How to Do Dead Hangs (and When to Do Them)

Hanging from a bar without doing pull-ups can feel like a non-exercise. But “dead hangs,” as they’re called, are a useful tool for building grip strength, stretching your shoulders, and working on your pull-ups. However, dead hangs have become fashionable and I think they are overrated. Let’s look at what dead hangs can and can’t do, and how you can improve them.

What are dead freezes?

To do a dead hang, you first need to find a pull-up bar. You can purchase a doorway pull-up bar or pull-up tower to train your hangs at home, or you can find a pull-up bar at your local gym. If you haven’t seen them, they are sneaky. Look for pull-up bars or handles:

• On squat racks

• On cable machines (especially in the middle of crossover or dual cable machines)

• On assisted pull-up machines (you can often fold the knee pad and use it without assistance)

To do a dead hang:

1. Ideally use a box or bench so you don’t have to jump. But it’s okay if you jump to reach the bar or handles.

2. Grab the bar with your palms facing away from you. (Other hand positions are possible, but this is the most common way to perform dead hangs.)

3. Find a comfortable grip width by placing your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. If you have the opportunity to use different handles (wider, narrower, etc.), find the one that is most comfortable.

4. Adjust your grip if necessary. You can grab the bar with your thumbs at the top of the bar or wrap it around the bottom.

5. Relax your body. Your shoulders will be right next to your ears.

They are called “dead” hangs because your body is like a dead weight. The opposite would be an “active” hang, where you press your shoulders down and activate your shoulder, back, and chest muscles. Active freezes can be useful, but today we are talking about dead freezes.

How to Use Dead Hangs to Increase Grip Strength

The first thing you’ll notice when you grab the bar is that it’s not always easy on your hands! The gripper muscles, located mainly on the forearms (!), have to work hard to keep the body upright.

If you are a gymnast or rock climber, this is not a problem. But if you’re new to the gym, you may find that your arms can’t support your body weight for long. This is normal: dead hangs will develop grip strength and you’ll start making progress pretty quickly.

If this is too difficult, place your feet on a box or bench (or use a lower bar, such as a Smith machine, and place your feet on the floor). This will take some of the weight off your arms.

How to progress : Keep an eye on the clock (or set a timer on your watch or phone) and see how long you can hang. Start with three sets of whatever you can handle and work your way up to at least three sets of 30 seconds or more, resting a few minutes between sets.

Once you can easily hang for more than 30 seconds, increase the challenge. My favorite technique is to hang from one full hand and just two fingers from the other. In the next approach, change your hand to the other. (Do four sets so each arm gets equal work.) You can also add weight, such as using a push-up belt. Another option is to perform standing holds with a loaded barbell. Load the bar heavier as your grip becomes stronger.

Why They’re Overrated : Dead hangs are great for beginners, but if you’re serious about grip training, you shouldn’t rely on dead hangs alone . Wrist and forearm curls, thick bar work, and plucking movements should also be in the mix . And remember, if you want to focus your grip training on dead hangs, make them more difficult as described above, rather than just hang longer.

How to Use Dead Hangs to Prep for Your First Pull-Up

Instead of hanging there, do you want to really pull yourself up? Dead hangs are a great first step because they help improve your grip and allow you to comfortably use the bars. Use them in the same way as for gripping: increase the number of repetitions to 3 x 30 seconds, and then add active hanging and other movements to your program.

If this is too difficult, place your feet on a box or bench as you would for grip training.

How to Progress : Your next step is to actively hang. To perform an active hang, start with a dead hang and then imagine yourself trying to lower the barbell to the ground with your arms straight. This will lift your head and chest, press your shoulders toward the ground, and tighten your back muscles.

If you do multiple reps, they’re sometimes called “pull-ups” (because they’re similar to a pull-up, but you’re moving your shoulder blades—your shoulder blades—rather than your arms). Here is a video example .

Other key exercises in your pull-up journey may include bent arm hangs (where you start at the top of a pull-up and stay there) and negative pull-ups (where you start at the top of a pull-up). up and slowly lower down). In both cases, you will need a box or bench to get into the starting position.

Why They’re Overrated : Dead hangs are great as a first step into the world of pull-ups. But once you can do active hangs (or pull-up repetitions), dead hangs become unnecessary.

How to Use Hangs as a Shoulder Stretch

If you see me doing hangs, it will be for this reason: I warm up my shoulders and stretch my upper body before doing lifts where I hold the barbell overhead.

I find this works best if I use a low pull-up bar or even a bar in a squat rack or Smith machine so I can plant my feet on the ground.

The point here is not to challenge your grip, so you don’t have to pull all the weight into your hands. With your feet flat on the floor, you can easily change your position, such as leaning forward, to feel a greater stretch in your chest. Another good stretch is to switch hands so your palms are facing you and round your back a little to feel a stretch in your lats (on the sides of your back).

Spend as much time as necessary stretching your shoulders this way (3 x 30 seconds is also a good guideline, but you can do this longer if you feel it helps). I like to alternate these stretches with activation (strength) exercises such as band pull-ups or push-ups.

How to Progress : If you can comfortably perform all the positions I just described, you have pretty much achieved all the shoulder flexibility this exercise can give you. As with any stretching, if you want more flexibility than this, choose a new set of stretches that suits your goals.

Why They’re Overrated : The dead hang is just one type of stretch. (The version I describe here, where you get into several different poses to stretch different muscles, is a little more helpful.) But shoulder health is about more than just one or a few specific stretches. You’ll also want to strengthen your shoulders with a variety of exercises and stretch your shoulders in more positions than just overhead. Dead hangs are often touted as the one magic exercise that will solve all your problems, but in reality they only give you a fraction of what you can get from a well-designed strength training and mobility program.

How to Use Dead Hangs for Spinal Decompression

I left this one for last because it is the least important, at least in terms of physical benefits.

People who love dead hangs often love the feeling of relaxation they get while hanging from the bar. As your back and core muscles relax, you may feel your back “lengthening,” which can feel good.

Why it’s overrated : There’s no conclusive evidence that it actually does anything for your health or fitness.

Spinal decompression (often using devices to hold a person in a certain position) has been used to treat back pain or to speed up the healing of certain types of back injuries. Sometimes it seems to help, but there is no clear evidence that decompression does anything – most injuries resolve on their own over time, whether you perform spinal decompression or not. A 2007 review examined several studies cited in marketing materials for spinal decompression devices and concluded that “the quality of these studies is questionable.”

Ultimately, if dead hangs make you feel better, go ahead and do them. As a side effect, they may even improve grip strength and shoulder mobility. But don’t expect any major health benefits from them.

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