Just wondering if anyone here goes to Curves. I am having a hard time fitting in exercise everyday and with the weather getting yucky outside, I want to make sure I keep this in my daily schedule.

I am going to Curves today to check it out. If anyone goes there or has in the past, please let me know what you thought about it. Is it worth the money? Seems like the 1/2 hour per day workout is too good to be true.

Thanks!!

Hi there. I have gone to Curves for a while now, but I'm in the middle of cancelling my contract. I enjoyed going but it got to the point where my heart rate was not getting high enough and I wasn't burning fat. Don't get me wrong...any kind of exercise is better than sitting on the sofa watching TV, but I just decided to get on my treadmill at home and I know that I am burning fat doing that. Good luck and let me know what you think of it.

I know a lot of people love Curves, but I'm not a big fan. The people who work there are not certified trainers and have no clue about musculature, body mechanics, or medical conditions. If you are having any physical issues related to exercise, they can give you rote answers and suggestions that they are taught to say, but no real advice that pertains only to you. Machine wise, fine. Music is good, People there are pleasant. It is a very non-threatening environment. Women of all shapes and sizes go there. It's a good place to check out. Some like it alot, some don't.

Thanks for the comments! I am just concerned that it will focus too much on toning and strength training and not enough on weight loss and getting your heart rate up to burn fat like you said. I have an elyptical at home that works great at getting the heart rate up but with my schedule lately I am just not finding time to get on it until 10 at night and then I get a second wind and can't fall asleep.

I had a membership last year, I really enjoyed it at first and I was losing weight pretty quickly at first too (I haven't been banded yet) But I got bored with it after a while because it's the same thing every day. I like the machines though because you can workout however hard you want to, they work with you.

It did seem pretty redundant. When I was there, there was only one woman working out and she didn't look like it was very strenuous at all. I don't want to be sweating profusely after the 1/2 hour but does it really get your heartrate up just doing those pads and the machines? I want to tone, but I am more interested in fat burning right now... I suppose toning is a good thing to, I am so new to this exercise thing, I just want to make sure if I spend the money it will be worth it.

I hadn't done any real exercise in years and knew I had to start somewhere. I couldn't even imagine doing anything until after I had lost 50 lbs. I joined Curves because it was close to my home and have been enjoying a gentle re-introduction to physical activity. I'm sure it won't be enough after a while and I will try something else, but for me, right now, its perfect.

When I was in college they opened a curves just off campus and offered a special membership deal to students and I joined I lost 40 lbs in about 6 months ( this was a long time before I was banded) I really enjoyed it and it inspired me to make better choices and I started walking too.

I graduated and moved and all of the curves that are close to me now are too much $$

But I had a very positive Curves experience

Curves is a good workout for beginners who don't need to be held accountable for the amount of effort they put into their routine. In other words, with the resistance setups, you're only going to get out what you put in. Weight machines can really make you lift the 100 lbs, but a resistance machine is only going to make you lift as much as you're putting into it.

Here's a prior review I posted. IF you're looking for good feedback, stop reading.

Curves works for some. For me it never did much, and that went beyond how much I put into it. I would get on the machines (resistance-based) and absolutely pump for all I was worth, and never really got great resistance. Fast, slow, hard, easy, it never mattered. A girl going to school to be a personal trainer worked at mine and tried to make it better in the beginning, then just said, "These just aren't challenging you" and she actually recommended I think about going to a free weight or weight-based equipment gym, where I could get higher resistance. If they could have adjusted the resistance it may have helped, but from what I was told their equip. is manufactured with a resistance limit designed for a specific demographic, and I just wasn't lucky enough to fit that demographic. Plus I was too tall for several of the pieces and they hurt to use, and in some cases my height kept me from being able to use them properly.

Plus I always felt stupid standing in a circle doing something with nothing to look at other than the person in front of me, and it REALLY bothered me when the person to my left would get off their machine and leave a streak of crotch sweat or butt sweat on the seat and by the time I wiped it off and sat down & got started it was time to move on to the next thing...

The other way it really wasn't for me was the little "pep rally" stuff they do, like at mine when you weighed in, if you'd lost, they'd want you to ring this big bell and announce your loss. When I'd lost 20 lbs they gave me a free bottle of Water (woo!) and told me to "spin the bottle" (put it in the middle of the workout circle) and whomever it landed on got a gym bag full of workout clothes. Umm... I lost the weight and got a free water, she came here with a friend and got a new workout wardrobe??? LOL All the little activities/competitions just aren't my style. I found them to be very gimmicky... and an *entire* wall was dedicated to people wanting to sell their Avon or Pamepered Chef... like that's what I drove all the way there to look at... Most people probably thrive in the atmosphere and find it extremely helpful... just not me.

I went to Curves for a while. The first one I went to was pretty good, because it was big, then I moved to a new city about 3 months later and the Curves there was crammed into this tiny room with mirrors, whereas the other one didn't have mirrors. Everybody would just stare at everybody. Also, it bothered me because there were these two younger girls and they were making fun of one of the other ladies who was getting really into it. There's just something weird about working out in a circle with everybody watching everybody. It's not very private and the smaller the place is, the worse it is. This is just my opinion though; I'm sure there are many who like it a lot.

Oh and another thing that bugged me was the boring Christian music they played. Apparently Curves is a Christian organization or something, at least the two I went to were, and they played Jesus music everytime, and I'm not talking about the young hip kind, I'm talking about the snore fest kind. And, I have my beliefs, but listening to slow boring "I love Jesus" music wasn't exactly pumping me up to work out. Again, I'm not bashing Jesus music, but something a little more livlier to listen to would have been nicer. However, I think they are franchises, so perhaps it was the owners who wanted that music to be played.

Thank you guys for the honest comments, I really appreciate them. Like I said too, I wasn't impressed with my first visit there. I want to burn some fat......I just don't think that is the way to do it for me. Back to the drawing board!