Weekly Workout: Wood chops with a dumbbell

by Monique Savin

Target: Shoulders, obliques, legs
Move: Wood chop with dumbbell
Gear: 5- or 10-pound dumbbell

Wood chops work your body in the traverse plane, an imaginary line dividing your body horizontally. This ab workout’s rotational motion develops the connection between your upper and lower body to create a strong core for such sports as tennis, basketball, dodge ball and rugby. Anyway you slice it, wood chops with a dumbbell whittle your middle with a cutting-edge core-creator challenging muscles to make them stronger. You might not need to reveal sexy, flat abs or have perfect posture, but wood chops promise those rewards.

Set-up: Take hold of a dumbbell in both hands in an overlapping grip; plant legs wider than shoulder-width apart; raise straight arms to left side.

Action: Pull dumbbell across body and down on the diagonal until hands are outside the lunged knee of the right leg. Gently flex obliques, then press though heel of right leg to return to standing, immediately reversing the diagonal motion of the exercise. Eyes should follow your hands throughout movement; let abs control the speed of the exercise. Complete 10 repetitions on the left side before switching body position to work the right side. Do two sets per side.

To intensify, add repetitions, sets or weight load. For variety, try wood chops with a medicine ball.

Try wood chops today, and then post your comments below.

A version of this article appeared in Sun Media’s 24 Hrs. commuter newspaper.