if I want to cancel my membership when the year is up, I will continue to be billed until I give them a 30 day written notice of my cancellation. I wasn't crazy about that, but it is what it is.
Curves has a service fee of $199, which was lowered to only $29 since this is breast cancer awareness month. I would not have joined if I had to pay the $199.
My Curves Establishment
The facility is well lit, it has two bathrooms and two changing rooms. There are lockers you can rent for $30 a year to keep your personal items in. A lost & fiund chest is at the front of the facility, and they even have extra pairs of workout shoes in case you need them.
One area (in the back) has a large mirror with lights all around it, and a hairdryer and curling iron for those who decide to take a shower after their workout.
My Curves also has a "Prayer Room", but this is not normally a part of Curves. There are comfy chairs, a Bible, a lamp and a mood light. You can buy punch cards giving you 20 uses for $10, which helps offset the cost of the mood lights. Living in Alaska, this is nice to see, since we don't get enough sunlight during the long winter months, and SAD is so common. Mood lights really do help ward off depression.
The exercise machines are arranged around the perimater of a large room, forming an oval shape. They sit several feet apart, with the recovery squares in between them.
The Exercise Equipment
I have read that different Curves establishments have differing number of workout machines, and that some have as many as 12, but my Curves has 13 (14 counting the recovery stair stepper). The machines do not use weights, but are hydraulic. You work out by pushing and pulling, and the faster and harder you exert pressure, the machine will respond by giving you more resistance. Most of the machines are double positive, which mean they work different sets of muscles by pushing and then pulling.
My first two workouts were with an employee, who explained how the machines work. The third time I attended I had my Curves Smart card programmed, which takes only a short time on each machine. This tells the computer what my capabilities are, and pushes me to improve my workout over time.
My fourth workout was the first using the CurvesSmart™ program, and again an employee explained how the system works. After that I was pretty much on my own, unless of course I ran into problems, and there are several employees there to help should that happen.
When the workout is finished, there is a large apparatus (reminds me of a jungle gym) that you use to stretch all of the different muscles - this takes a while to learn!
The machines work your legs by means of extensions, curls, and squats. The Leg Extension/Leg Curl machine works the quads in front of the thighs as well as the hamstring in the back of the legs. The Leg Press and Squat machines works quads, hamstring, gluteals, and iliopsas. The Squat machine is the only one that actually feels uncomfortable, as the cushions that rest on my shoulders seem to dig into my skin while using it. The Glute machine works gluts, quads, and hamstring muscles.
Arms get a workout on the Biceps/Triceps and Shoulder Press/Lat Pull machines. The deltoid muscles on the shoulder and the trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles are targeted.
The Hip Abductor/Adductor machine works both the inner and outer thigh. Ab/Back machine uses curls to work the abdominal and erector spinea muscles.
Chest/Back and Pec Dec machines works pecs in the chest as well as muscles in the back. This machine claims to strengthen the muscles across the "thoracic vertebrae".
A machine called the Dip Shrug works two muscles, the deltoid shoulder muscles, and the back latissimus dorsi muscles.
Two machines work the obliques. The Lateral Lift works both the external and internal obliques. My least favorite machine, the Oblique, really works the side or oblique muscles. I was sore after using this just once.
In between each machine is a 3 foot by 3 foot square platform, with cushioning foam under it to absorb any shock to the body. These are the "recovery" squares, and you can simply walk in place or do knee kicks, leg lifts, etc. to keep the heart rate up. These are used in between every workout machine, except one, which uses a stair stepper instead, and this machine tracks your heart rate. (A chart on the wall tells you what is normal, based on your age).
When my put my programmed CurvesSmart™ card in each machine, there are green lights that move, showing your range of motion, and the light should move from left to right. If you don't exert as much energy as the computer feels you can, the lights won't remain green. This pushes me to work harder.
There is form that needs to be followed to get the best workouts,
The machine will tell you when it's time to change to the next station, so when using the CurvesSmart™ cards, you no longer listen to the voice telling you to change stations. The lights on the machine will have vertical red lines that mean it's time to stop and change machines. You do the circuit two times, and on the last few machines you will get a "COOL" message, meaning you are in cool down, and then the "END" message when the workout is complete.
After a workout, you put the CurvesSmart™ card into another computer and it tells you how well you did. It says which muscles got the best workout, and which ones need improvement. It also tells you how many calories you burned (mine averages around 280).
This is a customized record of all the workouts, and the progression I am making to meet my goals. After 1 month they weigh you again and re-take measurements. The CurvesSmart™ system does a good job of keeping me motivated.
My Experience So Far
I am fairly new to Curves, but have been very happy with my workouts and the facility. Employees are super nice and there is a sense of kinship among the women.
Yesterday I was working out around the lunch hour, and they brought out a crock pot full of homemade chili for everyone to share. They also had drawings for prizes, for those who found 5 pink ribbons hidden around the facility.
After my first workout, I was afraid my muscles were going to be sore, but they really weren't too bad. You can push yourself as hard or as little as you want with the Curves program. Again, my reason for joining was not to lose weight, but to rebuild bone so that my osteopenia does not become osteoporosis. I think the weight bearing exercise that I am getting at Curves will help me to become a stronger woman, and hopefully in a year when I have my next DEXA scan, it will show improvement in my bone density.
Before I starting doing the Curves Smart workouts, I wasn't sure that Curves was going to give me a good workout. I could talk through each one, but with the Curves Smart, I am pushing myself hard, and really am breaking a sweat. It feels good.
Most of the gals who attend Curves in my town are in the 40-60 age group, but we do have a 92 year old member! Once in a while some younger 30 something gals are there, but it's generally older women who participate. I am enjoying my time spent there and recommend it to those who want a female only environment when they exercise.
Although I was using leg weights and bar bells during my home exercise routines, I feel I am getting a much better workout at Curves, and it gets me out of the house and in the company of other women who also want to improve their fitness levels.
Recommended:
Yes
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