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Erika Vairo | Pilates + Strength Training

@erika_vairo

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Pilates is the peanut butter. Lifting heavy shit is the jelly.
We do both.
Founder, Elevate Movement Collective
📍Phoenix, AZ
Group Fitness: @remedypb

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The reformer shows you where your strength actually comes from. The barbell is where you prove it. Same power, two ways to find it. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Joseph Pilates really said, “Alignment looks off. Let me just step on you.”

Different era. Same Pilates. Significantly fewer feet on clients these days.

Joseph walked so we could verbally cue. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Warning: this video is sped up. Your reps should not be. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Everyone starts somewhere.

With lighter weights. With shaky balance. With two minutes of cardio. With no idea what they’re doing. With a body that feels different than it used to.

You don’t have to be strong to start strength training. You don’t have to be flexible to start Pilates. And you definitely don’t have to “get in shape” before you walk through the door.

You just have to start.

Strength is built. Confidence is built. Consistency is built. One session, one rep, one small win at a time.

There is no such thing as being too late or too far behind. Your starting point is simply where we begin.

Come as you are. We’ll build from there. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Pilates isn’t just for women. Strength training isn’t just for men.

Movement doesn’t have a gender.

We all benefit from being strong, mobile, stable, and capable and that’s exactly why I believe in combining Pilates + strength training.

You don’t have to choose. Your body deserves both. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Carol has a goal: walk up the stairs at church.

When we started working on step-ups, she was using a 2-inch box. Today, she’s stepping up onto 8 inch box.

This is why I love what I do. Strength training isn’t always about lifting the heaviest weight or hitting a PR—it’s about building strength that gives you more independence, confidence, and freedom in your everyday life.

Every inch matters. Every rep matters. And Carol is putting in the WORK.

Get it, Carol!!! 👏🏼🔥💪🏼 taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

You don’t need to get in shape before you start working out.
You don’t need to lose 10 pounds first.
You don’t need to be stronger, more flexible, more coordinated, or know what the hell you’re doing.

That’s literally why you’re here.

My job isn’t to see how fit you are when you walk through my door. It’s to meet you exactly where you are and help you build from there.

We lift weights. We do Pilates. We get stronger. We learn how our bodies move. And somewhere along the way, you start realizing you’re capable of a whole lot more than you thought.

You don’t have to be fit to start.

You just have to start. 🧡

— Elevate Movement Collective taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Most people never actually feel their hamstrings work and then wonder why they're always tight.

Tight usually isn't short. It's weak and overworked, holding on for dear life because the glutes aren't helping.

The fix isn't more stretching. It's loading them through a real range, slowly, until they're strong enough to stop panicking.

Scoop your pelvis. Feel the stretch at the top. Drive through the floor with all three corners of your feet. If you feel it in your lower back, you need to tighten your core.

Message me for private pilates and strength training in Phoenix, AZ. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

We've all watched or been that guy. Rounded back, held breath, muscling something up off the floor like it owes him money. And it looks strong but it isn't.

That's a body pulling force from places that were never designed to give it. Works fine until the day it really, really doesn't.

The stuff I teach on the reformer isn't the soft version. It's learning to hold a position while something actively fights you. Ribs down, nothing leaking. Boring, honestly.

But that's what lets you pick up heavy things for the next thirty years instead of the next three. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Pilates archival taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Somewhere around parallel the brain decides it doesn’t know how this ends, so the hips stall out and everything shuts down early. Add a box and suddenly the body knows where the floor is. It’ll let you go.

Sit, don’t collapse. You’re lowering onto it under control, touching for a beat, then standing back up without rocking forward to get momentum. If you thud down onto it, the box is too low. Raise it.

Then you just keep lowering it over the weeks until one day it’s not there anymore.

Nobody skips ahead to a good squat. They get told where the bottom is enough times that they stop being afraid of it. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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2 months ago

Strong is not a body type, it’s a skill you practice. It isn’t defined by the number on the scale, the size of your clothes, or how much muscle you can see in the mirror. Strength is built through repetition: showing up, learning how your body moves, challenging it, recovering, and coming back a little more capable than before. Just like any other skill, you don’t have to look a certain way to be strong. You become strong by practicing strength.

And that practice carries far beyond the gym. Every squat, plank, press, and heavy lift teaches your body that it is capable. Pilates gives you control, awareness, and stability. Lifting teaches you to create and handle force. Strong is something you continue to learn, build, and carry with you for life. taken in Phoenix, Arizona by @erika_vairo

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