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Gabby Zusin | Pilates & Hot Takes

@gabzusin

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I have an anti-crunch agenda.
Book 2027 RETREAT in bio☀️
Curated Pilates for your bach or bday w/ @at_our_core
Mat Pilates @traversefitness
Denver ⛰️

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21 days ago

MY FRIENDS, a 7-day mat pilates ab challenge is now up on my YouTube 🔥

A friend asked me to make her a program she could do anywhere, and this series delivers. Mid to high spice levels throughout each flow 🌶️

Each video is BODYWEIGHT ONLY, meaning you could take this with you anywhere. There’s even a VACATION-friendly standing sequence you can do literally on the street. Also, core work while traveling really gets the juices flowing 💩 so couldn’t recommend this enough on the road (iykyk).

LMK what you think - I love feedback and love taking requests for what to film next 🤘🏽

#athomeworkout #matpilates taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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2 months ago

I’m not in the business of wasting time, nor should you be. Working through a neutral spine instead of crunching was truly the greatest unlock for using my time MOST effectively.

When you’re working through a neutral spine, your lower abdominals and transverse need to work EXTRA hard to keep the spine in place while the rest of the body is moving.
✅ You’ll notice in the first half of the reel that my bellybutton and lower aren’t moving whatsoever. That’s all my lower core working to stabilize and protect my low back. This is the same muscle group you need engaged when you’re squatting with the barbell (I KNOW BECAUSE I FINALLY GRADUATED TO IT).
❌ In the second half of the reel, I’m fully releasing my core as I arch my back over the ball and then tilt my pelvis up in order to CRUNCH my chest as high as possible. You see my rectus (major “6-pack” abs beneath the rib cage) is bulging out and my hip flexors contract. This completely takes the movement out of my transverse but more importantly for you — I barely feel it in my core.

Work smarter (& literally better) not harder my friends.

#matpilates taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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2

an hour ago

Promise it’s not me being judgmental — it’s out of love. I see SO much sinking into the shoulder in side body work. And then I get complaints that we did too much shoulders in class 😏

HEARD, maybe I do too much shoulders…I really do love shoulder stability work BUT you’re probs making it harder on yourself when you don’t have to.

MY CUES THAT WORK⬇️

- push the earth away with your bottom forearm
- drive your supporting elbow into the floor
- broaden through your chest
- keep your shoulders stacked over each other
- engage the lat (armpit and down) to spread your bottom finger tips flat on the floor

#matpilates #pilates #cues taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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4 days ago

…you’ve been breathing incorrectly your whole life.

In Pilates, we all preach lateral breath - that means that when you breathe in, you inhale side-to-side and get wide in the rib cage. That helps you keep the transverse abdominis (TVA) - “our wrapping corset muscle” that supports our spine - engaged throughout the entire class. It’s what allows ANY movement in Pilates to be a core exercise, which is sick.

But my HOTTEST take yet may be cueing the exhale as the limb moves AWAY from the midline. The whole point is to use your exhale to engage your core, so that the core then POWERS the movement. Here’s how it works:
1️⃣ The exhale engages the core.
2️⃣ The core in turn powers the specific exercise.
3️⃣ Voila, your movement is now a core exercise.

Why would you want every movement to be a core exercise?
⭐️ STABILIZATION. Any time a limb moves away from your midline, it causes instability in the body, giving way to a myriad of ways we can get injured (especially in the gym). Having an engaged core when you’re moving helps so deeply with injury prevention, posture, and generally just getting more out of your workout.
🔥 And abs are sick too. Why not work 2 things at once…efficiencies, guys.

Don’t buy it? Lay on your back and bring your knees to tabletop right above your hips. Try exhaling as your toe taps the earth rather than exhaling on the knee drive up. It COMPLETELY changes the sensation by allowing you to use that exhale to “catch” the toe from falling into the floor and PREVENT the spine from arching.
💡 When you flatten your low back into the earth rather than maintaining a neutral spine, you’re using the curvature of your spine rather than your lower abdominals in the exercise.

#Matpilates #abs taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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6 days ago

Mat Pilates started with bodyweight only - as did I. It took me years before I even considered adding a prop. It’s not because I didn’t believe in the power of resistance (shoutout @bala for making the ONLY wearable weights I will ever use). I just genuinely got enough work using just my body on the earth.

For anyone still nursing an emotional support ab roller — you’re missing 2 life-changing things:

1️⃣ PROPER FORM. Throw out your crunches. I want to see rotation (twisting), stabilization (planking), and lateral flexion (side bend) — all while maintaining a neutral spine. These are the ONLY core movements you need to lengthen and tone the entire transverse abdominis (TVA).

2️⃣ THE BREATH. Try this at home: take a sharp breath out of your mouth…like realllly push the air out of your lungs. You will feel your rectus abdominis (“6-pack” muscles) light up. Exhale engages core and pelvic floor, and lengthening movements will help you tap into deeper layers of your TVA.
💡⬆️ During class, keep that engagement between the belly button and pelvis and breathe ABOVE the belly button (laterally). And that’s how you make any exercise a core exercise 🎤⬇️ it’s called 2-for-1 yezzir

#matpilates #abs #pilates taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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8 days ago

**thoughts as I reflect on posting the first ever reel of me talking into a camera that made me want to fall through the earth earlier this week**

The people you surround yourself with are as important as the voices you allow to bounce around your mind. Been thinking a lot about a @kellykpoole quote - “you are not your first thought, but you are your second.” We get to choose what we breathe life into within our minds.

Yes, you have to be your own hype woman but there’s nothing wrong with having somebody else see that you have a little more to give than you may think.

Also the ruthless woman behind the camera is @caraleighfit and if you are a woman in need of transforming your body and relationship to food - she’s your girl. Promise her shit works.

#pilates #strengthtraining taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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10 days ago

Core work does not require hours, nor does it require a million reps or even a bead of sweat. You really only need 5-10 minutes of very dedicated, intentional sequences with PROPER FORM + BREATH connection. The most beautiful part of Pilates is that you can literally make any exercise a core exercise JUST by adding an intentional exhale.

When I’m really working every facet of my core, I’m feeling this DEEP INNER HEAT emulating from within. The sensation isn’t on my skin.

To be clear, I teach (and adore taking) heated mat Pilates - a schvitz feels so dang good - all I’m saying is the sweat isn’t an indication of the work you’ve put in, nor is it doing anything to chisel your abs.

#matpilates #abs taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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12 days ago

PILATES VS STRENGTH TRAINING??

My POV - it’s AND, not VS.

Yes, I was peer pressured into starting to lift but it was out of love and NO I don’t regret it and won’t give it up.

The same way mat Pilates completely transformed my body when I found it 9 years ago, strength training has done the same since I started in April.

THE BIGGEST IMPACT strength training had on me as a Pilates teacher ➡️ I learned wtf progressive overload means and how to apply it in my programming.
- I THOUGHT I knew what it meant, but what I was conflating it with was PROGRESSION.
- I figured out that this was why I felt like I was plateauing in Pilates, so then I started adding the RIGHT stimuli to achieve a change (a less stable prop, a heavier weight, longer time under tension).
- This has completely changed how I approach programming my own mat classes. My classes are now harder than ever not only because of more intelligent sequencing but also because my body is stronger and is always begging for more.

If you’re only doing Pilates, you’re doing something wrong. I’ve died on the hill.

#matpilates #strengthtraining taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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13 days ago

What started as an Instagram DM has officially turned into something real. Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate the launch of At Our Core! We’re so excited to bring this vision to life and can’t wait for everything that’s ahead. Our website and retreat ARE LIVE!

Missed it? Comment “CORE” to join our newsletter and stay up to date on upcoming retreats, local events, and more! 🦋 taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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14 days ago

This is everything I’d do if I didn’t feel like going vertical but wanted to awaken my GLUTE, QUAD, HAMSTRING, and OBLIQUE.

You don’t buy that the lower extremities are tied to the core? The missing link is the BREATH. While you are exhaling as the leg moves away from the midline, you are engaging that oblique to support that movement of the leg AND engaging the BONUS pelvic floor.

💡TIP: Stay in a neutral spine throughout this sequence (no tuck no arch) and you’ll hit the TVA too. ALL without going vertical? Cmon man.

#matpilates #athomeworkout #glutes #abs taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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14 days ago

No notes. These are my favorite side plank-inspired oblique movements, culminating in a mat Pilates classic - THE TWIST. Lo and behold, I’m not at a gym nor am I using a dumbbell WOWWWWW

Gnarly on the obliques, adductors, traps, lats…mind? soul?

My only request is that you keep pushing the earth away with that bottom supporting arm - think like you’re broadening your wingspan. If your shoulder blade is hurting, you’re sinking into that arm.

#matpilates #core #athomeworkout taken in Denver, Colorado by @gabzusin

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17 days ago