About a week ago I finished my free trial with Curves.

[blessed]

I really liked going to Curves, it's just women no men. They stay on each machine for about a minute and you move on after you go around the circle of machine you stop and test your heart beat. A sign on the wall tells you what your heart rate should be for your age.
I am wondering has anyone here been to Curves and what was your results?
I was wondering only going around twice would there really be good results?
I only went for the free trial because the yearly fee was a bit much for me.

Ann :p

[misslinda]

LOL........I'm sorry, I've seen their book and advertisements but it is way to 80's looking for me. :D

[ljannise]

GOOD for ppl that need a place to come out & feel comfortable.

I never joined, but I know where they are.

I'm still too shy for that. I dont personally care for weight rooms & such. I like nature & fresh air much better.

[Halo Aglow]

LOL........I'm sorry, I've seen their book and advertisements but it is way to 80's looking for me. :D

LMAO!!! It DOES!

I record the show Starting Over... one of the ladies goes there to work out, she seems to like it. It does look very 80's though! I had thought that it looked like an out-of-date place myself.

I hear a lot of people like it though, which is great! Blessed, when you say going around twice, what do you mean by that? Making two rounds around the exercise circle? What does that equal in time?

[misslinda]

LMAO!!! It DOES!

I record the show Starting Over... one of the ladies goes there to work out, she seems to like it. It does look very 80's though! I had thought that it looked like an out-of-date place myself.

I hear a lot of people like it though, which is great! Blessed, when you say going around twice, what do you mean by that? Making two rounds around the exercise circle? What does that equal in time?


LOL....I'm sorry Blessed...I didn't say it to make fun of you --I've been approached by their staff at events before. I think it has well standing for those that prefer one gender facilities.

I guess I'm one of those that IF I needed an indoor place to workout, I'd want to be surrounded by many different kinds of people and gender to be motivated. I'm very competative when it comes to working out so often times in the past, my workout partners have been male who can help me increase my threshold and take it up a notch.

:)

[Mookie]

I tried it for a little bit. 2 rounds is equal to 30 minutes. They use hydraulics for resistance. I was put off by the cost (cheaper for me to join the Y- where I could swim and do about 1,000 other things) and by the women who ran the place. Every time I came in they were up front eating shakes and fries and such and they were not even close to fit! Also,l the hours for the facility. They are not open during lunch time. They are not open on Sundays and they close for a few hours daily to do paper work.

I did not stay there long enough to see if I got any results from the 30 minute workout. A friend from work still goes. She likes it because there are
no men. I have not seen a big difference in her body though.

I personally would not go again. (JMO)

[blessed]

I was put off by the yearly fee of over $1,000.00 a year. I have exercise equipment here at home that I can use.
As far as there being only women I liked that but each to it's own comfort zone.
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts.

Ann

[theresaann]

I went to another place exactly like curves for while-same circuit concept, women only, 30 min. workout, etc.

I liked it when I was first getting back in shape. It was by my house so I would powerwalk the 3/4 of a mile there and back and it was a really simple, no brainer workout. I only stayed there a couple of weeks and then actually stopped working out because of an ankle injury. Oh, with the walking to and from the center, and doing one circuit through, I did start seeing results. My feeling is probably 2 circuits through would be even better....

There were a lot of "regulars" who knew each other-it was a nice social time for them. And it's great if you just want to pop in, do a circuit or two without thinking much about your workout, and out you go. It is VERY 80's (haha, I"m old enough to remember the whole Jane Fonda craze...that's when I first started working out LOL)

I think it's a great place for women who want to work out in an atmosphere with only women there, want a workout all laid out for them so they don't have to think about it, need a "place" to go to stay committed or motivated, and want a fairly short workout, it's a good place. I also think that for a beginner it's good.

I don't need any of the above anymore and I like to hike in the woods a lot for cardio. I prefer working out at home for free and to save time, but I think it's a good place for those who prefer what it provides.....

[Conscious Midwife]

The 80's feel and look is deliberate. Curves is ot marketing to the 30 something crowd that were teens in the eighties but to their Mom's and grand Mom's. The thought is to take you back to "the good old days" of energy and vitality. Also the subdued environment seems to go well with women who want to work out without men due to religious and or "traditional value" reasons. The marketeers think that these women are put of by the glut and ab, body pump Gold's gym type place with videos and loud music.

I like God's and I am ultr modest, I go to the classes and use the "women's cardio room" that's available. The hard body 20 something chics running around give me inspiration. The guys who are serious about workingout aren't looking at me so I'm not worried.

My company experimented with investing in satelite fitness centers for women. Same 80's motif, same under paid overweight employees running it. It failed after 18 months.

[Punky]

I was put off by the yearly fee of over $1,000.00 a year. I have exercise equipment here at home that I can use.
As far as there being only women I liked that but each to it's own comfort zone.
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts.

Ann


Wow that's waaaaaaY OVERPRICED in my humble opinion Ann.
What else do you get with that membership besides the circuit weight routine?
They have them all over the place in the dallas metro. Personally I have
never been, but have heard all about them. The pluses are it's great
for the "beginner excerciser" and for someone that only wants to be
around woman only. Wow that price is way too much for a basic circuit workout. So your basically
paying for the woman's only club part. How much is the monthly dues???
So depending on your comfort zone and present activity level (and finances)
that should lead you to what to do. My trainer told me as someone advances in physical fitness their routine (Curves) is not very flexable to advance with you which can lead you to plateau in your physical fitness.


Personally for me I have lots of choices in health clubs living in Dallas.
There are so many SUPER health clubs opening up to compete with each
other. I don't even think they charge that much up front for all they offer. Most of them charge a couple hundred up front (150-250 down) and anywhere from 25-60 monthly dues. My 24 hour fitness membership was on the high end of that range because I upgraded to childcare and use of all the clubs. I originally started on the low end of that range but found I really needed the childcare thrown into it rather than paying each time I dropped the kiddos off.
I personally like working out with a mix gender. I really don't think much about it. I did get self concous once when I was really out of shape but got over it pretty quickly. I realized most people didn't care or think twice about me and were there to do there thing. There are really out of shape people and really in shape people all doing there own thing-striving to stay or get healthy.
But I do think Curves is good for some people. It would be perfect for my mother in law. She is very out of shape, and extremely self concous of her weight...actually she is so self concous I do not think she would even like working out with other woman. Actually I think woman are more catty and judgemental than men are!

Maybe you should explore other health clubs on a trial membership basis. I believe all of them offer a 2 week free trial membership. Than you can get a feel of what they all offer, prices and what you are comfortable with.
Best, Punky

[Kitty]

My aunt did this and she lost A LOT of weight. She didn't become slim but she did quit before she reached her goal. However she lost about a hundred pounds!! I was so proud of her! She went three times a week I believe but only did what they recommended including there diet plans I think.

[Denise Nicole]

It's so nice to hear your taking charge of your fitness!

While Curves can work in the beginnning they aren't good for long term. I saw several reviews from muscle mags and fitness mags and they always came in as the worst. You will lose weight with them in the beginning as with most fitness ventures, but then it stagnates, the preson gets discouraged and drops out (and gains all the weight back).

I would encourage joining a gym where you can switch up your routine every so often to get some great results.

I hope you will keep on the road to fitness, keep us posted! :)

[lavendarJ]

I know quite a few people who have lost lots of weight at curves. I think curves is an ideal place (if one can afford it) for the person who is a beginner to exercise and would prefer a more intimate environment. I say this because a lot of times the same women workout during the same shift everyday (they are open for a set amount of hours in the morning, then they reopen in the afternoon). Eventually as a beginner gets adjusted to the exercise they will find that they need more of a challenge. I did curves with my sister-in-law as a way to motivate her because she felt more comfortable their being very obese and not wanted to be in a larger scale gym. I was shocked when I seen the prices mentioned here because when we did curves I was paying about 35 dollars a month (which I thought was extremely expensive at just over 400 per year) I ended up getting a new job and curves wasn't open early enough for me to get in on the morning shift, and by the time I got off it was closed and so I only did it for about 2 months. Its a fun environment but just wasn't challenging enough for me because I was already used to doing more vigorous exercises like kickboxing. This was probably around 5 years ago when I did it; I can't believe they are so expensive now....wow!

[Rawma]

As a Personal Trainer my opinion of Curves is that it is a good place to get started but, because your body will get accustomed to the workout, you really need to move on after about 6 weeks at best. You should never do the same program for longer than that, be it cardio or weight lifting, because your body will acclamate itself to whatever it is you are doing and not make any progress. I have said repeatedly that the reason people leave curves is because they are not seeing any progress after being there for awhile. This is also true of any program. Please don't sign a year contract with them at any cost! You will be wasting your money. If you really want results, join a gym and take the strength classes for 6 weeks and then when you feel better about yourself, hire a Personal Trainer to help you change up your routine. I change my clients routines every 12th-18th time they workout (lift weights) which translates to 4-6 weeks. This keeps their body guessing and they make great progress in losing body fat!
Good luck and if you have any questions...just ask!
Lisa

[blessed]

As I said I only went for the week free trial.
Now I exercise at home I have the equipment, going there got me into the routine of working out and that's what i needed.
Now I don't just look at my equipment I get on it more often, so going was a benefit for me.

Ann :)

[Lady Green Jeans]

blessed,

I joined Curves a few years ago and really liked the 30 minute workout and the body fat tracking and measuring they did so you could see your results.

I would personally not recommend signing up for the auto pay plan from your account. I personally notified my location of my move out of the area and to stop the deduction. Did not catch that they didn't for quite a few months. Felt very dishonest they would not refund the monies taken during the period. Would not ever join them again due to that experience alone.

Best of luck in your health quest.

[virginia]

Our curves is $31 a month and there's supposed to be a fee to join but there are usually promotions, like in March if you donate a bag of groceries for the local women's shelter, there is only the $31 a month. I liked it for awhile but now spring is here and would rather do outdoors. It takes them a month or so to stop the automatic payments. The machines are simple to use, the dietary recommendations are crap. There's a big poster with the founder (I think) with a milk moustache saying drink milk three times a day to help lose weight. I heard of another franchise that includes a sauna, if I didn't have my own I would consider that, but don't know the cost.

[misslinda]

Also wanted to mention since Spring arrived......


I stopped going to gyms about 2001 and have converted to all outdoor workouts and occasional gym WT. But I do a fair share of stretching ST/WT,calisthenics at home. All free and the outdoor air --oxygen filled beats any indoor gig. :)