The Inland Northwests exercise industry has discovered that middle-aged, mostly out-of-shape women want to drop something besides extra pounds. That something is men.


More and more women are plunking down the $29 to $89 monthly membership fees to join female-only health clubs that assuage their self-consciousness, club owners and managers here say.


Women dont want to worry about some guy checking out their back ends, says Sharon Cornett, manager of the Curves for Women gym at 9304 N. Newport Highway, which has about 300 members. This takes the jock element out of it.


The women-only clubs have carved out a niche in the Spokane-area fitness market, with at least 13 opening in Spokane, North Idaho, and surrounding areas since 1998. The continuing demand is creating opportunities for franchise owners to expand, Cornett says, noting that another Curves outlet is opening this month in the Wandermere Shopping Center.


Curves International, a Waco, Texas-based chain, claims now to be the worlds largest fitness franchise, with 6,000-plus clubs in North America and Europe. Its 30-minute, circuit-training workout has attracted millions of women who realize that if they dont get back on the fitness wagon by ages 30 to 40, they never will, Cornett says.


Curves outlets often open in smaller or rural towns, where women dont have as many fitness club options, she says.


Its almost like a Wal-Mart-type of mentality, she says.


Women can burn a claimed 600 to 700 calories during half-hour workouts on eight to 12 hydraulic-resistance machines, which strengthen upper-body muscles, increase flexibility, and provide aerobic conditioning.


Curves members enjoy the low-impact workouts on the hydraulic-resistance machines because they can get the exercise they want without worrying about men, Cornett says.


A lot of places are basically singles bars with gym equipment, she says. Women dont all go work out to check out guys.


Colleen Kins, a member of Curves gym in the Fifth & Browne Medical Center, says out-of-shape women often prefer exercising with others who are in similar shape.


If youre overweight, you dont want to go to a gym with lots of hard bodies around you, she says.


Neighborhood Fitness for Women, a locally-owned 100-member gym at 409 W. Hastings thats similar to Curves, promotes itself as a comfortable environment, using no mirrors, no men advertisements.


Everyone here sees everyone else at their worst, says owner Kay Rasmussen. And theres no competition to beat the woman next to you because youre both doing the same thing.


Neighborhood Fitness members usually add diets and other exercise routines to the circuit training, she says.


Rasmussen, who bought the 3-year-old club last September, works with members ages 18 to 89 of varying fitness levels. She uses a device that measures body fat percentage to record how much total body fat members have lost every few months. Foam pads on the exercise equipment help ease the pain of members with fibromyalgia, arthritis, and other joint and muscle problems, Rasmussen says.


Its not a magic cure-all, but it is something you can do forever because the equipment is easy on the muscles, she says.


Another womens-only gym, It Figures! Fitness & Weight Management, at 3022 E. 57th, goes a few steps further than the standard circuit training with a program called Live It or Diet that includes individualized diets and supplements, says owner Cheryl Szendre.


Szendres It Figures franchise outlet is part of an Owasso, Okla.-based chain that includes more than 3,000 circuit programs in the U.S. and Canada. She moved the gym to its current 3,000-square-foot location from a smaller space about a year ago. The club offers its 200 members cardio circuit training, free weights, personal training, spray-on tanning, and group classes including yoga and Pilates, a strength and flexibility exercise regimen. Szendre says she plans to expand the weight-management section in the next few years.


It Figures staff has decorated the club to appear more inviting and comfortable, Szendre says.


Women like ownership of their own place, where theres not men sweating all over the equipment, she says.


Annette Archuleta, exercise coach at Renaissance Fitness for Women, which opened at 611 E. 30th last September, says women also like the privacy and community atmosphere provided by female-only clubs.


Its really a bunch of girlfriends working out together, she says.


Renaissance offers members personalized attention with coaches who mentor women pursuing exercise goals, Archuleta says. The Spokane-based club soon will hire a reflexologist or masseuse and offer massage and facial peels.


Mixed-gender fitness clubs such as Golds Gym also are creating ladies-only workout areas and classes.


North Idaho Fitness Center, which is located at 296 W. Sunset in Coeur dAlene and offers Pilates classes for women and men, is planning to start a specialized prenatal Pilates class next month, says co-owner Ellen Wheeler. The modified workouts will help expectant mothers stay fit and strengthen back muscles often strained during pregnancy, she says.


North Idaho Fitness may offer more women-only classes if demand increases in the future, Wheeler says.


Though womens-only classes and clubs have grown more popular, men shouldnt feel excluded.


Cornett says another company has created a male counterpart to Curves called Cuts Fitness for Men, which operates with the same idea that some out-of-shape men prefer to work out only with other men.