Hello!
I'm certainly not here to post a commercial for Curves for Women...but I'm a member there and I LOVE IT! The wonderful things about it are that it's strength training for all areas of the body, it goes by quickly, and it's a lot of fun!!! A sign posted in the one I go to says that exercise at Curves increases your weight loss by 300%! I believe it! If any of you have any chance to check out their website (www.curvesinternational.com), it's worth it!
Just wanted to let you know what I do. I love to walk too, but with the cold weather it's difficult. This is also a good way to finally strengthen those areas of my body that never really get worked!
Take care!
Tracey

I just joined two days ago, and am going back for my second workout today. It really seems to be a quick and painless way of getting your exercise in (and I hate exercise!). I have heard nothing but good things so far, but we'll see how much it helps with my weight loss.
Anyone else out there have some thoughts?
G

Hey Tracey and G,
I joined Curves Sept 5, and have been going 3-4 x/week. This is the first exercise program I have ever stuck to. Until now, I have been a lifelong exercise hater! I am convinced that it has been a big part of my weight loss success. I have lost steadily, without a plateau.
But what is even more important to me, is the role exercise will play in keeping the weight off. It has become a habit to go, and I just completed my 70 th workout. You will be amazed at your progress on the machines. I feel 100% better exercising regularly.
This is a program that I know I can do!!!
Good luck to you both!!!

Be careful with Curves that you are not doing too many repetitions of an exercise. Since the resistance on the machines is not adjustable, they tell you to "just go faster" when the machines start to seem too easy. You can end up doing 20-30 repetitions at a time which is WAY too many. I injured my rotator cuff on Curves machines when I was a member there.
Then, I did some research and decided to open a competitor, It Figures, which I sold last year. Check it out at www.itfigures.tv. Also check out Ladies Workout Express which also has excellent, adjustable-resistance machines. There are others as well.
Check your yellow pages for alternatives to Curves. I would recommend checking out all your options before signing a contract with Curves. The women-only, 30-minute, full body concept is excellent, and there are competitors who have improved upon the concept and made it so you are less likely to injure yourself.

Laura,
While I appreciate your concern for safety, I disagree with the blanket statement that 20 - 30 reps are too many. I do at least 20 reps on each machine(and 40 reps on several). I do not get sore muscles and have never felt better.
I chose Curves, specifically, because I did not want to waste time fidding with and adjusting machines.
I do agree, that everyone should check out all the options, but for me, the simplicity of the Curves machines and routine was the deciding factor.

Laura has a point. I fell into the "more, more, faster" trap at Curves last fall and did serious damage to my upper arms. For over three months I have been taking Tylenol 24-7; I had x-rays because one arm hurt so badly--I thought I must have a broken bone. My doctor said it was soft tissue contusions and that I should it expect it to be quite a while before I'm pain-free again. Certainly this doesn't happen to a lot of people, but to have a balanced view, everyone should realize that overuse injuries are a possibility. Before this happened I also loved Curves, thought it was fun, etc. Perhaps I was doing the exercises incorrectly, but supervision at my Curves was nonexistent. The attendant sat at her desk on the computer the whole time and the customers were pretty much left on their own. Don't want to be a downer, just wanted to tell everyone to be careful.

All I can say is, do a web search including the terms "Curves for Women" and "tendinitis" and you'll see what I mean.
When I got my fitness certification I learned that with resistance training, one should do 8-15 reps at a time, using a weight that fatigued the muscles, with at least a minute rest between sets.
It was interesting because the physical therapist that I went to was seeing a lot of ex-Curves members. That's when the alarm bells went off for me.
Sorry to sound so negative. I loved Curves before I got injured. I just hate for anyone to go through what I have because I've never been able to completely recover my former fitness level. Chronic injuries tend to do that to you. I would feel worse about NOT speaking up than I do about speaking up.
If you are fit enough to do 20-40 reps on the Curves machines, you probably need to find a more challenging program, not only to keep improving your fitness level but to avoid overuse injuries and tendinitis.

Ok, I feel I have to reply here. I have been going to Curves since the beginning of December, and so far I feel that I get a very good workout there. Laura, I do understand what you are saying that to many reps on a machine can be bad for you. But for those of us that have never done any kind of exercise before Curves, it is a great workout. I do realize that at some point I will need to change to something that is more challenging, but probably not for some time. I think that Curves is a great workout especially for someone that either hates to exercise, or for someone that has never done any formal exercise. I hope that this doesn't come off as a bashing for those of you who don't like Curves, but for those of us who are getting a good workout, Curves is heaven sent for me.

Curves IS good for beginners, who are new to exercise, not very fit, etc. But, there comes a point with that system when you no longer see improvement, your body is ready to move beyond what Curves can offer. As Laura said, fatiguing the muscles in 8 to 12 reps is what is needed to increase strength and muscle mass. If you are moving beyond 12 to 15 reps, then you STOP building muscle -- you are merely burning calories and perhaps are building endurance, but you are not going to get lasting metabolic effects from muscle-building. You may even LOSE ground after a while.
The point is, if Curves gets you moving, that's great. But there will come a day when that system is no longer doing what it should, and that is when it will be time to move on to other activities.
For those concerned with time and convenience, there are two GREAT VHS/DVD workouts from Kathy Smith called "Lift Weights to Lose Weight". In Vol 1, there is a 20-minute upper body and 20-minute lower body workout, and you use 3 sets of dumbells. No clumsy adjustments or machinery to deal with -- just put down one set of weights and pick up the next. In Vol 2, the workouts are broken down into even smaller sections, so you can do more mix-and-matching. Add a 20 minute weight workout with a 20-30 minute cardio workout and you're done for the day, and you didn't even have to travel anywhere to do it.