Woodchop – Exercise of the Week

To target your core muscles with a dynamic movement and minimal amount of equipment, the woodchop exercise is a perfect choice. For those who attend our Les Mills CXWORX class – you may be familiar with this exercise and movement as it can form part of the class content. Here we show you how to complete it, with pictures of our fitness team from inside our gym in Tallaght.

Woodchop

To begin, place a theraband or Les Mills smartband under one of your feet and using both hands, hold the two ends / handles together on the same side of your body. Lunge forward on the same side of where the band is under your foot, maintain a wide stance and stretch your arms out fully and bring them up to mid-chest height. Next, create tension in the band by lifting the handles upwards and shift your weight to the opposite side of your body as you bring your arms across to the other side of it; all the while keeping a stretch and tension in the band as you lift it up higher in the air. As you shift your weight across with the movement, make sure to keep your hips square and solid while you switch the leg you lunge forwards with.

Twist and lunge from side to side so that you return to the starting position and back to the opposite side again with the band stretched and position adapted for each repetition (rep). You can also watch a video from Les Mills on how to complete the woodchop here. Targeting your core, the woodchop also helps with overall posture and stretching ability as you work to get into a rhythm with each rep. As always, if you would like any help or guidance with this exercise, please feel free to ask any of our friendly fitness team for feedback and even a demonstration. They can also advise you on the optimum amount of reps and sets to complete in order to reach and maintain your health and fitness goals.

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