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Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults
The dead hang exercise improves grip strength while building muscle through the arms, shoulders, back, core and glutes.
Image Credit: SrdjanPav/E+/GettyImages
Image Credit: SrdjanPav/E+/GettyImages
Image Credit: Caroline Juster/LIVESTRONG.com
Image Credit: Caroline Juster/LIVESTRONG.com
Body Part
Arms
Choose a pull-up bar or stable surface that’s high enough for you to hang from with your legs straight and feet off the ground. Shorter trainees should use a box to help them safely get up to the bar. Select your hand position and grip the bar tightly. Allow yourself to drop into a full hang. Your arms should be completely straight overhead. Because this is a passive hang, gravity will pull your body down toward the floor. Allow your shoulders to travel up to your ears and your legs to hang straight beneath you. You will likely feel a lot of stretching throughout your entire upper body. Hold the passive hang for a predetermined time interval or for as long as you can. When you are finished, place your feet on the floor or box and carefully release your hands from the bar.
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Body Part
Arms
Try to keep your head and neck in a neutral alignment as you hang. Don’t allow your head to push forward through your arms.
Body Part
Back, Abs, Arms, Shoulders and Butt
Choose a pull-up bar or stable surface that’s high enough for you to hang from with your egs straight and feet off the ground. Shorter trainees should use a box to help them safely get up to the bar. Select your hand position and grip the bar tightly. Allow yourself to drop into a full passive hang. From here, you will transition into an active hang by pulling your shoulder blades back and down. There may be some slight bending in the elbows as you do this. To help get your core activated, imagine you are wearing a large belt buckle and try to point it toward your chin. This will posteriorly tilt your pelvis and bring your legs out in front of your body. Squeeze your butt and press your legs together. Your entire body should feel tense and activated. Hold the active hang for a predetermined time interval or for as long as you can. When you are finished, place your feet on the floor or box and carefully release your hands from the bar.
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Body Part
Back, Abs, Arms, Shoulders and Butt
Grip strength is a great measure of the fatigue of your nervous system. Your nervous system is crucial for strength training because lifting weights isn’t just about working your muscles, it’s also a skill that requires coordination between your brain and body. When your nervous system is fatigued, you won’t be able to execute lifts efficiently or with good form. Want to test your readiness for a tough lifting workout? Hop on a pull-up bar and see how it feels to hang for 30 to 60 seconds at the end of your warm-up. If your hang feels easy, it’s a sign that you’re ready to push yourself that day. If the hang feels really tough or you aren’t able to hang for as long as usual, you may want to use lighter weights or reduce the intensity on that day.
Your nervous system is crucial for strength training because lifting weights isn’t just about working your muscles, it’s also a skill that requires coordination between your brain and body. When your nervous system is fatigued, you won’t be able to execute lifts efficiently or with good form.
Want to test your readiness for a tough lifting workout? Hop on a pull-up bar and see how it feels to hang for 30 to 60 seconds at the end of your warm-up.
If your hang feels easy, it’s a sign that you’re ready to push yourself that day. If the hang feels really tough or you aren’t able to hang for as long as usual, you may want to use lighter weights or reduce the intensity on that day.
Body Part
Abs, Arms and Shoulders
Grab onto a TRX handle or another stable surface with one hand. Slowly lean to the side until the grabbing hand is straight. You can either keep your shoulder blade pulled back and down or allow it extend away from the body. Allow gravity to pull your body toward the floor. Hold the hang for a predetermined time interval or for as long as you can. When you are finished, carefully pull yourself back up to standing.
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Body Part
Abs, Arms and Shoulders
The side hang is a great option for trainees who are not able to perform overhead hangs for whatever reason. You won’t get the same decompression of the spine or opening up of the shoulder capsule, but you can still get the stretching and strengthening benefits of a traditional hang. You can perform a side hang using a bar, doorframe or TRX rings. Experiment with different surfaces and heights to find something that feels good on your shoulders. The steeper your body angle relative to the ground, the more challenging this will be.
You can perform a side hang using a bar, doorframe or TRX rings. Experiment with different surfaces and heights to find something that feels good on your shoulders. The steeper your body angle relative to the ground, the more challenging this will be.
Body Part
Abs, Arms, Back, Shoulders and Butt
Choose a pull-up bar or stable surface. Since you’ll be partially supporting your weight with your feet, it’s okay for the bar to be closer to the ground (chest height works great). If you’re using a high bar, stand on a box positioned beneath you. Select your hand position and grip the bar tightly. Allow yourself to drop into a hang. Your arms should be completely straight overhead. However, your feet should remain at least partially in contact with the floor or box. This may require you to bend your knees or place your feet on the floor in front of you. Use as much leg support as necessary to allow you to maintain a relaxed upper body position. Hold the hang for a predetermined time interval or for as long as you can. When you are finished, shift your entire weight to the floor or box and carefully release the bar.
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Body Part
Abs, Arms, Back, Shoulders and Butt
If you aren’t yet able to support your entire body weight, practice your hangs using support from your legs. You can either use a lower bar (so your feet can stay on the ground) or place a box underneath the bar. Use as much leg support as you need to hang without pain. As you get stronger, you can gradually use your legs less and less.
Body Part
Back, Arms, Legs, Abs, Butt and Shoulders
Set up gymnastics rings at about chin height while standing. You may need to adjust the height of the rings depending on the length of your arms and legs. You want your arms to be fully extended overhead once you’re in the bottom of your deep squat. Start in a standing position. Grab the rings tightly and place your feet about hip width apart. Allow yourself to drop into a deep squat. Lower yourself until your arms are straight overhead. Allow your shoulders to travel up to your ears as you sink into the deep squat position. You will likely feel a lot of stretching throughout your entire upper body. Your feet should stay firmly planted on the ground. Hold the hang for a predetermined time interval or for as long as you can. When you are finished, drive your legs into the floor, pull yourself up with your arms and return to your standing start position.
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Body Part
Back, Arms, Legs, Abs, Butt and Shoulders
The ring squat hang is another variation that allows you to get assistance from your legs. If you don’t have access to rings, you can also use a TRX or another suspension trainer. Tip: The ring /TRX squat is a great exercise to introduce modified ring chin-ups. Instead of simply hanging in the bottom of your squat, practice squatting down and then using your arms to pull yourself back up to standing. Focus on driving your elbows down to your sides and squeezing your armpits hard at the top.
Tip: The ring /TRX squat is a great exercise to introduce modified ring chin-ups. Instead of simply hanging in the bottom of your squat, practice squatting down and then using your arms to pull yourself back up to standing. Focus on driving your elbows down to your sides and squeezing your armpits hard at the top.
Body Part
Back, Arms, Shoulders, Abs and Butt
Choose a pull-up bar or stable surface that’s high enough for you to hang from with your legs straight and feet off the ground. Shorter trainees should use a box to help them safely get up to the bar. Select your hand position and grip the bar tightly. Allow yourself to drop into a full passive hang. From here, you will transition into an active hang by pulling your shoulder blades back and down, tilting your belt buckle to your chin and squeezing your legs in front of you. Hold this for 1-2 seconds. Relax back into a passive hang by letting gravity pull your body down. Then move back into the active hang. Keep moving between passive and active hangs for the desired number of reps.
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Body Part
Back, Arms, Shoulders, Abs and Butt
The scapular pull-up is a great way to progress from a hang to the pull-up. Each rep teaches you how to transition from the passive to the active hang, building strength that will help you move in and out of the bottom of your pull-up.
Body Part
Arms, Back and Shoulders
Once you’re comfortable with static hangs, experiment with adding in swings and rotations. There are no rules here; play around with the movements and directions that feel best for you. Even though you are swinging your body and moving around on the bar, try to move slowly and maintain control of your body. Initiate all movement from your core, hips and glutes.
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Body Part
Arms, Back and Shoulders
Body Part
Arms, Back, Shoulders and Abs
Begin with both hands on one bar and your body hanging beneath you. Carefully release one hand and grab the next bar in front of you. You can use your hips to generate some rotation in order to reach the bar. Release the back hand and grab the next bar in front of you. This hand will be skipping the bar that’s already being grabbed by your other hand. Keep moving forward in this alternating fashion until your grip needs a break or until you’ve reached the end of the bars.
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Body Part
Arms, Back, Shoulders and Abs
I love using the monkey bars as a goal for my clients because it makes training the hang a lot more fun. Remember how easy the monkey bars used to be when you were a kid? Prepare to be humbled if you haven’t tried to use them in years. Reaching from bar to bar requires a great deal of strength because you will have periods where you’re supporting your body weight with just one hand.
Prepare to be humbled if you haven’t tried to use them in years. Reaching from bar to bar requires a great deal of strength because you will have periods where you’re supporting your body weight with just one hand.
Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults
