Tower Pilates Explained vs the Reformer

Springs hanging from the wall, straps, a couple of bars: that’s the first thing anyone who’s never taken a Tower class sees, and the most common reaction is to assume it’s a scaled-down reformer bolted to the wall.

It doesn’t share a family with the reformer. It shares a family with the original Cadillac of the method, and the difference isn’t size — it’s where the resistance comes from and at what point in the movement it challenges you most.

What it is

The Tower is a vertical structure, anchored to the wall or to a table, with springs, bars, and straps hanging from it. It’s a direct relative of the classic Cadillac (the large, horizontal apparatus with a raised frame that Joseph Pilates originally designed), but in a vertical, compact version that takes up a fraction of the space.

That makes it workable for boutique studios that don’t have room for a full Cadillac in every studio, without giving up much of its repertoire: hanging work, resistance from overhead, from the front, or from the side, depending on how the spring is anchored.

If you have an active shoulder, wrist, or hip injury, say so before class. Several Tower exercises involve hanging or supporting your weight from an elevated point, and the setup adjusts easily when the instructor knows ahead of time.

The springs aren’t “fake resistance”

There’s an idea floating around that elastic resistance (springs, bands, tubing) is a “light” version of real strength training — the kind you do with weights or cable machines. The evidence doesn’t back that hierarchy.

The systematic review and meta-analysis by Lopes and colleagues (2019), published in SAGE Open Medicine, directly compared elastic-resistance training against conventional resistance training (weights and machines). Their conclusion: elastic resistance produces strength gains comparable to conventional resistance, with no statistically significant difference between the two methods, across different populations and protocols. One caveat: those studies used elastic bands and tubing, not pilates springs. They share the elastic property, but the finding is about the family, not this specific apparatus.

That doesn’t mean they’re interchangeable in every detail — a spring behaves differently than a weight, and that matters for what comes next. But it does knock down the idea that a spring is a weak substitute for “real” training. Mechanically, it’s a different thing. It isn’t inferior.

Source: Effects of training with elastic resistance versus conventional resistance on muscular strength — SAGE Open Medicine

What variable resistance is, and why it changes the exercise

Here’s the real difference between training with springs and training with weights, and it’s purely mechanical, not a matter of opinion.

A weight is the same load at every point in the range of motion. A spring isn’t: the more you stretch it, the more resistance it gives back. It’s the basic elastic property of any spring — the same reason stretching a band to twice its length takes more effort than stretching it a little.

On the Tower, that translates into something concrete: the exercise doesn’t demand the same effort at the start of the movement as at the end. Where a weight challenges you most near the point where your body’s leverage is least favorable, a spring challenges you most near the end of the range, once you’ve stretched it furthest.

A concrete example helps: in a press exercise with a spring anchored to the Tower, the hardest part isn’t when the arm is bent close to the body, it’s when you’ve nearly extended it fully, because that’s where the spring is stretched the most. With a dumbbell, it’s usually the opposite: the most demanding point is halfway through the movement, where the arm’s leverage is least efficient. Neither exercise is “incomplete” because of this — it simply challenges the muscle at a different part of the range, a different effort curve than the reformer’s (which combines springs with a sliding surface) and different from a free weight’s.

Put simply: it’s not that the Tower is “harder” or “easier” than the reformer. It challenges you at different moments of the same movement, and that trains control in ranges other equipment doesn’t emphasize the same way.

What the Tower does NOT do, even if you hear it often

Two claims circulate in the industry, and neither holds up.

“It decompresses the spine.” There’s no evidence that hanging from a strap or working against overhead-anchored springs produces real, lasting spinal decompression. It can feel like a pleasant stretch through the torso. That’s not the same as a measurable structural change.

“You gain height.” No combination of exercises changes your height once your growth plates have closed, no matter how much you “stretch” on the equipment.

These claims stick around because they describe a real sensation (plenty of people do feel relief and more space through the torso during and after the exercise), but sensation isn’t the same as a measurable structural change. That’s the distinction worth making before you buy a promise. What you can actually expect, backed by real evidence, is strength work with a different resistance curve, better control through wide ranges of motion, and standing or hanging exercises that the reformer, by design, can’t replicate the same way.

How it’s different from the reformer, in practice

The reformer works mainly lying down, with your body supported on a carriage that slides. The Tower works standing, seated, lying on a table, or hanging, with the springs anchored overhead, in front, or to the side — not underneath you.

That difference in orientation changes which muscles stabilize the movement. On the reformer, the sliding surface does part of the stability work. On the Tower, when you’re standing or seated without full support, your body has to stabilize on its own while also controlling the spring’s resistance. It’s a different kind of control challenge than the reformer — not necessarily harder or easier.

Exercises like leg work hanging from the straps, or standing series with the spring at chest height, don’t have a direct equivalent on the reformer — not because the reformer is limited, but because these positions depend on an overhead anchor point that the reformer, by its horizontal design, doesn’t have.

FAQ

Is the Tower better than the reformer?

They’re not comparable in those terms. They’re pieces of equipment that work different patterns and orientations of the body; a studio with a full repertoire typically uses both, not one over the other permanently.

Do I need previous experience to take a Tower class?

Some reformer or mat background helps, since several Tower exercises rely on control you should already have. It’s not a strict requirement — with the right modifications, it adapts to beginners.

Do Tower springs feel different from reformer springs?

Yes. The orientation and anchor point change which part of the movement feels most resistant, even though the spring’s mechanical principle is the same.

Does the Tower help with posture?

It can contribute as part of general strength and core-control work, to the same extent that any well-executed strength training contributes. There’s no evidence of an exclusive, superior “postural” effect from this particular apparatus.

Do I need to watch out for any injury before taking Tower?

Yes: if you have an active shoulder, wrist, or hip injury, tell your instructor before class. Several exercises involve hanging or supporting your weight from an elevated point, and the setup adjusts easily when the instructor knows ahead of time.

How long is a Tower class at Naü?

Like the rest of the studio’s disciplines, classes run 45 to 50 minutes, in small groups.

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It’s worth knowing the method’s most popular apparatus first: what the reformer is and what it’s for. The Tower has its own room at Naü, inside the same 10-discipline package, and the Wunda Chair (the studio’s other small apparatus) follows a different logic, which you can read about here. Coaches teach in English, and you can try the Tower with no strings attached: book a trial class at Plaza Muray, minutes from Puerto Cancún and the Hotel Zone.