What’s the difference between Pilates and Lagree?
The short:
- Is Lagree Pilates? According to Sebastien Lagree, no.
- Is Lagree Pilates? According to Pilates teachers, no.
The long:
Lagree is a fitness method developed by former bodybuilder Sebastien Lagree, who was inspired by Joseph Pilates’ reformer to build his own Megaformer (now evolved into the Megaformer Pro, Miniformer, Microformer, and Evo 2) and to do bodybuilding- and strength training-inspired exercises on his new machine. Some exercises do resemble Pilates exercises, while others resemble the exercises you might do in a Crossfit class, at a bodybuilding gym, or at home–after all, no one can say they invented the lunge or the squat! The Lagree method is known in particular for its time under tension approach–while Pilates often focuses on quick reps, Lagree is about maximizing time spent (and tempo throughout) in a single movement or exercise.
Pilates is not Lagree. Lagree is not Pilates. There is no such thing as Lagree Pilates or Megaformer Pilates. There’s no such thing as a “megareformer;” a reformer is an exercise machine designed by Joseph Pilates, and the Megaformer is a patented machine designed by Sebastien Lagree. “Megareformer” is a nonsense term often used by people who are confused and don’t know the difference between the two methods and machines or by people who own studios using machines that are neither traditional reformers nor patented Megaformers and rely on the confusion to sell their services while not having to adhere to Pilates standards or Lagree certification requirements.
There is a Lagree Method subreddit moderated by one of the r/pilates moderators. It has its own wiki hosted on Reddit but also shares this webspace for off-reddit wiki content. There is also a second subreddit managed by another redditor for people who like Lagree and Lagree-esque workouts, such as Solidcore. See other wiki pages for more on that!
