Muscles worked
In a dead hang, your grip carries your whole body weight. The finger flexors in your forearm do the main work and are usually what gives out first. It is the grip that keeps you on the bar in pull-ups. Your lats and shoulders are stretched, yet still work to keep the shoulder joint in place. If you draw your shoulders down a little without bending your arms, often called an active hang, the muscles around your shoulder blades get more to do. A fully relaxed hang becomes more of a stretch.
Common mistakes
- Your thumb sits beside the bar. A thumbless grip may feel comfortable, but most people hold on better with the thumb wrapped around the bar.
- Jumping up to the bar. A jump jerks your shoulders and leaves no time to set your grip. Stand on a box or step, take a proper grip, then lift your feet.
- Your shoulders sink uncomfortably far. If hanging fully relaxed feels wrong in your shoulders, draw them down slightly, away from your ears. If your shoulders hurt (not just heavy in the hands), stop and get a physiotherapist or doctor to look at it.
Variations and alternatives
- Pull-ups are the next step when you want to train your back and grip together.
- The hanging knee raise adds ab work on top of the hang.
- The farmer's walk trains the same kind of grip with dumbbells, where the weight is easy to increase in small steps.
Sets and reps
A dead hang is measured in seconds. Three to four hangs of 20 to 60 seconds suit most people, with one to two minutes' rest. If you are new, start with 10 to 20 seconds, or let your toes rest lightly on a box so you are not carrying your full weight. Step down as soon as your grip starts to slip. The guide to sets and reps has more on planning.
Add a few seconds per hang from one session to the next. Once a minute feels easy, make the hang harder rather than longer: hang with a weight on a belt, or drape a towel over the bar and hold on to that. That is progressive overload for your grip.