Eleni Antoniou burns the fat in a 30-minute workout
IS THERE really a need to visit the gym three times a week for at least one hour each time? Women, and men for that matter, flock into gyms, morning, noon and evening working their bottoms off to achieve a Jennifer Aniston or Brad Pitt figure. And the worst thing is, all that effort might be in vain.
Instead of taking a good two hours out of your day to exercise at the gym, Curves gives you the opportunity to achieve more in less time. Less time being 30 minutes and you’re out. The Curves workout tackles the five major components: warm-up, aerobic exercise, strength training, cool down and stretching. Basically, what you do is follow a circle of instruments, which have square stations in between. When you finish from one instrument, you step onto one of the squares and keep stepping. This way, you keep moving and every now and then you stop to check your pulse and you can determine how much fat you are burning.
You are burning fat, which means losing weight, but at the same time you are also strengthening your muscles by using the instruments. Curves use hydraulic resistance, which is very different from normal gym instruments. There is no changing or managing of weight stacks. Hydraulic resistance means there is no lifting and lowering of weights, which can cause injury. Instead, you push and pull, something, which anyone can do, and that’s why Curves have all ages working out without a problem. By strengthening the muscles, you are avoiding arthritis.
Curves are strictly for women, so they can feel comfortable while having a chat with the girl on the next machine. However, the best bit is the fact that Curves are targeted at overweight women, who want to get rid of excess weight without having to give up too much of their time.
Gone are the days when we were told that 30 minutes of workout is useless. Now, with the Curves Weight Management Plan more and more women are losing weight. I spoke to Georgia, who has been a Curves member for over six months, during which time she has lost 20kg.
Scientists at Baylor University put the Plan to the test by scrutinising its effects on hundreds of women and they all managed to boost their metabolism, lose body fat and gain muscles. Other than that, the only science behind it is that you keep your pulse racing just enough for you to know just what you are running around for. You could be burning fat or just strengthening muscle.
I met Curves’ owner in Cyprus, Marina Chrysanthou, who showed me around. I am a regular gym goer, so I thought a 30- minute workout would be a piece of cake. I was wrong and believe me this isn’t the gym. Throughout my whole Curves experience I was amazed with the excitement and the women had for what they were doing. Curves is almost a small community, where women feel at home, and that is something you don’t see at the gym. Music bellows from the stereo system and it feels like you’re in the middle of a party. The hydraulic resistance machines were much harder than I thought and the more I underestimated them, the more strength I applied to get through the 30 seconds before a voice from the stereo told me to change station. Although I felt I had achieved more than the usual 25- minute workout on the treadmill, the energy I had when I finished was amazing.
What I absolutely loved about Curves was the fact that you can enter the circle whenever you feel like it. Even though Curves is specifically designed for overweight women, it is also designed for mothers and working women who do not have the time to spend ages in the gym. Without feeling guilty, women come in for half an hour and are out to get on with being mothers.
Costing about £19 per month, you can find Curves in Nicosia in Acropolis and Makedonitissa. Just give them a call and you won’t regret it. Tel: 22-658165
