Curves is a facility for conditioning and weight loss designed specifically for women. We specialize in 30 minute fitness. You will be impressed with the technology that we have brought to St. Louis.

Our 30 minute circuit training is the most popular method of fitness in the country. Alternating every 30 seconds from hydraulic strength training stations to aerobic recovery stations burns more fat that any activity ever created. You do all your strength training and your aerobics in just 30 minutes. It's done to music so it's fun and also very effective.

Strength Training
Curves has the strength training program every woman can do. Strength training is the only way to keep weight off without permanent dieting. Weakened muscles play a major role in general body deterioration associated with aging. Muscle weakness, however, is not an inevitable result of advancing years, but rather a result of inactivity. Unused muscles attach to bone and as they atrophy they place more stress on the bones. In turn, the bones weaken and are more prone to fracture. A person can reverse this process, strengthen muscles, improve bone strength and generally feel invigorated and healthier. The secret is strength training.

Strength training benefits women of all ages. If you're 30 to 40 years old, you want to maximize what you have and make sure that those weekend activities you love to do are easy and you don't injure yourself. Then at 40 to 45, you start to lose bone and muscle. At 50, the losses accelerate and your physiology really changes. That's especially true of women going through menopause. So, it's critical to minimize the loss of muscle and bone at this time. In your 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, you want to maintain your vitality and independence as long as possible. And all exercise, especially strength training, will help you do that. Exercise is important for men too, but building strength is particularly important for women. We start out smaller and naturally have less muscle and more fat. What's more, we live longer than men on average and so we are concerned with osteoporosis. If any group should be doing strength training, it's women.

Weight Loss-Move it or Lose it
As we mature, we tend to add 1/2 pound a month if we do not exercise. This averages out to 6 pounds per year, 30 pounds in 5 years, and 60 pounds in 10 years. With Curves, you can lose 1 to 1.5 pounds a week by just showing up and working out for 30 minutes, 3 times per week.

One year of doing high-intensity strength training can lower a woman's risk of osteoporatic bone fractures in more ways than any other single thing she can do for herself. In a study of 39 sedentary white women aged 50-70, half exercised twice per week for 45 minutes each on weight machines. The other half remained sedentary. After one year, the women who exercised had better balance, stronger bones, and more muscle that the women who didn't exercise so they were less likely to fall and break a bone. Many women take calcium, vitamin D, estrogen and the drug Fosamax to strengthen their bones. While these are all critically important, they ONLY affect bones. Exercise strengthens muscles as well as bones.

There are other benefits besides fewer broken bones! Once women become stronger, they take up lots more physically demanding activities that they enjoy doing. They become revitalized!! They start gardening or dancing or canoeing again. Strength training even helps people sleep better, relieves depression and improves the mood of people who were mildly to moderately depressed. Women's blood pressure and heart rates are reduced, which means less stress on the heart. Also, with increased muscle comes an increase in resting metabolism and an increase in fat oxidation; that is, they were burning more fat at rest! Also noted was a shifting of fat away from the abdominal area, which is the most harmful fat.

Results
Our workout stations are "Double Positive" meaning you work on two sets of muscles at once. You can get the equivalent of an hour and a half workout in just 30 minutes by combining aerobics with strength training. For those 30 minutes that you are working out, your heart rate is up to the target rate that is suggested in order to burn the maximum amount of calories. You can burn up to 600 calories in a single 30 minute workout at Curves!