Monday, September 16, 2013 – Curves and Cake
I LOVE
www.hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.ca
I love my Curves!
Note that I put a capital “C” on Curves – I’m referring to the fitness club, and not my own curves. Though I am happy to have a healthy body and some estrogen storage (also known as extra body fat.)
Curves is a fitness club based on a circuit – you work various muscles on a hydraulic machine for about 30 seconds and then – depending on your fitness level – rest for 30 seconds, or dance like it’s only your gal friends watching. And this would be true, because Curves is for women only.
I call it my “little old ladies” fitness club – but there are a range of ages and body shapes and personalities. And if you work hard at the machines, you can get good results. I have good bone density and I don’t have any dairy products in my diet – so I attribute my strength to the Curves workout.
No, I don’t work for Curves, but what made me want to blow the South End location’s horn today is that they had a birthday party EARLY in the morning because one of the members was turning 89. I’m not an early morning gal, but how awesome to walk into a room with a big birthday poster celebrating this wonderful woman, and there were balloons and cake-cake-cake-cake-cake!
Women join Curves for many reasons including losing weight, increasing bone density, improving flexibility, and rebuilding muscle. And it is a great place to make friends, I kid you not. You meet different folks at different times of the day, of course. The gals with paying work tend to come in a 6 am, noon, or 6 pm. My time is 9:30-ish and many of these ladies are retired, grandmas, and community volunteers. A very inspiring mix.
The thing that I likely most appreciate about Curves is that there is NO fat-shaming. None. It is a very easy thing to gain weight in Canada – it is a very hard thing to lose it. The emphasis at Curves is getting healthy – healthy for yourself, and therefore healthy for others. There is also NO skinny-negativity permitted either. There are many women who are in recovery from a serious illness – they don’t need to be reminded that they are underweight.
*****
Are there things I’d like to see Curves do more of in the future? Sure, and this is going to be one of those “easy to say, hard to do” paragraphs. I would love to see Curves offer Zumba or Aerobic Dance as a regular option. And Yoga or Body Stretch. I expect there are community volunteers who would do this for free or by donation, just to make sure they themselves do it or to support a good cause. Still, I feel guilty for even suggesting this because I know this adds a whole new level of work and expense onto already very hardworking, not-wealthy women owners/managers. And folks can get this outside of Curves – there is a Zumba and a Yoga class a week at our Older Adult Centre (ParkSide) in Sudbury.
Sometime ago, “my” Curves had a fundraiser where the members paid (donated) to bring their husbands to an afterhours session. Apparently it was great. The men did a lot of bellyaching – they would claim they were just hamming it up – and the women did the coaching. A good time was had by one and all, and money was raised for a great cause – early detection of breast and prostate cancer.
*****
Is there something I’d like to do an ongoing fundraiser for? Yes. Elephants. Does this have anything to do with helping women get more fit? Yes. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s entry - Elephantine…
Note that I put a capital “C” on Curves – I’m referring to the fitness club, and not my own curves. Though I am happy to have a healthy body and some estrogen storage (also known as extra body fat.)
Curves is a fitness club based on a circuit – you work various muscles on a hydraulic machine for about 30 seconds and then – depending on your fitness level – rest for 30 seconds, or dance like it’s only your gal friends watching. And this would be true, because Curves is for women only.
I call it my “little old ladies” fitness club – but there are a range of ages and body shapes and personalities. And if you work hard at the machines, you can get good results. I have good bone density and I don’t have any dairy products in my diet – so I attribute my strength to the Curves workout.
No, I don’t work for Curves, but what made me want to blow the South End location’s horn today is that they had a birthday party EARLY in the morning because one of the members was turning 89. I’m not an early morning gal, but how awesome to walk into a room with a big birthday poster celebrating this wonderful woman, and there were balloons and cake-cake-cake-cake-cake!
Women join Curves for many reasons including losing weight, increasing bone density, improving flexibility, and rebuilding muscle. And it is a great place to make friends, I kid you not. You meet different folks at different times of the day, of course. The gals with paying work tend to come in a 6 am, noon, or 6 pm. My time is 9:30-ish and many of these ladies are retired, grandmas, and community volunteers. A very inspiring mix.
The thing that I likely most appreciate about Curves is that there is NO fat-shaming. None. It is a very easy thing to gain weight in Canada – it is a very hard thing to lose it. The emphasis at Curves is getting healthy – healthy for yourself, and therefore healthy for others. There is also NO skinny-negativity permitted either. There are many women who are in recovery from a serious illness – they don’t need to be reminded that they are underweight.
*****
Are there things I’d like to see Curves do more of in the future? Sure, and this is going to be one of those “easy to say, hard to do” paragraphs. I would love to see Curves offer Zumba or Aerobic Dance as a regular option. And Yoga or Body Stretch. I expect there are community volunteers who would do this for free or by donation, just to make sure they themselves do it or to support a good cause. Still, I feel guilty for even suggesting this because I know this adds a whole new level of work and expense onto already very hardworking, not-wealthy women owners/managers. And folks can get this outside of Curves – there is a Zumba and a Yoga class a week at our Older Adult Centre (ParkSide) in Sudbury.
Sometime ago, “my” Curves had a fundraiser where the members paid (donated) to bring their husbands to an afterhours session. Apparently it was great. The men did a lot of bellyaching – they would claim they were just hamming it up – and the women did the coaching. A good time was had by one and all, and money was raised for a great cause – early detection of breast and prostate cancer.
*****
Is there something I’d like to do an ongoing fundraiser for? Yes. Elephants. Does this have anything to do with helping women get more fit? Yes. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s entry - Elephantine…