With more than 10,000 locations and four million members in 55 countries, Curves is the largest fitness franchise in the world. Providing a complete cardiovascular and strength building workout in just 30 minutes, ‘Curves is fast, fun and safe,’ says Katherine Randall, the new owner of Truckee’s Curves. After 550 workouts at Curves, Katherine and her husband decided to buy the business that brought so much well-being to her life and to the lives of at least 300 other local women.
A former preschool teacher and long-time Tahoe-Truckee resident, Katherine has a gift for nurturing and inspiring people. She radiates positive energy and finds that the most rewarding part of her new career is being able to bring out the love and joy in women’s hearts, lifting them up and helping them to feel good about themselves. She has a genuine desire to ‘connect at a heart space,’ she said.
‘Curves is a place to enhance all areas of women’s wellness, a place for strengthening the whole woman and accepting our differences. It is a place to get fit and have a full woman’s body,’ she says.
Curves is a no-frills exercise club strictly for women. The workout regimen is typically 30 minutes a day, three times a week. Strength-building, hydraulic, resistance machines, adaptable to each user’s level of fitness, are arranged around the room in a circle facing each other. A recorded message tells Curves members, ‘Change stations now,’ allowing 30 seconds on each machine. Women dance or run in place on ‘recovery boards’ between machines.
Katherine teaches about musculature, emphasizing the need to focus on the muscle groups that get a workout on each machine. A handy chart on the wall shows appropriate target heart rates for different ages and a ten-second pulse check every seven minutes keeps one on track.
The women who work out at Curves come in all shapes and sizes and have diverse fitness histories, and goals. It is a casual, come-as-you-are environment. There is no need to ‘look good,’ it’s all about feeling good.
I asked one member why she chose to join Curves.
‘To lose weight. I was so heavy that I was uncomfortable going to a regular gym,’ was her response. Since she joined a little over a year ago she has dropped more than 40 pounds.
There is a sisterhood at Curves. I joined when I first moved to Truckee and found it a great place to make friends and to learn about my new community. Truckee’s Curves is an incredibly supportive environment. The women help each other with fitness goals and share nutritional information and tasty recipes, of course, but they also pull together to help each other navigate the ‘curves that life throws us; illness, injury and death.’ Curves is a great place to network and rally support for community-building efforts and business ventures. The group is a natural sounding board for new ideas and quite a think tank for problem solving. They even helped me to decide what I should wear to my twentieth high school reunion.
Curves’ members were elated to learn, in June, that Katherine was the new owner of Truckee’s Curves. Her predecessors – Debbie, Jeff and Toby Fields – were a hard act to follow, but she has made the transition with grace and style. Katherine envisions Curves as everyone’s club. She and some of her Curves friends took a weekend and gave the place a new coat of paint with colors club members voted on. They created a soothing room for after-workout stretching and gathering and a bold dressing room. Katherine has also added games to liven up the workout circuit.
If you decide that you’d like to feel better today, instead of waiting for the New Year, join Curves now and get free membership through the end of the year. Curves is open from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; and 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. on Fridays. On Saturdays the club is open from 8 a.m. until noon. 10054 Pine Avenue, across from Tahoe Forest Hospital’s new entrance, curves.com, 530-587-5900.
Women’s Ski/Snowboard Camp
January 9 through 11
Northstar Resort offers an all-inclusive Women’s Camp taught specifically for women 13 and older by top certified female instructors. The women’s camps are perfect for those who feel they have hit a plateau or who learn better in an encouraging group environment. Riders/skiers gain skills and confidence on the slopes through tips and techniques developed by women for women. The Burton Learn to Ride clinic is run by Kelly Smiley, a member of the AASI Western Technical Demonstration Team. Cost $439. Includes three days of instruction, demo equipment, lunch, video analysis, yoga classes, wine tasting and appetizers, an equipment class, and coffee each morning. From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Register in advance. Northstarattahoe.com, 530-562-2276.
Discounted Skiing with a Tahoe Card from SnowBomb
For the tenth year in a row SnowBomb is offering the number one winter discount membership program on the West Coast, the Tahoe Card. The internationally known program started as one man’s quest for inexpensive skiing. The 2007/08 Tahoe Card costs $50, and members receive a savings of up to 50 percent off lift tickets at 15 top resorts in and around Lake Tahoe and the Central Sierra. The card pays for itself in one use with a free lift ticket to Kirkwood or Sugar Bowl resort. Cardholders also receive more than $300 in free ski and snowboard perks including free rentals, tune-ups and waxes and gear discounts, and a one-year magazine subscription to Transworld Snowboarding or Skiing Magazine. snowbomb.com, 530-581-0553.
