Workout Hours  ~  Weight Mgt Classes  ~  Contact Us  ~  Club News  ~  More Info

Curves in Antioch is a diverse community. Each person has different goals and they will change over time. You may want to lose weight, tone up your look, get your heart healthier, make your joints stronger, become more flexible, or lower your cholesterol, but the net result is better health and an improved self image. We provide you with a comfortable environment where you will find the support you need to achieve your fitness goals and stick with your plan. Working out at a consistent time, you will find you develop a social network that helps to hold you accountable to your workouts and get you through your plateaus. The Curves workout includes all components needed for a complete, time-efficient exercise program. We also offer free weight management classes for both members and non-members.

Yes, you can excercise by yourself at home, but do you? And do you get all of the muscle groups? It is more fun to work out with friends! The Curves circuit gives you the workout you need in a fun, convenient format that is not boring and that you will actually stick with. No reps to count, no weight stacks, no doing the same boring thing for long time periods. When you start, your first sessions will be scheduled so that a circuit coach can work one-on-one with you to show you how to use each of the machines. They will observe, to verify that you are using each one correctly. Once they are sure you are off to a great start, you will be free to workout when you choose.

Antioch does not have the Curves Smart equipment, but after you get familiar with the basic workout, we are happy to set you up with an advanced workout. Whether you are using Curves Smart or the Advanced Workout, the key to a more challenging workout is moving at the fastest pace that you can without losing your form. The faster you push on the hydraulics, the more resistance they give you. A benefit of the Advanced Workout over the Curves Smart workout is that you learn what you are doing and why.

The Curves workout excercises every major muscle group, encompassing both cardio and strength training at the same time. 30 minutes, 3 times a week, is the Curves recommended fitness program. Many people find they enjoy working out more often than that and come 5 or 6 times a week. Working out daily will help you burn more calories, but talk to the circuit coaches and take the time to learn about the circuit and the differences between cardio and strength training.

Cardio means that you are performing enough work to elevate your heart rate to the appropriate training level. This can be done without doing enough work to tax your muscles. Strength training means that you are moving against resistance until your muscles reach their limit. Strength training is done on the machines and you should be pushing hard on each machine to give yourself the maximum possible workout.

You should give your muscles a day to recover after strength training. Working out every other day, 3x per week, gives your muscles time to recuperate. If you choose to work out daily, every other day you should focus on cardio. Move slowly on the machines, which will reduce the resistance, and thereby the load on your muscles, and pick up your pace on the recovery pads. Alternate your days working the machines hard with days taking it easy and have fun.

Have Questions?
Call (925) 777-9787 or eMail us at info at CurvesInAntioch.com.

Our most popular plan is still at a budget friendly rate of only $39 per month. For the price of one dinner out for two, you can can work out for an entire month and do something important for yourself!

Some insurance plans will pay for your Curves membership! Two popular programs in our area are Silver & Fit (Healthnet/American Specialty Health) and Silver Sneakers (AARP/Secure Horizons/Healthways). Also, some employers offer plans under names like Global Fit (check with your employer) that give you discounts on your Curves membership.

Ready to get started?
Call us at (925) 777-9787 and set up an appointment so one of our circuit coaches will be available for you when you arrive. The circuit coach will show you the facility, answer your questions, and will get your "before" information including body fat % and a fitness assessment. If you decide to join during this first visit there will be a special discount on your sign up fee, so come prepared to make a commitment to start taking better care of yourself.

You'll be surprised - just a little bit of weight loss combined with toned up muscles can make a world of difference in how you look and how you feel. Random comments from people asking if you have lost weight, losing a dress size, and the like will just be extra benefits.

Call and make an appointment today!
We are conveniently located in the SaveMart shopping plaza, at the opposite end from the Savemart.

It is always more fun to work out with friends, plus it helps to have someone hold you accountable on the days you just don't feel like going. When you call for your appointment let us know who else would like to come with you! If you prefer to email, tell us if you would like to come at 10am, 1:30pm, or 5:30pm and your 1st and 2nd choice of days. We look forward to seeing you!

The Curves Workout

When I started with Curves, my husband kept telling me that there was no way the Curves workout could work - but he was wrong and he had to admit it. IT DOES WORK!! It really is fun, fast, and safe. And it is simple. You will get as much out of it as you put into it. Rather than listening to people that have not tried the workout tell you how it won't work, come in and listen to people doing the workout tell you how it HAS WORKED for them!

The circuit consists of 13 hydraulic resistance machines alternating with 13 "recovery pads". You are on each 30 seconds, so it takes 13 minutes to go around the circuit each time. If you go around 2 times and then stretch, it takes about 30 minutes. If you go around 3 times and then stretch, it takes about 45 minutes. During that time you are getting BOTH your strength training and your cardio. Using the stretching circuit after the workout circuit prevents soreness, increases flexibility and balance, and helps to create long, lean muscle fibers.

The machines are positioned so that you are working out different muscles groups as you are moving around the circuit, giving you a full body workout. You can start at any position on the circuit, so there is no waiting to use a machine. Along with the music that keeps things fun, there is a cue tape that tells you when it is time to "change stations now".

Curves has spent a lot of money on research and this research has come up with the same answer you are seeing in other areas of training - short bursts of intense effort are better than long marathon sessions. Work a machine as fast as you can, without losing your form, for 30 seconds. Then change to a recovery pad and keep up enough movement (ie: "move lively") to keep your heart rate elevated while your muscles recover for the next 30 seconds. Change to the next machine and again move as fast as you can without losing your form. Again follow up with the recovery pad. You will work out all of your major muscle groups in a safe manor that will not leave you sore and aching - especially when you follow up your workout with the stretching routine.

You control the intensity of your workout. If you are new to working out, you will move slower but will still get challenged. If you are further along and want more of a workout, remember to move the machines as fast as you can without losing your form. The faster you push, the more fluid you are moving through the orifice of the hydralics and the more resistance you get. If you are ready to challenge yourself, we can set up an advanced workout for you where you count your reps and challenge yourself to put forth your best effort each and every time on each and every machine.

The 8 original Curves machines are:

		Keep your arms straight. Flatten your tummy!
		Tone up your arms!
		Keep your elbows up. Strengthen your muscles.
		Tone up your thighs!
		This one has also strengthened the inner muscle of my knee. My knees are so much better now!
		Tone up your legs.
		Strengthen your muscles.
		Strengthen your legs.

Additional Curves machines on the Antioch circuit are:

		Oblique Do this one right and you will feel it in your stomach muscles! Single Positive Machine. Works the core muscles of the torso, including the obliques.
		Lateral Lift More help for your obliques. Single Positive Machine. Works core muscles of the torso, including the obliques and the quadratus lumborum muscles.
		Pec Dec Tone up your arms. Double Positive Machine. Works the Pectoralis Major muscles of the chest and the Rhomboid, Trapezius, and Latissimus Dorsi muscles of the back.
		Dip Shrug More work for your arms. Double Positive Machine. Works the Deltoid muscles of the shoulders and the Trapezius and Latissimus Dorsi muscles of the back.
		Glute Shape up your butt. Keep your foot low on the pad. Single Positive Machine. Works the Gluteals, Quaadriceps, Iliopsoas, and Hamstring muscles.

In between the machines, you use the recovery pads:

"Move lively" on the recovery pads to keep your heart rate elevated. Your heart rate should be raised by the work you are doing on the machines. On the pads, you just want to keep it elevated while you give your muscles a short break. If you feel that you need to do more on the pads, you are probably not working to your full potential on the machines. Focus on working harder on the machines rather than on the pads.

"Move lively" means different things to different people. It also depends on whether you are on a strength training day or a cardio day. On strength training days, if you are pushing the machines hard, you should not have much left to give on the pads. On cardio days, getting energetic on pads keeps you from being able to push to your max on the machines.

Many people like to walk or run in place, but remember to be kind to your feet! They do not need to take a beating for you to get a good workout. Plantar Fasciitis is a common ailment that can be made worse by working on the balls of your feet. Ask a coach to show you other ways of "moving lively" on the pads that do not involve running in place.

At one of the recovery pads, you have a choice of using the pad or using the stepper. The stepper is basically just another recovery station and you can choose to use it or the pad.

After the workout circuit, you move to the stretching circuit:

You move around each of the 4 sides of the stetching circuit, doing 3 stretches per side. Take the time to do the streches and you will find you love this part of the workout. It feels great! After your workout is the safest time to stretch. Stretching helps to maintain your range of motion and the integrity of your joints. Stretching allows your heart rate to drop back to normal before leaving, as well as helping to avoid soreness and build lean muscle mass. Hold each stretch for 7 seconds. As you start the stretch, your muscles will contract. Holding the stretch for 7 seconds will give your body time to realize you are just stretching and let your muscles relax. Then extend your stretch and your muscles a little farther and hold for another 15 seconds.

The Coaches

Our Curves Circuit Coaches normally start out as members. They have faced or are facing the same issues as you, so they know what it feels like to be in your shoes. Some have met their goals and some are working towards their goals.

Worrying what people might think about you is defintitely not a valid excuse not to work out at Curves!!

Weight Management

You'll notice these classes are called weight management rather than weight loss. That is because they teach a different approach that raises your metabolism so you can meet your goal and stay there without living on a restricted diet for the rest of your life. I know I started the Curves workout program because I was afraid to go on another diet. In the past, any time I dieted I would lose weight, but then I would gain back more than I lost. I'd hit plateaus and I would not be able to move past them. I had decided just to exercise and not diet.

But the Curves plan of cycling between dieting in Phase 1 and Phase 2 and normal eating in Phase 3 works! You can lose weight, even if you have sabotaged your metabolism from years of yo-yo dieting. Using Phase 3, you can raise your metabolic rate so that you can get past plateaus. Once you are at your goal, Phase 3 gives you a permanent way of staying there.

The weight management program is intended to work in concert with the workout program. The workout provides your cardio to burn calories and give you stamina and endurance. More importantly, the workout gives you the benefits of strength training - protecting bone density and avoiding osteoporosis, strengthening supportive muscles that protect joints and keep backs healthy, and burning significant calories through metabolically active muscle mass. Muscle mass burns many times more calories than the same amount of fat mass, so it is important to lose the fat, not the muscle! Plus your clothes fit better over lean muscle than they do over fat.

Conventional diets get you short-term weight losses. After 3 years, up to 95% of dieters regain the weight they lost using conventional diets according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. The Curves weight management program cycles you through 3 phases to get the weight off and keep it off.

Phase 1 - You will jump start your weight loss with a week at 1200 calories.
The class will explain more about the amount of carbs/proteins and how to break the 1200 calories up during the day. It is important that you do not stay on Phase 1 for more than 7 days so that you do not decrease your metabolism. It is also important to realize that Phase 1 may have some unrealistic weight loss, coming primarily from water. Do not expect to keep losing weight at the same rate as Phase 1. It took a while to put your weight on and it will take a while to take it back off if your goal is to actually keep it off this time.

Phase 2 - You will continue for 3 weeks at 1500 calories.
Again, class will explain more about the amount of carbs/proteins and how to break the 1500 calories up during the day. The higher calorie count protects both your muscle tissue and your metabolism. You can stay on Phase 2 for longer than 3 weeks if your weight loss has not slowed down, but sooner or later you are going to plateau and you need to move to Phase 3 to get your metabolism jump started again.

Phase 3 - This may feel wrong to you, but it works - you are going to increase to between 2000 and 2500 calories per day. It may be counterintuitive to increase calories when you hit a plateau, but if you've ruled out other reasons for your plateau, (are you really following the diet and keeping a food diary? are you exercising consistently? are you in your period? are your meds interfering?) your body needs the calories to get your metabolism going again.

The goal of Phase 3 is to give you and your body a break from dieting and let your metabolism recover. The goal is to maintain your current weight. If you have not met your final goal yet, you stay on Phase 3 for 2-4 weeks and then go back to Phase 1 and Phase 2. If you have met your goal and are now just trying to stay at your target weight for an infinite time period, you stay in Phase 3, only cycling back to Phase 1 for a day or so periodically if you have gained a little.

Phase 3 is not a diet. It is about eating normally and healthfully. If you have met your target weight, you stay in Phase 3 and just monitor your weight. If you gain a couple pounds, switch back to Phase 1 for a couple days to lose it immediately. If you monitor your weight on an on-going basis and use short stints of Phase 1 to get the small weight gains back under control, you will never see them add up and get out of control again.

If you are still working towards your target weight, Phase 3 gives your metabolism time to recover before you start Phase 1&2 again. It is not quiet as simple as saying use Phase 3 for x days. While it is suggested you stay in Phase 3 for 2-4 weeks before returning to dieting, you need to monitor your weight closely during this time. Any time you gain 3 pounds while on Phase 3 you need to revert to Phase 1 for 2-3 days to get rid of those 3 pounds.

Diet Plateaus happen when your metabolism slows down. Metabolism slows down when you restrict calories, it is an adaptation to prevent starvation. Eating more calories increases your metabolism and breaks the plateau. To break through a plateau, you may need to stay on Phase 3 for a month or two to significantly raise your metabolism to the point that you can eat 2000 or more calories per day without gaining weight.

While in Phase 3, you will be jumping back and forth, going in and out of Phase 1. Each time you gain 3 pounds, you jump back to Phase 1 to take it off. Then return to Phase 3. This is very important as you do Phase 3 for the first time! You may only be able to follow Phase 3 for a few days when you first start it before jumping back to Phase 1 for a few days. But each time you jump into Phase 1 for a couple days to lose those 3 pounds and return to Phase 3, you should be able to stay on Phase 3 a bit longer. You need to be able to maintain your weight in Phase 3 for 2 weeks before returning to 30 days of dieting with Phase 1 and Phase 2 again.

Your ultimate goal is to be able to maintain a weight for 28 days or longer on Phase 3 before having to jump back to Phase 1 again for a few days. If you take a break with Phase 3 after every 30 days of dieting, you will know how to maintain your goal weight for life because you have had practice maintaining your weight with Phase 3 after every 30 days of dieting. Continuing to monitor your weight after you reach your target weight allows you to catch weight gain early and reverse it before it spirals out of control. If you reverse things while they are only a 3 lb weight gain you never have to worry about getting 20 lbs off again.

Don't forget -
Eat veggies and fruits!
Drink 64 oz of water each day!
On days you do not do your Curves workout, walk!
When dieting, supplement your restricted diet with a good multivamin, calcium, and omega-3!
Use the Curves Protein Shakes to help you stay on course when you are in a rush!