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News : Women's gyms find favor with females wanting to shape up
THE JAPAN TIMES, July 9 2005 -- Women's gyms are mushrooming in Tokyo, attracting those who want to work out and lose weight without having to worry about men viewing their exertions.
"Gyms for women will explosively increase if they can win their hearts and the news spreads by word of mouth," an industry source said.
U.S. fitness chain Curves operates some 9,000 gyms in 31 countries and is opening three gyms in Tokyo this summer.
The Curves program offers "circuit training" in which a trainee switches between a muscle training machine and a step stand every 30 seconds.
A Curves representative said the training areas do not have mirrors, so women who don't want to look at their bodies won't get depressed. The representative said the company is trying to generate a "women's-school-like atmosphere."
Another gym group, Nextbody, which has a branch in Tokyo's fashionable Omotesando district, offers dietary advice and slimming programs that vary according to one's fatness. The programs are tweaked after staff the thickness of fat.
Many women do not want their desperate efforts to lose weight -- or their runny makeup -- to be seen.
Gyms and fitness clubs have an image as places where sportsmen and sportswomen gather. This often turns off those who are not good at exercising, even though they want to exercise.
A 56-year-old woman from Chiba who has joined a women's gym said she was interested in fitness but avoided gyms as she was embarrassed.
"I thought it impossible to be with young, muscular people. I hated the idea of them thinking, 'What is that middle-aged woman doing?' But it is carefree with only women," she said.
Existing fitness centers and gym chains are responding to these sensitivities.
The Tipness One women's gym that opened in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district in April has an interior favored by women and offers yoga and ballet lessons and a beauty-treatment facility. Its Shinjuku gym also has set up a machine corner for women.
Not everybody, however, favors women's gyms.
A 30-year-old female company employee who married a man she met at a gym in Tokyo's Koto Ward said she became aware of his good aspects as they sweated together.
"I am not good at exercises, either, but I think it's all right to enjoy them without worrying too much about it. Women-only places are a bit unnatural," she said.
(source : www.japantimes.co.jp)
