A World Champion Woodchopper With An Axe To Grind

Photo by Tomasz Machnik

Brad De Losa swings at logs the way David Warner attacks cricket balls.

There’s a mighty backswing before his torso uncoils and the blade of his axe rifles through the air, piercing the hardwood with a sweet, dull thud. Four runs.

Such a potent combination of savagery and precision recalls ancient samurai flicks. After 20 seconds of cultured hacking, a chunk of wood detaches from the log and bounces a couple of times on the concrete at De Losa’s feet. The wedge left behind is a geometrical wonder, smooth and true. That’s because in the 15 or so swings it’s taken to split the log, De Losa has hit the same line every time.
“You can tell there that there were no mishits, that the axe was entering the timber on exactly the same plane as the last blow,” says the 36-year-old mechanical engineer, peering at his handiwork. “You can more or less split a matchstick.”

Chop Shop

Use this guide to get your muscles honed for hacking

Standing Block(top left)
A log is placed upright in a stand and the cutter chops side-on in both upward and downward motions to remove a wedge or “scarf” from one side then the other. The movements draw on abdominal stabilising muscles, especially the obliques. To practise the motion, do two-handed cable crossovers from the top and bottom, or use a resistance band.

Underhand (bottom left)
In this event the axe-man stands on top of a horizontal log and uses a downwards motion to chop the log in two as fast as possible. Do vertical cable pulldowns with both hands, or mimic the motion with a resistance band.

Tree felling (right)
This involves hitting a log while standing on a jigger board attached to the trunk. Tractor tyre turnovers help build strength in your glutes and core to facilitate balance.

I’m watching this woodchopping masterclass on De Losa’s in-laws’ property in Lithgow, just over the Blue Mountains.

The yard doubles as De Losa’s gym. A concrete slab hosts training set-ups for the main woodchopping disciplines – the standing block and the underhand – while adjacent on the lawn there’s a three-metre-high trunk to practise tree felling.

To demonstrate, De Losa hacks a hunk of wood from the trunk, then wedges in a supporting beam called a jigger. He then nimbly jumps up on the jigger and hacks another wedge further up for a second supporting beam, which he duly leaps on. Finally, he launches a frenzied attack on a log clamped on top, making it rain hardwood.

When he’s done, De Losa’s formidable arms carry a greasy sheen. If you hadn’t already figured it out, woodchopping is not only seriously hard yakka, it’s a fully functional, total-body workout.

“Your core, your legs and your arms come together as one to get as much power out of your body and onto the block as possible,” explains De Losa, who began competing at 16 and last year won the Stihl Timbersports Series World Championships in Germany.

You might not have a fireplace at your house, but splitting wood is an elemental skill every man should have in his kitbag. Not only will you be able to keep your family warm on cold winter nights, you’ll create an upper-body muscle matrix primed to unleash explosive force. Needless to say, you’ll also be seriously cut.

Do The Splits

Solid technique is the harness for raw brawn when it comes to splitting timber, reckons De Losa. “If your angles don’t meet up precisely your block won’t come off,” he says. Use De Losa’s tips to stock your woodpile with Tetris-ready logs

Chop ‘Till You Drop

De Losa works out in the gym three days a week with an all-body workout that has a heavy focus on the arms. One day a week he swims, logging around two kilometres, which includes 6 x 50m sprints with a minute’s rest, reducing to 30 seconds’ rest in the lead-up to a big competition. “I just go as hard as I can,” he says. “It really helps your breathing, your timing and your endurance.”

One day a week he does the following tractor tyre/chopping circuit to build spring-loaded explosive force from the ground up. Repeat twice, resting for one minute between each round.

1)Tyre chops with mallet: 1 minute
2)Chop a block of wood
3)Tractor tyre roll: 25m
4)Chop block of wood
5)Tyre pull: 10m

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