I have been member of many gyms throughout the years, and I was member of Curves for about 3 years. There were many things I liked about Curves and many others that were not my cup of tea.
HITS
+ They have a comprehensive weight program with a set of routine exercises, monthly weighing, and a book of nutrition to follow if you want. If you don't want to follow anything, you just go there, follow the exercise routine and voila.
+ Their machinery is easy to use, low impact, and your member card also allows you to check your progress in the computer when you sign off every day.
+ They are a female-only gym, so you go there just to exercise not to be stared at by men or to flirt. You don't feel; conscious about what you are wearing or your boobs going up and down.
+ They are friendly places, a sort of sisterhood, and the managers are always very familiar, try to connect people and check how you are doing, so it feels a very personal experience. Very far from the usually cold unfriendly gyms out there.
+ Curves is a program for people of all ages.
+ They organise social and charity events in the gym.
+ They sell gym stuff at very good prices and for all sizes.
+ They give you free shirts when you reach a certain number of visits/workouts, 100, 200, 300 etc.
+ I loved their stretching stations.
+ I love the staff encouragement, care and friendliness. Awesome ladies.
SO-SO
- I worked out harder than anybody else, went there regularly, at a certain point I even followed their nutrition program. I kept putting on weight and my level of fitness did not improve much. That is so because their exercise machines are perfect as a maintenance program or for older ladies who don't need or can't do much cardio. I changed gym, changed my plan of exercise, and lost about 10 kilos in little time without even dieting. So, basically, Curves never worked for me. I think if you are obese and don't move much is different, any exercise would make you lose weight, so Curves might work for you.
- Groups of women can be a bit of a problem if you, like me, are not into chatting while exercising, or you are not into socialising during gym hours because you have to go.
- There is just one piece of each type of machine (at least at my gym), so that creates a problems at times, when several people arrive at the same time and you have to cue for any given machine because all of them are being used. .
I really loved the ambiance and sisterhood inn Curves, but the gym programs never worked for me or helped me to lose weight.
