5-Minute Fitness: Swing Training

Train your body to pull, push, bend, and turn more easily with this versatile exercise from personal trainer and author Mike Matthews.

Personal trainer Mike Matthews performs the wood chopper exercise
(Courtesy Mike Matthews, legionathletics.com)

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Wood Choppers

  1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and turned out slightly. Grip a single dumbbell with both hands.
  2. Lower yourself into a half-squat position with arms hanging straight down.
  3. Keeping arms straight, rotate body to the left so dumbbell is just outside your left knee.
  4. Rotate body to the right, raising dumbbell in the direction of right shoulder and standing up slightly. Keep raising arms and rotating torso until dumbbell is over your right shoulder.
  5. Lower dumbbell and return to starting position.

Repeat on other side using a right-to-left motion to complete 1 rep.

Work up to 4 sets of 10 reps per side daily, with 30 seconds of rest between sets. Increase weight when able.

This article is featured in the November/December 2021 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.

Featured image: Courtesy Mike Matthews, legionathletics.com

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