Navigating the Curves of health and fitness Navigating the Curves of health and fitness (July 14, 2004)

Program growing in popularity, but has its detractors

by Sue Dremann

Women of all ages are working out at Curves, one of the latest waves in weight loss and fitness designed exclusively for women. From trendy Palo Alto to the tiny Sierra town of Groveland, a tsunami of Curves -- 8,000 clubs in all -- has swept over the country and are poised to cover the globe, with plans to start up in more than 50 countries.

Curves' popularity is easy to comprehend. Its 30-minute workout, billed as the equivalent of an hour and a half, is quick and relatively painless. There is no wait; and the machines are designed for women aged 15 to 90.

There's even a Curves low-carbohydrate weight-loss plan, complete with a book sporting frequent inspirational messages quoted from the Bible.

"You're working two to three muscles at the same time, and you're getting cardio and weight-bearing exercise," said Brenda Greene, owner of one of two Curves facilities located in Palo Alto. "Weight bearing is very important for middle-aged women, and we're seeing a lot of Baby Boomers."

But does it live up to the hype?. While some professionals laud anything that gets sedentary middle-aged women off the couch and into the gym, they also expressed concern that some may believe working out at Curves is enough.

"It's a good starting program for about six to 12 months, but for optimal health -- and for weight loss -- according to the American College of Sports Medicine, it takes 60 minutes of exercise daily," said Pat Kearney, a registered dietician and American College of Sports Medicine-certified fitness instructor at Stanford Hospital. "Weight loss is a matter of energy in and energy out, and changing body composition over time."

Here's how Curves works: Enter at any point and jog for 30 seconds on a mat to get the heart rate up. Music pumps out a pop beat, while a gentle female voice-over commands one to "change stations."

Move to one of 10 hydraulic weight-bearing machines, which works two or three muscles at a time. Sit on the ab machine and pull a bar in front of you, rocking from side to side, working those stomach muscles; or get on a thigh-strengthening machine, and lift the weight bars with the lower legs, and feel the unmistakable workout on those inner thighs. Choose the speed and frequency of the motions. After 30 seconds, the voice comes on again:

"Change stations," and it's off to the next jogging mat in the circuit, jogging in place to keep the heart rate up.

After 30 seconds, it's on to another hydraulic machine -- pushing, pulling and lifting, with legs or arms, working a different set of muscles at each station, working the circuit of 10 machines and jogging mats three times around, as the music keeps the beat up.

Check the pulse to maintain your target heart rate. Afterward, there's a corner of the room to do five minutes of stretching exercises.

"It's like musical chairs -- someone gets on, someone gets off," said Greene, who purchased her Curves franchise in downtown Palo Alto after seeing the benefits the program provided her 78-year-old mother. "Her osteoporosis improved with the weight-bearing exercise, and she had more energy."

The brainchild of Texas entrepreneur Gary Heavin, Curves -- which first opened in 1992 -- was a reaction to the unfit health of his mother, who had diabetes and heart problems. Heavin felt her illness was avoidable, if she had engaged in a fitness program, said Chelsea Rubi, owner of the Curves on El Camino Real.

Although arguments persist over the long-term effectiveness of the program, the real controversy lies with its weight-loss program. Their book claims clients can boost metabolism and burn more calories by alternating between periods of eating lots of calories and then dropping down to a restrictive 1,200 calories.

However, an article about the limitations of Curves in the Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter, "A Gym for the Non-Lycra Crowd?" (February 2004.) warned women not to take any nutritional advice from Curves, asserting the company's stated goals are impossible to achieve.

Furthermore, Curves' low-carbohydrate weight-loss plan recommends that half of all carbohydrates should come from a Curves shake, leaving virtually no room for whole categories of food, the newsletter noted.

Kearney agreed with the newsletter's concerns.

"They shouldn't be selling supplements and diet plans, they don't have qualified people to do that," she said, adding that women wanting to diet should work with a specialist.

Despite such concerns, the patrons of Palo Alto's popular Curves' franchises are satisfied with the program, saying it is well suited to their needs.

"I used to go to the Y. Everyone was into themselves," said Pam Brewer, an employee at Foothills College who spends a lot of time sitting at her desk. "Here, you get more support -nobody is yelling at you. There was no one at the Y to show you how to use the equipment; here, they show you what you're doing wrong."

"It's really comforting to be around other women," added Colleen McDermott, a former Curves patron who originally found the program monotonous but returned for the camaraderie. "I didn't think it was going to affect me that way, but it did."

Staff writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.