We are one week into our 9-week HARDCORE challenge, and our BAC members are rocking it! Full body workouts, five-minute focused core connections, and short core workout add-ons, and y’all are feeling it!

Here’s what members are saying so far: 

“I’ve done many planks in my life, but not until Amy did I understand how to fully engage. Plank singles were new for me when I joined the BAC and I love how tough they are! Now with Amy’s cues, holding a plank is much more challenging! Thank you, Amy!!” – Mary, BAC Member

“I am absolutely amazed at how much I felt those last lifting the body up with the core!! Was so great to feel my core working again! “  – Amy, BAC Member 

“This workout flew by and I feel great! I really felt my core turn on during these full body moves and I paid extra close attention to making sure I was stabilizing and not overcorrecting as I have a habit of doing. Really excited for this challenge!”  Heather, BAC Member

As I shared with you a few weeks ago, I love training ab muscles and have always made it a focus of my workouts. My core training has evolved over the twenty years I’ve worked as a trainer and in my journey from my twenties to my forties. I adjusted as I went through Pilates training, then certainly during my pregnancies and postpartum journeys, as I navigated C-section recovery and abdominal separation, and most recently, as I have experienced changes due to perimenopause and age. 

As I’ve gone through these first few years of my fourth decade, my body has felt and worked differently, especially in how it responds to exercise. I especially feel and notice this in my midsection. While I still feel strong and mobile, I have shifted my training again for this new season. I’m sharing my approach for myself and how it informs how I’m programming workouts for all of you below. 

1. I focus on stability and strength over aesthetics.

In my twenties, I taught 30-minute classes full of crunches and leg raises and really made that upper ab “burn” the goal. I definitely had a goal of a six-pack and tailored my own workouts and classes to “sculpting” those outward abs. But in my forties, I’ve shifted my focus from aesthetics to stability. A strong core isn’t just about visible abs; it’s about building a foundation for strength and mobility. 

Now, I prioritize exercises that promote stability and functional strength, like planks, dead bugs, and carries. These exercises engage the deeper core muscles and help improve balance and posture—essential for lifting heavy and going hard in our workouts, preventing injuries, and feeling good as we age. 

2. I’ve increased my mobility training.

For many of my younger years, flexibility and mobility weren’t a big part of my own training routine. I stressed the importance to my training clients but didn’t take minutes out of my precious cardio and strength workout time to work on either. Now I know that tightness and tension in my spine and hips can not only lead to poor posture, back pain, and limited movement, but it inhibits the way we engage our core during workouts. To combat this, I’ve incorporated more mobility work into my core routine, especially for my hips and lower back. This is why our weekly calendars include an active recovery workout, and workouts include “sneaky mobility” like down dogs to planks, cat-cow to knee hovers, and child’s pose. 

When we are more mobile, we can move and feel better and truly engage all our core muscles together for increased strength and function.

3. I prioritize quality over quantity. 

Yes, you’ve heard this from me before about core and really all workouts: Intention and specificity trump duration and intensity. This applies to all of us, not just those in our forties and beyond. 

My days of doing hundreds of crunches or holding planks as long as possible are over; now, I focus on deep engagement, strong movement patterns, increased range of motion, and a strong core throughout all exercises, not just the ones designed for abs. 

This also applies to speed! Our abdominal muscles are made up of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers, meaning they respond to different types of training. Sometimes, this means going for high volume with low reps, and sometimes, that’s lower volume for high reps. But rushing through your core moves or aiming to get as many repetitions as possible often results in less engagement, compromising form, or worse, risking injury. Taking time to activate our core as a unit and going through our motions with intention and patience leads to stronger, healthier core muscles. 

4. I’m prioritizing nutrition in the right ways. 

Are abs really made in the kitchen? You can check out Vivian’s recent blog HERE and social post HERE to find out.  The short version: Nutrition is a big part of working your core, and I’m recognizing this even more in my forties, but maybe not in the way you think. In my twenties, I focused on a “Calories in, calories out” approach, often not eating enough for the amount of activity I was doing and not thinking about macronutrients or what I was eating, just how much. These days, I only count protein and fiber, which I’m always trying to get more of through animal and plant-based sources, and upping my fruits and vegetables. This is essential to muscle development, strength, and a healthy digestive system. 

5. I’m listening to my body and prioritizing rest. 

Perhaps the most significant change I’ve made is learning to listen to my body. In my twenties and thirties, I often pushed through discomfort or ignored warning signs of strain. Now, I’m more in tune with what my body tells me. If I feel a twinge in my lower back or strain in my hips, I’ll adjust my movements or take a break.

You may have heard me say it before, but rest is part of the process. Whether I was training for something specific or my work schedule included multiple days in a row of classes, I spent many years without enough recovery or specific rest days. Now, I take full days off when I can and prioritize my active recovery and mobility days for my muscles to repair and rest.

These small steps, along with full-body strength training, are changing the way I think about and train my core and how I program the workouts I do for you, both in the BAC and on YouTube. Reframing my mindset around exercise, in general, has changed how I feel and really helped me focus on my core training. 

There’s still time to join our 9-week HARDCORE challenge. Check it out HERE!