Description
Hanging off a pullup bar is a challenging exercise that requires you to hang off of a pullup bar. It causes your lat muscles to tighten and strengthens your grip strength and core stability.
How to Do It
1. With your arms fully extended, grip an overhead pull-up bar with your hands and hang with your feet suspended above the floor.
2. Hold this hanging pose for as long as possible until you start to lose your grip or form
3. Rest and repeat the exercise.
Benefits
- Strengthens the arms, shoulders, and core
- Enhances grip
- Helps you get better at doing pull-ups (or performing your first one).
- Improves posture
Time Commitment
Aim to hold each time for a minimum of 10 seconds, repeating, so you accumulate 2 minutes of hang time in total.
Why it works
- By dead-hanging in this way, your body weight is being used against you to strengthen and lengthen your muscles. Evidence tells us that resistance training can increase muscle strength and reduce pain. It may also enable protection from future exercise-related activities, all having a positive effect on overall strength.
- Straight arm hanging exercises like this work the brachioradialis and extensor carpi radialis muscles in your forearms, as well as deltoid muscles in your shoulders through isometrically contracting these muscles. These muscles are especially important for enhancing your grip.
- Isometric training, like hanging from a pull-up bar, strengthens the muscles at a particular angle. This means it is particularly useful when training for a specific purpose, such as trying to complete a pull-up.
- Simply hanging from a bar can increase your awareness of a possible imbalance in your posture, which then helps you address this issue.
Suggested Frequency
2 to 3 times a week, but it can be done every day.
Supporting Studies
Side Effects
As with any exercise, there is a risk of pain and damage, hanging off a pull-up bar can:
- Inflame joints
- Cause blisters
- Cause muscle aches
Taking care to ensure you are using proper technique and equipment, and aren’t overdoing it, should solve most issues.
Required Equipment
1. Pull-up bar
2. Hand grips
3. Exercise clothes
Gurus/Celebrities/Doing it
Halle Berry
Suggested Time of Day
Whenever you usually schedule your workout
Notes
Please consult with your doctor, or a certified trainer, if you're concerned with how hanging off a pullup bar will affect any pre-existing injuries you have.
It may be a good idea to first run through this exercise with a certified trainer to learn what the proper form should be.
