Megapro V panels & what they actually do

There isn’t a doubt in my mind that if you’re reading this, Lagree has already crossed your path.

Maybe you haven’t tried it yet, but you’ve heard the exclamations of friends:

“Oh my God, I am sore in places I didn’t even know existed,”
“How is it that a hold makes me want to cry,”
“I didn’t know going slow could make me shake so much…,” 

And other saucy comments that have made you temporarily question whether it was Lagree or the bedroom that they were commenting on.

So, let’s talk about the creator of your suffering. 

Those v panels you were told to lift?

They are the ones responsible for the sudden, electric charged connection to your muscles. That sensation of intimacy and intensity being created at the same time as you start to shake and gyrate. These panels tilt to 15°, bringing your form and alignment to the forefront of your mind, all while preventing impact, taking care of your joints, and truly acknowledging the muscles doing the work. 

The Physics:

On a flat and stable surface, your body is more able to cheat. Usually recruiting whatever muscle is loudest, and generally speaking, the ones that are already strong. By popping up the v panels and taking away your sturdy flat plane, all of a sudden it’s like an earthquake from the inside and your muscles are scrambling to continue to be the loudest because that’s all they know. That’s when your stabilizers stand up — the ones who were sitting in the back row while all the others were yelling and talking at each other. Finally, they get to take the stage. 

More intensity, less stability — that’s the pocket you get to sit in. Finding a home amidst the discomfort of challenge. 

So, when do we use them? 

As much as possible! Wrists getting sore? Pop ‘em up. Less pressure off your bones and it’ll get you deeper into your muscle fibers. Now your wrists and joints are supported and you continue to reduce inflammation. 

Feel your feet fighting to keep balance and need more space? Pop ‘em up. Now you’ve got an incredible amount of anchoring points (where your body connects to the machine) and that angle will keep your feet or hands in position. Anytime you feel your form faltering — shoulders rising to your ears, hips dipping low, that thing you know you do that you think no one else knows you do — pop those babies up and check yourself.

What are they actually for?

An honesty box for form check. Yes yes yes, of course your instructor is there to check your form, however, they are also checking 7 other people’s form as well. So just when you think you’ve found stability and have gotten stronger since the last class, the v panels will gleefully say to you, “That’s not quite how I see it.” 

And so what do the v panels actually do? They take away your crutch (yes, the one that you thought you were getting away with) and they leave you with yourself, and the muscles you just had the glorious privilege of meeting for the first time. 

So… why? Because “good enough” has never gotten you anywhere. Not in life, not in love, and not in Lagree. But this is something you already know. So as much as you take what you learn in the studio and apply it in your life, take what you know in life and apply it in the studio. Cheating your way through life has never gotten you anywhere, so why would it work here? Especially on a machine that’s designed to call you out on it. 

All this might have you wondering: isn’t my balance going to suffer? And I say to you, no, it will not. Because you will catch the balance pole out of the corner of your eye (a Reflex ski pole in our case), and you will be reminded that that pole is there for you: to acknowledge and bring with you as you see fit. Here, you can find yourself teetering at the edge, feeling your slow twitch muscle fibers fire, embracing the shake, and deepening your connection to movement. 

After all, that’s what we are here to do: to move together, and find out exactly where we can get our medicine from — movement.