Lagree vs. Pilates Explained: The Key Differences You Should Know Before Booking a Studio Class
Scroll through any fitness corner of TikTok and you will spot the same scene on repeat. Sculpted bodies shaking on a sleek machine, instructors counting through slow lunges and captions debating whether what they are doing is actually pilates at all. Lagree has become one of the most talked-about workouts of the moment, with a celebrity following that includes Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow, but most people booking their first class cannot explain what makes it different from the reformer work they have already tried.
That gap matters. The Lagree method was built for a different goal, on a different machine, by an inventor who set out to fix what he felt was missing from traditional pilates. Here is what to know before you step on a Megaformer.
How lagree differs from regular pilates
The two workouts look similar on camera. Both are low-impact, both use a sliding carriage and both demand serious core engagement. The goals, though, diverge sharply.
Sebastien Lagree created the method while training clients in Los Angeles, many of whom were already practicing pilates but wanted more visible physical change. “When I was first introduced to Pilates in 1998, I saw that there was no progressive overloading and no protocol for muscle gain or fat loss. It was never about shaking or sweating. But the body will not change unless it’s stimulated and prompted to change,” Lagree said, via Pop Sugar.
His early clients were not dancers rehabbing from injury. They were actresses and models already in peak shape who wanted to sculpt without bulking up. “I had to really use my knowledge of body sculpting and then create this workout,” Lagree told Pure Wow.
Regular pilates, by contrast, often leans rehabilitation-focused. Mat work, the classic reformer, the Cadillac and the barrel build strength and range of motion. Modern adaptations like pilates sculpt and heated pilates have expanded the category far from Joseph Pilates’ original method, though the through-line of improved posture and pain relief remains.
As José San Miguel, a movement instructor and studio manager at FlowCorps Durham, put it, reformer workouts can be thought of like a Venn diagram with pilates on one side, Lagree on the other and a wide grey area in between.
What a lagree class actually feels like
The equipment tells most of the story. The original pilates reformer dates to roughly the 1920s, usually built from wood, with a single sliding platform. Lagree’s Megaformer, introduced in the early 2000s, uses two sliding platforms and is engineered for higher-intensity work that builds muscular endurance. It can only be used inside Lagree-licensed studios, and several versions now exist.
Classes blend familiar moves like planks, lunges and push-ups with Lagree-specific exercises such as the “Super Lunge” and “Scrambled Eggs.” Everything is structured around 10 core principles known as the Magic 10, which are designed to force the body to adapt. The Lagree brand promises intense on muscles, easy on joints. The lived reality is shaking, sweating and soreness the next morning.
Why people keep coming back to lagree
Part of the draw is variety. “The Lagree method is constantly evolving. As is the equipment we use. There’s a new version of the Megaformer recently launched, so the workout never becomes boring and you’ll never plateau,” Lorraine Jenkins, a qualified Lagree and pilates instructor and founder of Love Lagree, told Life 360.
There is also the room itself. A study in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association found that group workouts lowered participants’ stress by 26% and improved their quality of life, while people exercising alone put in more effort but saw no real change in stress.
“The communal benefits of coming together with friends and colleagues, and doing something difficult, while encouraging one another, pays dividends beyond exercising alone,” said Dayna Yorks, DO, the lead researcher on the study. That communal energy, paired with a machine engineered to make you shake, is a big reason Lagree studios keep filling up.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
.jpeg)