Cable Woodchop
Trains the Abs and Obliques.
- Equipment
- Cable
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set a cable pulley to its highest position and attach a single handle or rope.
- Stand side-on to the machine, feet a little wider than shoulder-width, and take the handle in both hands.
- Step away until there is tension, with your arms extended up and across toward the pulley.
- Keeping your arms fairly straight, pull the handle down and across your body toward the opposite hip, rotating your torso as you go.
- Let your back foot pivot so the hips can follow the rotation rather than fighting it.
- Return under control along the same diagonal, letting the torso rotate back toward the machine. Complete the set, then turn around and do the other side.
Common mistakes
- Pulling with the arms only. The chop is a rotation of the trunk; the arms just hold the handle out where the rotation can act on it.
- Keeping the hips locked. Letting the back foot pivot lets the hips rotate with the torso, which is how the movement happens outside a gym. Blocking the hips forces all the rotation into the spine.
- Loading it heavily enough that the return is uncontrolled. The cable will pull you back around if you let it, and resisting that rotation is half the value.
- Doing one side only. Rotational work needs both directions and roughly equal volume.