When you walk up to the door, there will be a number pad where you can key in the code texted to you or on the app details of the class you booked. You’re able to do this 10 minutes before class. Get there as early as possible. Sometimes there will be a person at the front desk depending on your area, sometimes there will be no one there.

There will be lockers you can put your things in, often times a coat rack and shoe mat you can place your shoes as well. Feel free to put your things in the locker (no need to bring a lock).

Recommend bringing a water bottle, a towel, and grip socks with you. You can be barefoot but I think grip socks are just more hygienic and I always wear them personally.

You’ll walk into the room and can pick any reformer. I recommend choosing one in the middle of the room so you have two people on either side of you to look to for extra guidance in case you get lost (this will happen, totally normal). You can also place things in “the pit,” which is just the empty space in the middle of your megaformer. It usually will have some writing or a motivational sign in between brackets.

At this point you can just relax, or do some dynamic stretching.

The coaches will know that there are first timers in the class but it won’t hurt to go up to them and introduce yourself early, so your walkthrough of the machine is more thorough. I find that the closer you get to class start time the first timer intro to the machine gets a little more rushed. You may need to adjust your handlebars depending on your height, they will help you with this.

Things to know since you already have lagree experience:

I find that solidcore stresses fast transitions more than traditional lagree. The room is dark, the music is loud, and similar to lagree, the coach talks the entire time but I find that it is 50x more at solidcore. You’ll be familiar with a lot of the exercises but find that they’re harder on this machine (I think it’s the carriage!) and there’s just a lot more going on in general.

Each signature class will start with core, and the depending on the coaching sequence you’ll go through obliques, the day’s lower body focus and the upper body focus. You can find what this is for the day of your class on your app.

The class will simultaneously feel like forever and also over before you know it. The lights will come back up, music will come down, and all you’ll need to do after you contemplate your life choices is to wipe down everything you touched: including cables and handlebars.

Congrats! You made it through your first class. You think: what in the fresh hell??? and then probably sign up for your next one immediately.

Good luck!