Does anyone here do dead hangs?

[don't ask]

I used to do a lot of dead hanging from gymnastic rings. It felt great on my back, stretched out my lats / chest / shoulders / spine, and built tremendous grip strength. I tried to hang for 5 minutes each day and it really helped clean up a bunch of issues for me, injury-wise.

I stopped doing it for a year, but resumed this weak because some old shoulder pains were coming back. When I'm hanging now, however,
my shoulders rise up and cut off my carotid arteries. I'm basically choking myself out every time I hang. I can't find a true dead hang position that doesn't do this. I can lean back and move my shoulders slightly forward, but that's not really a hang with the same stretch benefits.

Does anyone know what's going on?

 

[ricc505]

Is your head staying upright?

 

[godhatesacoward]

I do sometimes but I forget to do it too often

 

[ROcknrollracing]

I do them every day for 30 seconds at least. Maybe try a reverse grip?

Almost just as good as dead hangs are just forward reach onto a chair or side of bed for time.

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

I don’t know what’s up with deadhangs. There were times where it felt like they made my shoulders worse


I see them posted on Reddit quite a lot.. and I’ve gotten to the point where if someone suggests something on Reddit I assume it’s bad for you.

 

[don't ask]

Is your head staying upright?

Yep. I've tried upright and I've also tried with my head forward and back, hoping to find a position where the neck isn't getting squeezed.

 

[don't ask]

I don’t know what’s up with deadhangs. There were times where it felt like they made my shoulders worse


I see them posted on Reddit quite a lot.. and I’ve gotten to the point where if someone suggests something on Reddit I assume it’s bad for you.

They definitely helped me. That's all I can attest to.

 

[don't ask]

I do them every day for 30 seconds at least. Maybe try a reverse grip?

There's not really a reverse grip on gymnastic rings.

Almost just as good as dead hangs are just forward reach onto a chair or side of bed for time.

I'm hoping to get hangs to work again, but might have to do something else like this chair stretch. I wonder if my shoulders are too muscular now? That doesn't make sense, though, I know I've seen people with much more muscle doing hangs.

 

[Fahcough]

Your shoulders are too damn big for your neck. Time to start doing neck raises so the delts don't fit under your ears. Do you only have access to rings? If yes, then do them alternating or 1 arm at a time. If able to grab a bar, go wider. Or try holding knee tuck at same time so it puts small arch in your core.
And if you want to smoke your forearms, do a true false grip without using any fingers. Lay your wrist over top of bar/ rings and hold self from your palms, 20 seconds feels like a minute.

 

[don't ask]

Your shoulders are too damn big for your neck.

ahahaha what a great problem to have.

Time to start doing neck raises so the delts don't fit under your ears.

This is embarrassing as a grappler. I guess I'm doing neck exercises again.

Do you only have access to rings? If yes, then do them alternating or 1 arm at a time.

I only have rings. I can't do one-arm hangs for any great length of time, so I guess this is also an opportunity to do more grip training.

If able to grab a bar, go wider. Or try holding knee tuck at same time so it puts small arch in your core.
And if you want to smoke your forearms, do a true false grip without using any fingers. Lay your wrist over top of bar/ rings and hold self from your palms, 20 seconds feels like a minute.

You know what? I'm so glad you mentioned false grip hangs! The last little while I've been trying to figure out a way to do wrist curls on my rings and this is the perfect answer. It never once crossed my mind.

 

[Fahcough]

You know what? I'm so glad you mentioned false grip hangs! The last little while I've been trying to figure out a way to do wrist curls on my rings and this is the perfect answer. It never once crossed my mind.

Awesome! Not sure if you were aiming for wrist strength or grip & forearm building. Because you can sure do finger curls on them. Hang by nothing but fingers and try to close them.

 

[Fahcough]

Also have you tried doubling in scapula pulls during the hang? Maybe the shrug would buy you some time before you go out. Bonus points for correcting posture while you're hanging around.

 

[don't ask]

Awesome! Not sure if you were aiming for wrist strength or grip & forearm building. Because you can sure do finger curls on them. Hang by nothing but fingers and try to close them.

I was doing towel hangs, but they're starting to aggravate my fingers. False grip seems like a fantastic solution to build forearms.

Also have you tried doubling in scapula pulls during the hang? Maybe the shrug would buy you some time before you go out. Bonus points for correcting posture while you're hanging around.

I do arch body pulls separately as part of my workout. The dead hangs are just part of my morning routine.

I tried one arm hangs this morning and will have to regress them, but it they seem promising.

 

[Devil's_Advocate]

I used to do dead hangs quite a bit to help decompress my spine and improve my shoulder mobility.

It sounds like it's a mobility issue with your shoulders. I've had something similar happen when doing leg raises to the crossbar.

 

[Baby Hanma]

I don't know what changed, but if an exercise is hurting you, you gotta stop doing it and find an alternative.