Increase Your Trunk Rotation
BY David Chettle
The high cable woodchop is a great exercise designed to strengthen the muscles that rotate your trunk and spine. This drill follows on from the seated cable trunk rotation exercise we went through previously – the woodchop is basically the advanced version. By standing up in address position, we are increasing the demand on our muscles that act to stabilise both the hips and the trunk, thereby increasing the exercise specificity to golf.
I have used this exercise with many of the golfers that I work with once they have a sound base of functional strength and the required range of motion through trunk rotation. If you are lacking in trunk rotation, this drill will not be of great benefit until your flexibility is improved.
The goal of the high cable woodchop is to improve rotational strength and control to begin with. As these qualities improve, we may speed the movement up and change the focus to power development – all the while focusing on quality of movement.
To complete the exercise, you will first need to attach a D-handle to the top pulley on a cable machine.
The start position is as in figure 1 – arms outstretched at head height with trunk fully rotated and hips remaining quiet or still. With the arms in this position, it is important that you keep your shoulder blades flat against your back (i.e. no scapula “winging” or elevation). From here, rotate through to your opposite hip, keeping your arms outstretched.
The goal is to maintain your spine angle while completing the exercise using your torso to complete the repetition – not your arms or momentum. Your hips should only rotate slightly on your way through the movement as indicated in the finish position in Figure 2. You should feel like you are actually trying to swing an axe – only slower, without any momentum and with good control.
As per the seated cable trunk rotation exercise, you have to concentrate on pulling your belly button in towards your spine throughout the rotation of your trunk so to maximise the use of your abdominal musculature. We really want to feel that the trunk is driving the movement while the arms remain quiet. Try to complete 3 sets of 15 repetitions each side 2-3 times per week.
Importantly, you should not try and replicate your exact swing pattern with this exercise, it is designed to focus on abdominal strengthening, not swing mechanics, let’s leave that to the coaches.
You may very well feel that you are stronger rotating right to left (if you play right handed) – this is normal, however highlights the need to try extra hard to balance out your rotational strength in the opposite direction to help prevent injury. Happy training!
