Heavin, Gary 1956(?)-

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HEAVIN, Gary 1956(?)-

PERSONAL:

Surname pronounced "hay-vin"; born c. 1956; married second wife, 1990; wife's name Diane; children: (first marriage) three; (second marriage) one daughter. Education: Three years of pre-med in college.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Curves International, Inc., 100 Ritchie Rd., Waco, TX 76712. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Penguin Putnam, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014.

CAREER:

Businessman. Women's World of Fitness, Houston, TX, founder, 1976-86; Curves International (weight reduction chain), Waco, TX, founder and chief executive officer.

WRITINGS:

(With Carol Colman) Curves: Permanent Results without Permanent Dieting, Putnam (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Carol Colman) Curves on the Go, Putnam (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

The founder of one of the fastest growing exercise franchises in the world, Christian businessman Gary Heavin has turned his Curves International into one of the most popular health clubs in the United States. It is estimated that a quarter of all women who go to spas attend one of his thousands of Curves for Women centers in North America to help lose weight and get in shape. Part of the secret of Heavin's success has been the low membership fees at his straightforward centers; another is that he attracts people from outside the usual age seventeen to thirty-two demographic that most spas draw on, bringing in weight-conscious women in their forties, fifties, and beyond. Collaborating with writer Carol Colman, Heavin has also penned two books on weight reduction and maintenance: Curves: Permanent Results without Permanent Dieting and Curves on the Go.

Heavin has been in the health club business most of his professional life. Dropping out of college, he bought his first club at a bargain price, but then lost his business as he tried to expand. The subsequent bankruptcy led to a prison term for failure to pay child support for his two children. While in prison, Heavin devoted his life to God and Christianity; once out of prison he began working on a new health club idea that would help all sorts of women of all ages exercise and maintain proper health. Heavin's own mother had died of a stroke when she was only forty, and he hoped to help others avoid that fate.

The first Curves opened in 1991 in Harlingen, Texas, and set the tone for others to come. This included the absence of frills such as mirrors, and the absence of men, so that middle-aged women would feel more comfortable. Heavin developed an exercise regime for his clients, including three weekly thirty-minute workouts that "combine strength and cardio training through hydraulic resistance," according to John. W. Kennedy in the Christian Reader. Eve Tahmincioglu noted in the New York Times that it was part of Heavin's strategy "that members would not care to push themselves too hard, so he devised a simple, thirty-minute workout with plenty of check-your-heartbeat breaks." Such exercises are also combined with a several-phase low-carbohydrate dietary plan designed by Heavin. "The atmosphere at numerous Curves locations is almost like a recovery support group," according to Kennedy. As Tahmincioglu noted, "The workout itself is more like a Tupperware party than the usual aerobic frenzy of sweating bodies and loud music." With more than two million members, Curves is also a powerful money maker, but Heavin and his wife donate ten percent of their gross revenues to charity.

In his 2003 title, Curves, Heavin sets out his fitness and diet plan between the covers of a book, detailing a series of exercises that Curves regulars can do at home. In the dietary section, he provides both a low-calorie and a low-carbohydrate eating plan along with menus and recipes. An accompanying quiz also lets readers know which dietary plan is best for them. Marianne Fitzgerald, reviewing the book in Library Journal, felt that though "good tips can be gleaned from these pages, Heavin doesn't give us anything new." Like his popular franchise, Heavin's book has found a warm reception from weight-conscious consumers, sending it to the New York Times best-seller list.