Your first reformer class: what to expect
The machine looks like something from a medieval castle. It is friendlier than it looks. What to wear, when to arrive, and how the fifty minutes feel.
Most people walk into the Reformer Room for the first time, look at the ten machines with their springs, straps and sliding carriages, and quietly wonder what they have signed up for. That is normal. By the end of the class nearly everyone wants to book the next one. Here is exactly what happens, so your first class feels like your second.
What a reformer is
A reformer is a Pilates machine: a padded carriage that slides along rails, held back by springs. You push or pull against the springs with your legs or arms, and the coach changes the springs to make a move lighter or heavier. It sounds simple. The hard part is doing it slowly, with control, on the way back as well as on the way out.
Before you come
- Book a bed. There are only ten, so classes fill. The First timer pack gives you three classes at a low price: enough to try reformer twice and something else once.
- Wear something fitted that you can move in. Loose tops ride up when you lie back.
- Bring grip socks. They stop your feet sliding on the footbar. Forgot them? We sell them at the front desk.
- Tell us about injuries, pregnancy or anything that hurts when you bend. Put it in the booking note or tell your coach before class. Nothing is too small.
- Eat light, an hour or two before. A lot of this class happens lying on your back.
When you arrive
Come ten minutes early. Show your door pass at the front desk (it lives in My classes on your phone), put your bag in a locker and find your coach. They will set up the machine with you: the footbar, the headrest, the springs, and how to get on and off safely.
The fifty minutes
- Footwork, 10 minutes. On your back, feet on the bar, pushing the carriage out and back. It warms up the legs and teaches you how the springs feel.
- Core and arms, 15 minutes. Straps in your hands, small controlled pulls. This is where you start to shake. That is the point.
- Standing and kneeling, 15 minutes. Balance on a moving carriage, one leg at a time. Hold on to the frame whenever you need to.
- Stretch, 10 minutes. Everyone's favourite part. The machine helps you into stretches you could never manage on the floor.
Slow is not easy. Slow is where it works.
Afterwards
You might not feel tired straight away. You will feel it the next day, in muscles you did not know you had: round the hips, the sides of your stomach, the backs of your arms. Drink water, keep moving, and book your next class two or three days later.
Need to cancel? Do it at least 12 hours before and the class goes back on your pack. Class full? Join the waitlist: when a bed opens up you are booked in automatically, and we let you know.
