Ask Jennifer Aniston how she trains her core and she’ll point you to Pvolve. The 56-year-old has been a fan of the low-impact training method for five years – and its approach to ab work might surprise you. When we asked Jen’s trainer and Pvolve’s VP of Training Dani Coleman how they target the area, she explained they never ‘train abs in isolation’.
Instead, they ‘focus on full-body, functional strength where the core is engaged in every movement’. ‘Most people think that training the core means a million crunches,’ she explains. ‘While Jen and I do incorporate traditional core exercises like crunches in our sessions together, the foundation of our approach is dynamic, multi-joint movement – squats, hinges, planks, single-leg stability work, and rotational patterns.
‘This yields a strength that extends beyond aesthetics. It improves movement quality, injury resilience, and a body that not only looks strong but also feels strong, supporting her everyday life.’
Pvolve
The key is that your core isn’t trained for a few minutes at the end of a workout (ab finishers, anyone?), it works from start to finish. ‘By performing functional exercises that combine resistance training with stability and mobility, like woodchops, single-leg deadlifts and planks – with her core engaged throughout – Jen builds deep core strength, rather than just the surface ab muscles you see,’ Dani says.
The payoff is a core that will strengthen your posture, support your lower back and aid functional movement – not just aesthetics. All of which is particularly important for women in midlife and beyond, with research showing core strength and stability are essential for maintaining balance and posture to prevent falls as you age. A separate study on postmenopausal women aged 40-60 even found that core exercises reduced lower back pain and improved quality of life and muscular strength more than standard physical therapy, like physio.
Pvolve
For Jen, Dani revealed that her results come from a sustainable ‘three to four training sessions a week, for around 40 to 60 minutes, depending on her schedule, and adjusted based on how Jen’s body feels’. Her goal right now is ‘longevity, strength and moving well’, she explains, ‘The [visible] abs are simply a byproduct of taking care of your body over time’.
Pvolve
Indeed, when we asked Jen what has made the biggest difference to her body, she says it’s about playing the long game – not chasing easy wins: ‘What sets Pvolve apart is the results. I’ve built real strength in my arms and core, improved my mobility, and feel more stable and capable in my everyday life. It’s not about quick fixes – it’s about seeing and feeling progress that lasts.’
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As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism. She secured her first role at Look Magazine, where her obsession with fitness began and she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!. Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red.Now, she oversees all fitness content across womenshealthmag.com.uk and the print magazine, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, where we showcase the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise. She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how.Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.