The 2025 fitness trends include a detour I didn’t anticipate: tracking how long I work out for before feeling like throwing up. I had that experience, although a positive one, when I tried Lagree, the newest fitness fad in Los Angeles. In just 12 years, 700 studios have opened in 45 countries, and the Los Angeles Times just published a positive review, demonstrating how quickly it has been gaining traction. I was suspicious of the approach since, as a woman who takes pride in supporting any new fitness or wellness discipline, I’m also a very harsh critic of the newest leggings and workout attire, as required by my residency requirements in SoCal. What transpired after I made several attempts at the workout? This is my review.
What is Lagree?
Trainer Sebastien Lagree created the Lagree Method, a series of exercises that involve 50-minute lessons where a teacher guides students through exercises using a device known as a Megaformer. A Megaformer resembles a larger Pilates Reformer at first glance since it has a horizontal metal bed with some cushioning, pulleys, springs, and moving platforms. The Megaformer’s carriage, which serves as the primary moving platform, is marked with numbers and quadrants so that students may precisely position their feet or knees as they move around it. This is necessary because slow and precise movement,The Lagree Method, which aims to isolate and strengthen a wide range of functional muscles, depends on precise hip, shoulder, and limb alignment. Another unusual version of the Megaformer, with horn pairs protruding from the ends to allow for balance assistance or, more specifically for novice users, a useful hold to cling on for dear life.
What is Taking a Class Like?
After being placed on a waitlist and then accepted, I felt as though I had entered an exclusive club when I attended a lesson at the West Hollywood Lagree facility. Clean but unpretentious, the high-ceilinged space has an industrial feel, black-painted floors, and a wall of windows. Sam, the class teacher, asked who was new before I climbed on my designated Megaformer. Then, presto! We started giving group commands. position one white spring on the carriage, position your left foot on the five, grip the long strap, don’t press your weight over your ankles, move only your left leg behind you, and so on. The directions came quickly and frequently, so I had to pay close attention.It made me feel lightheaded.
I stood atop the machine, drawing in one leg repeatedly, knowing from my dancing training as a child to maintain my hips square. Surprisingly, this exertion created effort in my lower back, hips, thighs, and feet all at once. A lot of work, like. And just for a 6-inch movement in which the platform is slid closer and farther away with one leg. What provides? I pondered. And why are we performing this so frequently? After about ninety seconds, my standing leg started to tremble from the strain. I had to resist the urge to throw up after the session was over, which was a sensation I was familiar with from previous extremely difficult exercises.
It blows. Only pride prevented me from running off down La Ciengega Boulevard ten minutes into a fifty-minute workout, even though I really wanted to jump off the machine right then. Subsequently, I recalled the naively written novice introduction on the website: “Please maintain a positive and open attitude.” I recall feeling really endorphin-charged as I walked my sweat-soaked body back to my car, but I largely browned out from the extreme effort and significant water weight loss of that class.
A word about how tough this exercise is, and how my body—and many peoples’ bodies—react to the effort. On social media, Lagree himself holds forth his opinion on “the shakes.”
In an Instagram post on April 9, he says, “The shaking, for me, is when I know I take you into your uncomfortable zone, into your growing zone.” “And I understand that this is essentially your zone of adaptation, so I know that when you shake, I’m pushing you, and you’ll recover [and] get tighter and stronger.”
The guy is right, even though the post is a quintessential example of an L.A. fitness guru—he’s being interviewed while driving a Lamborghini and subtly mentions cancer cleansing, which is highly popular in the health community. Having trained in dance and fitness for fifty years, I’ve discovered that when my muscles tremble, I’m actually improving my strength and muscular mass. My mind is telling me, “We can do hard things!” while my body is learning.My Lagree Method instructor gave lots of personal attention around the room, in the manner that was half ballet master and half fitness coach, that kept my effort from flagging and, not incidentally, me from injuring myself by placing my hands or feet in the wrong straps. While most classes are overall fitness, there’s a targeted abs-and-ass class as well, although after two classes, I can’t really imagine my sore core or swollen booty from getting any more worked over.
My Takeaway
After my first workout, I ended up signing up for a package of classes, which surprised me more than anyone else. (Perhaps my teacher Sam was even more shocked because she grinned and slid down to arrange my sweaty limbs during my second class, saying, “I love that you came back for more!” Lagree is a targeted muscle-building effort that I require as a 50-something woman with menopausal body chemistry swings and muscle mass depletion, so I like how it complements my hot yoga practice and modest jogging habit.(True story: My high-waisted jeans started to fit less tightly after just two classes in a single week.) Furthermore, I can’t worry about my work or family obligations because the class moves quickly from one activity to the next, leaving me alone with the ruthless springs opposing my efforts and my will to live the remaining thirty-six minutes till class ends. I believe that anyone who has grown accustomed to their regular fitness routines or who is a little bored with their workouts should give the Lagree Method a try. You’ll see if you can, in fact, “maintain a positive and open attitude,” if nothing else.
