The Megaformer is the machine the Lagree Method is taught on. It is made by Lagree Fitness, the company Sebastien Lagree built around his method. The Xformer is a separate machine, made in Los Angeles by a company called XFormer, built for high-intensity reformer-style classes and sold without a method attached. Both have a sliding carriage, spring resistance and a platform at each end, which is why people mix them up. This page sets out what each machine is, how the two differ, and where you can try Megaformer classes in Angel.
Every class at Blood, Sweat & Tears runs on the Megaformer, so the quickest way to know the difference is to take one.
Xformer vs Megaformer at a glance
| Megaformer | Xformer | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Lagree Fitness, the company behind the Lagree Method | XFormer, a Los Angeles manufacturer. Modelled on the Lagree machine |
| Built for | The Lagree Method | High-intensity Pilates on a reformer-style machine, with no method attached |
| Licence | Studios need a licence from Lagree Fitness to teach Lagree; licences vary by machine type | XFormer says it charges no licence fees |
| Springs | An adjustable 8-spring system under the carriage, with three types of spring for the widest range of intensity | Usually two spring weights. Under the body they feel closer to a reformer’s than a Megaformer’s |
| Carriage and platforms | A sliding carriage between a front and a rear platform. On the Mega Pro both platforms lift to different angles. Lagree updates and upgrades its machines every year | A sliding carriage between two platforms. Studios that run it describe a larger carriage than a classical reformer. About 15 years old, with few changes since |
| Models | M3, M3S, M3K, Mega Pro, EVO Pro, Mini Pro and Micro | Customised to the studio rather than sold as a range |
| Exercises | More than 1,500 | Hundreds |
| Where you find it | More than 2,000 Lagree studios worldwide, including Blood, Sweat & Tears in Angel | XFormer says more than 500 studios use it |
Sources for the table: Lagree Fitness on the Megaformer, Lagree Fitness on the Mega Pro, XFormer, XFormer’s own story, XFormer on Instagram and x2o Studio, a studio that runs Xformer classes.
A table only tells you so much. Two weeks on the Mega Pro tells you the rest.
What is the Megaformer?
The Megaformer is the machine Sebastien Lagree designed for his method. If you want the full background on the method itself, read what Lagree is. The machine has a carriage that slides on rails, a fixed platform at each end, and springs underneath that set the resistance. Lagree Fitness says the adjustable 8-spring system sits under the carriage in the middle of the machine, and more than 1,500 exercises can be performed on it. The instructor changes the load by adding or removing springs, or by moving your hands and feet to a different spot on the carriage or platform.
It took a while to get there. Sebastien Lagree came to fitness as a bodybuilder, not a Pilates teacher, and in 1998 started using the Pilates Reformer as gym equipment for circuit training. By 2003 he had hit its limits: too little resistance, a frame that was not robust enough and not enough variety. In 2006 he built the Proformer, the first machine with a platform at each end and a full rear spring system. In January 2010 he started again from scratch, and that machine was the Megaformer. His first studio was called Pilates Plus; in 2012 Lagree Fitness officially started and the method took his name. Lagree was the first method to break from Pilates entirely, and the Xformer, which came years later, was modelled on the Lagree machine.
The Megaformer is two fixed platforms, front and rear; a moving carriage on rails attached to an adjustable spring system; cables, pulleys and handles for the variations; handlebars, foot bars and numbered lines on the carriage to position you; and, depending on the model, bungee cords and straps. Every change you make on it, a different platform, a different spring, a hand or a foot moved one line back, changes three things at once: your body angle, the load, and which muscle is doing the work.
Lagree Fitness lists several generations of the machine: the M3, M3S and M3K, the Mega Pro, the EVO Pro, and the smaller Mini Pro and Micro. The newer additions are the EVO2, the most advanced machine Lagree has built, with a near-silent carriage, redesigned platforms and adjustable foot bars; the Supra; the Micro Pro, with tilting platforms; and the Ramp, a base that tilts the whole Megaformer to change the angle of resistance. The Mega Pro is the eighth Megaformer. Lagree lists it at 125 inches long and 35 inches wide, 395 lb, with eight springs, more anchor points than the M3 and front and rear platforms that lift to different angles. At Blood, Sweat & Tears, classes and teacher training run on the Mega Pro.
You will see it written as Megaformer, Megaformers, mega reformer or megareformer. People mean the same machine, but only one of those names is right. The Megaformer is not a Reformer, and “Mega Reformer” is not the name of any Lagree machine. Instructors call it the Megaformer, or just the Mega. It is not a brand of Pilates reformer, a reformer studio will not have one, and the name belongs to Lagree Fitness.
See the Mega Pro for yourself. Every class at BST runs on it.
What is the Xformer, and is it Lagree?
The Xformer is a spring-resistance machine made by XFormer, which spells its name with a capital F. The company says its story began at a boutique studio in a suburb of Los Angeles, where the owner asked her partner, who ran a manufacturing company, to build “a new and modern reformer” that was “perfect for a high intensity workout” and easy to maintain. It says the machines are designed and made in Los Angeles, are used in more than 500 studios, and “enable intense workouts with fast transitions”.
Is the Xformer Lagree? No. Lagree is a licensed method, taught on Lagree Fitness machines by studios that hold a Lagree licence. The Xformer is a piece of equipment sold on its own, and XFormer’s website does not mention Lagree. A class on an Xformer can be slow, spring-loaded and very hard, but it is not a Lagree class and cannot be called one.
“Xformer Pilates” is the name some studios give to their classes on the machine. x2o Studio, for example, describes its Xformer classes as high intensity and low impact, built on spring resistance, slow controlled movement and constant time under tension, and calls the Xformer and the Megaformer “close cousins”. So when you see “Xformer Pilates”, read it as a high-intensity machine class rather than classical Pilates.
Our view, from time on both machines: the Xformer was modelled on the Lagree machine, so the first few minutes feel familiar. Then the differences show. It is older technology, and exercise for exercise it does less. On the body it feels closer to a reformer than a Megaformer.
Want the real thing? Every class at Blood, Sweat & Tears is licensed Lagree on a Megaformer.
Key differences: springs, carriage, platforms, handles
The biggest difference is not a part. It is that the Megaformer was built for one method and the Xformer was built to be sold to any studio. Lagree Fitness says the Megaformer was “created for the purpose of Lagree”. XFormer sells its machine to studio owners who then run their own programme on it. That shapes everything else.
Springs
On the Megaformer, Lagree Fitness places the adjustable 8-spring system under the carriage in the middle of the machine. On the Mega Pro, Lagree also sells an ultra-light “Silver Spring” at half the resistance of its previous lightest spring, which it says is harder at the front of the machine and easier at the rear.
How the springs feel is the part no spec sheet tells you. The machine has two zones. At the front, the springs support you against gravity. At the back, they work against you. Same spring, same exercise, completely different sensation depending on which end you are on. The resistance is also variable: the further you push the carriage from the front platform, the more the springs stretch and the harder they pull, so the end of a lunge is heavier than the start. And the load can change without anyone touching a spring. Put your foot on line 6 instead of line 3 and you have changed the tension. Lagree machines use three types of spring, light to heavy, for the widest possible range of intensity; the colours differ from one model to the next. On the Mega Pros at BST, grey is the lightest, white is light to medium and black is heavy; a light spring gives roughly 3 kg at full stretch, a heavy one around 20 kg and an extra heavy up to nearly 40 kg.
The Xformer also uses adjustable springs. Under the body they feel closer to a reformer’s than a Megaformer’s.
Carriage
Both machines have a carriage that slides between two platforms. The Megaformer’s carriage runs on rails and is marked with numbered lines, which the instructor uses to place your hands and feet and, as above, to set the tension. Lagree describes the M3K carriage as offering many hand and foot placements, and the Mega Pro carriage as redesigned to be “super smooth”. x2o Studio describes the Xformer carriage as larger than a traditional reformer’s.
Platforms
The Megaformer has a front and a rear platform. On the Mega Pro both platforms lift to various angles, which Lagree says helps stabilise the joints. The Xformer has what x2o Studio calls “dual front-and-back platforms”.
Handles
Lagree’s machines have adjustable front and rear handlebars plus cables, pulleys and multiple anchor points, which is where a lot of the 1,500-plus exercises come from. Lagree recommends static handles over rotating ones for maintenance, and the Mega Pro’s static handles were redesigned for comfort. XFormer’s site does not describe its handles in detail.
The springs, carriage and platforms make more sense under your feet than on a page.
Xformer vs reformer
XFormer calls its machine a “modern reformer”, so the comparison is really about what the machine is built to do. A classical Pilates reformer is built for Pilates, where the focus is control, alignment, breathing and mobility, with pauses between exercises. The Xformer was built, in its maker’s words, for “a high intensity workout” with “fast transitions”. Same family of machine, different job. Lagree draws the line even harder: the Reformer was created in the 1920s for one-to-one rehabilitation; the Megaformer was built in 2010 for group fitness classes, and Lagree holds more than 200 patents on functions the Reformer does not have.
If your question is really about the Megaformer, we cover Megaformer vs reformer in its own post.
Done reformer Pilates? The Megaformer will feel familiar for five minutes and nothing like it after that.
Which gives the better workout?
It depends on the programme and the coach more than the frame
A machine sets the stage. The class is what you feel. The Megaformer comes with a method: slow tempo, long sets, constant tension and almost no rest, taught by instructors trained and licensed in that method. The Xformer comes with no method, so a class on it is whatever the studio decides to teach, from slow spring work to something closer to a circuit. Two studios with the same Xformer can run very different classes.
The honest way to judge is to take a class on each and notice where you fatigue first and how your form holds up. Our own answer, from time on both: the Megaformer. The Xformer was modelled on the Lagree machine, but it is older technology, and exercise for exercise it does less.
Judge the class, not the frame. Take one at BST and see where you fatigue first.
What a Megaformer class feels like at BST
A class at Blood, Sweat & Tears is 45 minutes on the Mega Pro. You step onto the carriage and it moves under you, which takes some getting used to. The pace is slower than you expect: Lagree Fitness describes a typical tempo of four counts to push the carriage out and four counts to bring it back; in practice that is eight to ten seconds each way, 16 to 20 seconds for one full range of motion. Each exercise lasts at least a minute, and legs get two minutes minimum, with no rest in the set, and somewhere past the first minute your muscles start to shake. One exercise flows into the next, working around the body: legs and glutes, core, arms and back. Your heart rate climbs even though you never jump or run. The advanced format, Full Body Pro 50, runs for 50 minutes.
That is what 45 minutes on the Mega Pro feels like. The first class is the hard part; after that you are hooked.
FAQs
Is the Xformer Lagree?
No. Lagree is a licensed method taught on Lagree Fitness machines. The Xformer is a machine made by a different company and sold without a method. A class on an Xformer is not a Lagree class.
What is Xformer Pilates?
It is the name some studios use for high-intensity, low-impact classes on the Xformer. Studios that run it describe spring resistance, slow controlled movement and constant time under tension. It is closer to a machine strength class than to classical Pilates.
Is a Megaformer the same as a reformer?
No. The Megaformer has a carriage and springs like a reformer, but it was designed by Sebastien Lagree for the Lagree Method, with a platform at each end, a spring system under the carriage and hand and foot placements for long, slow sets. We compare the two in Megaformer vs reformer.
Which is harder, the Xformer or the Megaformer?
Neither machine is hard on its own. The class is. The Megaformer comes with the Lagree Method, which keeps the muscle under tension for a minute or more per exercise with almost no rest. The Xformer comes with whatever programme the studio chooses. Judge the class, not the frame. Given the same class, our view from time on both is that the Megaformer does more, exercise for exercise; the Xformer feels closer to a reformer.
Where can I try a Megaformer in London?
At Blood, Sweat & Tears, a Lagree-only studio on the fourth floor of 9 White Lion Street, London N1 9PD, about three minutes’ walk from Angel tube. Classes run on Lagree’s Mega Pro Megaformer.
Still deciding? Two weeks unlimited is long enough to answer every question above for yourself.
Try a Megaformer class in Angel
New clients can start with Two Weeks Unlimited for £139, which gives you time to learn the machine and feel the difference for yourself. Classes are 45 minutes on the Mega Pro, taught by a fully Lagree-certified team, and the studio is rated 4.8 on Google. Ritual Cafe inside the studio serves coffee, acai and protein shakes for afterwards.
Related reading
How much is a Lagree Megaformer? covers the cost of the machine if you are looking to buy one. Is Solidcore Lagree? answers the same “is it Lagree” question for Solidcore, and Is Bodyrok Lagree? does the same for Bodyrok.
