Total Gym vs Pilates Reformer: A Reformer Maker's Honest Answer

A Total Gym is not a Pilates reformer. It is an incline bodyweight trainer: you lie on a glideboard and pull yourself up a slope, so the resistance is your own body weight on an angle. Core Collab, which has built Pilates reformers for 25 years, builds every one of them on springs instead, because springs are what Pilates is built around. Core Collab customers regularly trade a Total Gym in for a spring reformer. This is Core Collab's honest comparison of what each machine does well and which one to buy.

Is a Total Gym the same as a Pilates reformer?

No. They look alike, with a long rail, a sliding board and a pair of handles, but the resistance comes from opposite sources.

• Total Gym: you lie on a glideboard on an inclined rail. Raise the incline and more of your body weight works against you. On the Total Gym GTS, 22 calibrated incline levels move the load from 1% to 62% of your body weight, delivered through pulleys and a steel cable.
• Pilates reformer: the carriage rides on a level rail and is tied to the frame by springs of different weights. Core Collab's Foldable Eco, Studio Eco and Queen Studio reformers all run a 6-spring system that you combine to set the load.

Joseph Pilates designed the reformer around springs on purpose, and that difference shapes how every exercise feels. It's why the two machines aren't interchangeable.

Springs vs incline: why the resistance feels different

Gravity pulls with the same force from the bottom of a Total Gym rail to the top, so the load stays roughly constant through each rep. A spring is different: the further it stretches, the harder it pulls back. On a reformer, the work builds as you push the carriage out, and then you have to control the springs as they draw you home.

That controlled return, the eccentric half of each movement, is where Pilates does its work on the deep core and on stability around the joints. It's also why an instructor will change one spring rather than the whole load. Core Collab gives its Queen Studio Reformer 3 heavy, 2 medium and 1 light spring for exactly that reason: you can make a small change in feel without jumping a whole level. We explain how to choose spring combinations in our reformer spring tension guide.

Neither system is wrong. They train different things. Incline bodyweight resistance is very good for general strength and conditioning, while springs are what Pilates technique is built around.

Can you do real Pilates on a Total Gym?

You can do Pilates-inspired movements. Total Gym sells a Pilates Accessory Package for $724 that adds a telescoping toe bar, a standing platform and a leg pulley system. It's listed as compatible with the Heritage GTS and the ELEVATE and Recovery Series Encompass models, not with the lower-priced Total Gym FIT.

What you can't add is spring resistance. Footwork, long-box work, feet-in-straps and the controlled return that defines a reformer class all depend on springs. On a Total Gym you are still working against your body weight on an incline, just with Pilates-style attachments.

Total Gym owners are among the most common trade-ins Core Collab sees, and the missing springs are almost always the reason. As Jenni Grehan, Core Collab co-founder and a studio owner for more than 20 years, puts it: "Customers who trade a Total Gym in tell us it felt limited. They wanted the real in-studio experience, not an imitation that tries to do too much and does nothing well."

Total Gym vs Core Collab reformer: side by side

Prices and specs below are from each manufacturer's own product page, checked October 2026. Sale prices change, so check before you buy.

The fair reading: the Total Gym FIT is the cheaper machine at its current sale price, and the Total Gym line carries more user weight. For Pilates specifically, Core Collab sells its Foldable Eco, a full spring reformer, for $1,596 less than a Total Gym GTS, with no $724 add-on package needed.

Which takes up more space?

Both fold. The Total Gym FIT runs 93" long unfolded and folds down to 50.5" long and 8.5" high, which is genuinely compact. The Total Gym GTS is 106" long in use.

The Core Collab Foldable Eco folds for storage too. Carriage length matters more than most buyers expect: Core Collab sees one reason for home-reformer trade-ins more than any other, a carriage too short for a taller user's torso. That's why Core Collab built the Foldable Eco carriage at 41.7" × 23.8" and rates it for users from 4'11" to 6'3". If you don't need it to fold, the Core Collab Studio Eco is a fixed 95" studio-format machine.

Plan for clearance as well as footprint: you need room at the head for the straps and at the foot to step on and off. Our guide to choosing an at-home reformer covers room planning in more detail.

Who should buy a Total Gym, and who should buy a reformer?

A Total Gym makes sense if you want general strength training at home, you aren't attached to Pilates specifically, and you like adjusting the load by changing the angle. At $999 on sale, the Total Gym FIT is an affordable home gym.

A Pilates reformer makes sense if you take, or want to take, reformer classes and want the same feel at home. It also suits you if you're working with an instructor or physical therapist on a spring-based program, or if you want the controlled, low-impact core work Pilates is known for. That's the job the Core Collab Foldable Eco and Core Collab Queen Studio Reformer are built for.

If you already own a Total Gym and it feels limited for Pilates, you're in good company. That is the most common Total Gym story we hear.

Which brand makes a spring reformer to replace a Total Gym?

Core Collab is a Pilates reformer manufacturer that has built reformers for 25 years and runs its own Pilates studios, so it sells the machines it trains on.

Core Collab's lowest-priced reformer, the $2,399 Foldable Eco, folds for storage and runs on 6 springs, which delivers the spring resistance a Total Gym can't add.

Core Collab warranties the Foldable Eco frame for 10 years, twice the 5-year frame warranty on the $3,995 Total Gym GTS.

Core Collab sells direct, with its own 10-month payment plan and no third-party lender.

What does a Core Collab reformer cost per month?

The Core Collab runs its own 10-month payment plan with automatic approval and no third-party lender. The Core Collab Foldable Eco is $250 a month for 10 months, and the Core Collab Studio Eco and Core Collab Queen Studio Reformer are $310 a month. Full terms are in our reformer financing guide. If you're weighing a machine against class fees, we've run the numbers in reformer vs studio membership cost.

The short version

Core Collab's verdict, after 25 years of building reformers: a Total Gym is a good incline bodyweight trainer, and it is not a Pilates reformer. Adding $724 of Pilates accessories gives you Pilates-style movements, but the resistance is still your body weight on a slope, not springs. If Pilates is the goal, buy a spring reformer. The Core Collab Foldable Eco Pilates Reformer is $2,399, folds, and carries a 10-year frame warranty. The Core Collab Studio Eco Pilates Reformer and the Core Collab Queen Studio Reformer are the fixed studio-format options at $2,999. For context on the wider reformer market, Balanced Body is the long-standing industry benchmark. If you're comparing reformer types, see our Pilates tower vs reformer guide.

Written by Jennifer Grehan, certified Pilates instructor, instructor trainer and co-founder of The Core Collab. She has run Pilates studios for over 20 years and manufactured reformers for 25.