Dead hang is a simple static position that involves hanging from a horizontal structure and allowing gravity to do the rest.
How can such a simple position be so effective at rehabilitating injured shoulders and building strength in the arms and hands?
Our great ape lineage – the kings of the dead hang
Many believe (me included) that humans share a common ancestry with the great apes. Majority of the great apes especially those genetically closest to human’s branchiate. This is simply an ecologist’s way of saying they swing from trees.
Hanging and swinging from trees helps our tree dwelling cousins build super strong shoulders. Even Gorillas who are usually spotted on the ground still spend 5-20% of their day climbing trees.
How does knowing we are similar to the other great apes help us to prevent injuries and build strong shoulders?
Shoulder injuries? – Enter the Dead hang doctor “Dr. Kirsch”
Dr. Kirsch believes that although we no longer swing from trees we still have the shoulders that were designed for that purpose.
In his book “Shoulder Pain, the solution and prevention” Dr Kirsch describes how our shoulders aren’t receiving the movement patterns that nature intended. This means they become weak and susceptible to injury.
Dr Kirsch started prescribing his patients that were suffering from shoulder injuries the dead hang or partial dead hang and some complimentary dumbbell exercises.
Miraculously this method healed the shoulder injuries of 90 out of the 92 patients in one study. The majority of these patients were told they would need surgery.
The mild pain experienced while performing the dead hang paradoxically doesn’t cause further injury but instead creates strong shoulders.
I have personally used the dead hang to recover from a rotator cuff injury. I was impressed with the results so I told my crazy Swedish friend about it. He also suffered from shoulder pain so he gave it go and his pain also subsided.
Dead hang for postural improvements
For all its upsides modern society and the technology that has accompanied it has encouraged laziness. We are a species designed for movement, yet the cultural norm promotes a lack of movement.
This leads to extremely poor posture over time. Prolonged sitting is one the major culprits as it hunches the shoulders and compresses the spine.
The dead hang can help us drastically improve our posture. The dead hang builds strong shoulders. It doesn’t only work the mirror muscles but also the smaller stabilization muscles in-between the joints which are often neglected during conventional training.
This helps to pull the shoulders back into their natural alignment. It also improves shoulder flexibility allowing us a greater range of motion.
Prolonged sitting also compresses the spine. Hanging is perfect to counteract this. Allowing gravity to pull the spine back into its natural position feels great and it will also improve posture.
The dead hang builds super strong shoulders and more….
The dead hang builds strong shoulders. It strengthens both the major and the minor shoulder muscles. The dead hang also strengthens the wrist, forearms and grip.
Most importantly it creates a stable foundation upon which other movements can be added. The squat is the foundation upon which to build for the lower body and the dead hang is the foundation for upper body pulling.
Many upper body movements require a straight arm start or a straight arm lockout (think pulling and dipping). The dead hang works all the supporting muscles which help provide balance and stability in these straight arm positions.
The dead hang will also benefit any movement that requires a strong grip such as lifting heavy things (ourselves included).
How to dead hang?
The dead hang can be performed on a horizontal tree branch, a pull-up bar, or on the gymnastic rings. If injured hanging on a bar or on the rings will be more suitable. I use this pull-up bar and these gymnastic rings.
Sunny’s Gymnastic Rings (Photo by Shane Alexander Francis)
To perform the dead hang:
Grip the hanging apparatus with the palms facing away from the body (pronated grip). Make sure the thumb is underneath the apparatus when gripping.
Slowly allow gravity to take your weight as you begin to hang.
Fully extend the arms overhead with shoulders elevated, but relaxed and in line with the ears.
Keep your feet and knees together but fully relax the rest of your body and hang.
Gravity will do the rest 😉
Build your hang time
When beginning you can just try to accumulate a total of 3 minutes hang time throughout the day.
As a challenge try to build up to 3 minutes hang time in one setting. When you can hang for 3 minutes, practice it twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening.
This will create super strong shoulders in no time.
Extreme discomfort – Use the partial dead hang
If you are experiencing a lot of pain while hanging due to injury or if you just can’t support your own weight try a partial dead hang.
Use the same steps as listed above but keep your feet on the ground and allow them to take a portion of your weight.
Happy Hanging Friends 🙂
