When 63-year-old April Nading decided to challenge herself to dead hang every day for a month, she did so with one goal in mind: decompressing her spine. She’d been dealing with a tingling sensation in her leg and toes caused by an issue with her spinal discs for almost a year, so when a chiropractor she’d visited mentioned that dead hanging might help, she decided to give it a go. One month on, and Nading has increased the amount of time she’s able to hang and decided to keep up her new habit—and it’s not just because her symptoms have improved.
Here are a few of the changes she’s noticed over the course of her one-month challenge. Before the challenge, Nading had a “slight pinch” in her shoulder and left elbow, but by the end of the 30 days, all of that discomfort had gone. This is likely because dead hangs move the shoulders into flexion—a position they’re rarely in when we go about our day-to-day lives.
This can lead to an improvement in overall shoulder flexibility and range of motion. While dead hanging every day for a month hasn’t completely got rid of Nading's tingling, she says it’s definitely helped, which is one of the reasons why she wants to keep hanging every day. Dead hanging can affect more than just your shoulders: in fact, it can work and build strength across your upper back and core too.
This was one of the big benefits Nading noticed. My arms are also more defined!” This increase in her strength also applied to her grip; at the beginning of the challenge, she needed gloves to hold onto the bar, whereas by the end she could hold on without them for 90 seconds. Follow the instructions below to get started.
Of course, you’ll need somewhere to hang from, but a pull-up bar is relatively cheap to buy and is a helpful piece of equipment to have around if you want to build upper-body fitness. Lauren Geall is deputy site editor for Women’s Health UK and Men’s Health UK. She graduated from Exeter University with a BA in English Literature before studying an MA in Magazine Journalism at City, University London.
She’s been writing about health, fitness and wellbeing for over five years, with a total of seven years in digital journalism. Prior to her current role, she worked at Stylist as the acting health and fitness editor. As well as being a keen runner, Lauren is passionate about women’s sport and can often be found cheering on Arsenal Women at the Emirates or keeping tabs on the Red Roses’ latest win.
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