Curvaceous

Jenny Marder

A new women’s fitness wave is sweeping through town. With four new

Curves gyms opened in Huntington Beach in the last three months, Surf

City appears to have joined the country’s newest workout craze.

The female-friendly gym, which was started in the Bible Belt town

of Waco, Texas, has expanded exponentially from 44 international

locations in 1996 to more than 5,000 today. There is one Curves gym

for every four McDonald’s in America.

In Orange County, the number will have skyrocketed from 18 sites

in October to 50 by the end of the month. Five Curves gym will have

opened in Garden Grove, five in Santa Ana and two in Fountain Valley.

Curves officials say the center’s success is indebted to an

atmosphere and programs that other gyms don’t offer.

“It’s a completely different niche of women that we are looking

at, and a different, unintimidating atmosphere,” said Debra L. Orth,

owner of Surf City’s Downtown Curves, which opened on Jan. 20.

“There’s a certain amount of trend to it,” she conceded. “Right

now, it’s a growing buzz in Orange County.”

Even set against other densely populated fitness centers like

24-Hour Fitness and Ballys, Orth said that business is thriving, with

at least 150 members in the first three Surf City Curves sites.

The Downtown Curves, at 300 Pacific Coast Highway, has attracted

65 members since its opening last month.

Other Huntington Beach Curves gyms are on Magnolia Street and

Adams Avenue, Warner Avenue and Goldenwest Street and Bolsa Chica

Avenue and Edinger Avenue.

“[Curves gym] is not as threatening,” said Carol McCann, a new

member. “Sometimes women don’t like to work out where men are because

they don’t have perfect bodies.”

As the name suggests, Curves is designed for women of all sizes,

ages and fitness levels.

The Downtown center is 1,350 square feet, with only four upper

body machines, four lower body machines and eight cardio stations.

At the gym, trainers guide members through a 30-minute workout in

which they rotate using special machines filled with hydraulic

liquid. The cycle offers cardiovascular and strength training in one

workout.

The machines, smaller in size than the standard weight machines

and built to target specific muscles, are specifically designed for

female body-types. Most women burn 500 to 600 calories in 30 minutes

and lose 4 to 10 inches in the first four to six weeks doing this

workout, Orth said.

“I’ve never had that good of an intense quick fix in anything else

I’ve done,” said member Shirley Salter, who has worked with personal

trainers and belonged to Bally’s and 24-hour Fitness.

Members are encouraged to work at their own pace, and the

intensity of the workout simply depends on how fast you move the

equipment, Orth said.

“It’s easy on the joints and less stressful than free weights and

stack weights,” she said.

Gyms exclusively for females are also especially sought after

these days.

“You can’t go to a gym anymore where there is just a section for

women,” Salter said. “You get to a certain point where you prefer the

privacy that this gym offers you. I feel totally comfortable in it.”

But Curves is not exclusively for women.

“Legally, we can’t turn [men] away,” Orth said. “But the machines

are designed for women.”