Can Dead Hangs Improve Your Posture?
It’s no secret that remaining in one position for long periods of time is unhealthy for you, and as someone who’s worked at a desk for almost 20 years, I’ve had plenty of experience with the negative effects of sitting all day. Spending most of my day in a chair led me to develop poor posture, which in turn caused pain and stiffness in my neck and shoulders, tight hamstrings and hip flexors, and reduced blood circulation in my arms and legs. I tried taking frequent breaks, switching to an ergonomic chair, and practicing yoga three times a week, and although all of those things helped a little, my discomfort continued. However, once I started incorporating dead hangs into the warm up before my workouts, everything changed.
Dead hanging regularly seemed to provide me with relief from all my issues; there was no more pain, no more tightness, no more tingling or numbness. Furthermore, I found myself able to sit more comfortably and with my back straighter for longer periods of time. I was curious about my experience, and wondered, was it merely anecdotal and a coincidence? Or can dead hangs really improve your posture and reverse the negative effects of sitting? Read on to find out!
What is good sitting posture?
First, let’s talk about posture. Posture is the proper alignment of your joints, bones, and muscles so that you can maintain stability and balance when you sit, stand, or walk. Good sitting posture in particular occurs when you position your body so that your spine, shoulders, neck, arms, and legs are all aligned properly. This alignment helps to minimize strain by distributing your weight equally across your body.
When you sit, your back should be straight and your shoulders should be relaxed and in line with your hips. Your shoulders, neck, and spine should also be aligned without tilting forward or backward, or leaning to either side. Your arms should either be at your sides, or bent with your forearms parallel to the ground. Your feet should touch the ground and your knees should be slightly bent.
Bad posture, on the other hand, can occur when your body deviates from the correct alignment. Long-term sitting can cause hunched shoulders, a forward leaning head, a tilted pelvis, and a curved spine. All of these mis-alignments can become fixtures in your body and cause a ton of issues if you sit for long periods of time without adjusting to the correct alignment. This is where dead hangs can help.
What are dead hangs and how do you do them?
Dead hangs are pretty simple to understand: it’s basically just hanging from a bar with your arms. Think doing a pull up without the pulling up part. You’re going to want to grab the bar from about shoulder width apart and use an overhand grip. If you’re not tall enough to reach the bar and don’t feel comfortable jumping, you can use a stool to get up. If you’re tall enough that your feet touch the ground, you’re going to want to find a higher bar, since they should be dangling to get the full effect.
Form-wise, you should keep your shoulders away from your ears and engage your core. Don’t bend your elbows, don’t engage your shoulders, and don’t swing from the bar. It’s a pretty easy exercise to perform, but you can do a few finger glides or finger flicks (making fists with your hands and opening and closing them over and over as though you were flicking water off of them) to warm up your grip if you’d like. A gym or a park is a great place to do your dead hangs since there are usually plenty of bars around, but if you want to try hanging at home, using a doorway pull-up bar is a great idea.
How can dead hangs improve your posture?
Dead hangs can help you correct your body’s alignment by working your shoulders, core, hips, and spine. First of all, dead hangs can reduce any rounding or hunching in your shoulders by stretching them out. This also allows for more mobility in your shoulders, which makes it easier for you to keep them in line with your spine and hips. Pelvic tilt is another consequence of sitting for a long time and indicates that your abs are weak. Because dead hangs engage and strengthen your abs, they can reduce the effect of pelvic tilt over time. Additionally, when you hang from a bar, gravity pulls your lower body downward. This not only lengthens your hip flexors (which is another way to combat pelvic tilt), but also decompresses your spine so that you can sit taller and straighter.
Of course, dead hangs are not a cure-all for bad posture. There are other exercises and stretches you can do to improve your posture along with hanging, including planks, bridges, and Is, Ys, and Ts. In addition, setting up your workspace to be as ergonomic as possible can be helpful, as well as being mindful of your posture and adjusting it when you find yourself out of alignment. You can also consult with a physical therapist to get recommendations and exercises that are specific to your posture.
Can dead hangs build muscle?
Dead hangs will definitely not get you jacked, but they can help develop your muscles in other ways. This is actually a fantastic exercise for climbers, since it improves your grip strength and engages your forearm muscles.
As mentioned earlier, dead hangs work your abs since you need to engage them to keep yourself from swinging. Once you’ve mastered the dead hang, you can start incorporating more advanced core exercises by lifting your legs to the front or the sides. Your back muscles also engage during dead hangs to keep your shoulders stable.
Can dead hangs make you taller?
Wouldn’t that be nice! Unfortunately, dead hangs can’t technically make you any taller. However, they can give you the effect of being taller for a short amount of time.
The decompression of your spine when you hang creates space between your vertebrae. This will give you a bit more height after you complete the exercise, but alas, the effects are temporary. Gravity will eventually take effect again and re-compress your spine to its original height.
How long do I need to hang for to see results?
This will vary from person to person, but if you’re a beginner, try starting out with a 10-20 second hang and see where you’re at. If that feels relatively easy, try increasing the time by 10 seconds at a time to see how long you can get to. If your hanging limit is under 30 seconds, you can try doing multiple reps (with as much rest as needed in between) to increase your time. Hanging can be an intense exercise for some, so pay attention to how your body feels and adjust accordingly.
Although you can still attain posture-improving benefits with shorter hanging times, the longer you hang, the greater the benefits you’ll achieve. Longer times will also help with improving your grip, forearm, and core strength. If you’re aiming to do dead hangs with strength in mind, Dr. Peter Attia recommends a hang time of 90 seconds for women and 120 seconds for men, so that may be a good goal to work towards. No matter how long you decide to hang for, incorporating dead hangs into your routine 2-3 times a week will get you great results. If you’re able to do them every day, that’s even better.
In the end, although they’re not the only exercise that can help, dead hangs are a great way to start improving your posture and reversing some of the negative effects of sitting at a desk all day.