I can can confidently say that TikTok really put me on to the most impactful thing I've incorporated into my life all year. As Ameerah would say, "Lagree is agreeing with [me]!"
See that nigga? And for the time being
I'mma be that nigga, believe that nigga
You see that nigga? And for the time being
I'mma be that nigga, believe that, nigga
-from Burgundy by Earl Sweatshirt
I first discovered Lagree in a hair tutorial on TikTok.
On a freezing early Spring day, my FYP gifted me a video of @whatmojoloves teaching the girlies how to maintain a blowout/silk press while working out. Tl;dr, she bestowed upon us the divine knowledge of 2-4 large, but very tight Bantu knots and a sweatband. It worked!
But in addition to her perfectly wavy hair, I noticed something different on her page. She seemed to be a fitness instructor of some sort, and she was moving on an odd-looking machine.
The machine was black, at least six feet long, and had several types of handlebars on both ends twisted in different directions. She held black cables in her hands and was moving into and out of the slowest lunge I had ever seen. She was focused, her breathing even, and her body steady.
From the comments, I gathered the machine was a "megaformer" and what she was doing was called a variation of pilates by some, and Lagree by others.
Lagree is designed to be as intense as running and strength training, but not as harmful to the joints. Seeing my own mother dodge knee surgery for decades after a youth full of joint-damaging cheering and dancing, low-impact, high-intensity sounded lovely to me.
It's a group fitness class to push your muscles to stage 2 muscle failure through slow, steady movements and a focus on the core. It's mostly basic movements: crunches, planks, lunges, squats, donkey kicks, bicep curls, tricep extensions, and the like. But it's weighted by springs on the machine and your body.
It's hard af. I leave exhausted and sweaty every time because it never gets easier. It isn't supposed to.
And that's why I love it. That's why I keep going 3 times every week. For 45-55 minutes, I can prove to myself that I can do hard things and that I am not bound by my thoughts.
When I first started, I was definitely bound by my thoughts. I kept quitting in class and giving up before I needed to. I would drop when I could've held a movement a few seconds longer. I would shake out the tension when I could've leaned into it a little deeper. And that was so frustrating because I knew my physical body could handle it.
I knew my muscles weren't actually tired, it was my mind that thought I wasn't strong enough. It was my mind that said this glute bridge is too hard, or this plank-to-pike is too demanding. My mind was quitting before my muscles had a chance to, and that was holding me back from reaching my full potential in every class.
And then I realized my mind was doing the same thing outside of class.
Whether it was my new job or an old friendship or a new connection, my mind tended to fixate on what I couldn't do or what I wasn't ready for. It was always ready to find an escape route for every situation in case it got even the slightest bit difficult. And while I know and appreciate that my mind generally is working to keep me safe, I also know that nothing about this life is going to get easier. If I am to succeed in this life – and in the next Lagree class – I will simply have to get stronger. And it starts in the mind.
So, I found a mantra for myself: I can do hard things. I started applying it to everything: sitting in traffic, dealing with a crush, planning intricate trips, getting a master's degree, designing a brand new user experience in two weeks, socializing with nice strangers, starting a blog and newsletter, all of it! Anything that feels difficult, heavy, complicated, delicate, or hard, I can do.
I am very capable of doing what I need to do to live the life I want to live. I can achieve things that feel out of reach. I can stretch. My mama didn't raise me to be a quitter, and God ain't design me to be anything but the head. It took a bit of convincing my mind of this, but I've made quite a bit of progress, friends.
The strength (mental and physical) is showing.
Please note that this isn't on some "strong, independent Black superwoman" type beat. This strength isn't about saving the world or becoming a martyr for anyone. I feel no obligation to reduce myself, reject help, or constantly present to others as strong. This strength is about pushing through resistance. It's about finding a way. It's about discipline and focus. It's about breaking through the barriers of my mind to be someone greater.
So now, I push for the extra beat or two in my elevator lunge. I push for the full plank instead of the forearm plank. As of this month, I even push an extra 3 days per week in rowing class. I push to show myself that I can.
I push because I know that on the other side of difficult is victory, freedom, and growth.
