Finding a Better You

“Bridget Harnack first joined Curves about six years ago to get in shape for her cousin's wedding. She enjoyed her time at the women's fitness club so much that she applied for a job. Now the manager at Janesville's Humes Road location, Harnack, 25, said the comfortable atmosphere is what attracts her and others to the club. ‘It doesn't matter what you're wearing, it doesn't matter if you have makeup on or how your hair looks, you just walk in the door,’ she said. Women's health clubs, such as Curves, have ‘grown tremendously over the years,’ said Rosemary Lavery of the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. ‘They've tapped into a market that hadn't previously been health club goers,’ she said. Wisconsin has seen a 179 percent growth in the number of health clubs from 1996 to 2007, she said. As of September 2007, 610 health clubs operated in the state.”