What makes you feel like a rockstar from the inside out and the outside in? You know, where you look at yourself in the mirror and you just can’t tear yourself away. Let me guess. A fat-sucking pair of jeans? A wicked blow dry? Serum that disappears the second it touches your skin? All good choices, for sure, but not quite rockstar status in my books. Let’s take this one to the next level.
I’m talking about that hit you got while rocking a burgundy Danskin with pink leg warmers during those furious dance classes back in the day, remember? Damn, we 80’s chicks had it goin’ on. Well, I’m here to tell you that even in 2017, even if you’re 50, you can still feel that fantastic. Just scoot your butt over to Studio Lagree to try some of what’s known around modern workout circles as Pilates on Crack, and you’ll be hooked on yourself in the best possible way. I should know.
How I Found Studio Lagree
So there I was, humming along in my 40s until one day, I could no longer ignore what was happening to my midsection. I was getting pinchy soft, and not in the pretty kind of way. It was time to find something—anything—that would whip me into shape without making me throw up and die.
Where can you go to get your sweat on as you slim down and tone up and look awesome doing it? Sign me up! my inner Flashdance babe shrieked. Sign me up now!
This place really is a drug, I tell you. It hasn’t just changed my middle; it’s changed my life. And so, no matter how sore it makes me, I keep going back for more and more and more. Why? The short answer is I need it.
What You Get at Studio Lagree
The Scene: I check in, then choose my Megaformer, a funky machine sporting a moving carriage with a stationary platform at each end, that provides a hardcore (see what I did there?) 50-minute workout.
The group class at Studio Lagree is the perfect blend of individual and social—an intensely personal solo workout with an empowering we’re-all-in-this-together vibe. Over pounding music, the instructor shouts us through a 50-minute program, while each person adjusts weight resistance and holds slow, controlled poses that provide a full body workout you can’t find anywhere else.
I’m not ashamed to admit that at Lagree, the mirror keeps me going, just like it did during dance classes. I hold my gaze and make myself push through. Oh yes, that’s me in my Lulu mix-and-match wardrobe tightening up my bod with good old fashioned squats, planks, crunches and a whole host of
fancy exercises I master fast (Wheelbarrow, anyone? French twist? Scrambled Leg?).
What can you expect after a few Studio Lagree classes? Try this on for size and then just try to say no: core strength, slimmer arms, toned legs, tight butt, aching abs, and a sense of accomplishment you haven’t felt in way too long.
Feeling the peer pressure, yet?
Need more reasons to try Studio Lagree?
OK, fine. Here are 10 of them:
1. You can sign up and pay online. Classes run every day, all day. Buy packages to make classes cheaper.
2. The instructors are like personal trainers. Each has his or her own personality and each time you go, you’ll get a different program. They aren’t afraid to hop on a machine (if there’s a free one, that is) and demonstrate moves. They also talk you through position correction all the way along so you go as deep as possible into moves.
3. You get your own freshly wiped machine each time so you never have to touch anyone’s germs.
4. You’re in charge of adjusting your own weights and because you’re encouraged to change them to suit your fitness level, you’re never in danger of hurting yourself.
5. There is serious stretching involved but no jumping or joint stress. Each movement is slow and controlled and targets a particular muscle group, all while engaging the core.
6. There’s no gender inequality here. While most classes are mostly women, more guys are showing up these days, and it’s kinda cool to sweat beside them.
7. You’re in famous company. Dubbed the workout for the stars, the Lagree method is endorsed by the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Michelle Obama, Sofia Vergara and really hot NHL players, and that’s just for starters.
8. Unlike yoga, there’s no meditative component, so Type AAA people like me don’t have to go inside and get all weirdly intense. Each exercise is held for 30-60 seconds, max.
9. Unlike spin, you’re not upping your cardio until you collapse. This is slow and steady stuff. It actually feels amazing when you sweat and your legs and thighs shake. It’s called taking yourself to muscle failure.
10.Your first class is discounted and credited back if you buy a package. Client referrals get a free class so be a friend and treat your friend. Rockstars, I say. All of us.
Studio Lagree has 3 locations in Canada and they’re all in Toronto: Forest Hill Village (see you there!), King West, and now, Vaughan. Find them at studiolagree.com.
