Training guide
A cable woodchopper, or wood chop, is a diagonal pull across your body: side-on to a cable with the pulley high, you pull the handle down and across to the outside of your far hip, turning your chest, stomach and hips together, then return slowly. The low-to-high version is the cable lift. Learn the Pallof press first, start light, and do 2 sets of 8 each side.
Chops train your trunk to turn under control. Nobody has measured exactly which muscles they work hardest, and they aren't a back pain cure or a love-handle burner, but twisting isn't bad for your back as a rule: the care is with fast, heavy, repeated twisting while you're bent over.
This guide shows the chop and the lift on the 3D figure, the order to learn them, kneeling, band and dumbbell versions, your lower back, sport, and how many to do.
Stand side-on to a cable with the pulley high, feet wider than your shoulders, both hands on one handle and your arms long towards it. Pull the handle down and across your body to the outside of your far hip, turning your chest, stomach and hips together and pivoting your back foot, then return slowly along the same path. The low-to-high version is the cable lift.
We found no study of how hard a wood chop works any muscle; the only chop study with muscle recordings looked at the order muscles switch on. From twisting studies, the outer stomach muscle (external oblique) on one side works with the inner one (internal oblique) and the lat on the other to turn you, and the whole trunk braces as you twist. Your hips and legs turn and shift your weight.
Each joint of the lower back turned only 1.2 to 1.7 degrees in a 45-degree trunk turn, in 10 people scanned by MRI, so most of the turn comes from your hips and upper back. ACE's cue is to "move the chest and stomach together".
Twisting at work was a weak, inconsistent risk factor for back pain in 861 workers, reviews judge it unlikely to cause back pain on its own, and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy says "Don't fear twisting and bending". The care is with twisting combined with repeated bending under load. Turn tall, smooth and light, and add range, then speed, then load.
Resist a twist first (the Pallof press), then press and turn, then the cable lift and the chop: the order coaching bodies use. Kneeling or half-kneeling before standing takes your legs out of it while you learn.
Start at 2 sets of 8 each side (our workouts) and build to 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 each side, light and controlled, 2 or 3 times a week: our editorial starting point, within the 8 to 15 controlled reps the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) suggests. Fast power chops come only once controlled chops are easy.
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The chop pulls from high beside one shoulder down to the outside of the opposite hip; the lift pulls from low beside one knee up to above the opposite shoulder. ACE rates both standing versions advanced, and teaches the medicine ball wood chop in three stages: arms only, with the head, chest and hips facing forwards; then adding the hips and a slight squat; then the full chop with the back foot pivoting.
The chop and lift are the upper-body diagonal patterns of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), a physiotherapy method. Physiotherapists use them kneeling and half-kneeling to assess and train trunk control.
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Your arms stay long and mostly steer. The turn comes from your hips (the back foot pivots) and your upper back, with the lower back turning only a degree or two at each joint. The external oblique on one side works with the internal oblique and latissimus dorsi on the other to turn the trunk, and the whole trunk co-contracts to brace; your legs shift your weight from one foot to the other.
In 18 young male golfers and tennis players, the order muscles switched on in a cable chop matched the golf swing's order only weakly (a correlation of 0.16), no better than a medicine ball throw or a rotation machine. The authors found "no demonstrable advantage to any one exercise". Nobody has measured how hard a chop works the obliques, abdominals, back or glutes.
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In 50 young adults twisting on a seated machine, the external oblique on the far side with the internal oblique and lat on the near side started and kept the turn going. In 25 adults twisting as hard as they could, the obliques reached about half their maximum with heavy bracing from the whole trunk: the researchers concluded that holding the joints steady matters more than producing turning force. Turning within about 10 to 15 degrees either side took little muscle effort.
Our move pages ask for standing trunk rotations and the Pallof press first. NASM puts chops and lifts after at least four weeks of holding-still work such as planks, side planks and Pallof presses.
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Women produced about two-thirds of men's twisting force in one lab study, and turning range and strength vary a lot. If your back dislikes twisting, the Pallof press may suit you better for a while.
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From our move page, ACE and our cable machine guide, in our editorial wording. ACE's rotational chop sets the pulley at shoulder height; either works. In a gym, any cable tower with an adjustable pulley will do.
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The movement on the figure: Cable wood chop
Our move page's steps. The chop and the lift train the same turn in opposite diagonals. Our cable machine guide learns the lift first, then the chop, and so do we (editorial).
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The movement on the figure: Standing cable lift
Half-kneeling Pallof presses, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 10 each side with a 2-second hold (our Pallof press guide); standing Pallof presses, 2 sets of 10 each side (our gym ab workout); the press and turn, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 10 each side, light and slow (our back pain when twisting guide); cable lifts, 2 sets of 8 each side (our cable machine guide); cable wood chops, 2 sets of 8 each side (our boxers' and snowboarders' workouts); then faster turns with a longer lever, landmine 180s, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 each side, stopping with 2 or 3 reps in reserve (the move page's dose).
3D demoHalf-kneeling Pallof pressBeginner · A band + An anchor point
3D demoPallof pressIntermediate · A cable machine
3D demoCable press and rotationIntermediate · A cable machine
3D demoStanding cable liftAdvanced · A cable machine
3D demoCable wood chopAdvanced · A cable machine
3D demoLandmine 180 (landmine rotation)Intermediate · A barbell + An anchor pointThe NSCA's sample progression goes from the Pallof press series to kneeling chops and lifts, then split-stance chops and lifts, then medicine ball diagonal throws. ACE rates the half-kneeling medicine ball lift (its hay baler) beginner, the kneeling cable version intermediate and the standing chop and lift advanced. Physiotherapists call half-kneeling and tall-kneeling "transitional postures".
Kneel on the inside knee for the lift and the outside knee for the chop, as coaching sources do. There's no 3D demo of the kneeling versions: the standing demos show the pattern.
In an unreviewed 2026 study of 22 active men, half-kneeling made the upper trunk wobble more than seated, kneeling or standing chops at the same relative load. So kneeling makes the chop lower and slower, not necessarily easier: start light whichever position you use.
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We found no study comparing the chop and the lift for muscle work or results. Studies have only compared them as tests: the horizontal cable woodchop was a more reliable strength test than the low-to-high one in 51 students, and chop and lift power were both reliable in 18 adults.
ACE's three stages fit inside each step of the ladder: arms only, then add the hips, then the full turn with the back foot pivoting.
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Anchor a band high in a door or round a post for the chop, and low for the lift; stepping further away makes it harder. Bands built strength like weights and machines in 7 small trials (arms and legs, not the trunk). A standing band twist worked the trunk as hard as a seated twist machine for the same effort, with more back muscle work (50% against 32% of maximum) and less external oblique (54% against 77%), and 76% of 17 untrained men preferred it.
Hold one dumbbell or a medicine ball in both hands and chop from above one shoulder to outside the opposite knee, with a slight squat, as ACE's standing wood chop does. Gravity loads it, so it's hardest when the weight is furthest from you, not across the whole diagonal as with a cable (our reading).
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Band, dumbbell, medicine ball and kneeling chops have no 3D demo: follow the cable steps above. The standing spiral reach in the moves below shows the same diagonal with no weight at all.
In 861 workers followed for 3 years, turning the trunk 30 degrees or more for over 10% of the working day carried a risk ratio of 1.3 (0.9 to 1.9) for back pain: a weak link that might be chance. Reviews judge occupational bending or twisting "unlikely to be independently causative" of back pain, find no consensus on what causes it across 41 reviews, and found strong evidence that sport and exercise in leisure time aren't linked with it.
In pig spines, twisting combined with repeated bending under load damaged the discs (67.5% of specimens), and adding a small static twist to repeated bending raised herniations from 29% to 71%; twisting alone didn't start one. A bent and twisted spine resisted twisting less well in 11 men. These are lab and animal studies; the practical reading is to turn tall, not rounded, and to keep heavy, fast, repeated twisting while bent for later or never.
Muscle activity for the same turning force rose by up to 28% at faster speeds, and the researchers advise that "for safety, load and velocity of rotation should be kept low". Start slow.
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In 416 people with long-lasting back pain, doing things while twisting raised the odds of a flare by about half (odds ratio 1.48). That's a reason to turn gently and in a comfortable range, not to stop turning.
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Exercise eases chronic back pain by about 15 points out of 100 against no treatment, usual care or placebo (249 trials). Exercise of many kinds helps; in one large analysis some types did a little better, but the one you'll keep doing matters most. In that network analysis of 217 trials, Pilates, McKenzie therapy and functional restoration did better than other types, and the authors advised doing the exercise you enjoy.
We found no trial of wood chops for back pain. Four weeks of rotation classes didn't help 35 women with chronic back pain, and trials of PNF training, where chops come from, are small and low quality.
NICE advises people with low back pain to keep up normal activities and to consider a group exercise programme that suits their needs and preferences. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy: "Don't fear twisting and bending - it's essential to keep moving." With osteoporosis, the UK consensus says twisting movements "should be safe if performed smoothly and comfortably".
Aim for discomfort you'd call mild to moderate, no more than about 5 out of 10. It should settle within an hour or so, and your back should be no worse the next morning, as our back pain guides say. Pain, pins and needles or numbness spreading down a leg are the exception: stop, and see our sciatica guide.
For turning, as our back pain when twisting guide suggests: turn first in the direction that is easier, then the other way, within a range that stays at about 5 out of 10 or less; add range before speed, and speed before load. A dull ache or stiffness at the end of a turn that eases when you come back to the middle is fine; a sharp catch that stops you means a smaller, slower turn for now.
Start at 2 sets of 8 each side, as our boxers' and snowboarders' workouts and our cable machine guide do. Build to 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 each side, light and controlled: our editorial starting point, within NASM's "8 to 15 controlled reps" and the 3 sets of 8 to 15 used in trials that included chops.
Stop 2 or 3 reps short of failure, while every rep is still smooth, as our Pallof press guide does. In your first two weeks, leave 3 or 4 in reserve: people misjudge the reps they have left by about one.
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45 to 90 seconds, or alternate sides and pair the chop with a carry or a leg move (our editorial starting point; our Pallof press guide rests 30 to 45 seconds).
2 or 3 times a week. NASM suggests 2 to 4 core-focused blocks a week, and the trials used 2 or 3 sessions.
Range, then speed, then load, as our back pain when twisting guide says. Then move from kneeling to standing, and only then add the next plate or a stronger band.
Only when controlled chops are easy: 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 fast reps each side, fully rested, early in a session (NASM; a handball trial used 4 sets of 4 to 6 at full effort). Chop power peaked at about 75% of the heaviest weight people could chop once, in 23 fit men. We found no trial of slow against fast chop training.
Let your chest, stomach and hips turn together, as ACE cues it. ACE's first learning stage keeps the trunk still on purpose; that's a step, not the finished chop.
Let your back foot pivot and your hips turn.
Stay tall: a bent, twisted spine resists twisting less well.
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Slow first; add speed only when every rep is smooth.
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Keep your arms long: the trunk does the turning, as our move page says.
Return slowly along the same path.
Breathe out as you turn, as our breathing guide advises.
Adding rotational medicine ball work to baseball training raised trunk rotation strength (17% against 10%) and bat-end speed (6.4% against 3.6%) in 49 teenage players. Six weeks of medicine ball training raised throwing speed 14% against 3.7% in 28 female handball players, and sling training with rotational exercises raised ball speed 3.2% in 25 others. None tested chops alone.
Core training built trunk strength a lot but performance only a little. Across 22 studies, throwing and hitting speed didn't clearly improve; elastic bands, medicine balls and core training showed no clear benefit for handball throwing across 30 studies. Golf clubhead speed rose a little, with low certainty (9 trials, 220 golfers), and golf-specific training with standing diagonal chops did no better than ordinary gym training in 29 women golfers.
Low-handicap golfers had 28% stronger cable woodchops than high-handicap golfers, and chop strength went with longer rotational throws. These are links, not proof that training chops makes you faster. Our golf guide has a full plan.
The Pallof press trains your trunk to resist a twist; the wood chop makes one. Learn the Pallof press first, as our Pallof press guide and the coaching bodies do, and keep it in your week once you add chops.
Both turn the trunk. The chop is done standing, with the hips turning too and the load from a cable; the Russian twist is seated and leaning back. If your back dislikes the seated twist, the standing chop or the Pallof press may suit you better, as our Russian twist guide says.
Side planks and side bends work the side of your trunk holding still or bending; chops work it turning. They fit together in a week rather than replacing each other.
Thoracic rotations, 6 rotations per side, moving with the breath (the move page's dose); side-lying open books, 8 to 10 slow openings each side, pausing 2 seconds at the end (the move page's dose); standing spiral reaches, the chop's diagonal with no weight, 5 to 8 slow reps per side (the move page's dose). Side planks, 3 holds of 15 to 40 seconds each side (our oblique workout); suitcase carries, 2 walks of 20 to 30 metres each side (our workouts); goblet squats, 3 sets of 8 to 10 (our back pain guide's strengthening stage).
3D demoThoracic rotationBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSide-lying open bookBeginner · No equipment
3D demoStanding spiral reachBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSide plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSuitcase carryIntermediate · A dumbbell + A kettlebell
3D demoDumbbell goblet squatIntermediate · A dumbbellThe chop and lift workout takes you from resisting a twist to cable wood chops. The sports sessions use the chop at 2 sets of 8 each side; the golf and landmine sessions use the press and turn and landmine 180s.
Resist a twist, then make one under control: Pallof presses, the press and turn, cable lifts and wood chops, with side planks and a carry.
30 minIntermediate9 movesA band, An anchor pointA 45-minute strength and power workout for boxers: jumps and chest throws, squats and single-leg hinges, push-ups, rows, rotator cuff, carries and grip.
45 minIntermediate18 movesA band, Medicine ballA 45-minute pre-season session for snowboarders: squats and single-leg work, box drops and landings, Pallof presses and wood chops, wrists, neck and balance.
45 minIntermediate19 movesA wall, A dumbbellA 50-minute gym session for kayakers, canoeists and paddleboarders: heavy rows and pulldowns, push-ups, wood chops, Pallof presses and shoulder care.
50 minIntermediate15 movesCardio machine, A bandA 45-minute golf gym session: jumps, a medicine-ball throw and kettlebell swings for power, then squats, hinges, rows, push-ups, fast rotation and carries.
45 minIntermediate14 movesMedicine ball, A kettlebellA 40-minute landmine session with one barbell anchored in a landmine or a corner: kneeling and standing presses, rows, rotations and shoulder care.
40 minIntermediate13 movesA band, A barbellA 25-minute oblique workout at home: side planks, a band Pallof press and a suitcase carry to hold your trunk steady, then slow Russian twists and side-lying crunches.
25 minIntermediate8 movesA band, An anchor pointA 40-minute full-body workout on a dual cable station in four pairs: pull-through and row, press and Pallof press, pushdown and crunch, raise and curl.
40 minBeginner14 movesCardio machine, A bandSwap to the Pallof press for now and follow our back pain when twisting guide, which brings chops back after it.
Smooth, comfortable, light turns; avoid repeated bending at the same time. After a spinal fracture, ask a physiotherapist first, as our osteoporosis guide says.
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As our move pages say, this is an advanced core exercise: work up through easier core levels first, and stop if you notice doming or bulging around your stoma or scar.
Check with your GP first, and start with the gentle core work and Pallof presses in our hernia guide.
The NHS says it's not recommended to start a new vigorous activity in pregnancy, and suggests moving your feet when you turn rather than twisting your spine. Keep turns gentle, or swap to the Pallof press, which our Pallof press guide calls a good choice in pregnancy.
The NHS advises avoiding heavy lifting and exercises like planks at first. Our diastasis recti guide brings in a band press that resists twisting from about 6 to 8 weeks after a straightforward birth; turning moves come later.
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After a recent shoulder dislocation, or shoulder or elbow surgery, follow your surgical team's limits first.
If you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; severe difficulty breathing, or a chest that feels tight or heavy; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for a headache that's triggered or made worse by coughing, sneezing, bending down or exercising.
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Call 999 or go to A&E: loss of feeling or numbness around the genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changes in genital sensation during sex or problems with erections or orgasm, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These are signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently. Don't drive yourself.
See a GP if pain spreading down a leg hasn't improved after a few weeks of home treatment, is getting worse or stops your normal activities. Sciatica on both sides, or weakness or numbness in both legs that's severe or getting worse, is a 999 call or a trip to A&E.
A sharp pain in one spot of the tummy wall during a twist, sore to tense, cough or sit up, is usually a strained muscle, as our abdominal strain guide explains. Tummy pain that came on by itself, with feeling sick, a fever or a lump in the groin, isn't a strain: get it checked.
Keep shoulder pain to about 5 out of 10 or less during the exercise, back to its usual level by your next session, as our shoulder guides advise. A sharp pinch means lower, lighter or stop.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for sudden or very bad shoulder pain; not being able to move your arm; a shoulder or arm that has changed shape or is badly swollen; pins and needles that don't go away; or pain that started after an injury or accident, like a fall. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care. See a GP if shoulder pain is getting worse or hasn't improved after 2 weeks. While your shoulder is sore, the NHS says not to make up your own strenuous exercises or use heavy gym equipment.
A long-armed chop pulls hard across the shoulder at the top: start light.
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See a GP if you think you have a hernia, a bulge or lump that may get bigger when you strain and smaller when you lie down. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, you feel or are sick, you're vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, you're constipated, you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, or you've suddenly become confused. Call 999 or go to A&E for a femoral hernia (a small lump at the top of your thigh, in your groin) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
The NHS lists lifting heavy weights among the causes of a femoral hernia. After an inguinal hernia repair, avoid heavy lifting or strenuous activity for at least 4 to 6 weeks.
Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard or straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled (140/90 or higher at a clinic, or 135/85 at home), or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
With controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe. Breathe out as you lift, as our breathing guide advises.
With a pacemaker or defibrillator, the American Heart Association asks you to check with your doctor before upper-body strength training, because repeated arm movements can damage or dislodge the leads.
Twisting at work was a weak, inconsistent risk factor, reviews judge it unlikely to cause back pain on its own, leisure exercise isn't linked with back pain, and the lower back turns only 1.2 to 1.7 degrees per joint. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy says "Don't fear twisting and bending". What's worth care is heavy, fast, repeated twisting while bent, and twisting while your back is already sore.
We found no trial of chops for back pain, and rotation classes didn't help 35 women with chronic back pain. Exercise in general helps.
Nobody has measured how hard a chop works the obliques.
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The lower back barely turns; your hips and upper back do the turning, your back foot pivots, and ACE's cue is to move the chest and stomach together. Keeping the trunk still is only ACE's first learning stage.
Muscle activity for the same force rises with speed, and the researchers advise keeping load and speed low. NASM saves explosive chops for after controlled ones.
Coaching bodies teach kneeling first, but in one unreviewed 2026 study half-kneeling made the upper trunk wobble more at the same relative load: lower and slower, not necessarily steadier.
Exercising a body part doesn't remove the fat over it: across 13 studies of 1,158 people, and in 24 adults who did 6 weeks of ab exercises, local fat didn't change. Fat comes off with your overall activity and eating, as our belly fat guide explains.
Stand side-on to a cable with the pulley high, arms long towards it, and pull the handle down and across your body to the outside of your far hip, turning your chest, stomach and hips together and pivoting your back foot. Return slowly and do the other side.
Nobody has measured it in a chop. Turning the trunk uses the obliques on both sides and the lats, with the whole trunk bracing, and your hips and legs turn and shift your weight.
Both: the high-to-low chop and the low-to-high lift train the same turn in opposite diagonals, and no study has compared them. Our cable machine guide learns the lift first, then the chop.
They're a good way to train turning under control once you can resist a twist with the Pallof press. They aren't proven to work your obliques harder than other exercises or to fix back pain.
Not as a rule: twisting hasn't been shown to cause back pain on its own, and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy says "Don't fear twisting and bending". Turn tall and smooth with a light weight, and swap to the Pallof press if twisting brings on pain.
Start at 2 sets of 8 each side and build to 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, light and controlled, 2 or 3 times a week. That's our starting point, in line with the 8 to 15 controlled reps NASM suggests.
The Pallof press trains your trunk to resist a twist; the wood chop makes one. Learn the Pallof press first, as our guides and the coaching bodies do, then add chops.
Both turn the trunk; the chop is done standing, with the hips turning too, while the Russian twist is seated and leaning back. If your back dislikes the seated twist, the standing chop or the Pallof press may suit you better.
Yes: anchor a band high in a door or round a post, or hold one dumbbell in both hands and chop from above one shoulder to outside the opposite knee. Bands built strength like weights in small trials. There's no 3D demo of these versions, so follow the cable steps.
Coaches start kneeling or half-kneeling, which takes your legs out of it. In one unreviewed 2026 study, half-kneeling actually made the upper trunk wobble more at the same relative load, so start light either way.
A little, perhaps: rotational training helped bat speed and throwing in small trials. But across many studies core training didn't clearly raise throwing or hitting speed, and golf-specific chops did no better than ordinary gym training.
No: exercising a body part doesn't remove the fat over it. Fat comes off with your overall activity and eating, as our belly fat guide explains.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
