Women-only fitness centers fill niche

Rachel Theim (standing) assists Jocelyn Russell during a recent workout at Fitness Lady.

Health clubs have come a long way since the days of a few dumbbells, plates and a bar.

Now there seems to be a gym on every street in most cities. These days, health clubs offer things like aerobics classes, pilates, yoga, saunas and personal trainers. And women can find their very own place to work out, without the distraction of men.

Women-only gyms are sprouting up locally and all over the nation. In the metro Jackson area, woman’s clubs are definitely thriving with places like Curves, Fitness Lady, Ladies Workout Express and Total Woman.

Curves, which boasts of 10,000 locations and 4 million members worldwide, has six locations in the Jackson area. Its program allows members to get a complete aerobic and strength training workout in just 30 minutes.

“Let’s face it, most of a woman’s life is spent taking care of others,” said Jamie Neal, manager at the Curves in Flowood.
She said Curves asks members “to give us 30 minutes, three times a week to take care of you. That is not too much to ask of oneself.”

She said a woman came in to the club in February 2007, visibly upset after a recent diagnosis of diabetes and high blood pressure, and believing it was because of her weight. Jamie told her she had come to the right place, and the woman started to come to Curves every day.

A year later, she had lost 98.5 pounds and 78 inches, and no longer had diabetes or high blood pressure.

Another woman who was in her early 30s and had a heart condition came into Curves under her doctor’s orders. Three years later, although still having the heart condition, is a size 4 instead of a 12, and has had rave reviews from her doctor.

Ladies Workout Express in Madison also has the 30-minute circuit training program like Curves, but it also offer aerobics classes, cardio equipment, senior fitness and tanning. Carol Brock, owner, said they have more than 200 members since she took over in February, and she shared a success story from one of her regular clients, Mary Hasson.

Hasson, who has been a diabetic for 39 years, attends Ladies Workout Express four times a week and participates in the Senior Fitness program. She said everything has improved since she has started exercising regularly: her weight, cholesterol and bone density, and her blood glucose level is more controlled.

Ladies Workout Express is offering a free one week workout pass online: http://www.ladiesworkoutexpress.com/guestpass.asp?l=&siteid=7684&logo=Lo....

Regular exercise can also do marvelous things for your bones and joints. At another women-only workout club, Fitness Lady, members can take water aerobics classes — which is often helpful to ease the pains of arthritis. Other offerings include aerobics and indoor cycling classes, free weights and personal trainers.

The locally owned franchise has facilities in Ridgeland and Pearl.
Fitness Lady offers a free seven-day pass at: http://www.fitnesslady.com/mainmenu.html

Total Woman Health and Fitness, on Avery Boulevard by the Beagle Bagel, is fairly new to Jackson. It opened its doors in December 2006, and now has more than 300 members.

Beth Aldridge, owner of Total Woman, said her club doesn’t offer the 30-minute workout routine, but actually something more.

“We have offered our members the highest standard in new state of the art equipment that stands above any co-ed facility or women-only club in town,” she said. “We have individual LCD flat panel TVs on each piece of cardio equipment.”

She said the facility also has Cybex strength training equipment and Free Motion strength equipment for functional strength training.

“We are a full service fitness club with an indoor salt water pool and spa with a water aerobics program, an indoor cycle program — also know as spin — a group fitness program with a variety of cardio, strength and toning, and yoga classes offered early morning, midmorning, and evening,” she said.

Total Woman has a free trial offered online, too: http://www.totalwomanms.com/Free_Trial.html.

The members of all the women-only clubs agree on two things: first, that because of the smaller size of the clubs, “everybody knows your name,” Sissye Gory, manager of the Fitness Lady in Ridgeland, said. “Our members love our casual, laid back atmosphere, and the fact that they get one on one training.”

Beth Aldridge said her clients enjoy Total Woman’s relaxed, nurturing and supportive environment to help reach and maintain their fitness goals. And Carol Brock, owner of Ladies Workout Express, said her staff will call clients if they haven’t been around in a while, to see how they are doing and make sure everything is all right.

Maybe more importantly, members can come into the gym not worrying about how they look, or about the possibility that someone is staring at them. As Jamie Neal of Curves put it, “We care about you as an individual, not how good you look doing a squat.”