DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDICINE BALL WOOD CHOP

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The Medicine Ball Wood Chop (MBWC) is an excellent exercise for developing explosive full body power for a wide variety of sports such as golf, baseball and tennis.  The MBWC converts the chopping strength developed in the cable wood chop and converts it to sports-specific power.

As with most power training it is essential to have a good base of core and whole body strength before you attempt the exercise (refer to our article on functional golf fitness program design for more information. 

It is also important that you perform the MBWC near the beginning of your workout session when you are “fresh” as power training relies heavily on oxygen independent metabolism and has a high fatigue index. 

Form and technique in the MBWC are crucial to ensure effective training adaptations and to avoid injury – another reason to perform the exercises when you are in a non-fatigued state.

Starting Position

Stand perpendicular to a face brick wall about 5 feet away holding a medium weight (7-10lb) rubber medicine ball in both hands.

Assume the “athletic stance” – that is, make sure your trunk is erect (not rounded in the upper back), knees slightly flexed, feet shoulder/hip width apart and your body weight distributed over the mid-foot area.

The “chop”

Similar to the cable wood chop, begin the movement with a transfer of weight to the outside leg.  Rotate your trunk slightly away from the wall and reach high, extending your knees and hips slightly and reaching your (straight) arms diagonally out and across your body. (In this position the majority of your body weight (60-70%) will be over the outside leg).

Keeping your lead elbow and shoulder straight, quickly and powerfully pull the medicine down and out across your body in a diagonal path at about 45 degrees.

As the arms and medicine ball approach the vertical line from the inside foot, release the ball – bouncing it off the floor/asphalt about 2 feet from the wall and about 1 foot in front of you.

Throughout the chopping movement controllably shift your body weight to where at the point of ball release; your weight shift is now reversed from that at the top of the chop (i.e. 60-70% on the inside leg).

It is essential that as you chop to maintain an erect spine and to allow the trunk and hips to rotate and the knees and hips to flex (bend) in a semi-squatting motion.  This action allows for efficient force transfer through the kinetic chain and allows you to “get down with the legs and not the back”.

The take-away

Catch the rebounding ball and use the momentum to help you swing the ball diagonally up and out across the body back into the starting position.

The takeaway is obviously a reverse of the chop, but remember to focus on standing straight up out of the squatting position as you reach diagonally upward.

Aim for 3-6 repetitions or until the instant you notice your technique slacking (back rounding etc.) – if you find you are performing more or less than this, adjust the weight of the ball accordingly. 

Do not exercise into fatigue as this leads to bad motor pattern programming.  Rest and perform 2-3 sets for each direction of chop.

NOTE:  This exercise has less of a plyometric training effect as the Medicine Ball Side Slam (MBSS) mainly because it is difficult to catch the ball in a position exactly like the starting position (its unlikely that there will be enough rebound energy to do this anyway as the medicine ball is now bouncing twice instead of only once).

Pointers for the MBWC:

·        The movements must be quick and forceful – remember power is about how quickly you can generate (high) force!

·        Concentrate on reaching high and on force transfer between the upper and lower body