Latest news with #SebastienLagree
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
I Tried Pilates for 30 Days to Boost My Squat PR—Here's What Happened
Men's Fitness aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission. I Tried Pilates for 30 Days to Boost My Squat PR—Here's What Happened originally appeared on Men's Fitness. Men's Fitness aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission. Pilates is all the rage these days. But for the guys who think it's just for the girls, let us introduce you to Lagree: a method that looks like Pilates, but is a whole different beast—blending bodybuilding exercises, progressive overload, and high-intensity moves. Trust us, Lagree workouts will leaving your muscles shaking and your ego humbled. As someone who usually sticks to heavy lifts at the gym, I didn't expect this type of training to have an impact on my strength in the squat rack. But after 30 days on the Lagree Micro Pro, I walked away with better mobility, improved stability, and yes, a stronger squat. I'm no powerlifter, but I did manage to boost my one-rep max from 185 pounds to 205 pounds—a goal I'd been chasing for months—after just a few weeks of consistent cross-training with the Micro Pro. Even if you don't know what Lagree is, you'll probably recognize its trademark piece of equipment, the Megaformer—a long, spring-loaded machine with platforms on each end and a gliding carriage in the middle. It resembles a Pilates reformer, but is designed for higher-intensity training. Sebastien Lagree is the creator of the Lagree Method. He developed the method in the early 2000s to create a workout that builds strength, stability, and muscular endurance without the wear and tear of traditional weightlifting. Today, the Lagree Method is used in hundreds of fitness studios worldwide and continues to evolve with new equipment and training styles. "It prevents you from using momentum and cheating the work in the movement. Moving slower is less impactful and less inflammatory on the connective tissue and the joints," he says about the movements programmed in Lagree workouts. Lagree and Pilates might look similar at first glance—they both use spring-loaded machines and focus on control—but they're built for very different goals. Lagree fuses bodybuilding principles with high-intensity, low-impact training, using progressive overload and slow, grueling movements to build muscular endurance. Pilates, on the other hand, is lower intensity and doesn't emphasize overload, focusing more on alignment and gentle control than fatigue. The Micro Pro is a smaller version of Lagree's classic Megaformer, designed for users who want a more permanent, elevated setup at home. While it doesn't need to be bolted down, it's best suited for a dedicated workout space since it's not the easiest machine to move around. Lagree workouts should be done barefoot or in grip socks for greater traction and control. And while the Micro Pro is smaller than traditional reformers, it's still on the heavier side and not easily portable, making it best placed in a permanent area. The tempo of the movements are intentionally slow to keep your muscles under tension and push them to fatigue. Form, balance, and stability are everything here, so if you rush or lose control, you're not getting the full benefit and could risk injury. Even when you're targeting a specific muscle group, your entire body—especially your core and stabilizers—is working the whole time. Unlike traditional strength training, Lagree doesn't rely on heavy weights, but instead uses resistance springs and precise movement to overload your muscles. The Micro Pro comes with four resistance springs, but accessories like handles—useful for balance—and the rear platform are sold separately. It also sits low to the ground, so if you prefer a higher setup for accessibility or comfort, you'll need to buy the lift kit. The setup is simple and straightforward, as the Micro Pro arrives mostly pre-assembled. Lagree also offers a number of helpful instructional videos on their YouTube channel and website to guide you through the process. To get started, you'll attach the front platform to the base using screws, and the grip handles clip onto loops on the base via carabiners. After that, you just need to load the springs, and you're ready to go. Lagree On Demand offers a vast library of online workouts, exercise breakdowns, and courses. Whether you're looking for full-body routines or specific muscle-targeting exercises, there's something for every fitness level. Lagree On Demand is available for $3.99 per week, $9.99 per month, or $99.99 for the year. The spring resistance on the Lagree MicroPro is a key factor in customizing your workout. The machine comes with four springs, each offering different levels of resistance to adjust the intensity of your movements. To get the most out of your workout, it's important to understand the spring settings: a lighter resistance is ideal for endurance-focused moves, while heavier resistance will challenge your strength and stability. Overall, the Lagree Micro Pro is a serious piece of equipment packed into a compact design. It delivers a brutal, full-body workout that emphasizes slow, controlled movements to build muscular endurance, core strength, and stability. The Micro Pro is especially great if you're looking to switch up your exercise routine or break through a strength plateau. The focus on muscular endurance, stability, and time under tension makes it a solid complement to traditional weightlifting or cardio. Most of us don't get nearly enough stability or balance work—and those are some of the first things to decline as we age. The Micro Pro forces you into this underutilized training through core engagement and intentional movements. While it takes some getting used to—especially if you're coming from traditional lifting—the intensity is no joke, and the results speak for themselves. The on-demand workouts are convenient and well-structured, and the machine itself is sturdy and well-built. That said, it's not cheap, not very portable, and some key accessories are sold separately. But if you're looking for a home workout option that challenges you in a new way, the Micro Pro delivers. Low-impact and joint-friendly: Great for people with joint issues or those who want to avoid high-impact training all together. Builds muscular endurance: The slow tempo and constant tension shock your muscles in a different way if you're used to lifting weights or cardio-heavy workouts. Versatile workout options: You can target your legs, core, glutes, and upper-body with one machine. Progressive overload built-in: The different springs allow you to increase resistance as you get stronger or decrease for a modification. Steep learning curve: The slow, controlled pace and unique movements can take time to master—especially if you're a beginner. Limited load for strength gains: While great for endurance and stability, it may not fully replace heavy resistance training for strength or hypertrophy goals. Requires balance and stability: Many moves demand coordination and control, which can be challenging without guidance. Heavy and difficult to move: While compact, it's relatively heavy and can be a hassle to move around, making it less portable than other Lagree reformers. Dimensions: 78″ x 18.5″ x 6″ Weight: 103 lbs Price: $1,990 I've taken countless in-person reformer classes and used to coach group fitness classes myself, so I'm no stranger to how different methods can affect strength, mobility, and overall performance. My experience spans across a wide range of fitness techniques, and I've seen firsthand how the right kind of cross-training can make a noticeable impact, whether you're a seasoned lifter or just starting out.I Tried Pilates for 30 Days to Boost My Squat PR—Here's What Happened first appeared on Men's Fitness on Jun 2, 2025 This story was originally reported by Men's Fitness on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
South China Morning Post
01-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
‘If Pilates and bodybuilding had a baby,' it would be the Lagree Method workout
Sebastien Lagree would like to make one thing clear: 'This. Is. Not. Pilates.' Advertisement The global fitness entrepreneur is talking about the Lagree Method, his patented workout. About 50 studios in Southern California currently license rights to use Lagree equipment, many of which are in Los Angeles. Peer into their windows and you will see machines that look like hulking, extra-large Pilates Reformers – so-called Megaformers – atop which clients are moving between platforms on a modular, sliding carriage, positioning their body parts to execute slow but extra-strenuous squats, rows and lunges. So, like, harder Pilates, yes? No. They didn't feel like they got a workout doing Pilates Sebastien Lagree explains why he began modifying the Pilates method 'It's totally different,' Lagree says on the phone from Shanghai, where he is meeting fitness studios and manufacturers of his machines. 'Not Pilates. That's a misconception I've been trying to fight for the past 25 years.' Advertisement
Los Angeles Times
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Don't call it Pilates. Inside the exercise trend that's like ‘if Pilates and bodybuilding had a baby'
Sebastien Lagree would like to make one thing clear: 'This. Is. Not. Pilates.' The global fitness entrepreneur is talking about the Lagree Method, his patented workout. You may be familiar: About 50 SoCal studios currently license rights to use Lagree equipment, many of which are in Los Angeles. Their door shingles boast his name: There's Lagree 213 in downtown L.A., Lab Lagree in Glendale and Live Lagree in Brentwood, to name a few. Peer into their windows and you'll see machines that look like hulking, extra-large Pilates Reformers — so-called Megaformers — atop which L.A.'s fittest are moving between platforms on a modular, sliding carriage, positioning their body parts just so to execute slow but extra-strenuous squats, rows and lunges. So, like, harder Pilates, yes? No. 'It's totally different,' Lagree says on the phone from Shanghai, where he's meeting with fitness studios and manufacturers of his machines. 'Not Pilates. That's a misconception I've been trying to fight for the past 25 years.' To set the record straight, Lagree is eager to go back to the beginning. With his chiseled jaw, sonorous voice and bodybuilder's frame, Lagree could be the love child of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Fabio Lanzoni. He grew up in Paris and, after earning a master's in business from Seattle University, he moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to become — what else? — an actor. To support himself, he worked as — what else? — a personal trainer at a West Hollywood gym. His preferred mode of exercise was bodybuilding, but his work had him teaching Pilates on the Reformer, an exercise that was new to him. After sessions, he says, clients would often want to do more cardio. 'Because they didn't feel like they got a workout doing Pilates. I said 'Is it OK if I modify the method?' Because they're not feeling anything.' Lagree added hand weights and incorporated compound gym movements like push-ups, squats, lunges and planks on the Reformer. Eventually, he bought four Pilates Reformers and began teaching out of his living room. He'd been in L.A. just three years at this point, but many of his students were Hollywood makeup artists, stylists and private chefs to the stars and word got out. Soon celebrities were showing up to his home studio. David Schwimmer, Gabrielle Reece, Molly Sims and Elizabeth Hurley all visited his West Hollywood apartment before he got kicked out. 'I didn't have a license. It was all underground,' Lagree says. In 2003, he opened his first commercial studio on Melrose Avenue — he called it Pilates Plus — but says the Pilates machines 'couldn't handle the workout I teach.' He decided to design his own supersized version of a Pilates Reformer, and in 2005, the Proformer was born. It had added cables as well as platforms and foot bars on either end, allowing users to target different muscle groups such as the chest, triceps and shoulders. 'People just loved the Proformer,' Lagree says. 'We got inquires to open studios, so I decided to license out the system. And it took off from there.' But Lagree soon felt the need to distance himself, altogether, from any association with Pilates. 'In 2008 I changed the name because 'Pilates' was misleading — it wasn't that.' The Megaformer debuted in 2010. Whereas the Proformer was a hunk of steel that weighed nearly 500 pounds, the original Megaformer was 200 pounds lighter and came shipped in two parts, so it traveled easier. The design was simplified too, with a narrower carriage that had holes on the rear edge, providing better stability as well as varying grip points. The foot bar was redesigned into split handle bars, allowing for even more versatile exercise. 'The split handle bars, it allows you to do so many more movements,' Lagree says. 'It changed the game.' Over the next decade, demand for the Megaformer became so intense that the sole California manufacturer couldn't make the machines fast enough. In 2019, the Lagree Method was named the fastest-growing fitness trend in the U.S. by the exercise-booking app ClassPass. By 2023, exacerbated by post-pandemic supply chain issues, there was an 18-month wait to receive a machine. Lagree has since moved the manufacturing operations to China and Vietnam, reducing the back-ordering windows. Lagree experiments constantly, tweaking his exercise method and machines. He says he has amassed 200 patents. In addition to the original Proformer, there's also been the EVO and EVO II, the Supra, the Miniformer and Miniformer Pro, the Microformer and Microformer Pro — the last four meant to maximize space. The Megaformer, too, has gone through about a dozen iterations, a dizzying alphabet scramble that includes the M1, M2, M2S, M3, M3S, M3K, M3K+, M3X, M3E, M3. Each features design tweaks. A change in spring location in one model, for example, allows users to transition between exercises faster; more holes in the platform or carriage of another model allow users more anchor points to grip while exercising. 'The machines evolve with the method to further distinguish us from Pilates,' says the company's community relations director and senior master trainer, Heather Perren. 'Lagree is a science-backed method, a live method.' Through it all, the Megaformer has remained the star of the enterprise, a behemoth at the center of the most intense non-Pilates, Pilates-adjacent exercise out there. How different, really, is it from a Pilates Reformer? Both machines use carriages and spring tension — the springs are easier on the body's connective tissue, making exercise low-impact. But that's largely where the similarities end. Pilates, which was invented for rehabilitative purposes and which focuses on core strength, flexibility and balance, is generally low-intensity; the Lagree Method is high-intensity. It combines strength training, cardiovascular exercise and muscular endurance, with exercises performed at a very slow tempo, so muscles experience more time under tension. Many of the exercises are done kneeling or standing up. It's not unusual to see participants sweating and huffing, their limbs trembling, at the end of a set. 'It's like if Pilates and bodybuilding had a baby,' says Natalie Grimsley, owner of Plankhaus in Santa Monica, which teaches the Lagree Method as well as mindfulness workshops. I stopped by Lagree's West Hollywood studio on a recent afternoon and was struck by the size of the Megaformer. It's a massive contraption, like a Pilates Reformer on steroids. It's more than 10 feet long and weighs 395 pounds (by comparison, the more petite Pilates Reformer generally weighs up to 150 pounds.) The carriage's panels are numbered, so you can precisely position your feet and hands to execute exercises correctly. Place your knees on 0 and your hands on 1 and 3, for example. Now you're in the proper alignment to do a modified plank. A bit intimidating? Yes. But I gave the workout my best shot. Still, it was so intense at points, I did not make it through the entire 50-minute session. Deep house music filled the room, which was dimly lit and bathed in lavender light. About 20 women, many of whom looked like aspiring actors, knelt on the numbered panels, while hinging at the waist and pulling a cable to execute a tricep press. They moved surprisingly slowly and deliberately, and the exercise got increasingly difficult. We'd been forewarned: A red neon sign by the bathroom glowed 'It's Not Pilates It's Lagree.' 'Sliiiiide, ignite your core, use your butt cheeks,' instructor Sam Rabon said. 'Slower, deeper, a little more intention!' 'It's a total package, very effective,' Rabon told me after class. 'We were standing up a lot — definitely not Pilates.' Two days later, my thighs and glutes still ache. Lagree now has four of his own studios in L.A., in West Hollywood, Brentwood, Studio City and Santa Monica, and one in Miami. Seven hundred licensed studios — in 45 countries — pay $3,990 annually to use the Megaformer and teach the method (that doesn't include the cost of buying or leasing the machine). 'But there are so many copycats out there who don't want to pay for the license,' Lagree says. 'They buy copycat machines that don't work as well and call it Pilates. 'Oh, it's Pilates, but more intense.' That's where the confusion is coming from, the people in the gray area.' It's not like Lagree hates the P-word — he thinks Pilates is valuable, especially for restorative purposes. 'I've always promoted the benefits of Pilates,' he says. 'I tell people you'll get the best results if you mix and match Pilates and Lagree.' Then he sighs heavily, adding: 'They're just different — we're not Pilates.'
