How do you go about choosing a Reformer?
Does anyone have any thoughts/recommendations on this?
I’ve finally managed to pass my Reformer exam and so now, alongside my mat based Pilates I’m planning on buying a Reformer (with my redundancy payout) so that I can start to develop a new client base. This is despite the fact that I will (probably) be the world’s oldest Reformer teacher. Still, at least with all my back issues I now have a lot of knowledge on how this machine can help with rehabilitation and strengthening:-
I genuinely love the machine – it’s like mat based Pilates on steroids – more weights and movement as well as being brilliantly good for overall stretching and strengthening. In case you’ve never seen the machine before – this is what it looks like and I’ve added some other photos of different moves you can make at the bottom:-
It is however, an extremely expensive piece of kit and so you are most likely to find it in a gym rather than buy one for your own use at home. A lot of instructors have one in their own studio and teach one to one – I’d love to hear from some of them about what they’ve chosen and how they work. You wouldn’t want to rush into buying one and then get it wrong. I’ve started doing my research whilst recovering from my back operation – so the timing is quite good because I can’t jump in too quickly as there’s still got quite a lot of recuperating to do. So I’ve been asking around – other instructors, fellow trainees, friends and my own experience of testing out different machines and then making enquiries with the companies themselves as to what might work best for me – because of course price is an issue.
There are lots of different models out there and of course you could go for a second hand one or a cheaper one from China – the risk is that there will be no warranty and it might be difficult to get spare parts and replacement springs. Many people I have talked to have said you should also get what is called The Tower to add on the back as it gives you loads of other options for stretching and strengthening – so I’m looking into that too.
My course was with APPI – The Australian Physiotherapists and Pilates Institute and we were trained on the Allegro Balance Body machines – but they have recently changed to Align machines which is a company based in the UK – unlike the Allegro machines that are made in the USA. They are finding that the customer service, costs and overall functionality are better – which says a lot to me.
It seems to me that the Allegro ones are more well known in the industry – they are certainly more expensive, but the delivery time is long and you have to pay customs, VAT and delivery on top of the quoted costs. My experience of dealing with someone answering my email queries from the States was not overly impressive either – several days of no response followed by a relatively curt response. The customer service experience I have had with Align-Pilates has been infinitely better – very engaging and they’ve gone out of their way to try and ensure that I’m clear and happy on finding the right machine for me and my clients.
This exercise is not ideal if you have big boobs (or a spondylolisthesis) so to be honest I really shouldn’t have been making those moves pre-op they could have made things worse!:-
Anyway, I’d love your feedback as I progress with my search!
