The straps and the foot-bar

A padded bar across the end of the frame. It adjusts for height and usually folds down out of the way. You press into it with the balls of your feet, your heels, or your hands, and the carriage travels away from it.

Classes start here because it’s stable, easy to explain, and a good way to feel what the springs are doing before anything more involved happens.

Handles on adjustable ropes, running over pulleys at the top of the frame. You can hold them in your hands or loop them round your feet, and they pull the carriage the opposite way from the foot-bar work.

Their real gift is support. Because the rope holds the weight of your arm or leg for you, you can work through a range without the effort of holding the limb up. If unsupported work leaves you tired quickly, you’ll get on well with these.

Rope length changes how much range you get before the strap goes slack, and we set it to your height. Bar height changes the angle of your legs in footwork. We’ll sort both for you in your first class, and both take seconds to change.