Curves vs Gym

I've never been inside of a Curves, but there was one next to my favorite pizza place in Florida so I saw the facility a lot. I only saw a group of machines in a circle and it looked like you just switched machines. If that is how the program works, then I can imagine that will get old quickly. I'd say the biggest deciding factor here is choose the one that you will go to or just do month to month so you can switch if you are unhappy.

Oh I just added 'curves circuit training', for 30 mins, since that's what they want you to do, and it says 204 calories. So it burns twice as much as walking one mile in 20 mins, but about 179 calories less than half an hour on your treadmill.

Oh, and curves will NOT let you out of your 12 month contract, so be SURE you want to be active there for a whole year, or you'll be tossing a lot of money out! Anytime is no contract, but I've never been. The guys my hubby works with love it for the lifting.

I've tried both and for what it's worth, I'm not a Curves fan.

First: It's a very limited routine. I think if you are VERY out of shape or elderly it could be good, but even at 90lbs overweight, I found it pretty easy and really boring. It is the same all the time. You go in a circle to this annoying reminder to switch machines (I hated that!) The one I went to had horrible music too. (I'm sure you can use headphones, but I wouldn't have been able to hear the reminder to move)

Second: It is very limited hours. I'm not sure if all are like that, but the one I was at wasn't open Sunday, and was open only 5-6 hours a day, so not convenient at all.

I do think if you are very embarrassed being seen by people it might be better as its mostly older ladies (and no men at all)


Do you have a Planet Fitness near you? I belong to one, and I honestly am not to bothered by others as there are so many shapes/sizes ages there. I don't think most people even pay any attention. It's cheap, and has good hours.

I belonged to Curves for several years. I'm not a fan. It was good for some socializing, but didn't have the slightest effect on my fitness level, nor on my weight. I went faithfully, 3 times a week and tried to work hard, but it was just not effective.

I share your need to lose a lot of weight (so much that I really don't feel a need to have a final "goal" weight at this point). I also feel very self-conscious exercising in front of others. My solution was a used Nintendo Wii and several fitness "games". I posted a comparison of the 3 dance workout games I've tried earlier today. I'm much more comfortable exercising at home, by myself. I know some people really need the people contact, but I'm an introvert and was so mercilessly teased as a child about my lack of athletic ability, that exercising at home is the right thing for me.

I'd love to swim for exercise, but the hassle of driving to a pool, showering, changing, exercising, showering, changing, driving home is just too much of a hassle. Having the Wii in the spare room means I can go do some exercising whenever the mood strikes, although I have my regular routine built into my day (first thing, before breakfast).

Good for you!! As I said above, people don't pay any attention to each other for the most part. I've got a good 35+lbs to lose, so I can be self conscious also, but I have NEVER EVER seen anyone snickering or pointing. Those people who are workout fiends are all into themselves so they don't pay attention to others. When I see someone at the gym who has weight to lose like me, I admire them because getting into the gym is the big step. Good luck to you!!!

Thank you all so much! I have been having reservations about Curves and I haven't even gone in to see the place yet. And it sounds like maybe I was right according to the reviews here. I guess I am just going to suck it up and try a gym. Maybe if I don't wear my glasses I won't be able to tell if anyone is looking at me or not!! :embarassed:

Thanks again for the input!!

I am one of the biggest people that I see regularly at my gym (I have about 150 pounds to lose) and in my experience, people don't really look at you. they are there to do their own thing and don't really care about the people around them. I go to a local gym and not a franchise gym.

If anything the people at my gym have been super supporting. People are always smiling and it makes me feel really good when I do an exercise and people tell me afterwards that they were impressed I was able to do it!

I would visit a few different gyms, look around and see what kind of people are there. If you aren't comfortable, you wont go. I know this from experience and many months of wasted gym payments.

The first step into a gym is the hardest. But people are generally creatures of habit and you will get used to seeing the same people there all the time. I've even met a few gym buddies there to chat with and it makes the cardio time FLY by!

Curves allows one kind of workout - it's circuit training. You pick a machine to start on, do it as much as you can for 30 or 60 seconds (I don't remember exactly how long) then move to the next. There is a mix of machines (different muscle group foci) and cardio stations (march/jog in place, jumping jacks, whatever). Everybody is on that same circuit. If that sounds like something you'd like to do day after day (they do change the order from time to time) then it might be a good place to get started.

However, I would get bored super quickly with that kind of workout -- that's why I never went beyond my 7 day free trial. I prefer to be able to chose more variety and to tailor my workouts to my goals.

You said you have access to 24 hour fitness. I've had good experiences there. I've seen people at many different stages of weight loss and fitness there, so you probably wouldn't feel like the only "newbie" there. My suggestion would be to get a few sessions with a personal trainer if you can afford it. They can teach you exercises to reach your goals and help you learn proper form. {You can also check the other gyms you mentioned … but I only have experience with 24 hour fitness as far as those you listed}

Here's my advice as someone who also had 100 pounds to lose:

Concentrate on your diet first.

Once you have your diet under control and you can maintain a calorie deficit for 3 months, then you can start thinking about adding in a fitness routine.

I personally found it staggering to summon the willpower to just change my eating habits and trying to change that and change fitness habits would have been overwhelming.

I've never been in a Curves, but from the descriptions above a standard gym will let you do everything you can do in a Curves and more.

Steve

As a reply to the comment that 30 minutes burns 200 cals, more than walking- there is no way of even telling this as the machines at curves to not have calorie counts? So this is more than likely just somebody prediction.

I have gone to 24 Hour Fitness and it's great, except at my location they were so busy it was hard to get a treadmill or elliptical any time from about 5 pm to 9 pm. People would literally be leaning against a wall waiting for machines. I go to Planet Fitness now, they have circuits like Curves, but you can add weight resistance to the moves which allows you to progress while Curves does not. I've been going for about 2 months and have NEVER had to wait for a cardio machine. Added bonus: $10.00 a month!!!!!!

When I started going to the gym- I did water aerobics. It took me months to work up to even a treadmill. At the time I was about 250 pounds and 5 ft 1in. I thought all these healthy people will think what's tubby doing here. Instead people were great. My worse fear was to see someone I knew, then it happened. A man I had worked with for 15 years saw me on a bike sweating like a pig and just started chatting like there was nothing unusual about the situation. Then I realized there wasn't. This is what healthy people do, they sweat, they move. I was being the odd man (woman) out by not doing these things.

This is how I feel now, it's normal to go the gym. The odd behavior is sitting on your *kitten* complaining. I'm still not done with my journey and its taken some twists and turns but I'm down 100 pounds from when I first started. I go to the gym now, lift weights, treadmill, bikes, elliptical, whatever. I will still pull my t-shirt down over my gut when I'm doing crunches- I"m not so comfy I need my gut hanging out but it's been a slow transformation.

Good job on your progress so far- Keep Moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, depending on your political beliefs you might want to do a little research on Curves.

I think you should consider something else besides Curves. To be completely honest with you.... no one cares what you are doing at the gym. Even if you catch someone glancing at you... I can almost 100% promise you it is just a passing glance and they are not analyzing what you are doing. At all the gyms I have ever gone to no one gave a flying crap about what I was doing unless I specifically asked other members for help. You are psyching yourself out because of your own insecurities and part of this journey is to overcome things like that. Curves is really limited and you will quickly find that it is not challenging. if you are really serious about working out, find a gym that has everything (indoor swimming, classes, machines, weights) so that you have options to continually challenge yourself. The best thing that I can sugges that might make you feel more comfortable is to join an all womans gym like Lucille Roberts (which is what I did at first). Once I got comfortable there, I got another membership at Planet Fitness (which I personally really enjoy) and I have tried different groupon deals for other gyms and classes.

I'm not trying to be hard on you because I do remember being very nervous trying my gym for the first time. And yes, MAYBE someone will be pathetic enough to focus on you and make remarks while you are in the gym instead of minding their own business. But I had to get over worrying about things like that if I wanted results. And results is exactly what I got once I stopped focusing on everyone else and started focusing on me.

Join a YMCA. You get a good gym and a pool. Swimming and weights. But check a few Y's. One near my brother has no free weights beyond a 35# dumbbell.
But others have the full compliment of both machine and free weight workout.
And great group classes too.