Hanging

Anyone regularly just hang by their hands with arms outstretched?

While I feel like pull-ups lead to golfer’s elbow (thanks P90x! ) I think simply hanging really stretches and strengthens from lats to fingers. Even just a minute is challenging enough for me.

Just asking, and if anyone is looking for something new def try it out.


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Supposedly, hanging is a good preventive measure for shoulder impingement.
John Kirsch wrote a book about it - " Shoulder Pain? The Solution and Prevention"
Kirsch advocates hanging by hands to stretch the coracoacromial (CA) arch in the shoulder area. Over time, gravity and the weight of your arm cause the CA arch to contract downward and compress the rotator cuff tendons. When impinged, the tendons can tear.

The hanging and the three weight exercises in the book have four goals:
(1) Reshape the CA arch tissues (bone and ligament covering the rotator cuff tendon) and restoring the flexibility to the structures.
Reshaping allows more room for the rotator cuff tendons and eliminates impingement.
(2) Stretch the shoulder joint lining (the capsule) to relieve frozen shoulder
(3) Stretch the shoulder blade restraints to allow full rotation and elevation
(4) Restore health and strength of the rotator cuff tendon and muscles that lift the arm.

Hang over a 10-15 minute period during which you hang for 10-30 second intervals.
You can hang your full or partial body weight. 50-60 pounds of weight on the shoulder is enough to stretch the CA arch.
While hanging the shoulders and body should be relaxed allowing gravity to act on the shoulder muscles, bones, and ligaments.
Hands must be in a position with palms forward.
Hang with hands shoulder width apart.

Yes, I do. I do it briefly before I do pull ups to work out and I do it as part of my stretches before I leave the house to play tennis. I only do it for 10-20 seconds...never really thought of doing it as another work out segment.

I do this quite frequently....lot of different angles to stretch out different things, whatever feels right at the moment.

Hold things at least 5 minutes though, never full body weight for me. Feels like I'm contracting my arm too much that counteracts the benefits of the stretch, but to each their own.

Champs990411 said:

Anyone regularly just hang by their hands with arms outstretched?

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Pole dancers.


Good question. We forgot that we came from monkeys, climbing from tree to tree to avoid big cats. I have a new idea in my head, unfortunately I'm not the first. I think the best athlete is a dancer. And the best dancer is a dancer that can dance in 3 "platforms", 1) on 2 feet, ballet, tennis. 2) On the ground, break dancing, wrestling. 3) Hanging, pole dancing, rock climbing. I know a lady in my neighborhood who teaches ballet, acrobatics (floor gymnastics), and aerial yoga.

frank52 said:

Supposedly, hanging is a good preventive measure for shoulder impingement.
John Kirsch wrote a book about it - " Shoulder Pain? The Solution and Prevention"
Kirsch advocates hanging by hands to stretch the coracoacromial (CA) arch in the shoulder area. Over time, gravity and the weight of your arm cause the CA arch to contract downward and compress the rotator cuff tendons. When impinged, the tendons can tear.

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Great cite. I've written about hanging from a bar here in the past.

I've found it helpful and now do it almost daily. I generally hang for about 30-40 seconds after I play tennis and sometimes a few more times in a day.

My experience is that hanging from a bar combined with shoulder exercises lessened pain and increased recovery faster than just doing rotator cuff exercises with a band alone.

I've also found benefit in terms of reducing shoulder pain by doing pull-ups, rowing, and deadlifts.

We have a machine which you can do pullups, roman chair, dips and pushups on and I normally use it for those purposes but you can just grab the bars as if doing a pullup and just hang for a while. It makes for a nice stretch through your arms and may loosen up your shoulder joint. This is in my office and I sometimes do it before using the treadmill.

How is it hanging?

sureshs said:

How is it hanging?

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One lower than the other.

Old joke.

I hang for about 30-60 seconds a couple of times every day. It is one of the best shoulder mobility/relaxing activities you can do. I started after reading about the John Kirsch book mentioned above. The shoulder pain I had went away in about a week and I've recommended it to others I play tennis with and they do it regularly too now.

I can hang 10 breaths length before the grips will give away. What’s the limiting factor for you guys?

moonballs said:

I can hang 10 breaths length before the grips will give away. What’s the limiting factor for you guys?

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These days I'll hang from a bar for under a minute - usually 30-40 seconds. I have the grip strength to hang for a longer period of time, but my hands do begin to hurt.

In my experience, 20-40 seconds seems to be a long enough period of time to get a good stretch.