Cable Wood Chopper

What you'll gain

• Builds rotational power through the obliques and trunk.

• Trains the core to transfer force between hips and shoulders.

• Carries directly into golf, tennis, throwing, and striking sports.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Anchor the cable at the highest pulley setting and grip the handle with both hands above one shoulder.

2. 2

   Step out into a wide, athletic stance with feet planted and your knees softly bent.

3. 3

   Brace your core, then pull the handle down and across your body toward the opposite hip.

4. 4

   Drive the rotation with your trunk, letting your back foot pivot naturally as your hips turn.

5. 5

   Pause for a beat at the bottom with arms straight and core locked, feeling the obliques under load.

6. 6

   Return the handle slowly back to the start position above your shoulder, then repeat for reps.

Common Mistakes

• Pulling with the arms instead of rotating through the trunk, which removes the obliques from the lift.

• Letting the hips stay locked so all the motion happens at the lower back, risking strain.

• Using too much weight and yanking the cable, which trades clean rotation for momentum.

• Standing too close to the stack so the cable loses tension at the top of every rep.

About This Exercise

The cable wood chopper is the go-to rotational core exercise. With the cable anchored high and the handle pulled down across the body, the obliques generate the rotation while the rest of the trunk stays braced. It mirrors the swing, throw, and chop patterns athletes use in real sports. For any app or platform with an athletic-prep, golf, tennis, or combat-sport audience, this clip is a must. It also fits cleanly into rotational core blocks inside general strength programs and into mobility-meets-strength tracks where users are trying to wake up the trunk. Easy to teach, hard to fake — a clean 3D angle helps both.

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