how do you do it? my lower back hurts when doing a dead hang,so i have to put my legs forward and activate the core,then it's better....but if i just let it hang then i feel tremendous tension in the lower back
I have to do this because I injured my lower back in a handstand. I’m 4 months postpartum and was heavy into calisthenics training before having my baby but I didn’t realize I was going too hard. Well I learned my lesson. I’m on day 4 of dead hangs now. My grip is getting stronger
I started hanging around 2 years ago. I do just 1.30 mins a day. I suffered for years with several old shoulder dislocation injuries and could barely raise my shoulder above horizontal. I also had a very hunched over stance and walk since my teenage years. I'm 6 foot, but looked like I was 5'8".😊 Dead hanging has sorted all of that. I'm 47 and walk straighter than ever. My shoulders are 100% and I have a great routine of chin ups/pull ups. Hanging really helps with that too. It's an exercise with amazing benefits for such little effort.
Thank you so much for all the details you put into this video! So many hanging videos never even bother to differentiate between active and passive hangs, let alone get into troubleshooting and goal times and frequency. Now I feel like I can approach this with precision, rather than just winging it.
Hangs have been a life saver for my RC issues. I have one of those pull-up bars that goes in the doorway. I started doing assisted hangs with my feet on the ground at first. I got immense benefits in terms of pain, mobility, and decompression from assisted hanging alone. I only progressed to actual hanging as needed. There's no need to go too hard too early, similar to weight training. Speaking of, weights have also been essential. I can do presses that I thought were off the table with full ROM and comfort. The ROM and stability improved gradually - I never forced it.
Be careful. After 20 years of lower back pain I tried hanging by my feet. It helped a bit until I tried to increase the elongation/traction by pulling on an anchored spot with my hands. Something tore in my hips and I’ve spent 15 months with hip and leg pain to add to the back pain. Just a cautionary tale.
@@jaxjones5013 Yes it was a regarded thing to do, the internal sound of tendons or muscles ripping is quite disturbing. As I found out to my cost, sometimes less is more! It’s weird, my thigh and hip muscles now stay in constant semi- contraction even after stretching them, I guess they are trying to protect against further injury. I can’t even sit cross legged any more.
@@yp77738yp77739You can relieve those muscles by passive stretching, active stretching will only worsen it. More than likely you must’ve went out of your lower back’s range of motion with it already being immobile and fragile, which is why your hip compensated and has been in pain ever since. Also 15 months of pain from injury isn’t the most normal occurrence, you need to increase blood flow to that area to start the healing process and you can only do that by using those muscles. Start off with small joint movements, moving it as much as you can. 1. Passive stretching to ease the muscles 2. Joint mobility to restore blood flow 3. Strengthening to prevent injury 4. Active stretching for muscle lengthening Pain isn’t normal, it’s your body telling you something is wrong. The sooner you let go of the idea that you HAVE to live in pain and tightness, the sooner you will be happier.
After 20 years of back pain you attempted a maneuver that should have been done after months of working out to support the muscles, tendons and ligaments. Unfortunate this happened to you and I do hope you get better but it is a prime example of why to see medical professionals for advice.
My pleasure. Definitely start gently! Hanging can be great but hanging too much for the first day is like going for a 10klm run after not running for years. Bit by bit!
Pull ups? Lol that is major cap, it does work the back but mostly the lats, never had any lower back pain after doing pullups and I literally never heard anyone to have that either @@pepin8277
absolutely excellent advice as always Stefan...I gave myself an agonizing frozen shoulder (which still isn't 100% after 24 months) by doing too much, too soon with the passive hang! if only I had this video three years ago 😭
Ooh! Frozen shoulder! Ow!!! That's EXACTLY why I recommend taking it easy to begin with. So many videos recommend dead hanging, but hardly anyone warns people to begin gently and slowly. Interestingly enough, hanging can help restore full range of motion after frozen shoulder... IF you do it very gently, bit by bit.
This video showed so many whats "what" and "what not" along with the "why". This is a fantastic presentation. I am sure it took a lot of research and time to make this concise and crisp content. Thank you for the efforts!
Just want to add to what he said about stretching impacting muscle performance. Static stretches (i.e. pretty much any stretch where you hold a position for a certain amount of time) can negatively affect performance. Dynamic stretches, however, have been shown to improve explosive performance. Dynamic stretches are basically moving in and out of a stretching position.
- Dead hanging has improved my shoulder impingement by at least 80% at the age of 56. I do 4 sets a few times a week for 1 minute but don’t expect to do 1 minute at the start.
I used to have pain that started in my palm that went all the way through to my elbow and up to my shoulder but it's virtually gone after i started hanging off my pullup bar. It's one of the best ways to fix your posture imo.
I've been dead hanging for about a year and the effects are noticeable. If I run into a stretch where I don't do them for a day or so, I can tell the difference.
I do scapula pull ups its also great, now i do it with 100kg on my belt at 65 kg bodyweight but im far from max, just try not to rush it as tendons adapt slower than muscles. It improves your mobility, relaxes you and helps your pull ups sooo much
This excercise is great for lower back pain. I have 3 disk bulges and I find this relieves pressure within just a few seconds of a dead hang. However I need to use wrist wraps because my hand calluses start hurting and a wider grip because my upper chest starts choking the front of my neck.
What I get from that snippet of article at 6:20 is my next hanging exercise will be pulsed, as it were. Contracting between stretches seems likely to produce the greatest increase in range of motion. Strength throughout your ROM is a longevity goal. Occasional pikes can target the lower torso. Call it 'live hanging'?
I am 50 and I do the hang up before and I gradually increased to 1 minute hanging. It's a great experience that I relax my backs and tapes. I'm feeling comfortable with stronger back. Unluckily, I broke my wrist recently during cycling. I hope I can pick up hanging again after my 2 months recovery period. 😂
At work we hang truss from ceilings for concerts. As the chain motors pull the lighting into the air, I hang on to it with both hands. As it goes up I relax and let the truss pull me up slowly screeching out my entire spine, its one of the most refreshing experiences. Chain motors pull very slowly and can lift several tons.
Great vid! 70 yr-old here and I have been doing dead hangs after my workouts for over a year. I'm now up to 2:00 per hang and it just gets easier with time. Maybe time to try for 3:00? 🤫
I have been doing pullups and hangs every now and then for like 4 months now , I am 22 so not cause of any pain but honestly i can see myself doing it for another half a century if everything goes well lol , could only do 3 when i started , now i can do 7 normal, 5 paused at the top and doing hangs next to it definetly improved my grip too among some muscle gain and strenght, such a good movement and it doesn't take me more than 10 minutes every 2 days
You get more, and quicker, decompresssion by doing slow knee lifts with dead hang pauses between each. You can add active hang as well. Or "activate" the sholder blades for part of the stretch or movement.
I have a 32" safety bar (the kind for bathrooms) that we put above the doorway. Hanging from this relieves my shoulder pain. I keep my feet on the ground since I'm tall enough to reach the bar and just lower myself until I feel a good stretch. I thought this might help people who do not have a tree or anywhere to hang a big bar such as what you have. Most door frames have a good, sturdy stud going across the top of the frame.
I do weighted hangs. I have a pull-up at with 5 different grips. I worked up to a 100 lb kettlebell hanging from my waist at 25 seconds each hole. My bodyweight is 200. My grip feels strength feels great.
I bought a chin up bar to stretch my shoulders and your video miraculously appears on my feed! You must be psychic or something! Thanks for the information!!
To hang for a minute a day is OK for stretching, but to remodel the shoulder joint, like Dr. Kirsch suggests, you need longer duration. More like 10 minutes a day. However those 10 minutes can be spaced out across the entire day.
Really a lot of good information here. I used to hang, about a year ago. I started out hanging for about 20 seconds before I would drop off and worked up to about 1'30" continuously hanging. Did that for a couple of months. At that point, I had so much tendonitis around my elbows that I had to stop. A year later with no hanging the tendonitis is mostly resolved but not completely. My shoulders were always fine, but it was brutal on my forearm tendons. I haven't started hanging again. Maybe I will at some point.
Change your grips up, do a mix grip wide, a close grip, medium and medium mix etcetc, that helps with grip overwork as it uses slightly different muscles.
Great, I like to hang recently, now I understand better the passive and active hanging. The problem is my two shoulders feel differently. My left should is too weak and I have a feeling it is too close to my left ear. My minor or major pec is very tight at the should area and I am not sure which one. Thanks.
What about inversion tables, Stefan? I've tried one. They take the shoulder pain from hanging out of the equation. They seem to make the lumbar area of the erector spinae really fire. Maybe it's trying to stretch that area and the muscles are trying to resist it i'm not sure I'd love to see a video on inversion tables, and if you think they are actually helpful, maybe a program beginners could follow like you've done for hanging I really hope you consider doing that frozen diaphragm video - not being able to breathe properly keeps me stuck in fight or flight (well, freeze). I see videos on sticking your fingers up behind your ribs but that seems risky if you don't know what you're doing. Please help me learn to relax the diaphragm and breathe again! 🙏
Inversion table are similar to hanging. They decompress, but don't localise the mobility... just like I discussed in this video. So helpful but limited in their usefulness
Excellent instruction, and very timely since lots of people will be inspired by the rings and bar exercises in the Olympics. A few questions: 1. Would the recommended timing need to be modified if someone already uses an inverted traction table? 2. Are there ways to do this one-handed or elbow-supported, if bilateral wrist health is not available? (Unrelated question: Do you keep an eye on comments on your older videos? Since I'm looking at taking up powerbocking, I may end up with additional questions and wonder if they would be better to ask on a new video you post or on older videos dealing with a given exercise.) (Potentially will be signing up for your course, depending on how things go. 😅)
I started having severe seizures about 10 years ago. I needed shoulder surgery to repair the ripped up connections. I was dislocating my shoulder forwards and backwards. The surgeon told me to be extra gentle on my shoulder. No more seizures for years now. They found the right medications. However I lacked enough flexibility in my forearms to even use dumbells. I would hurt my wrists, elbows and my shoulders popping. I finally saw a gymnastics video and saw that I couldn't stretch my wrists enough, as in the motion like when you wave at someone. The stretching requires weeks of effort, but going to physical therapy was the right choice. I am now flexible enough and my forearms are now strong enough. You might need to strengthen your grip, which is a different part than the muscles used in exercises for just lifting weights. On my last day of PT, they had me hang and I had no problems. I am also lifting weights pain free. 😁🤗💪
As a personal trainer, I find your videos and tips very helpful in my practice. My clients are benefitting! Thank you for sharing your expertise. So many people are suffering from poor posture! Almost all my clients need this, even if they don't realize it when they start with me. Thank you again!
Wow! what a really great video! Thanks so much for this. 2 Questions: 1) Should you contract your abs while you hang or is the goal to relax all of your body from the shoulders down and let it all “hang”? 2) does hanging with a neutral grip provide the same benefit as the pronated grip? Thanks again!
1. Keep abs loose, unless your low back hurts and slightly tightened abs makes it feel better 2. Not a huge difference because the difference will occur mainly at elbow level
I have an arthritic shoulder grade4 where the joint is essentially locked from movement, Almost fused. I have no pain unless the joint grinds but this doesn't occur with deadhangs but rather push ups. I nevertheless have enough movement of shoulder for dead hangs due to scapula rotating. A surgeon said my scapula muscles are overdeveloped due to deadhang compensation. Dr Kisrsch gives example of arthritic shoulders benefitting from dead hangs and so avoiding surgery. Have you any info on this? I think the mechanics must be altered.
I tried hanging for a period of time after reading Kirch's book. I have a torn labrum.which I have managed for years with physio. However I was trying to improve my shoulder strength further. I think I probably over did the hanging as I've now made the problem worse, to the point that I now have bicep issues too. I wish I had seen this video before I read the book!! It's been 18 months of significant restriction in my shoulder and arm, the problem keeps flaring up
I have an incredibly strong core but hanging always gives me a few hours of back pain. I have no lower back issues or discomfort sitting or moving. I don't need that pain in my life.
There’s a tree on our yard alright but I’m concerned that if I did hang on one of its branches, I might be the last straw on the camel’s back that can uproot said tree. I got afraid of trying since a really strong wind caused the mango tree (only a meter or so apart from the tree I mentioned) fell down and barely missed our house. If it fell on a right angle, I, who was studying, for sure would have been hit. Nevertheless, I’d still watch this video. Who knows if I could find something i could hang on to that could support my weight. Good luck and hang in there fellas xD
As long as you can hang without your backside touching the floor, you can do at least a partial hang. It doesn't give you much room to progress to a full hang though, unless you can bend your knees and not touch the ground. I'd say the bars I used in my garage in this video are about as low as you can get away with.
Hi I am 22 and I have had several shoulder dislocations. I went to the surgery Arthrosopica omeris I. dex. Operation was 10 months ago. Is it save for me to do hangings?
Stretching before a workout may not give the most effective performance of your muscles, but is it not true that stretching before a workout lowers the risk of injury?
Thanks mate. Exactly what I was looking for only things that I would love some more direction if there is any on where and how to place the hands, I just followed the video though :) One question too if I should correct if my pelvis is arching through contracting abs ?
Why do you use such low bars? I thought the tension needed to keep your legs up counteracts some of the effects and does not decompress the spine? Please advise.
Should you do this before or after upper body exercises? You say not before but the question is if you should do them after the exercise or during other parts of the day not connected to exercise.
As a 62-year-old male, I was following a passive hanging regimen much as described in this video but woke one morning to discover I'd given myself a vicious case of adhesive capsulitis, as diagnosed by my MD. It took almost two years to resolve! I'm back to hanging but am worried that I'm going to re-injure myself. In any case, all of you passive hangers, whether active or merely curious-beware! It's not necessarily an innocuous stretch, and your body weight (I was about 165 lbs at the time) will have a lot of impact on whether this activity is for you
Reverse back curl extensions will help your back get strong thus preventing injury in theory but it's always a little different for older folks not accustomed to movements like this but it's worth it. Look into Posterior chain exercises.
My rack is own-made. My height, I can hang loose like a hangman lol... I notice my height increases 1 cm per session 🙂 (Meaning - 1 cm + 1 cm per day ofcourse otherwise I was 4 meter tall by now lol.)
I had a DRF three years ago. They tried wire surgery but ended up injuring tendon or radial side muscle causing white fluid bleeding and RSD/ CRPS suicide syndrome. Hair of RSD after prayers by pastor and wife team after three months. They had to remove thick wire on radial side same day itself. Other two removed later But i have radial and ulnar pain and so can do only 10-20 seconds dead hanging and have pronation supination movement issue due to botched up k wire surgery causing tendon or muscle rupture causing white fluids discharge on removal of thick k wire in radial side on same day of surgery due to severe pain in arm. Lead to RSD CRPS. Syndrome.. healed after pastor n wife prayer after three months of torture. Need to get rid of ulnar severe pain before i increase having timings. Or increase strength training for ulnar?
If your body is used to it, and you're trying to build your finger and hand indurance, 1 continual minute is probably ok. You're training for a sport so it's a bit different. You could throw in a few 5 second active hang blocks into that minute so you're not stretching your shoulder muscles the whole time, but actually contacting them for a short while
Great video. I've been doing passive hanging now for 4 months. Started with 30 seconds a day and now im up to 3 min(3×1min) a day. Just started incorporating active hang in to my hold. I was thinking of doing 5min a day? Is that too much?
If hanging from a high pull up bar and the feet are off the floor is it best to let the legs relax straight down or to bend the knees back engaging hanstrings? And hold in that position? I can hang but neber know what is best for my legs.
