there's evidence showing that hanging can reshape your posture heal your shoulders and even make you taller Dr John M kersch reports prescribing hanging to his patients who were recommended for shoulder surgery 90% ended up not needing surgery just from hanging so there's no question that it's healthy but why if you look at the structure of our shoulders it's very clear that we evolved from brachiating apes our shoulders are meant for hanging and climbing and other than Apes we're the only animals with shoulders that can move like this so we're only noticing the magic of hanging
because we were depriving our bodies of something that they were actually meant to do we're going to share with you the best method to develop your hanging abilities but first what does hanging actually do for the body it decompresses the spine by using gravity to pull the hips away from the shoulders creating space in places that are typically more compressed from modern-day lifestyle in this can be very important for those of us who lift weights or work a physically demanding job it opens up muscles around the shoulder like the lats and chest that can commonly
become stiff from sitting at a computer and it can literally reshape the bone surrounding the shoulder to make more space in the ball and socket to move more freely but that's not all it increases grip strength which is one of the biggest predictors of mortality meaning the stronger your hands the less likely you are to die and if done correctly it can actually make your shoulders and core more strong and resilient translating to more strength and athleticism throughout the whole body with this many benefits there's really no excuse not to let's try it out first
let's take a look at some of the key points to get the most out of the basic hang shoulders relaxed and up towards the ears the ribs are pulled down achieved by keeping slight tension in the core muscles head sits right above the ribs hands shoulder width apart is optimal but you can play with this steady breathing try to expand the rib cage passive hanging is about letting gravity do the stretching for you your grip is probably the first thing that's going to give out but don't worry the grip gets stronger quickly and using chalk
can help create more friction take it slow you won't heal your shoulder or stiffness in one session play the long game and be cautious it should feel like a nice stretch feeling pain or pinching is not what we're looking for in that case consult a medical professional before proceeding the best place to start is by strengthening your grip and shoulders enough to hang for 60 seconds our method is start by hanging from the bar until you start to fatigue your grip and shoulders then place your feet down for assistance to make it to the full
minute some people may need to start with their feet down the whole time and that's completely fine as you build up your strength for the full 60-second hang you can intermittently lift the toes and then place them back down you'll be surprised at how fast your body gains this strength and achieves the one minute hang relaxed hanging can be done every day but if you choose to go this path don't overdo it keep each session nice and light only 3 minutes a day or try 5 to 6 minutes every other day this is accumulated not
all at one time now obviously the question of how can I hang regularly comes to mind if your only pull-up bar is a 15-minute drive to the gym then you probably won't be hanging super often this is why we think it's great to have a bar or rings to hang from at home make it easy accessible for yourself with less barriers if you're interested in this method check out our video on the best at home pull-up bar setups but the work doesn't stop here two arm hanging is great but remember we evolved from brachiating apes
that didn't just hang they swing and climb and they're constantly moving through trees we need to hang from one arm and we need to be strong enough to move from a one arm hang if you watch someone brachiate from bars their shoulders are going from relaxed to active positions constantly if you can do the monkey bars at the park with your kids then congratulations you're very unique most adults have lost the ability to do this and it's very valuable to build it back and the thing about brachiating is that pull-ups will not help you you
have to have control of your shoulders and scapula without the help of the elbows but one thing that may help you is being in comfortable enough clothes to reach your arms overhead our sponsor viori makes versatile athletic clothing perfect to work out in but also look good in everyday life these days I have far less boundaries between working out and the rest of my life it's all kind of Blended when I rock vori I'm able to get a training session in and then go out to dinner right after no changing necessary in my eyes it's
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resist bending at the elbows feel the shoulder and shoulder blade move downward while your chest moves upward keep your ribs pulled down and resist overarching the spine here start by holding this active position for 10 seconds to progress you can start to do reps moving from passive into active and back we can combine our active hanging with a one-arm relaxed Tang if you can do a two arm hang for 60 seconds you should be able to do at least 10 seconds on one arm but your first time exploring keep your feet on the ground it's
a lot more demanding on your grip and shoulder training the combination of these two sets us up to progress towards our Monkey Bar style of hanging the one arm active hang is much harder because you're asking one shoulder to depress and pull your whole body weight upwards it can take some time to get here don't rush and once again the transition should be through keeping the feet on the ground once you feel comfortable hanging on one arm and pulling the shoulder down actively you're prepared to explore now most Parks don't have great Monkey Bar setups
for adults and if you do have one then go have fun but one way we can get the same benefits is one arm alternate hanging start in a two arm hang and let go with one hand allow the shoulder to relax so that the resting shoulder is far below the working shoulder then actively pull the relaxed shoulder back up using those same muscles we used in the active hang previously to pull the other hand back to the bar Begin by reaching the other hand down to the head so you can alternate quickly as you progress
you can reach the other hand down towards the pockets or even the thighs to accentuate the movement so here's a basic one arm hanging program that you can adjust to your level we'll post post it in the pin comments below you can combine your daily passive hangs with a couple days of one arm hanging for time efficiency these work great for warming up for a training session I had some shoulder injuries when I was 18 that led to me having surgery but I still had shoulder dislocations into my late 20s I started to think it
was just going to be this way my whole life until I started using more non-traditional rehab methods along with basic calisthenics I started using hanging I progressed very slowly and didn't push myself Beyond Comfort over time my shoulders became more resilient and I started to impress myself with what I was capable of now my shoulder dislocations are a thing of the past and I feel healthy and strong what I learned is that bringing back necessary functionality of my body actually helped it heal have you experienced the magic of hanging are you planning to leave us
a comment below if you want more help with strengthening your shoulders to become strong and functional then check out our program bulletproof shoulders Link in the description below appreciate y'all as always
