Start at the stopper

Reformer studio · Crownpoint Road · Glasgow east end

An empty studio at first light: a row of reformers on a dark timber floor, low sun coming through tall steel-framed windows along the right-hand wall.

At the stopper

From the stopper to the far end of the rail, and home under control

The EXTREME PILATES mark: three coil springs, teal, brass and white, hanging from a bar.

Every class on a reformer is one journey made many times over. The carriage leaves its stopper, runs out along the rails as far as the springs let it, and comes home under control.

EXTREME PILATES LTD is setting up a small reformer studio on Crownpoint Road, on the Calton and Bridgeton edge of Glasgow’s east end. The name is read the way the machine reads it: the extreme of a stroke is the far end of the rail, and the work is in getting there and back with precision.

  • Small groups on the reformer
  • Mat classes
  • Privates and duets
  • A way in for newcomers

Join the founding list Sign in

Four coil springs, yellow, blue, red and green, hooked side by side on a polished steel bar in low side light.

There is no shared colour code between makers.

Springs on before anyone steps on

Before a block begins, the instructor sets the machine. Springs are hooked onto the bar, the footbar goes to its position, the headrest is raised or lowered and the straps hang ready on their hooks. The springs decide how the carriage answers as it leaves the stopper, and how firmly it is drawn home.

Every spring is coloured, and the colours are where people most often go wrong. Red is the medium spring on one maker’s chart and the heaviest on another’s; green is the heaviest on one and the lightest on another.

In the studio each machine is labelled and set by the instructor. The translator below shows why.

Spring colour translator

Copy each machine’s spring chart, lightest first. Set springs on one, read them on the other.

Machine A chart, lightest first
Machine B chart, lightest first

Springs set on machine A, up to five
Yellowrung 1 of 4, lightest0
Bluerung 2 of 41
Redrung 3 of 42
Greenrung 4 of 4, heaviest0

On machine A, 2 red and 1 blue sit on rungs 3 and 2, counting from the lightest of its 4. On machine B the same rungs take 2 yellow and 1 blue.

Colour trap: Red is rung 3 on machine A and rung 4 on machine B. Read by colour alone, the setting asks for different springs on the two machines.

Changing anything here needs JavaScript; the reading shown is the full answer for the example.

A rung is a spring’s place in its own chart, counted from the lightest. It is not a promise of the same pull: makers do not grade their springs against each other, so on the day the instructor confirms every setting on the machine in front of you.

Take each order from the chart printed on, or supplied with, that machine. The examples are two makers’ published charts, not the studio’s machines. Three charts side by side.

One person to one machine

Group size is set by the floor itself: one person to one reformer, so a class is never larger than the number of machines in the room. These are the formats the studio is being set up to run; days and times come with the timetable.

  1. Small groups

    The core format: a mixed-level reformer class, once the foundation block is behind you.

  2. Foundation block

    A short closed course for newcomers. Its length is the studio’s own convention.

  3. Orientation

    One short session on the machine itself, before anything else.

  4. Mat classes

    Mats and small props: the ring, a small ball, a band.

  5. Privates and duets

    One or two people with one instructor, on the full range of apparatus.

Every format, in full The planned week, window by window

One class, stopper to stopper

A class has a shape, and the carriage draws it. Keep scrolling and follow one machine through a whole session, from the first spring hooked on to the last wipe of the upholstery.

A reformer drawn from the side. As the page moves, the carriage travels from Home at its stopper out to Full travel at the far end of the rail and back, and the four springs stretch and relax.HomeFull travel
Foot end and stopperHead end
  1. At the stopper

    Set-up

    Springs go onto the bar at the first setting of the plan. The footbar is raised, the headrest set and the straps hung on their hooks.

  2. Springs on

    Arrival

    People arrive ten to fifteen minutes early, put on grip socks and keep bags and shoes off the floor. Fitted clothing stays clear of the springs and wheels.

  3. Along the rails

    Blocks and changes

    The class runs as a sequence of blocks with transitions between them: a spring change, the footbar moved, the box added. Fewer, cleaner changes make a calmer class.

  4. Full travel

    The far end of the rail

    Out at full travel the springs are at their longest. This is all the name means: the extreme of a stroke, reached under control and left the same way.

  5. Home under control

    Reset and clean-down

    Springs go back to the studio’s resting setting, footbar and headrest to neutral, and the carriage rests against its stopper. Upholstery, handles and straps are wiped before the next class comes in.

How a newcomer is brought in

Nobody starts in a mixed class. The way in is one short route: it begins with a member account, and its first visit is asked for against the planned week, in the windows kept for newcomers.

See the planned week Join the founding list

Your first visit, step by step · sign in · what the account keeps

  1. The founding list

    Your member account: the formats, days and times that suit you, and your place on the list, counted as people join.

  2. Intro-session request

    Up to three windows of the planned week, in order. A preferred window, not a booked slot: it reads Received until the studio offers a time.

  3. Welcome conversation and orientation

    One visit, in person. Anything that changes how a machine is set for you is talked through here, never asked online; then springs, footbar, straps and stopping the carriage.

  4. Foundation block

    Applied for from your account: a short closed course before any mixed class.

  5. Placement

    Mixed classes, more foundation or privates, chosen together.

Reformer ropes and padded hand loops hung in an even row on brass hooks along a dark teal wall, in low evening light.

After the last class, everything goes back to rest.

On Crownpoint Road, in the east end

The studio is being set up on Crownpoint Road, where Calton, Bridgeton and Barrowfield meet, a short walk from Bridgeton station and from Glasgow Green by the Clyde. There is no opening date or timetable yet; both will be published here first.

Join the founding list to hear when the timetable is out, or write with a question about the formats, the machines or a first visit.

classes@extremepilates.live

How the machines are looked after is set out in full.