Buying guide

Cadillac vs Tower Reformer: Which Belongs in Your Studio

October 10, 2026 · 5 min read · by KETA PILATES

A tower reformer and a Cadillac both add a vertical frame to a reformer bed, and from across the room they look like cousins. They are not. One is a reformer with a taller attachment; the other is a different machine that happens to share the footprint. If you are splitting a first equipment budget, knowing which one earns its place — and in what order — saves you from buying the wrong frame for the clients you actually have.

1. What a tower reformer actually is

A tower reformer is a standard reformer with a vertical tower fixed to the foot end: a push-through bar on springs, a roll-down bar, and usually a few straps and a trapeze arm. You still lie on the carriage and do reformer work; the tower adds spinal, upper-body and stretch exercises without leaving the bed. It is the smaller step up from a plain reformer and the usual first "extra" a growing studio adds.

2. What a Cadillac actually is

A Cadillac (sometimes called a trapeze table) is a fixed frame with a raised, padded bed sitting inside four posts and a canopy of springs, a push-through bar, a trapeze and straps on every side. You can do reformer-style work on it, but its real strength is the exercises that need the open frame around you — hanging trapeze work, rotational and asymmetric moves, and rehab patterns where the client is supported on all sides. It does not fold, does not slide, and takes a permanent square of floor.

3. Space and ceiling

This is where the two split fast. A tower reformer needs the same floor space as a reformer plus a little clearance for the tower — it still lives in a reformer row. A Cadillac needs a clear ceiling (the canopy sits well above the bed) and a permanent footprint you cannot reclaim for anything else. In a small studio, towers let you keep every station a reformer; a Cadillac is one station you commit to.

4. Who uses which

• Tower reformer: group classes and mixed-level clients who mostly do reformer flow but want more variety and stretch without a second machine. Good for boutique and membership studios where the bed stays busy.
• Cadillac: private sessions, rehab and physio referral clients, and teachers who run apparatus privates. It shines when the work is hands-on, one-to-one, and needs the frame for support or resistance.

If most of your revenue is group reformer classes, towers extend what you already sell. If a growing share is privates and rehab, the Cadillac earns its corner.

5. Price and payback

A tower unit costs a fraction of a Cadillac because it is mostly a reformer plus an attachment. It pays back by adding class variety on a bed you already fill. A Cadillac is a larger single purchase that pays back through higher private-session rates and a wider client base, including referral clients a plain reformer cannot serve. The two are not the same budget line.

6. Can one machine do both?

Partly. A 2-in-1 tower reformer gives you the tower attachment on a working reformer, which covers most group and stretch needs. It does not fully replace a Cadillac's open four-post frame for trapeze and supported rehab work. Many studios buy towers first to widen the class menu, then add one or two Cadillacs as privates and rehab grow. That order keeps cash flowing and avoids an expensive frame sitting unused.

7. What to specify when you order

Whether tower or Cadillac, the spec lines that protect you are the same:

• a rated load that matches commercial daily use;
• spring count and type — five to six commercial springs give finer resistance steps;
• frame material — aluminium for humid or clinical rooms, oak / maple / beech for a warmer studio look;
• certifications (CE for the EU, ISO 9001 for the production system, third-party SGS / TÜV where applicable);
• packing, spare fittings and an installation video for the exact model.

A Cadillac also needs the canopy height and post spacing stated, because that is what decides who can use it comfortably.

8. The order we see work

For a new studio: start with reformers, add tower units once classes fill, then introduce one Cadillac for privates and rehab. For a studio already running privates: a Cadillac sooner, because it opens a higher-rate service you cannot offer on a reformer. Either way, buy the frame for the clients you have now plus the ones you are trying to attract — not for the photo on the brochure.

The bottom line

A tower reformer is the easy, lower-cost way to add variety to a reformer-based studio. A Cadillac is a commitment to privates, rehab and apparatus work that a reformer row cannot cover. Most studios benefit from towers first and a Cadillac once privates justify the floor space. Pick by where your revenue comes from today, not by which looks more impressive on the showroom floor.

We build both: a 2-in-1 tower reformer (OR102) that adds the vertical tower to a working bed, and a full Cadillac (MR103) with a four-post frame, trapeze, push-through bar and straps on every side. Both come in aluminium or oak / maple / beech, with a commercial load rating, five to six replaceable springs, CE / ISO 9001 and SGS-tested where applicable, AQL pre-shipment inspection, CTI-audited production and a live video factory tour. MOQ is 5 pieces and you can mix reformers, towers and Cadillacs in one container.