Everything to know about Lagree, the workout loved by Meghan Markle and Kim Kardashian West

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18th Oct 2019

If you’ve heard the term ‘Lagree’ it might seem like the latest buzzword in the fitness industry but in fact, it’s the name for an entire method of exercise, named after the brand’s founder. Los Angeles-based fitness visionary, Sebastien Lagree, invented The Lagree Fitness Method – a unique high intensity, low impact, full body conditioning workout that combines strength, cardio, core, endurance and flexibility training all completed on a bespoke Megaformer machine, in a 50 minute session. Sound exhausting? It is – but it’s also a whole lot of fun and it’s for this reason that fans of Lagree include Meghan Markle, Kim Kardashian West, Chrissy Teigen, and Michelle Obama. 

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The first Lagree Fitness insignia studio has just opened in Double Bay in Sydney, so the Vogue team had a trial before we sat down with founder Sebastien Lagree. 

Tell me about the history and conception of Lagree.
“I created Lagree Fitness about 20 years ago in 1999, because I thought that there was a need for a type of fitness that would be high intensity, but low impact, and also, a type of fitness that would do all the facets of fitness, like strength, injuries, cardio, core, balance and flexibility. When you do a workout on the Megaformer, it’s a great workout of its own.”

What was your background before launching Lagree?
“I started to bodybuild when I was 14, and when I moved to the US [from France], I was 17. I was bodybuilding when I went to college, and then, when I went to get my master’s in business, I continued to body build. I moved to LA to actually pursue my dream to become an actor, in 1999, and after 30 days of trying to become an actor, which was not working out at all, I became a personal trainer. When I got introduced to Pilates, I fell in love with the Reformer. I thought this was such a great apparatus, but not for Pilates, I thought the Reformer was a great apparatus for fitness. So, I started to teach, basically, my own version of Pilates on the Reformer. Shortly after that, in 2003, I decided to make my own version of the Reformer. It evolved into the Megaformer, and the entire evolution just completely took off after that. Today, there’s over just about 450 Lagree locations worldwide.”

Walking into the class, the machine does look a little bit daunting. Can you talk us through its design?
“What we tell people is to get over that fear when they first see the megaformer, because it does look very intimidating, but the reason why it’s built this way, is because it’s a very functional machine. When you get on the machine you forget how the machine looks, and how intimidating it looks, and you can really get into the movement, and you can feel the muscles really working well together.”

Can you talk me through some of the misconceptions about Lagree?
“So, the comparison to Pilates, I totally understand it. They should not use this reference, because the workout is totally different. If you do a Pilates workout, it’s really centered around the breathing, it’s centered around doing perfect movement. We don’t do this in a Lagree class. In a Lagree class, we focus on just resistance training, on core, on cardiovascular or muscular endurance.”

Is it true Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is among your celebrity fans?
“Oh, yeah, she does it. I didn’t know Meghan was a fan until it was all in the papers – a lot of celebrities are in the workout and I’m usually one of the last people to find out who’s coming in!”

What’s next for Lagree?
“The real benefit of working out is to change your mind – when you work out, your mental outlook changes. I think, in the future of fitness, we’re going to be addressing those needs. People want to go to a fitness class because they’re relieving anxiety and stress, or because maybe they’re going through a rough patch in life. [We want to] be able to design a workout specifically to bring about those emotions.”