Duluth Curves focuses on far more than fitness

By Kelsey Roseth

Women Forge Friendships During Early Morning Workouts

There’s something odd happening at Duluth Curves.

It’s 5:40 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and I groggily rub my eyes as I walk into the fitness facility, a styrofoam coffee cup from Holiday in hand. I’m one of the earliest people to arrive. An energetic group of women rushes in a few minutes after me. They stop near the club’s cubbies to set down their things and put on their tennis shoes, then one by one head off to select a rubber mat.

The moment that strikes me as peculiar takes place about seven minutes into class. Karen Graber, the general manager of Duluth Curves, is leading a 30-minute circuit training session, with a video and music playing in the background. During an exercise, she laughs suddenly, and another follows suit. Soon, a wave of giggling floods the room.

“This is the ungodly hour,” said Graber, laughing. “Someone came in and said ‘so these are the people who work out at this ungodly hour.’ We’ve been joking about it ever since.”

Duluth Curves is located on Woodland Avenue, near Mount Royal Market. Inside, there are multiple mats on the floor in a circle, and between the mats are various resistance strengthtraining machines. The women who are here this morning are being guided through a series of stretches, calorie- burning activities and strength-building exercises.

The ladies tell me they love how there’s nothing to remember; members are guided through workouts by a prerecorded video and simply follow along. There are no locker rooms, no treadmills, no free weights nor elliptical machines. Members pay $44 per month for the simplicity and convenience of going through the circuit at their leisure, or for the camaraderie of attending one of its multiple classes.

“Comfort and ease [is] paramount,” Graber said. “It’s comfortable to be here. It’s comfortable for women. There are no mirrors. There is no worrying about someone else needing a machine.”

Curves International, Inc. was founded in Waco, Texas, in the early 1990s by a Gary Heavin, who worked with his wife, Diane, to create a no-frills health club where women of any ability could feel good about working out. In the early 2000s, the Seattle Times called Curves the “world’s No. 1 fitness center in terms of number of clubs,” citing more than 8,400 locations at the time. Since then, the number of clubs worldwide has declined, and today the Curves website references about 4,000 locations.

In the late 1990s, Duluth Curves was the first of five locations in a 30-mile radius. Today, it’s one of three, and still going strong.

“[The members] have developed these really, really tight relationships,” Graber said. “These gals, there are about 10 to 12 of them, they’ve been friends for about 17 years. That surprises me. You don’t get that in a gym.”

For the women at this 5:45 a.m. class, most of whom have continued to exercise despite health problems over the years, a sweat-inducing workout is one of two reasons they show up. The other reason is for the deeplyrooted friendships, the kind many of us only read about in books or see on television.

Most days during the week, the early morning class is followed by coffee nearby and companionship. These tight-knit accountability buddies also celebrate birthdays together, play board games, and spend time at each other’s lake cabins.

“Gradually we started having coffee, and friendships, and we would enjoy the chatter back and forth, and it just kind of grew,” said Carol Eklund of Duluth, who joined Curves about 17 years ago. Initially, the only person she

Continued on page 43 knew at the health club was her friend Nancy Knezevich.

“We’ve been through a lot of things. There have been kids’ weddings, funerals, grandchildren, breast cancer,” said Knezevich, of Duluth. “It’s been a lot, and we’re supportive of each other.”

These women may have joined Curves for the initial health benefits: better metabolism, enhanced flexibility, and more increased overall. “My blood pressure was creeping up, and up, and up, and I needed to get that regulated with more exercise,” Knezevich said. The classes “are invigorating, and the workout is good. It’s something I can do,” she said.

Duluth resident Theresa Olson, who has worked out at the fitness facility for just under 10 years, said she came for the fitness, but that’s not why she stayed. “My husband died, and this morning group … they all came to the funeral, and they all were very supportive, and I’ve hung out with them ever since.” D

To witness this awe-inspiring friendship or to give a Curves workout a try, visit: www.curves.com/locations.

By Jill Somers

People often ask me how I went from a long-time career in technical IT sales and account management to my current role as the owner of a Curves gym for women — and a certified Zumba instructor and health coach!

The new direction that my life has taken started with a very serious car accident in March of 2012. I sustained substantial injuries in that accident — the worst of them being a serious concussion, several broken bones in my face, and a blunt force trauma injury to my left knee. Many people — including the Minnesota highway patrolman who was the first to the scene — thought that I was extremely lucky to be alive, given the nature of the damage to our car that was stuck twice by a one-ton pick up truck.