Meet Lauren Moore | The Lagree Method Studio Owner & Physician Assistant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauren Moore and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I grew up surrounded by medicine. I never really had a choice when it came to my career path. After college, I attended physician assistant school. I worked as a physician assistant for about 6 years, and I liked my job but I didn’t love getting up every morning and getting to work and seeing patients for 9 hours. I was completely exhausted by the end of the night. I knew that most people did not love working or love their job. I always thought a job was something you do in order to make money. I never thought it could be something that people enjoyed or looked forward to doing.

I have always been into fitness. I have tried SO many different fitness classes throughout my life. I find joy in working out. I took my first Lagree class when I was living in Austin, TX about 5 years ago. It was unlike any other fitness class I have taken before. Lagree is a low impact, high intensity, full body workout on a machine called a megaformer. You burn a lot of calories without hurting your joints. After one class I was hooked and bought a yearly membership. I became obsessed with the workout and took class almost every day. I even got my husband to start going with me.

About 3 years ago, my husband and I visited his family in Columbus, Ohio. Of course, I wanted to take a Lagree class while I was in town. We learned that there was only one Lagree studio in the entire city whereas in Austin, there are so many! When we got back to Austin my husband and I both decided to quit our jobs, move to Columbus and open a Lagree studio. Our family and friends thought we were crazy! I had a great job as a physician assistant and he was the president of a company, but we wanted a different pace of life. We wanted to find jobs we loved and be a part of a community. I wanted to wake up every morning excited to go to work. I wanted to still use my physician assistant background in a different way. Now I use my degree by helping others in the fitness industry and I absolutely love it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One big thing that sets us apart from other fitness studios is that we are not a franchise. We do not get outside help with the studio. Everything we do for the studio my husband and I do together. Other Lagree studios in town have help from investors or multiple owners, but we do everything on our own. I am up early every day and work all day. I teach a lot of the classes and then spend hours doing work for the studio behind the scenes. I clean the studio daily myself as well as all the marketing and social media. It is a lot more work than people think!

There have been a lot of sacrifices made to open the studio. I went from having a high-paying physician assistant salary to having no income for over two years. Any money we make now gets reinvested into the studio. I left my family and friends in Austin so that I could open a studio in Columbus and lived with in-laws for two years to help get the studio going. Living with family helped us save money to invest in the studio. We had to open in the middle of Covid, and unfortunately, not many people wanted to try a new fitness studio during a pandemic. This made the start of challenging. We had to fire our marketing team and learn how to do marketing and social media on our own, so my husband learned to build a website. My husband and I went from each having our own jobs in Austin to moving in with in-laws and being together 24/7. It was a huge change!

No one tells you how hard starting something on your own can be, but it is SO worth it. I love Lagree SO much. Lagree is more than a workout, it is a mindset. Since starting I have not only become physically stronger, but my mental health has become so much better. I am so happy because of it and I wanted to share my joy and passion of Lagree with people in the Columbus area. Lagree was not a thing before we moved to Dublin, and now so many people know and love the workout! I also wanted a close community of great people and that is now what I have.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Moving from Austin to Columbus was really hard for me at first. I loved the buzz of Austin’s downtown, but now Columbus is really starting to grow on me! If I had a friend visiting, I would spend one day hiking in Hocking Hills to start. It is very beautiful and only about an hour and a half from Columbus. Then we would have to go see a The Ohio State football game at the stadium, people from Ohio love football! I would then take them downtown Columbus for a night out on the town. We also have a lot of biking trails so we would spend some time riding our bikes. We would also have to hang out in Bridge Park. Bridge Park reminds me of a mini downtown Austin which is why I think I love it so much. There are many restaurants, bars, etc. We would go to PINS for a night and play some games. Lastly, I would have dinner/brunch in downtown Dublin which is my favorite place to eat. Then, of course, I would have to take them to a Lagree class at my studio.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This Shoutout is for my husband. He quit his job and moved across the country for me to follow my dreams and have my dream job. It has not been easy opening this studio. We have made a lot of sacrifices. We had to live with family for two years while we got the business off the ground. We also opened the studio during Covid which was very hard. We had to work together for the first time, and it is not easy to be living and working with your spouse every day. He also invested his own money into the studio. He supports my dreams and does everything he can to make me happy. We have become a better couple as well as friends and business partners through this process.

Website: thelagreemethod.com

Instagram: thelagreemethod

Facebook: The Lagree Method

Image Credits
photo cred: Aseel Brodd Photography