It can be difficult to know exactly what is too much and what is too little when one exercises but Curves has a system that can help.
The women-only fitness facility has the CurveSmart program, which is essentially a computerized personal trainer.
“It was developed by a company called MyTrack specifically for Curves,” explained Myrna Logan, who recently became the new owner of Curves in Grand Forks.
According to Logan, each member gets a computerized chip key tag, which is input into the computer kiosk at each machine as they work out.
Each machine is equipped with a computerized success coach and information is fed back to the main computer by measuring results with infrared lighting and a reflector plate.
“The idea is you try to keep the lights green. The one that says energy,
that is for your strength and how fast you’re going. If it goes yellow, it means ‘speed up.’ You are not going as fast as you were the last time,” Logan explained.
She says that there is a little green bar below that indicates range of motion and there is another bar which indicates when you are done and to advance to the next machine.
Every key tag is personalized based on each member’s abilities.
“Each member is totally unique in the sense (of) their range of motion and their intensity,” said Sonya Wood, Curves’ manager and circuit coach.
A flashing green light indicates that the member is exceeding previous goals and results can be charted on an administration program on Curves’ computer.
“After their workout, they check back in at the computer kiosk to get instant feedback on their workout and advice on how to change the next workout if it was not meeting or exceeding their past personal performance. Each member gets points for different things like exceeding performance index target,” Logan said.
Heart rate is monitored on one machine and results fed back to the computer.
“If their heart rate is too high, the computer automatically gives them a five to 10 second hesitation on the next three machines to get their heart rate back into target range,” Logan explained.
“After their workout, they can come here and each member gets points for different things like exceeding performance index target,” Logan said.