What spring setting should you start on?
Reformer Pilates spring settings confuse almost everyone in their first month — and the reason is that heavier does not reliably mean harder. This calculator gives you a starting spring load for any classic exercise, translated into the actual spring colours on your reformer, and tells you whether going lighter would make that movement easier or considerably harder.
Find your spring setting
Load relative to a full four-spring reformer
Springs make far more sense with a teacher next to you.In a small group, I set your springs for you and change them the moment your body says they are wrong.
Book Your First ClassHow the reformer spring settings calculator works
Every exercise gets a base spring load measured in units, where one unit equals one heavy spring on a standard reformer. The calculator then adjusts that base three ways — and the direction of the adjustment depends on what the spring is actually doing in that exercise:
- Resistance exercises. Footwork, jumpboard, arm work, rowing. The spring opposes you, so more spring is more work. Beginners go lighter here; strong clients go heavier.
- Assisted exercises. Short spine, long spine, some strap work. The spring carries part of your body weight, so more spring is easier. Beginners go heavier here, and taking a spring off is a progression.
- Stability exercises. Long stretch, knee stretches, elephant. The spring steadies the carriage. Too light and the carriage runs away from your control; too heavy and you cannot travel. Beginners go heavier, advanced work goes lighter.
That single distinction — resist, assist, stabilise — explains almost every confusing spring cue you have ever been given.
Spring colour chart by reformer brand
Colours are not standardised. This is the rough translation I use when a client tells me what they trained on somewhere else. One unit means one heavy spring.
| Reformer | Heavy | Medium | Light | Typical set |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balanced Body / Allegro | Red — 1.0 | Blue — 0.5 | Yellow — 0.25 | 4 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow |
| Merrithew STOTT | Red — 1.0 | Blue — 0.5 | White — 0.25 | 3 red, 1 blue, 1 white |
| Align / Peak-style | Red — 1.0 | Blue — 0.5 | Yellow — 0.25 | 2 red, 2 blue, 1 yellow |
| Classical (Gratz-style) | All springs equal — 1.0 | — | Half spring on some frames | 4 uniform springs |
Two honest caveats. Springs lose tension with age, so a well-loved red spring on a studio reformer from 2019 is genuinely lighter than a new one out of the box. And teaching lineage matters: classical programming tends to run heavier through footwork and lighter through abdominal work than contemporary programming does. Neither is wrong.
What I actually watch for in the studio
I set springs by watching necks and breath, not by reading a chart. When the load is too heavy for someone, four things show up in a predictable order: the breath gets held, the shoulders drift towards the ears, the head lifts off the headrest, and the last third of the range disappears. Any one of those and I take a spring off mid-set, without making a thing of it.
Too light has its own signature. The carriage bangs home at the end of every repetition, the client stops feeling anything through the middle of the movement, and the work migrates somewhere it should not be — usually the hip flexors or the front of the neck. A spring that is too light is not the safe option people assume it is. It just removes the feedback your body was using to organise itself.
If you are brand new to all of this, my beginner’s guide to your first reformer class in Utah walks through what happens in the room, and I went deeper on the mechanics in Pilates spring tension explained.
Common reformer Pilates spring settings mistakes
- Chasing heavy on footwork to feel strong. Footwork is where your alignment gets set for the whole class. Heavier is not better if your pelvis tips to manage it.
- Keeping arm springs heavy. Arm work on the reformer is small-muscle, high-precision work. Most people belong on one light spring, sometimes half of one.
- Going too light on long stretch. This is the classic. On a plank-based exercise a light spring means the carriage slides away and your shoulders take the whole thing. Add spring until you can hold the line.
- Never changing anything. Springs are the reformer’s only variable and they are meant to move. If you have used the same setting for six months, you have stopped progressing.
- Copying the person next to you. Different body, different lever lengths, different history. Their red spring is not your red spring.
Frequently asked questions
What do the spring colours mean on a Pilates reformer?
Colour tells you how much resistance a spring adds, but the code is not standardised between manufacturers. On a Balanced Body reformer red is the heavy spring, blue is roughly half of that and yellow is lighter again. On a Merrithew STOTT reformer red is heavy, blue is medium and white is light. On a classical Gratz-style reformer all four springs are the same tension, so settings are described as two springs or three springs rather than by colour. Always check the chart in your own studio before you trust a colour name.
Do heavier springs mean a harder Pilates workout?
Not always, and this is the single biggest misunderstanding I correct in the studio. On exercises where you push the carriage away — footwork, leg press, jumpboard — heavier springs are harder. On exercises where the springs hold you up or slow the carriage down — long stretch, short spine, knee stretches — heavier springs make the movement easier and more stable, and going lighter is what raises the difficulty. Lighter is often the advanced setting.
What spring setting should a beginner use on the reformer?
For a first class, most beginners sit around two to three heavy springs for footwork, one heavy spring for feet in straps, and a single light spring for arm work. The principle matters more than the number: start where you can complete the full range of motion with controlled breathing and no shaking in your neck, then adjust. This calculator applies exactly that logic, adjusting for the exercise, your experience and your goal.
Why does my studio use different spring settings than the ones I see online?
Three reasons. Reformer brands use different spring tensions and different colour codes. Springs also lose tension as they age, so a five-year-old red spring is genuinely lighter than a new one. And every teaching lineage has its own preferences — classical work tends to run heavier on footwork than contemporary work does. Treat any online number, including mine, as a starting point you then adjust by feel.
How do I know if my spring setting is wrong?
Your body tells you before your brain does. Too heavy and you will see the neck lift off the headrest, the shoulders creep towards the ears, the breath hold, and the movement get fast and jerky at the end of the range. Too light and the carriage will bang home at the end of every rep, you will feel the work in the wrong place, and you will lose the sense of resistance through the middle of the movement. Stop, change one spring, repeat.
Use these reformer Pilates spring settings as a considered starting point, then let the movement correct them. The right spring is the one where you can breathe, travel through your full range, and still feel the resistance at the very end. Everything else is a number on a chart.
— Bianca
About Bianca
I’m Bianca, founder and lead instructor at Alchemize Pilates, a boutique reformer studio on the Wasatch Front. I’ve spent years teaching clients across Salt Lake City, Draper, Sandy and Lehi — everyone from post-partum mamas to skiers rebuilding after a knee injury. I built these tools because clients ask me the same planning questions in every intro session. Read my story or book a class.