There isn’t a speck of Spandex in the place.

Yet seven women of all shapes and sizes are simultaneously working out while Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” blares from stereo speakers. Their faces contort in concentration as they work muscle machines arranged in a circle.

The Boss is interrupted by a woman’s recorded voice, who says simply, “Change stations now.” The women all abandon their machines, move to the left and mount raised platforms, where they march in place or jog or dance – any movement that will keep the heart pumping. Thirty seconds later the voice commands them to change stations again and they shift to the next machine.

The cycle will repeat three more times before each woman completes the 30-minute workout and then zips out the door with nary a quick flip of a comb. Because at Curves, timing is everything.

“Women can fit this into their schedules,” said Curves franchise owner Angee Ivy. “That’s a major motivator.”

Ivy opened the Sabattus Curves on Jan 12. Hers is the latest local expansion of a national fitness franchise that was ranked the fastest-growing franchise in the world by Entrepreneur magazine.

Nationally, Curves are opening at the rate of nearly 200 a month, with more than 7,000 franchises worldwide. There are new Curves pending for Auburn, Farmington, Fryeburg, Harrison, Jay, Lewiston, Lisbon, Livermore, New Gloucester, Norway, Oxford, Paris and Rumford. There are already Curves in Auburn, Bridgton, Gray, Lewiston, Lisbon, Livermore Falls, Sabattus, South Paris and Wilton.

The chain seems to have struck a nerve. Offering a no-frills workout at convenient locations – often in strip malls – Curves caters to busy women who have little time for themselves. The lure of getting fit through three, 30-minute workouts a week has tremendous appeal, especially among women who are exercise novices.

“Our members range in age from 11 years old to 65,” said Ivy. In her first month, she signed up more than 150 members.

There are no showers, saunas or smoothie bars at Curves. Workout attire runs the gamut from jeans or work clothes to T-shirts and pajama bottoms. At Ivy’s Curves, the only requirement is clean footwear for the machines.

Even the workouts themselves are stripped down to the essentials. All the machines are hydraulic; there are no weights to adjust. Each woman works the machine as fast as she can to target a specific muscle group. Her pace determines her level of exertion. Then she recovers on the raised platforms before moving to the next machine and a different set of muscles. The program combines a cardio and strength-training regime.

Ivy became hooked on the Curves program last year at the Gardiner center, where she exercised on her way to work. The mother of a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old, she found the program well suited to her busy lifestyle and she got good results. It prompted her to research the chain and consider opening one of her own, even though she’d never been in business for herself before.

Founded in 1995 by Texan Gary Heavin, the franchise appeals to novice entrepreneurs. Start-up costs average $30,000 and the space requirements are only 1,300 square feet, which make the fitness centers ideal for strip mall leases. The company spends a week training new franchise owners, covering everything from running a business to nutrition instruction.

The company carefully controls where a franchise can locate, making sure that a market can support a new Curves without drawing members from an existing Curves. Ivy lives in Litchfield, but couldn’t open a center there because it’s included in the Gardiner Curves market. The nearest available market was Wales/Sabattus.

Ivy opened her Sabattus Road franchise using a combination of personal money and a local bank loan. Her husband did a lot of the interior work, converting the space from its former use as a real estate office, then hair salon. When Ivy went to Texas for franchisee training, she found Heavin unabashed about the Christian principles he founded the company upon.

Ivy said that philosophy stresses ethics, and she found Heavin inspiring.

“He has very high standards,” she said. The business model stresses community involvement, and Ivy said she’s planning a food drive to benefit the local food bank.

She hopes to see a break-even point in her investment within a year. Members pay $29 a month to belong. A travel pass allows a Sabattus Curves member to visit other Curves, to enhance the franchise’s convenience.

In the meantime, Ivy is having fun. She continues with her day job, but covers a few evening shifts at Curves during the week. She and her staff have developed games they play with members to spice up the workouts and allow members to earn points they can redeem for Curves merchandise. Nutrition classes are also offered at no cost.

In a lot of ways the fitness center has become a makeshift social center, said Ivy.

“The women are very comfortable with each other,” she said. “It feels like the whole community comes in and out your door.”

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