Curves Info Needed

[tiggerlover]

I have seen quite a few posts on Curves and I had a few questions. I am coming to the US for a month this summer, so I will not be able to go to my gym. Is it possible to join Curves just for the month I will be in the US? Also, how much does it cost and what is required?

Thanks in advance.

 

[lisajl]

Hi!
I don't think you can join for just a month. I had to sign a contract for a year. Of course, my fee for joining was about $50.
Then it is $30 a month.

I hope you can find something.

Lisajl

P.S. You might have more luck at a regular gym, but check first with curves.

 

[TigH]

http://www.curvesinternational.com/BullseyePro/findacurves.asp

Try using their website to see if you can find one in the area you'll be visiting. If you find one and they have an e-mail address, send them a message explaining your situation.

If they don't have an e-mail address but they do have a phone number, PM me and I'll call (we have a wicked good long distance phone card type dealio).

My cousin from Massachusetts went to England to visit my family a few years ago. He is a serious weight lifter (competes in those body type thingies). He found a gym over there that let him join for the two weeks he was on vacation. I'm sure that they will make an exception for you. Well, I'd hope they would anyway.

Good luck!

 

[Debbie]

Now, when I joined I had the option of a year "contract" at $10. a month less than had I chosen to pay "by the month." And I didn't have to pay the registration fee because I joined during the Food For Friends campaign. Good luck! I'm enjoying Curves and I notice a difference already.

 

[lynr]

In my curves in New Jersey you can pay $39 for the month.

Lyn

 

[bicker]

There have been a lot of messages about Curves recently, on various forums I read regularly. Most of them haven't been too positive.

The most common concern I've gotten out of these discussions is that, by its very nature, Curves doesn't tend to put people on track towards a long-term fitness-oriented lifestyle. (Whether that's what everyone/anyone wants from Curves is another issue...) Specifically, the exercise portion is severely limited by how small the facilities typically are, and how little the equipment challenges folks after they've been at it a while. While most people I've seen discussing it agree that something is often better than nothing, some of the discussions have got me wondering if some people might be getting stuck in a "Curves rut" -- under-challenging themselves long-term because that's what's supported by this program they're paying for, when if they weren't in that program they may have gotten into one that would have challenged them more significantly. Hard to say, but surely a bit of a concern. I wonder if it wouldn't be better to have had Curves integrated into existing gyms, as a sort-of "gym within a gym" so that market could get the specific attention and nutritional counselling they want, but have a much clearly path to more significant exercise when the time was right for that transition.

The other concern I've read a bit about is the dietary program itself: The discussions make it sound like it is a bit like Atkins without the scientific foundation.

Anyone have a view from both inside and outside Curves regarding these issues?

 

[Debbie]

Bicker, I can see where your concern lies. I can only answer for myself. If I were to go to a regular gym, I wouldn't.

I like that Curves has a variety of machines that you do in a short period of time. I don't get bored. I can stand anything for 30 seconds. I work as hard (or easy) as I feel comfortable doing on any one day. The music keeps me in sync. The people there are just like me. The cost is reasonable. I don't have to pay "extra" for a trainer-the responsibility is on me. I don't have to have the fancy clothes that are prime with some facilities. The enforced pulse check lets me know that I am still alive. . . . And I feel that I can keep this up a lot easier than going to the Y or any other gym. This 30 minutes a day I can fit in. True, I need to become active besides working out at Curves, but I'd need to do that if I did the big gym thing anyway.

Now, will I challenge myself, or will I be content with Curves? I can't honestly say, but I'm guessing that I will be content with Curves and believe that that is better than what I've been doing for the past 49 years.

Your idea of a "gym within a gym" is an interesting concept, and would be the ideal. Curves would then become a natural stepping stone to the next level.

As to the diet, I can't say. I love my carbs and I couldn't possibly try to limit them so drastically. I don't intend to use the Curves diet even though I do have a lot of weight to lose, but rather, I intend to stick with what makes sense to me.

Eat healthy, eat reasonably, journal as often as I can (right now that is as anything goes into my mouth), drink the requisite water and don't freak if I splurge now and then.

I guess what I'm saying is that Curves isn't my motivation, Curves is my tool to get where I want to go.

 

[disykat]

choosing to delete this post (even though it's quoted below). I have no desire to debate on this board. I avoided this board in the past for fear of this exact thing happening. I'm back on WISH, but I'm not going to engage.

 

[bicker]

Originally posted by disykat
Are there people for whom curves won't be challenging enough in the long run? Sure. However, most of those I see there have found this a positive way to fit exercise into their lives that wouldn't be doing it otherwise.

That's really a key issue. Again, I can't imagine a concern about Curves, for folks who wouldn't ever do any other exercise otherwise. The only concern I give any credence to is as it pertains to some people who would be doing something more challenging, if they weren't doing Curves. Our weight-management program strongly supports its patients efforts towards continually challenging themselves to higher levels of fitness. During the session I attended this week, the leader, Elizabeth, relayed a story about an athletic competition she attended last weekend, where the winners of events like the pole vault were in their 60s and 70s.

I mostly walk for exercise. I needed an easy way to get resistance/strength training without going to a standard gym, which I have never felt comfortable doing. I've done coed aerobics classes etc., but don't care to be laughed out of the gym if I can only lift a couple of pounds. I won't even lift at home in front of my husband - he simply can't understand that I need low weights lots of reps.

Ack, I rather know where you're coming from, having felt the same in the past. Now, from what I've experienced, no one at the gym cares the least bit about me; they're busily focused on their own concerns and their only concern about me is whether or not I'm using equipment they want to use.

Now that I'm used to the curves workout I simply make an effort to concentrate more on the resistance machines to keep it challenging. I trust myself to have the brains to know if I've "outgrown" curves - though as a women in my 40's I really don't anticipate doing that.

Don't tell my 50 year old wife that. Just take a look at my website for a comparison of the mid-40-something Robbie, loveable and roly-poly, and the 50ish Robbie, junior athelete.

High powered gym people will realize right away that they're not in the right place and can leave us Curves people to a place where we feel comfortable. I think it's wonderful that there are more exercise options available - getting more people out there making posistive changes. I don't see how that can be a negative thing.

Again, as compared to doing nothing, I can't see how that could be a negative thing, either. However, I know my wife would say that she's very glad that she challenged herself to achieve more than, on first glance, a mid-40-something, loveable and roly-poly, person might consider enough for her.

As always, YMMV.