Curves goes behind bars

graphic from strengthtech.com

Now this is an exciting story. A franchise owner took her gym business into women's prisons, and of course the inmates love it. Looks like it is run like the franchise's model - put the women on a generic circuit training program, teach them about diet. Appeals to those who want direction and, at the same time, to feel their own power and individuality and improve themselves overall. From this News Sentinel story on Fort Wayne, sounds like the outside community is being sold on it, too. I'm really happy for the women who are getting to work out and enjoy this. (Though since the prison system uses it to manipulate prisoners, it is has systemic potential for emotional and physical detriment as well.)

After learning about the flack prisons have gotten about weight training, it's great to see there's an angle that's more acceptable, though why it is I can't know with only this information. The entrepreneur piloting the program has paved the way for this chain to monopolize women's prisons, and she's certainly gotten herself a secure niche.

I have some problems with Curves. The founder of the Waco-based chain, Gary Heavin, is anti-abortion and throws tons of money that way politically. The fitness model is fine for novices and maintenance work, but doesn't allow for significant, increasing gains beyond the initial ones. There are no freeweights involved, depriving women of valuable stabilizer work and the creative process of evolving into different areas of resistance training, like Olympic lifting, basic weightlifting, and powerlifting.

But at the basic level, this looks heartening. Working and honing the body is a crucial contributor to overall well-being. I would jump at the chance to train people in this kind of arrangement.

Here's the scoop from the article, by Carol McGraw for the Sentinel. The rest of it is interesting, but reads like a commercial for Curves.

"The prison project was started a year and a half ago by Carole Bergeman, who owns two Curves franchises - one in Canon City, Colo., and one in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The program is set up as an incentive for the prisoners. If they break prison rules, such as possessing contraband, they lose the Curves privilege.

The Canon City program, a pilot program for Colorado and the nation, has been popular. Of 224 inmates, 135 participate. Bergeman recently started programs at the Brush and Denver women's correctional facilities.

Within Curves, some of the other 10,000 franchises worldwide may adopt similar programs as community-service projects, according to Gary Heavin, founder of the Waco, Texas-based company. "