My obsession with core work dates back to 6th grade. My parents would watch TV in the living room and I would sit, fit placed under the couch, knees bent with my hands placed gently behind my ears, knocking out crunches. To this day I can not explain why I did that at age 11 (and then never stopped). As a competitive swimmer who had just started performing arts school, I pretty much lived in a one-piece swim suit or dance leotard until high school graduation (nerd alert!) so I surely was not showcasing my hard earned abs. Something inside of little Bethann just knew this exercise regimen would somehow be a small part of my whole life so I’d better start perfecting it now.
I taught core classes at my college (Go Lumberjacks!) and at that point was not shy about showcasing my abs at all. If you knew me then, you maybe thought it was overkill since we lived in the mountains and it often was 40 degrees and snowy, but you have to forgive me. I had never been ‘hot’ before and was totally relishing finally going through puberty (small boobs sprouted!) by wearing a cropped top to the local bar when it was much more common to wear Tevas and Patagonia after a ‘casual’ hike up Mt. Humphreys. As you may have expected, I didn’t make a TON of lifelong friends in that town (except for one girl from Durango that loved me for the weirdo I was/am!) but my lack of a social life gave me ample time to program various fitness classes and fashion loads of sorority t-shirts into, you guessed it, crop tops.
The whole point though is, my core guides are live!!!
College Bethann in the turquoise top. Special shoutout to my cringy black hair that I did in my dorm room. The girl from Durango (Stephanie) is the last on the right.
It’s been years (fine, decades) since 6th grade and I am still a huge fan of core work, but now and a certified personal trainer, nutritionist, have had 2 kids and the slowed metabolism of a woman in her late 30’s so my core workouts have become so much more effective.
I’ve made 2 guides for you. The first is Core Work is a quick but effective 10 min workout designed to get your heart rate pumping and your core muscles engaged. You need minimal equipment, just a small medicine ball if you have one, but you can do it without one if needed.This is an advanced workout, but I give you plenty of modifications so you can do it no matter where you are in your fitness journey.
Then there’s my Plank Series which is a challenge I want you to join me on! It’s called Plank series because we go core torching through movements like plank hip dips and plank knee taps, but we will also turn things around and do strengthening movements like V-ups on our backs. All of these movements are incredibly efficient and produce results which is why I made it a challenge because I’ve done these exercises with people like you (maybe it IS you!) for almost 20 years, I know if you keep it up, you will look and feel your best! It can take 4-6 weeks to see results, but once you do, I promise you will want to stick with this!
