Dead Hanging
What is a Dead Hang
The dead hang is a great exercise that requires you to simply hang from a pull-up bar using either a pronated or supinated grip, with your feet elevated off the floor. There will be no pulling, pushing, or motion occurring when performing this exercise. It has many benefit for your body, such as decompressing the spine and improve drip strength. Dead hangs are beyond just hanging around!
According to Shoulder Pain? The Solution & Prevention, a small book written by John M. Kirsch, M.D., a certified Orthopedic Surgeon, passive hanging is a simple exercise that could prevent rotator cuff tears and impingement syndrome in the shoulder and other shoulder issues.
What Muscles are Worked by Dead Hang
Even though dead hangs are simple, they are very beneficial to your body as it works for many muscle groups. The muscles targeted are the forearms, hand and wrist flexors, trapezius, latissimus dorsi, anterior deltoids, posterior deltoids, and abdominals.
What Level is Dead Hang
The dead hang is for all fitness levels, from beginner, to intermediate, and to advanced level. There are many variations of the dead hang that will ensure you get a challenging workout and a good burn in your forearms. This article will cover 4 main variations to make your workouts super fun!
How To Do a Dead Hang
1. Use A Secure Bar
Begin by positioning yourself under a secure bar. You can use a bench or any elevated platform to step onto and reach to bar with your hands. You can also go straight into a dead hang.
2. Grip The Bar
Grip the bar firmly with pronated/overhand grip (palms facing away from you), at shoulder-width apart. Your thumbs should wrap under and around the bar.
3. Hang From The Bar
Lock your arms out and hang from the bar with your body being in a straight line, and your feet off the floor. Don’t bend your arms, and stay relaxed with elevated shoulders. This is a passive hang.
4. Repeat
Hang between 10-60 seconds and repeat this for 4 sets. See the recommended range for your fitness level below.
Deadhang Workout
- Beginners should perform between 5-20 seconds, for 4 sets, 3 times a week.
- Intermediate level athletes should perform between 20-40 seconds, for 4 sets, 3 times a week.
- Advanced level athletes should perform 45+ seconds reps or more for 4 sets, 3 times a week.
You should move on to harder variations once you have achieved your holding time and set goals.
Dead Hang Benefits
Develop Grip Strength
Dead hang is a forearm and grip strength exercise, and practicing It will help the ability to hold your bodyweight, the longer you can hold on, the stronger your grip becomes. There are over 20 muscles in your forearms, which include the brachioradialis, wrist flexors, and extensors, forearms flexors, and extensors. They are primarily are divided into two groups - flexors and extensors.
The flexor group enables you to close your hands and bend your wrist downward, whereas the extensor group opens your hand and extends your wrists backward. This exercise will for sure develop your grip strength, and increase the size of your forearms.
Spine Decompression
Many of the activities and movements that occur in our lifestyles often compress our spine. Sitting in front of a desk for many hours a day is sure for one! Moreover, activities such as lifting heavy objects, and squatting compress the spine.
Dead hangs can decompress the spine as gravity pulls you down, and hanging helps to lengthen and decompress your spine. Your bodyweight gently pulls your vertebrae apart, enabling your discs to expand, which could relieve any back pain or tension you may have.
Improve Your Posture
Poor posture can lead to neck pain, back problems, and other irritating conditions. It also affects how you look. A lot of postural problems are due to sitting for a prolonged period of time - gravity is pulling you down all day long!
You can fix this by practicing dead hangs as it put your body in an expansive position, overturning the effects of gravity and poor posture. It will make you feel more upright.
Stretch Your Upper Body
This will give your shoulders, arms, and back muscles a nice stretch. It will improve your shoulder health by increasing its range of motion. According to John M. Kirsch, an Orthopedic surgeon, passive hanging can repair shoulder impingement, rotator cuff tear, and other shoulder issues.
Moreover, you will feel your lats being stretched out, among other muscles. This will keep your upper body muscles mobile and healthy. Excessively tight lats can have an impact on your posture, and shoulder joint mobility.
Dead Hang Variations
Supinated Grip Dead Hang
This variation will require you to use the underhand grip where your palms are facing towards you. This will give you a nice stretch around the middle back - where the teres major muscle is located. Moreover, your grip strength for the chin-ups will improve. To perform this, you will:
- Position your body under a bar.
- Grip the bar firmly using a supinated/underhand grip at shoulder-width apart. Your thumbs should be warpped under and around the bar.
- Hang from the bar with your arms straight, and feet off the ground.
- Hold between 10-60 seconds for 4 sets.
Gymnastics Rings Dead Hang
Gymnastics rings are not as stable as a bar, therefore, they will give you an additional challenge. You can use many grip variations such as the pronated grip, supinated grip, neutral grip, or false grip. To perform this, you will:
- Position your body under a pair of gymnastic rings.
- Grip the rings firmly using a supinated grip, underhand grip, neutral grip, or false grip at shoulder-width apart. Your thumbs are wrapped under and around the rings.
- Hang from the rings with your arms straight, and feet off the ground.
- Hold between 10-60 seconds for 4 sets.
Towel Dead Hang
Towel dead hangs will seriously intensity the grip challenge, making the hold much harder. This will develop your forearms to be thicker and stronger. The rule here is that the thicker the towel, the easier it will be. To perform this, you will:
- Position your body under a bar with a towel wrapped over the bar.
- Grip both ends of the towel firmly.
- Hang from the towel with your arms straight, and feet off the ground.
- Hold between 10-60 seconds for 4 sets.
Single Arm Dead Hang
Once you are comfortable with doing two-arms dead hang, you can progress to one-arm dead hang. This advanced-level variation will load your entire body weight onto one arm, which will reward you with a crushing grip strength. To perform this, you will:
- Position your body under a bar.
- Grip the bar with one hand firmly, using a supinated or underhand grip. Your thumb is wrapped under, and around the bar.
- Hang from the bar with your arm straight, and feet off the ground. Engage your core to reduce the swing in your body
- Hold between 10-60 seconds for 4 sets. Work on both arms in a single set.
Other Pulling Exercises
About the Author
My name is Pat Chadwick, I am a calisthenics coach with over 4 years of experience in helping people from all backgrounds to achieve their calisthenics goals. My goal is to become the number one calisthenics coach in the world as it is my passion to help people change their lives through inspiring bodyweight movements. I believe everyone deserves the right to feel good about their health, body, and be delighted inside and out.