A core video
The main deep core work for the day.
A 4-phase deep core program
The Deep Core Method.
For the woman who skips the ab section of class. A step-by-step, Pilates-inspired program to help you find your deep abs and build the strongest, most connected core you've ever had, so you can finally get back to all the workouts you love!
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// Does this sound familiar?
When you're doing the work
and the dome is still there.
You've been so consistent. Pilates classes, home workouts, planks held until your arms shake (and probably an ab routine or two you're now a bit suspicious of).
And yet the moment you lift your head for the Pilates 100s, a little ridge pops up down the middle of your belly, like a tiny mohawk. Or halfway through the series of five, the centre of your stomach sinks into a soft dip instead of staying flat.
Maybe you feel your ab work everywhere except your abs. Your neck is straining, the front of your hips pinches in leg lifts, and your lower back is the first thing to complain after class.
Then there's the pooch below your belly button that stays put no matter how well you eat, however much weight you lose and however many planks you do. You reach for the looser top and pull your stomach in for photos.
So you modify the Pilates 100s, skip the roll-up, and quietly sit out the ab section while everyone around you seems to sail through it.
Maybe you've tried two or three other programs, or done everything you were told, and nothing has really shifted. Some days it even feels worse.
What's usually missing is someone showing you how to get your whole core sharing the load, so your midsection finally has the support it needs.
That's exactly what I teach inside The Deep Core Method.
// My story
I'm a Pilates instructor
and even I have been there.
I'm Emma Bromley, a BASI-certified Pilates instructor and Corrective Exercise Specialist, and I've been teaching for over 15 years.
Almost a decade ago, I still had a 5cm separation two years after I gave birth. I could fit my whole fist in the gap! Everything I did, my stomach domed down the middle. And I was supposed to be the expert!
I sought out some highly experienced Pilates mentors who told me "you just need to do more ab exercises". Except the more I did that, the more my gap seemed to be getting WIDER!
And it wasn't only about how it looked. Lifting my daughter into her car seat made my whole middle feel unstable, it made my back ache, and most workouts left me feeling worse than when I started.
My doctor looked at it and said, "The only way to fix that is surgery. Some women just don't bounce back." I refused to believe that could be true.
The turning point came during an advanced training, when I learned how the deep core, the breath, the ribs and the deepest muscles at the base of the pelvis work together to manage pressure, and how much the way you load the tissue matters.
So I changed how I practiced and taught, from the breath out.
It took me a lot of trial and error to work out what actually made a difference. In the end, my gap was back in the normal range: 1cm at my belly button, and nothing above or below it. Gone without a trace! The Deep Core Method is everything I figured out along the way, in the order that works, so you're not left guessing like I was.
Today I do full planks, heavy deadlifts and hard core work without doming, and I can now carry my 11-year-old daughter into her own bed when she falls asleep in mine, without pulling my back out.
Since then, I've taught what I learned to so many women in the same boat, and you'll hear from some of them below. The Deep Core Method takes that work even deeper.
I figured it out,
so you don't have to.
// How your deep core works
Think of your core
like a can of soda.
Your breathing muscle is the lid, the muscles at the base of your pelvis are the bottom, and your deepest ab muscle wraps all the way around your middle like the sides of the can. A sealed can is so strong you could stand on it, because everything works together to hold the pressure in.
Your deep core does the same job for your whole middle. When every part switches on together, your back doesn't have to do all the holding, and your belly stays flat and firm as you move.
When one part isn't doing its share, the pressure looks for the easiest way out. Usually that's straight up through the middle of your stomach, which is the ridge you see in the Pilates 100s. The muscles along your lower back and the front of your hips grab on to hold you steady instead. And with that deep belt gone slack, your belly has nothing holding it in from the inside.
Four things make
the biggest difference.
Your deepest abdominal muscle
The transverse abdominis. When it switches on, it pulls the midline taut and reduces sinking and bulging. My students, including Pilates instructors and personal trainers, often tell me nobody had shown them how to access it.
Your breath and your ribs
Flared ribs and belly breathing keep pressure pushing forward onto the midline. Learning to breathe into your back and sides, and to bring your ribs down, takes stress off it.
Your pelvis and posture
How you stand, sit, lift and carry all day either supports the midline or keeps loading it.
The right challenge at the right time
Connective tissue responds to load. Too little and nothing changes. Too much pressure, too soon, and you dome. The skill is building challenge step by step while keeping that tension.
Your rectus muscles also help pull the gap closer when they contract, but the key is doing it in a way your midline can handle, and progressing from there.
Real change in your core takes longer than a few weeks. That's why so many women give up too early, and why women many years out can still see progress.
// If you've already tried other programs
Then you're in
exactly the right place.
I built The Deep Core Method for the woman who's done the classes, bought the programs, done her homework (often more faithfully than anyone else in the room) and still can't feel her deep core switch on.
You can do leg slides and bird dogs until you're blue in the face, but doing the exercises and UNDERSTANDING the exercises are two totally different things. So many of the women I've taught over the years have been blown away when it finally makes sense!
// My Lightbulb Cues
Done them a hundred times.
Never like THIS.
Some of the exercises inside you might have done before. But my students tell me over and over that they've done them a hundred times but never done them like THIS. That's what I call my Lightbulb Cues: the small, specific words that change where you breathe, what you feel and what switches on, so an exercise you thought you knew well finally starts to be crazy effective.
I've taken everything I've learned from teaching over 6,100 women, and turned it into one step-by-step plan for your deep core.
// Testimonials
Student wins.
These are messages from women I've taught. Many of them had already tried other programs first.
// Core results
// Finally, real progress
// From the professionals
// What else changed
// From my other programs
These messages are from women who did my earlier programs, such as The Mama Method and Strong Mama.
These are real messages from women I taught before The Deep Core Method launched, including in my other programs. Individual results vary.
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// Here's exactly what you get
Inside The Deep Core Method.
A Start Here module to set you up, then four phases of seven days each. At the end of every phase there's a simple check, so you'll always know whether you're ready to move on or would benefit from another round. Repeat any phase as many times as you need.
A support video
Full-body strength, mobility and real-life movement.
A Lightbulb Cues video
A short teaching video where I explain the why behind what you're doing.
Most days have three short videos. Plan on 20 to 35 minutes a day, 5 to 6 days a week.
00Start here
Your midline, your plan.
Before you do a single exercise, I'll set you up with everything you need to know.
// You'll get
- How your deep core actually works, in plain English
- The difference between the width and the depth of a gap
- Answers to the questions everyone has before they start
01Phase 1 · 7 days
Foundation. Lay the groundwork.
Find your deep core and take the pressure off your midline.
// In this phase
- Feel your deep core switch on (many women tell me it's the first time in years)
- Give your midline the support it's been missing
- Calm down the muscles that have been working overtime to hold you together
- Small daily changes that protect your midline all day long
02Phase 2 · 7 days
Activation. Wake it up.
Keep that connection while your arms and legs move.
// In this phase
- Build strength while your midline stays supported
- Learn what your body is telling you, and when to ease back
- Start feeling confident in movements you've been avoiding
03Phase 3 · 7 days
Integration. Take it to real life.
Put your deep core to work off the mat.
// In this phase
- Bring your deep core into everyday lifting, carrying and bending
- Build the kind of strength real life actually asks for
- Feel steady in the moments that used to make you feel unstable
04Phase 4 · 7 days
Strength. Earn the hard stuff.
Add load and get back to the workouts you love.
// In this phase
- Build real strength, step by step
- Bring twisting and rotation back in, once your midline is ready for it
- Get back to the workouts you love, Pilates included
- Feel how far you've come
- A routine to keep your core strong for life
// Also included
Troubleshooting built in
For the most common sticking points: can't feel your deep core, upper abs taking over, doming during an exercise, and progress that's stalled.
Lifetime access
On phone, tablet or computer.
Home workouts
Building gradually from a mat, towels and a resistance band (full list in the questions below).
90 videos in total: 10 Start Here videos plus 80 across the four phases.
// What changes
A middle you can
actually trust.
When your deep core is doing its job, so many little moments get easier. Everything in The Deep Core Method is designed to help you:
- Wear the fitted top and stop pulling your stomach in for photos
- Join in with every exercise in class, instead of quietly skipping the ab section
- Get through the Pilates 100s with your belly staying flat and firm
- Lift the laundry basket, the suitcase or your child without bracing or holding your breath
- Feel your ab work in your abs, so your back can finally relax
- Lift heavier, because your core can hold you steady
- Stand taller without thinking about it
So you can stop planning your life around your middle.
// Read this before you join
Is this for you?
// The Deep Core Method is for you if
- You feel your ab work in your back, neck or hips
- You've got a pooch below your belly button that won't budge, however well you eat
- Your stomach domes, cones or ridges during core work
- You modify half your Pilates class because of what you see
- Your core feels unstable when you lift, carry or get off the floor
- You've tried other programs or "just do more core" and nothing has really changed
- You want to understand why your body does this, as well as what to do about it
- You know hard things take time, and you're ready to actually do the reps
// It's probably not the right fit if
- You want a quick fix. Real change takes time, and this program respects that.
- You want to skip the foundation and go straight to hard exercises
- You expect your first week to feel perfect
- You're currently pregnant
- You can't get up and down from the floor, since it's mat based
// Start today
The Deep Core Method.
Here's everything you get
- Start Here module (10 videos) to set you up
- 4 phases, 80 daily videos: core work plus full-body strength and mobility
- A short Lightbulb Cues teaching video almost every day, so you understand the why
- A check at the end of every phase, so you know when to move on
- Built-in troubleshooting
- Lifetime access, so you can repeat any phase as often as you need
Doors open soon.
Join the waitlist →
Join the waitlist and you'll be the first to know when doors open.
// Your investment is protected
Try it for 30 days, risk-free.
The Deep Core Method is a one-time payment, with no subscription, and you can come back to it as many times as you need.
Work through the first two phases at your own pace. If it isn't right for you, email support@thebromleymethod.com within 30 days of purchase and I'll refund your investment. Simple as that.
I'm offering this because I'm that confident it's unlike anything you've tried before.
// Your questions
Questions.
How long will it take?
Everyone starts in a different place, so I won't give you a number. Each phase is seven days, and you repeat a phase until you've passed its check. Steady practice over months matters more than any single week.
Is there any support?
The program is self-paced, with a short teaching video almost every day so you always know why you're doing what you're doing. If you'd love more support, you'll have the option to join my group coaching after you buy.
What if I make it worse?
Every phase starts gently and only adds challenge once your core can hold it. You'll learn what a firm dome looks and feels like, when to ease back and what to do instead. Crunches and twisting only come in once you've passed the earlier checks, and the check at the end of each phase tells you whether to move on or repeat.
I'm years past having children. Is it too late?
Not at all. The women I've taught range from their 20s to their 80s, and some started 18 years after their last baby. Your deep core can learn to switch on at any age.
I've never been pregnant. Is this for me?
Yes. This is for anyone whose deep core isn't doing its job, whatever the reason. Heavy lifting, weight changes, posture and years of straining can all play a part.
How do I know if this is for me?
If a ridge or dip shows up down your middle during ab work, you feel your core work in your back, or you've got a pooch that won't budge however hard you train, this program was made for you. In the Start Here module I explain how your deep core works, and the difference between the width and the depth of a gap.
Can I still do planks and crunches?
Yes, in time. They're built into the later phases, once you can keep tension through your midline without a firm dome.
I can already hold a plank. Do I need Phase 1?
Yes. Holding a plank and holding your middle steady through every move are different skills. Phase 1 is what makes every later exercise work for your core.
Can I do this while pregnant?
This program was not designed for use during pregnancy. Please talk to your healthcare provider about exercise during pregnancy.
I don't have much time.
Most days take 20 to 35 minutes, with minimal equipment you probably already have at home. It's designed to fit around a busy schedule.
What equipment do I need?
Equipment isn't included with the program, and you may already have most of it at home. To start: a mat, two towels, a small soft ball or yoga block, a few balloons, a long resistance band with a door anchor, and a wall. From Phase 2 you'll add a foam roller, a tennis ball, a mini band and a sturdy chair, and from Phase 3 one light and one moderate dumbbell or kettlebell.
// A note from Emma
If you've been doing the work and your gap still hasn't changed, I'd love to teach you this the way I wish someone had taught me.
Emma
P.S. I spent two years doing more core work and watching my gap get wider. What changed everything was learning how to breathe, load and progress in a way my midline could handle. Those lessons became my Lightbulb Cues, and every video in The Deep Core Method is built on them.