Fastest growing franchise of women's fitness clubs reaches Cairo For women, going to the gym can be traumatic. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors reflect a heaving and huffing image, not to mention all those jiggly bits we are working so hard to get rid of. The unpleasantness is magnified when you catch a glimpse of yourself doing a particularly unflattering exercise like sit-ups. If you're overweight, the ordeal is even more traumatic as you fast walk on the treadmill side-by-side with a handsome, toned man. Regardless of whether you're married, dating or single, it's a kick to your self-esteem. Compared to the other slender, toned women who seem to dominate the gym - glowing, healthy complexions and hardly breaking into a sweat as they delicately glide on the elliptic trainer - it's demoralizing. If you - like me - can stand to lose a few pounds and are unfit and in desperate need of regular exercise, going to the gym once is enough to put you off for life. To make the whole ordeal easier, more and more gyms across the country are catering to women only, but none have the international reputation and success rate of Curves. The women's only fitness club - that has taken the world by a storm as one of the fastest growing franchises and has almost over 10,000 locations in some 42 countries - opened its first venue in Maadi earlier this month, and one recently opened in Mohandiseen earlier this week. More will be cropping up across the city: in 6th of October City, Nasr City and Heliopolis - a total of nine are in the works. "The phenomenon of Curves, writes cofounder Gary Heavin in the Members' Guide, "is really due more to our culture. It's a safe comfortable environment where women support and encourage each other. You don't have to worry about your hair and makeup. You don't have to lose ten pounds before you feel you can join, and you don't have to worry about men staring at you while you work out. As one of our franchisers says, 'It's our girl power half hour.' Curves uses equipment designed to work in harmony with women's bodies, "not men's' as the brochure points out. The 30-minute workout combines strength training and sustained cardiovascular activity through hydraulic resistance. Members don't have to abide by a schedule, or worry about the equipment being overbooked, explained Debra Alcala, owner of the Maadi franchise. Simply join the circuit of equipment - it doesn't matter where you start - and go around twice. It's like playing musical chairs, she added - without, of course, the threat of someone competing for your spot. Alcala jumped onto the Curves bandwagon when she joined a club in Arizona, US last September. "I immediately loved it, she exclaimed. "It's so easy. Facing health problems and leading a sedentary lifestyle, Alcala considers herself one of Curves' success stories. "I was at Curves for one month when I decided that this is what I wanted to do as my next career, she told The Daily Star Egypt. Having paid a recent visit to Egypt to her sister's in-laws, she became enamored with the women, but recognized that they had so many health issues. So she moved to Egypt and opened up her club in Maadi. Yasmine Hafez, co-owner of the franchise opening in Palm Hills Compound in 6th of October City later this year, explained why Curves will have a broad appeal to Egyptian women. "A lot of women feel uncomfortable working out in mixed gyms. It's a little embarrassing to work out in front of men. "Also, it's community-based. It's nice to work out as a group, and it encourages many women who don't like to work out alone, Hafez added, noting that Middle Eastern women have a proclivity to social activities. Last year a study undertaken by Baylor University's Exercise & Sport Nutrition Lab showed that a Curves workout can burn more than 500 calories in 30 minutes. The team of researchers, led by Dr. Richard Kreider, professor and director of the lab, has had Curves under close scrutiny since the fall of 2002. Initial studies confirmed that the program is effective at helping women lose weight, increase bone density, gain muscle strength and aerobic capacity, and raise metabolism. "The least fit women in the Baylor study burned between 164 and 238 calories in 30 minutes. The important thing to note here, Kreider was quoted in the press statement, "is that these women are working at 80 percent of their maximal heart rate and 64 percent of their maximal oxygen uptake - which is slightly below their anaerobic threshold - so they simply could not have burned more calories in 30 minutes with this or any other workout. As for the fittest test subjects, "They burned as many as 522 calories in 30 minutes, noted Kreider, "As you progress and become more fit, your capacity for burning calories increases. A training coach supervises the women from the center of the training circle. Her job is to encourage the women and to check on their form and exertion levels. "The coach will get to know the members, and encourage them to meet their own goals, Alcala pointed out. "Women helping women. Hafez pointed out that the gym equipment intimidates many women; they don't really know how to use it. With the Curves workout, "you have a personal trainer all the time, she added. Each woman sets her own pace and intensity, under guidance from the trainer. "The Curves workout is unique in that the intensity can adjust automatically to the fitness level of the person doing it, said Kreider. "Not only does this help women stick with the program, but it also helps them avoid injury while still permitting them to make substantial gains in weight control, fitness, and overall health. So with a Curves club opening soon at a venue near you, women will have even fewer excuses not to exercise. We all lead busy lives, but surely we can find 30 minutes three times a week. If anything, we can use it to escape from the demands on us as women. "I use time on the circuit to think and meditate, Alcala said. If improved fitness, weight loss and better overall health were not enough of an incentive.
