‘I did dead hangs for a month — these were the biggest benefits’

So, with the fear of feeling tall firmly dispelled as I’ve grown older, I set about doing a series of dead hangs every other day for a month. Here’s everything I found – from whether they really can “fix” your posture, to why your lower back might hurt (and how to prevent that), all of Vincent’s advice, and why I won’t be giving them up.

1. Find or set up a bar on a chin up bar, machine or in a squat rack.
2. Grip the bar using an overhand grip (palms facing away from you). Your hands should be shoulder-width apart or slightly wider. It is usually more comfortable to go slightly wider.
3. Don’t jump into the position; set up so that you can simply take your feet off the floor or a block if you’re tall enough, and get into position without too much swinging.
4. Exhale fully to engage your core, squeeze your glutes, tuck your tail bone, and relax your shoulders. The aim is to keep your ribcage down and pelvis slightly tucked to prevent your spine from hyperextending, maintaining a steady breath and avoid exaggerated swinging – a little movement is normal.
5. Hold the position until you feel your shoulders and neck are overly tensing to sustain the position.

• Improved shoulder mobility: ‘Dead hangs move your shoulder into flexion, which improves overall shoulder flexibility and range of motion.’
• Spinal decompression: ‘Hanging from a bar allows your spine to elongate with gravity, potentially relieving pressure on the vertebrae and discs. This decompression can alleviate back pain and improve overall spinal health.’ Though not directly comparable, spinal decompression therapy – in which a patient’s spine is stretched on a traction table or motorised devise – has been shown in many studies as an effective intervention for easing lower back pain, suggesting that decompression through dead hangs could also reduce lower back pain.
• Improved grip strength: ‘Maintaining a hang requires a lot of grip strength, which can carry over to other exercises and daily activities, like carrying shopping.’ What’s more, some studies show weak grip strength could lead to decreased mobility as you grow older.
• Better posture: ‘Dead hangs could help improve some postural issues due to exposing the shoulder to a greater range of motion, increasing scapula strength and forcing you to breathe in an elongated position, which encourages you to take deeper inhales and exhales.’
• Better shoulder stability and rotator cuff strength: ‘Dead hangs require the recruitment of many of the smaller muscles in your shoulder joint and rotator cuff, thereby improving shoulder stability and potentially preventing injuries and enhancing performance in activities requiring shoulder strength.’ Sure enough, one study found that shoulder muscle imbalances are a risk factor for shoulder injury.

Keep scrolling for all the benefits I experienced after doing dead hangs for a month

Vincent says: ‘Dead hangs are an isometric exercise, meaning they are performed static. The main muscles placed under isometric tension are’:

• Forearms: Flexor digitorum superficialis, flexor and pollicis longus as well as flexor carpi radialis and carpi ulnaris.
• Shoulders: Deltoids and rotator cuff muscles.
• Back: Latissimus dorsi, trapezius, and rhomboids.
• Core stabilisers: External and internal obliques and transverse abdominis.

Dead hang times by age

‘Know that your body weight will massively influence this exercise, so use these timings as a guide only,’ says Vincent.

• Age 21-35: 45-120 seconds per set
• Age 35-45: 30-90 seconds per set
• Age 45-60: 15-60 seconds per set
• Age 60+: 10-30 seconds per set

Dead hang times by experience

• Beginner: 10-30 seconds for 1-2 sets
• Intermediate: 30-45 seconds for 2-3 sets
• Advanced: 60+ seconds for 2-4 sets

Is a 1-minute dead hang good?

Vincent advises: ‘Yes, 60 seconds is good. But as mentioned, keep in mind that your bodyweight will massively affect how long you can hold for – the more bodyweight, the harder it will be to hold, so don’t get disheartened if you struggle to hit one minute. Try increasing your hold time by five seconds per week to help you progressively hit your goal, but avoid holding on if you feel your shoulders are overly tensed as this can cause muscle strains.’

WH Fitness Director Bridie demonstrates the difference between active and passive dead hangs – notice the movement in the shoulders

‘There are different benefits to both passive and active dead hangs. Active hangs are a form of strength training, whereas dead hangs are good for relaxing during warmups or cool downs,’ Vincent explains.

• Passive dead hang benefits: ‘Your whole body is relaxed meaning your spine can open and decompress. This expanded position means you can breathe deeper exhales and inhales, helping you activate your parasympathetic nervous system and feel calmer.’

• Active dead hang benefits: ‘This is a high-tension exercise where you grip the handle, set your shoulders back, brace and squeeze your core, and press your legs together to create full internal tension. This can help build strength in your grip, upper body and core.’

• Overhand grip – palms facing away: ‘This internally rotates your shoulder joint and is particularly good for forearm and grip strength.’
• Underhand grip – palms facing backwards: ‘This externally rotates your shoulder joint and is good for building shoulder, lat and bicep strength.’
• Mixed grip – one overhand, one underhand: ‘This helps prevent swinging as the joints on either side of your body face opposite directions, meaning it can be optimal for a longer hold.’
• Neutral grip – palms facing each other: ‘You’ll need a rack or bar with handles that enable you to hold on with your palms facing each other. This can be easier on your shoulders since your joints aren’t externally or internally rotated. I usually recommend a neutral grip for beginners.’

‘Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. This allows your humerus joint (the ball and socket joint at the top of your arms, connecting your arms and shoulders) to move above your scapula (shoulder blades) and create space for your arms to move overhead, without compressing your acromion joint (in your shoulders).

‘If your arms come too close together, you run the risk of compressing this acromion joint, causing pain and tightness. However, going too wide can make it harder, as the farther your arms are from your centre of gravity in the middle of your body, the more stabiliser muscles are recruited, and the more fatiguing the exercise the feels.’

My dead hang routine
Week 1: 3 sets of 30-second dead hangs, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
Week 2: 3 sets of 35-second dead hangs, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Week 3: 3 sets of 40-second dead hangs, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
Week 4: 3 sets of 45-second dead hangs, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

1.They’re an unsung shoulder stretch

Passive dead hangs are an effective shoulder stretch

I’ve tried many a shoulder stretch in my time: puppy pose; thread the needle; eagle arms. You name it, I’ve done it. But they never quite scratch the itch. Some are too intense; others too light, but dead hangs sit in the middle. I feel a substantial stretch, but not so deep that I forget to breathe and can’t relax into it, and Vincent advises this is enough to reap the rewards.

‘Dead hangs stretch your shoulder muscles into an overhead flexion,’ he says. ‘This positions your joints into a flexed and internally rotated position, which improves your flexibility in that particular range of motion. The weight of your body in a dead hang also helps to add some force to the stretch; other stretches can be too passive, like thread the needle, or the force needed to feel the stretch requires too much effort for you to relax, like eagle arms.’

2. They’re easy (and safe) to do on your own

Most strength training exercises share one thing in common: they require a fair amount of technique. Dead hangs are an exception.

While there are a few form tips to keep in mind once you’re in position (don’t swing, breathe slowly, tuck your tail bone), the static nature means there’s less to get wrong without a PT or coach watching over you. It also means there’s no need to slog to the gym if you have a dead hang set-up. I’m lucky enough to have access to a squat rack with a pull-up bar at home, but Vincent advises that more affordable pull-up bars fitted within door frames also do the job.

HOMCOM HOMCOM Pull-Up Bar for Doorway

Pull-up bar not high enough for your feet to dangle? You may need to bend your knees. This could mean that you can’t fully relax, but providing you tuck your tailbone, avoid swinging and don’t overly tense your shoulders, you’ll still get the decompression benefits for your spine and the stretch in your shoulders

3. They’re significantly more effective for relaxing than other cooldown stretches I’ve tried – and can make meditating easier

Passive dead hangs activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping you to relax

The start of 2024 was a dark one for me. I’d contracted Covid a few weeks prior to Christmas, before then being diagnosed with the flu, then bronchitis. By mid-January, I was feeling especially low, so I started to consider some light exercise for my mental health. It was then that I came across a new study showing that combining exercise with meditation could boost the mental health benefits of working out.

I gave it a go, tacking 10-minute meditations onto daily 20-minute walks and felt better almost instantly. To this day, I finish every workout with a guided meditation, but it’s not always easy. My mind often wanders. ‘How long is left?’ ‘How long have I got until I need to be at my desk?’ Dead hangs have helped infinitely in switching off my mind.

Whether I’ve just finished strength training, yoga, Pilates or a run, sandwiching my workout and meditation with a dead hang makes meditating miles easier.

‘Hanging exercises like dead hangs don’t just decompress your spine,’ Vincent explains. ‘They give you a chance to breathe in an expanded position, creating longer exhales and inhales, thereby helping you switch from a sympathetic nervous system response (fight or flight) to a parasympathetic response (rest and digest).

‘If you want to use dead hangs as part of a cooldown, or simply to relax – whether you’ve done a workout or not – the key is to avoid hanging to the point of total exhaustion. If you feel yourself tensing up, stop the exercise as this is the point at which dead hangs become a strength exercise, not a relaxation drill.’

4. Overextending could be the reason your lower back hurts

Avoid overextending your back by engaging your core

After three days of dead hangs, I started to feel some pain in my lower back – nothing too intense, but something I couldn’t ignore. I consulted Vincent, who gave me an easy form fix.

‘There are a few situations in which your lower back might hurt from doing dead hangs,’ he explained. ‘The first is that you allow your spine to overextend or arch, meaning your rib cage lifts up and your pelvis tips forward. This compresses the disc space in your posterior chain. Make sure you tuck your pelvis under and engage your core to avoid flaring your ribs.’

I gave myself three days rest for my back to reset, and since keeping Vincent’s tip in mind, I’m pain-free.

He adds that anyone with pre-existing joint or disc issues might want to avoid dead hangs. ‘As much as decompression of the spine sounds good, this isn’t always the case if you have underlying issues such as disc degeneration. If your back pain persists after changing your technique – avoiding overextending or arching your back, seek the advice of a professional.’

5. Not taking rest days means they may become harder

Dead hangs are a prime example of the ‘too much of a good thing’ adage. Like running every day could hinder pace progress, and weight training the same muscle group daily could hamper hypertrophy (muscle growth), doing dead hangs every day could fatigue your grip.

‘If you’re looking to do them regularly, I would suggest sticking to alternate days,’ Vincent says. ‘Doing them daily could limit week-on-week progression as your grip won’t have the chance to recover, so rather than being able to hold a dead hang for longer, you’ll struggle to maintain the dead hang time you started with.’

6. They don’t make you taller

Good news for my pubescent self. ‘While dead hangs can temporarily increase your height by decompressing your vertebral discs, this effect is temporary,’ Vincent says. ‘It won’t lead to a permanent increase in height. However, a well-rounded training programme with a focus on good form and proper breathing mechanics can improve your overall posture, which may change your resting stance and, therefore, influence your height very slightly.’

Though I wouldn’t say I’m noticeably taller, I do look different: I have better posture. My shoulders aren’t so rounded, and I’m aware of my tail bone flaring, meaning I subconsciously tuck it under. I – touch wood – haven’t suffered with any knots in my shoulders or neck since last month, and I’m convinced credit goes to dead hangs.

7. They can help you build up to pull-ups

I’ve been working to achieve three unassisted pull-ups ever since Women’s Health‘s health and fitness writer Kate Cheng committed to a two-week pull-up challenge and inspired me. What’s stopping me? My grip.

While I’m good to go without straps for deadlifts, rows and other exercises where my feet are grounded on the floor, my grip routinely lets me down when it comes to holding my bodyweight with my arms in an overhead position. I can just about make two unassisted pull-ups, but I rely on a looped resistance band otherwise. Turns out, dead hangs are ideal for helping me hit my goal.

‘If you can already do pull-ups but lack grip capacity, pull-ups can help you improve this, as well as build strength capacity in your upper body and shoulders,’ Vincent tells me. ‘This will mean you can hold onto the bar for longer. What I will say is that as dead hangs are a static exercise, they aren’t going to help you go from zero pull-ups to your first pull-up. For that, you need exercises with the same pulling movement as in pull-ups, that will strengthen the muscles used in pull-ups, like bent-over rows and assisted pull-ups.’

8. They make certain yoga poses more comfortable

Dead hangs can make other overhead positions easier, like downward dogs

As a qualified yoga teacher and devout yogi, I’ve done more downward dogs than most people in the Women’s Health office, and after two weeks of dead hangs, these felt different – easier. Typically, it takes a few sun salutations for me to loosen up, but after around ten days of dead hangs, I noticed I wasn’t starting sessions with tight, sticky shoulders anymore. I could push back into my first downward dog with ease. Vincent tells me this is because the mechanics of the movements – downward dogs and dead hangs – are the same, meaning I’m building strength and flexibility in my shoulder joints in the same way.

‘It sounds like, by doing dead hangs regularly, you have reached a deeper range of motion in your shoulders, so it’s not as hard for you to manoeuvre your joints and muscles into the downward dog position,’ he says. ‘But I think what may have had a bigger impact on how comfortable you feel in a downward dog is that you have improved your joint stability and strength capacity with your arms in the overhead position – which is the same in dead hangs and downward dogs. The more you do dead hangs, the stronger and more stable you become in an overhead position.’

9. They’re good for building forearm strength

How many of you have experienced forearm DOMS? Not as many as have leg DOMS, I imagine. I can vividly remember the first time I felt them; I’d been training deadlifts, when I woke up the next day almost unable to unfurl my fingers and pick up my phone. Before now, that’s the one and only time I can recall my forearms taking a direct hit. Then, after day one of dead hangs, I woke up with forearms sorer than my feet after my first half marathon.

‘This is because your forearms weren’t used to regular dead hangs as a training stimulus,’ Vincent explains. ‘The novelty of any new exercise creates more muscle damage as you expose your muscles to a new movement.’

He reminds me, however, that this is only temporary. ‘Your body adapts and gets used to each movement – in this case, dead hangs – so you won’t continue to create as much muscle damage.’ The message? DOMS are not a proxy of a good workout.

‘Yes, dead hangs are great for strengthening and practising range of motion in your rotator cuffs as they position your scapula (a.k.a. your shoulder blades) into an upward rotation. When your scapula moves like this, your rotator cuffs (a group of muscles and tendons that surround your shoulders) are responsible for pulling your scapula down and stabilising them. By moving your scapula during dead hangs, you strengthen your rotator cuffs isometrically (they contract, but without motion).

‘Keep in mind that this is only one part of rotator cuff strength. A strength training routine should involve pushes and pulls in lots of different planes of movement and angles for full rotator cuff strength.’

‘I don’t love the expression “fix”. The resting posture of your upper body is complex, involving: the shoulder joint, scapula, rib cage, respiratory mechanics, pelvis and foot posture, as well as being influenced by lifestyle, sleep, injury history and stress.

‘It would be reductive to suggest that one specific exercise has the capacity to fix posture. That said, dead hangs do strengthen and improve range of motion in your scapula, shoulders and rib cage, while also improving how you breathe as you fully expand your rib cage when you are fully extended in a dead hang.

‘But in isolation, the dead hang will have a limited effect on your posture. If posture is something you want to work on, I would recommend incorporating dead hangs into a well-rounded routine of daily movement, exercise, sleep and stress management. Keep on top of these factors and you should expect to see a positive change in posture.’

‘Try the following variations,’ Vincent recommends.

• Assisted hangs: ‘Use a resistance band around your feet or an assisted pull-up machine to remove some of the load.’
• Partial hangs: ‘Keep your feet on the ground to support some of your body.’

‘Start with shorter hang times and gradually increase as your strength improves.’

‘If you have experience with dead hangs and feel ready to advance, these progressions are a good way to test yourself,’ Vincent says.

• One-arm hangs: ‘This is a big progression, so I’d recommend starting with a partial hang, with most of your weight on one side, while your other hand continues to lightly grip the bar. Be sure to swap sides so that you avoid muscular imbalances.’
• Mixed grip hangs: ‘Use different grips for each hand in the same hang. For example, try one hand overhand with one hand underhand, or one hand in a wider grip with the other in a neutral grip. This will challenge the different joint angles of your shoulders and wrists.’
• Ring hangs: ‘Performing dead hangs on an unstable surface like a ring will make the move feel more complex as it requires the recruitment of more stabiliser muscles in both your upper body and core, to prevent yourself from swinging.’

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Bridie is Fitness Director at Women’s Health UK. She spends her days sweating over new workouts, fitness launches and the best home gym kit so you have all that you need to get fit done. Her work has been published in Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and more. She’s also a part-time yoga teacher with a habit of nodding off mid savasana (not when she’s teaching, promise).