Steps
- Connect a standard handle to a tower, and move the cable to the highest pulley position.
- With your side to the cable, grab the handle with one hand and step away from the tower. You should be approximately arm's length away from the pulley, with the tension of the weight on the cable. Your outstretched arm should be aligned with the cable.
- With your feet positioned shoulder width apart, reach upward with your other hand and grab the handle with both hands. Your arms should still be fully extended.
- In one motion, pull the handle down and across your body to your front knee while rotating your torso.
- Keep your back and arms straight and core tight while you pivot your back foot and bend your knees to get a full range of motion.
- Maintain your stance and straight arms. Return to the neutral position in a slow and controlled manner.
- Repeat to failure.
- Then, reposition and repeat the same series of movements on the opposite side.
Tracking it in OneRep
Add the standing cable wood chop to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.
Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.
Where the instructions come from
The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.