Last year, I sat down with Sebastien Lagree, founder and CEO of Lagree Fitness, to learn how his Hollywood studio has turned into a cult-like following with celebrity fans including Jennifer Aniston, Meghan Markle, Michelle Obama and more. With COVID-19 flipping the fitness industry on its head, I wanted to learn how Sebastien is tackling this new challenge and why he believes that his new Micro at-home machine will help bring people back to fitness studios.

Dave Knox: Do you think the surge of at-home workouts will continue following the health crisis? 

Sebastien Lagree: Yes, there will be a heightened interest in at home workouts for at least the rest of the year. After January 1st of 2021, most people will resume their workout habits with a significant portion still working out from home. The Virus has changed the behavior for many, not all, but for many. Only time will tell what the new fitness landscape is but I think we’ll have a blend going forward.

Knox: What is the appeal of working out at home vs. gyms and boutique or chain studios?

Lagree: Obviously, it comes down to convenience. You do not have to worry about parking, time, and all those others things. You can literally workout at any time in the day or night and the price for online classes is usually much cheaper not to mention that there are a ton of free workouts posted. You have to keep in mind that many people workout for many different reasons, we have many stay at-home moms who might prefer to keep working out at home after the quarantine is lifted. For others, they may just have settled in a new routine and realize that working out at-home works better for them.

The reason why most people will return to a studio is because of the energy they get from a class, working out with friends, the camaraderie, people who take classes like the social aspect of it and can’t wait to return to it. Many people have emailed me that while they love to have their machines at home, they miss the studio. For me, as a teacher, I love to be able to adjust people’s form on the Mega, that something that is impossible to achieve in a virtual class. Peloton gets away with it because cycling is repetitive, you do not really need to keep correcting the form.

Knox: You recently announced that you would be expanding the Lagree lineup with several home workout options including the new Micro. How do you think about the balance between these in-home options and your in-studio ones to be sure the compliment vs compete?

Lagree: Great question and a concern of mine. I was very careful to design an at home workout that would not compete against the in studio workout. I designed the Micro to do some very popular moves on the Mega, but also to introduce new moves that I could not offer on the Mega. We have had the Micro in use for 8 months already and most of the users split their workout between the Micro and the Mega which was the vision I had.

I think that for most of these people, they love to get the personalized attention for form and the correction which they don’t get at home. Lagree is a technical workout with hundreds of moves so it’s nice to have a trained Lagree teacher who can not only correct you but also push you a little. In addition, I was careful to design the Micro around the Mega, so there are a lot of exercises that you can do on the Mega but not on the Micro and vice versa, so people will still want to take some Mega classes to do the exercises that cannot be done on the Micro. That is the advantage of being me: I can design workouts and equipment that complements each other instead of competing against each other. In addition, the new Megas are be loaded with electronics, Megas have remote control spring changes, tempo setters, ramps, etc. All these features keep people interested in the higher end model even if they have a Micro at home.

Of course, the real reason for the Micro’s existence is that there is simply not enough Lagree studios to satisfy the demand. We have about 500 studios worldwide but the demand is far greater and far more spread out. There is a proliferation of copycats studio but people want the real workout, not some cheap imitation.

Knox: How will the Micro continue to elevate and expand the Lagree brand?

Lagree: The Micro will evolve just like the Mega. We have many very cool accessories coming out in the next 12 months and there will also be other at home machines that will continue spiking the interest in Lagree products. In other words, we are just getting started. And then there is the at home app (www.lagreehome.com). Each machine or product that we sell will have an app to show how to use it and virtual classes as well. I will continue to improve the in studio machine like the Mega and the Supra which got interrupted by the virus. The vision is to have the high end machines at the studio, these machines will be loaded with never seen before tech and will allow the students to experience the method in a whole other way just like the Supra did. 

Knox: Because the Micro allows for home workouts in an easier manner than prior machines, do you feel pressure between balancing your licenses with this new endeavor?

Lagree: I designed the Micro with our licensees in mind because I wanted it to help grow their business. I think this going to play out in several ways. First, the licensees are now becoming distributors and can retail the Micros to their clients. Second, the licensee can rent the Micro and offer at home private training. And third, licensees can now offer virtual classes during down time. A licensee could potentially run 24/7 between in studio and virtual classes. This is a very exciting time for all our licensees and many have already ordered the micros in bulk. The response has been very positive and our licensees are grateful that I am always thinking ahead instead of just being comfortable with our success thus far.

Knox: You’re launching the Lagree at Home app – are there concerns that this can also pull business away from the studios? If not, how will it benefit the licensees as well and continue to expand the company?

Lagree: The app was originally built for the licensees, but very few were interested in it; so I repurposed it for at home. I think that the at home app will respark an interest in that tech and more studios will start using it as well. I used it at The Megaformer Studio and it was awesome to be able to demonstrate the moves as I was teaching them without having to interrupt the class. That is actually the original idea of the app. We have so many different moves that you can do on the Mega and we are adding even more with the Micro. The app allows someone to really see how the moves should be done correctly and have a chance to learn and practice outside of the class. This allows you to make the most use of your time in studio and to really draw new people into the experience without being intimidated. Most of the tech that I develop is for studio use and to make that experience even better.

Knox: With new clients, how do you get them into the habit of coming into classes, and now with home machines, how do you keep the habit of using it vs. it sitting in the corner gathering dust, like so many other exercise machines?

Lagree: That is the million-dollar question in fitness. How do you help people create and then maintain a fitness habit? In the studio, it is the teacher who will make you come back. It is the energy in class. At home, we will need to be more clever. I think that the fact that new exercises will be added each month will keep people interested. Also the App is user based, so anyone can create and share routines, so there will never be the same routines as people may be used to on their treadmill or stationary bike.

I think that there is a lot of friendly competition going on in a studio, so you can organize “challenges,” for example, The Megaformer studio is doing a 14 days challenge and the prize is a Microformer, so many people have signed up for that challenge. People love winning prizes, so that would be one way to motivate the crowds at home.  We have teachers in every continent, who wouldn’t like to take a class from someone teaching from Hawaii with a gorgeous back drop? Or a NYC roof top? Or some beach in Mexico. No green screen needed!`

Knox: As an entrepreneur, I know you are always thinking about what is around the corner. What is next for Lagree, and where do you see the fitness industry heading?

Lagree: You absolutely must evolve as a brand and business. There will be a greater integration of electronics in the fitness experience. I have been going at it since 2013 and have been working since that time on investing into the incorporation of biofeedback devices and the electronification of the machine. People will not be working out on spring-based tension for much longer. Everything will change. For instance, at our warehouse, we have the world’s first and only levitating carriage. It is a Mega with no wheels where the carriage “floats” over the monorail. That is the type of innovation that will make people talk about Lagree for decades. We have even developed a machine that responds to your brain waves with all the patents filed and published. The next decade is going to bring a lot of changes to the fitness industry and I look forward to being part of driving that change.