It is very important to work on mobility first for any restriction will prevent you from achieving optimal position to execute the exercises correctly. There are many ways you can improve the mobility at these joints and below I have provided two videos with several exercise examples that will help.
Often the wood-chop exercise is compromised due to stiffness in two critical areas that are primarily responsible for providing rotational movement. Two great videos to watch about technique and timing are shown below.īefore jumping right into the exercises it is important to address any mobility restrictions first. The timing is everything for executing perfect timing. Almost every rotational movement we make is quite fast, and in particular the sporting movements such as a golf swing, a tennis forehand or throwing a ball. If you move too slowly, you will disrupt the workload of the muscles and the sequence they are meant to fire in. I often see this in Pilates and this completely ruins the timing of the movement. The second mistake is they perform the exercise too slowly. Instead all that happens is they load their spine and risk tearing their discs. The first mistake I often see people make is to excessively load the exercise in the belief it will make their abs stronger. Poor technique of rotation exercises like the wood-chop is very common as it is not taught very well and many people have a poor understanding of its purpose.
You can read more about this in more detail in our article – Are Twisting exercises dangerous to your spine?
This is why it is so important to learn good technique so you can avoid doing damage to the spine and the discs. What they should say is POOR rotational exercises are bad for your back.
Wood chopper exercise benefits professional#
And secondly why are all the professional golfers and tennis players not crippled with back pain? This is where a bit of information is taken out of context and explained by a person who does not understand human movement at all.
Wood chopper exercise benefits how to#
This is absolute rubbish and the first thing I would say to that is show me how to walk without rotation. Some doctors and therapists tell people rotational and twisting exercises are bad for your back. In order to protect their lower back they stiffen their body right up and avoid rotational movement altogether which seems like a good strategy at first, but in the long term sets them up for more pain. This is seen very clearly with anyone who suffers with back pain. Unfortunately for a large percentage of the population they do move like robots as their hips and thoracic spine has stiffened due to sitting for long periods, lack of exercise, and ignorance to moving correctly. Without rotation we would all move like robots! Even the simple task of walking requires some degree of rotation at the hips and thoracic spine to create a spring like effect to propel us forwards. Why Is Rotational Movement So Important?Įxercises and movements that emphasise rotational movement are some of the best ways to strengthen the core muscles and utilise the myofacial slings. In this article I show you how to break this down with very easy exercises and gradually build up to the more complex and functional exercises that produce great results. Learning rotational exercises can be difficult for it is one of the movements that must be trained at a relatively high speed in order to get it right, and with so many moving parts it is easy to make a real mess of it. However, its value is not limited to those who play sports, for rotational movement is a critical part of daily life and something we should be trying to maintain and improve. The wood-chop is an amazing exercise for improving athletic performance, core strength and rotational power as seen in sports like golf and tennis.
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