TOWER PILATES

Pilates Reformers provide fantastic full-body workouts that are suitable for most clients. However, some of you may wish to advance your  workout by joining us for a Tower class.

To help you decide, we take a look at the differences between the Tower apparatus and the Reformer.

The Tower, a vertical unit, often attached to the reformer, was created in the 1980’s in an effort to make a more compact version of the Cadillac apparatus. The many Tower attachments include arm and leg springs, the pull/push-through bar, and roll-down bar to provide a full-body workout.

Reformer exercises range from the simple to the advanced and are easily modified to suit every client’s needs. When using a reformer, it is a much simpler task to align your body properly than it is on the Tower, where you have less body contact points.

The ropes on a Reformer can be close to the rails, placing limitations on certain movements when using it, thus many of the side-lying exercises are less complicated to perform on the Tower, and stronger with greater full body integration and core conditioning. The Tower also has many spring placements, and longer springs, at varying heights, so users can workout with fuller movements than the Reformer. 

Tower classes usually follow a horizontal to vertical progression, beginning with a mat style warm-up, and are appropriate for strong beginners to intermediate/advanced clients. For beginners who are just starting their fitness journey, a Reformer is a perfect piece of equipment to begin to explore Pilates.

At The Studio, we have the Balanced Body Allegro 2’s fitted with the Tower of Power, raised beds for easy access and a full range of accessories to provide an exciting, varied and challenging class format.

Ultimately, the Tower provides a full-body workout, that is suitable for most practitioners.