What Are Cable Woodchops? Tips, Technique, Correct Form, Benefits and Common Mistakes

Cable woodchops are an exercise to strengthen the core muscles and focus on working the obliques. The overall movement is a good way to end any workout, even if it’s a full day body workout.

You’ll need access to a cable pulley machine to do this exercise. Usually, every gym comes equipped with this machine, and you shouldn’t have to struggle to make cable woodchops a part of your routine.

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Correct Form of Doing Cable Woodchops

You need to adjust the cable anchor to the top, and attach the D-bar grip to it. When you pick the weight, pick one that provides moderate resistance.

Hold the bar with both hands, and position yourself near the cable. Your spine should be neutral, knees slightly bent and toes pointing towards the front.

To exercise, drag the bar across your body in a woddchopping motion till it crosses both your thighs. Ensure to turn only your torso while doing this movement while keeping your arms extended throughout.

At the top of the motion, hold the position for a second before releasing the weight and returning to the starting position. Do at least 25 reps per side for three or four sets.

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Tips to Do Cable Woodchops Better

When you’re doing this exercise, keep your core engaged. The idea is to pull the weight with your abdominal muscles and obliques and not your hand or upper body.

Your arms should just hold the grip. The entire movement should be done with the core muscles, which is the objective of this exercise.

Control your breathing when you’re doing this exercise. Your breathing and core engagement are important, as these two elements will help you build your core strength and help improve flexibility and stability.

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Benefits of Doing Cable Woodchops

It’s important to know the benefits of an exercise to understand if you should include it in your workout routine. Some benefits of the cable woodchops are:

Compound movement

One of the reasons cable woodchops are considered a full-body exercise is because it focuses on engaging the obliques, abdominal muscles, legs, shoulders and back.

It also focuses on working on the muscles around the waist, which helps twist the torso from the waist.

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Functional movement

There are several daily movements that require us to twist from the waist. Cable woodchops are designed such that you to work on the muscles that help you with daily activities, such as placing something on the floor or grabbing something from the cupboard.

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Common Mistakes During Cable Woodchops

There are a few common mistakes in this exercise you must be aware of before adding it to your routine:

Too much weight

The muscles worked during this exercise aren’t as strong as biceps or triceps, at least not at the beginning.

You need to focus on choosing a moderate weight that provides moderate resistance when you twist from the waist. Obliques can work with resistance, but you need to focus on intensity over volume for this exercise.

Locking your knees

You always need to keep a slight bend in your knees. As mentioned earlier, the exercise engages the legs as well, so if you lock your knees, it’ll become difficult for the knee joint to rotate efficiently (even if it’s slightly) during the exercise.

It’s better to leave your knees bent, so that the joint rotates properly during the exercise.