If you are looking for a simple yet effective exercise to add to your regular workout routine, consider using the dead hang.
Dead hangs can be performed with just minimal equipment and provide numerous benefits that can help improve both strength and overall fitness.
From building upper body strength and improving grip strength to positively impacting core stability and posture, there’s no shortage of advantages that come from incorporating dead hangs into any daily workout.
This blog post will discuss the various health benefits of performing dead hangs as part of an exercise regimen.
Let’s get going:
What Are Dead Hangs?
A dead hang is a workout that calls for you to hang motionlessly from an overhead/pull-up bar. No reps, resistance, or other moves are involved; it is just a simple hang.
Despite appearing simple, it is not exclusively for novices. Everyone, regardless of fitness level, can benefit from performing this exercise.
How To Do Dead Hangs?
- If you can't reach a safe overhead pull-up bar by just raising your arms, place a step, bench, or box underneath it. Instead of jumping up into a dead hang as you might for pull-ups or chin-ups, you don't want to have to do that.
- Grab the bar with an overhand pull-up hold, keeping your hands shoulder-width apart and your palms facing away from you.
- Removing your feet from the step, box, or bench will allow you to hang from the bar while extending your arms fully.
- Bend your knees so that your shins and feet are behind your torso if the bar is too low for your feet to contact the ground.
- While keeping your lower body somewhat relaxed, focus on stabilizing your core and glutes.
What Are The Benefits Of Dead Hangs?
Listed below are some of the physical and health benefits of dead hangs that every fitness freak must be aware of:
1. Improves Grip
Possessing a firm grip will aid you in many situations, like opening jars, removing screws, and popping the cork on a bottle of champagne.
Low grip strength is linked to greater rates of mortality and disability, suggesting that grip strength may potentially be a predictor of your overall health in later life.
Once you start doing dead hangs, your grip strength will eventually be improved.
Pro Tip:
If you want to take your grip strength to the next level, you may use hand grippers, and you’ll have supreme-level grip strength sooner than later.
2. Great For Shoulder Joints
We tend to neglect our shoulders' full range of mobility since we rarely need it. In the long run, this might cause real mobility issues, aches, and pains. One of the many benefits of dead hangs is that they increase shoulder joint mobility.
Everyone can benefit from this, but those who have suffered a rotator cuff injury will find it very useful in regaining and maintaining their shoulder range of motion.
3. Decompresses Spine
Your own weight will assist in gently elongating and lengthening your spine while you hang.
The disks in your spine (the soft, jellylike cushions between your vertebrae) will appreciate the relief of pressure this provides.
The pressure on your disks may be reduced, allowing nutrients to enter the area and speed up healing.
Anyone who spends a lot of time sitting or who frequently experiences back pain may benefit greatly from dead hangs.
If you are unsure whether to include dead hang into your fitness routine, you better do it because it can decompress your spine like nothing else.
4. Strengthens Forearms
Strengthening forearms is another physical and health benefit of dead hangs.
In addition to helping you get bigger and stronger in your forearms, dead hangs provide a number of other advantages.
In a dead hang, your forearms are continually under tension rather than being flexed as they are in a forearm curl.
So, performing dead hangs should be your best bet if you want to make your forearms look muscular.
Related: Best Forearm Exercises For Mass
5. Stretches Upper Body
Another of the several advantages of the dead hang is that it stretches and relaxes the body. Dead hang involves stretching your hands as well as your back and shoulders.
Your upper body muscles will be stretched as a result of hanging from the bar since the force of gravity pulls your body lower naturally as it does so.
Upon completing the exercise, you will be able to feel a sense of relaxation and relief.
Wrapping Up
All in all, we can see that dead hangs offer numerous benefits to both your body and mind. In addition to their ease of use, they are also extremely effective in helping us reduce stress and improve our mobility.
Furthermore, doing dead hangs regularly can help strengthen our grip and core muscles while stretching out shoulder muscles and ligaments that would otherwise be difficult to target on our own.
Thus, dead hangs are a great way to supplement an active lifestyle or inject some extra activity into your day.
With all the benefits it provides and its minimal cost for implementation, it is no wonder why so many people have embraced the practice of dead hanging.
