Quick Answer: On a Lagree machine, springs create resistance in one direction and assistance in the other. For movements where the carriage moves away from the springs, more springs is harder. For movements where the carriage moves toward the springs, more springs actually assists you, so fewer is harder. That is why an instructor calls for heavy springs on one exercise and light on the next, and why using your spring count as a personal strength score leads you to load exercises where the load is doing the work for you.

Someone in class always asks how many springs they should be on, and the honest answer is that the question is missing a variable.

The spring setting is not a weight. It is a direction-dependent force, and which direction you are moving decides whether it is fighting you or helping you.

How do the springs actually work?

They pull the carriage in one direction, always the same direction, with force that increases as they stretch.

That single fact produces everything else:

• Moving the carriage away from the spring anchor: you are stretching the springs, so they resist you. More springs is harder.
• Moving the carriage toward the spring anchor: the springs are pulling the same way you are going, so they assist you. More springs is easier, and your work becomes controlling the return rather than producing the movement.

Worked example. In a standard lunge with the carriage moving away from you, the springs resist the push out and assist the return. Add springs and the push out gets harder while the controlled return gets easier.

In a movement where the carriage travels toward the springs, that flips entirely. Removing springs makes the concentric portion harder, because there is less help.

This is why instructor calls sound inconsistent to newcomers. Heavy for one exercise, light for the next, and it is not preference. It is which way the carriage is going.

Why does chasing fewer springs backfire?

Because on a large share of exercises, fewer springs means less resistance in the direction where you are actually working.

A common pattern in class: someone hears that advanced students use fewer springs, drops to the minimum for everything, and then finds the class easier while assuming they have leveled up.

What actually happened: on the exercises where the carriage moves away, they reduced resistance. On the exercises where it moves toward the springs, they increased difficulty. Net result is a session that is harder in some places, considerably easier in others, and less effective than the setting the instructor called.

The reverse error exists too. Loading up on springs for a movement where springs assist means you have made the exercise easier while feeling like you did something serious. The carriage feels heavy in your hands, and it is carrying you through the hard part.

The reliable indicator is not the spring count. It is the shake. Lagree is built around time under tension and slow tempo, and the tremor that arrives at 45 to 60 seconds is the signal that the setting is right for you on that movement. No shake, and the setting is probably wrong regardless of the number.

What should you actually adjust for?

Two things: the tempo you can hold, and your range of motion.

Tempo is the primary variable. Lagree’s effect depends on slow, controlled movement, commonly four counts out and four counts back. If a setting forces you to speed up to complete the movement, it is wrong for you on that exercise, whether it is too heavy or too light.

Range of motion is the second. If you cannot reach the full position the instructor is describing, adjust rather than shortening the range. Full range at a moderate setting beats partial range at a heroic one, every time.

A practical decision process:

• Take the instructor’s called setting first, since they know which direction the carriage is going
• Hold the tempo for the first 20 seconds
• If you are speeding up or losing range, change the setting by one spring in whichever direction gives you control back
• If you reach the end of the set with no shake at all, change it the other way next time

On progression: getting stronger in Lagree shows up as holding a slower tempo through a fuller range for a longer set, not as a specific spring number. This is the part that frustrates people coming from weights, where the number on the bar is the progress marker.

A note on body size and limb length: longer limbs change the leverage on many Lagree movements, meaning two equally strong people can genuinely need different settings for the same exercise. Neither one is doing it wrong.

What Nobody Tells You About Spring Settings

The machine is not calibrated to your body, and the numbers are not universal. Spring tension differs between machine models and generations, and springs lose tension over years of use. The back-corner machine in a studio can be noticeably lighter than the front one. If a setting felt different today, it may well have been different.

The instructor’s called setting is a starting point for the room, not a prescription for you. Instructors call a setting that works for most people on that movement. Adjusting is expected. Not adjusting because you do not want to look like you are struggling is the most common self-limiting behaviour in the studio.

Nobody is watching your springs. Genuinely. Everyone else is trying to survive their own plank.

Changing a spring mid-set is allowed and often correct. If you lose form at 30 seconds, adjust and finish with good form rather than grinding out a compromised second half.

Your best setting changes day to day. Sleep, stress, hydration, where you are in your cycle, and whether you lifted yesterday all shift it. A fixed spring number treated as your level guarantees that on some days you are underloaded and on others you are past your capacity.

The shake is not a badge, it is data. It indicates motor unit fatigue at a useful intensity. Chasing a violent tremor at the cost of your range and alignment gets you the sensation without the training effect.

Seasonal note: studios fill up in fall, classes run larger, and instructors have less time for individual spring guidance. This is a good few weeks to learn the logic for yourself, so a busy class does not mean guessing. If you are unsure on a specific exercise, ask which way the carriage travels. That one question answers the spring question every time.

FAQ: Lagree Spring Questions, Answered

Does fewer springs mean harder on Lagree?

Only when the carriage moves away from the spring anchor. When it moves toward the springs, the springs assist you, so fewer springs makes the movement harder. Direction decides.

How do I know if my spring setting is right?

You can hold the slow tempo through full range, and the shake arrives somewhere in the 45 to 60 second window. No shake or lost tempo both mean adjust.

Should I always use the setting the instructor calls?

Start there, since they know the movement direction, then adjust by one spring if you cannot hold tempo or full range. Adjusting is expected, not a sign you are behind.

TL;DR:

• Springs resist when the carriage moves away from them and assist when it moves toward them. Harder is direction-dependent, not number-dependent.
• Chasing a low spring count makes some exercises easier while you believe you are progressing.
• Judge the setting by whether you can hold the slow tempo through full range, with the shake arriving around 45 to 60 seconds.
• Progress in Lagree looks like slower tempo, fuller range, and longer sets, not a lower number on the machine.

Ask which way the carriage travels. That single question turns the spring setting from a guess into arithmetic.

See It in Motion

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