Dead hangs for strength and joint health

[Fluffy]

I'm mainly interested in traction for stretching and joint decompression, and traction seems to have other benefits as well.

Having stronger muscles can increase the range of motion and stretching capacity. Doing pull ups is difficult for women but not impossible. If you wanted to, the best way to learn is by doing eccentric training, that’s the easier part of the movement, the lowering part, so using a step to get up into a hold and then slowly lowing the ourself into a hang. Needless to say, this can still be difficult and may be not beneficial if other problems are present.

AI says this about strengthening exercises for better stretching and mobility.


-Strong muscles do not necessarily stretch better; strength training and stretching can be done simultaneously and are both important for overall health. While stretching increases flexibility, strength training is more effective for building muscle and improving the muscle's ability to handle movement, which can also increase flexibility and range of motion. When muscles are strong and balanced, they are better able to support joints and can help prevent tightness.

How strength training improves flexibility

• Increases joint mobility:
  Strength training that moves muscles through their full range of motion can improve flexibility and joint mobility.
• Strengthens underused muscles:
  By making muscles strong, you reduce the burden on other muscles, allowing them to relax naturally.
• Improves muscle control:
  Strength training helps muscles learn to function correctly and tolerate load throughout their full range of motion.
• Enhances range of motion:
  Strong muscles can better handle larger stretches, leading to improved functionality.
  

How to improve strength and flexibility

• Combine strength and flexibility exercises:
  Strength and flexibility can be developed at the same time through activities like squats, Romanian deadlifts, or even some forms of yoga.
  
  
• Focus on full range of motion:
  Ensure you are working through the entire range of motion during your strength exercises to improve both strength and flexibility.
  
  
• Consider eccentric training:
  Exercises where the muscle lengthens under tension (eccentric exercises) can be a more time-efficient way to build both strength and flexibility.
  
  
• Incorporate stretching:
  After a workout, static stretching can help with recovery and flexibility, while dynamic stretching before exercise can improve performance.

 

[Revolucionar]

Hanging is a more accessible exercise for many people. Not many women can do pull ups.

You can try using resistance bands to reduce your weight. What Fluffy said about doing just lowering portion of the movement is also a good method to progress on this exercise.

 

[gottathink]

You can try using resistance bands to reduce your weight. What Fluffy said about doing just lowering portion of the movement is also a good method to progress on this exercise.

I myself can do pull-ups and use eccentric contractions (negatives) a lot to increase a set from 5-6 to 12reps or so. My point was that most women can not do pull-ups as simply do not have the muscle mass. Getting back to dead-hangs, these can be done every day by nearly everyone to increase grip strength, shoulder health and fascia remodelling. Pull-ups achieve this if you can do them well but for women, even strong women, they just can’t get enough time under load or muscle firing to benefit from them. In my years as a personal trainer and now a rehab trainer women report feeling like their muscles just don’t fire enough to do good quality pull ups. It does not seem to improve the situation of reduced load using bands or assisted pull-up machines.

Dead-hangs will improve the shoulder complex integrity, grip strength etc which will facilitate development of the neuro-muscular pathway. Then for women wishing to pull-ups it is conceivable that they may be able to get enough muscle units firing that perhaps they can start doing pull ups. The reason I think this is that the women who are good at pull-ups are climbers. And they have lots of training that has developed their grip strength and time under isometric load.

Also, when I was younger and had done a few years of strength training. There was an older woman at the gym that was a competitive body builder and she asked me if I was going to compete. Then she wanted to know if I could do pull-ups, the answer was no, she couldn’t do them either and was baffled as to why she just could never develop the strength in the movement. I also played rep women’s rugby and so was quite strong and had a good power to weight ratio. I still could not do a pull-up. I switched sports to canoeing after a season of paddling I discovered on playground equipment one day, I could do pull-ups! I was amazed.

I have not read any research on this so if anyone wants to test it? A month (or longer?) of dead hangs every daily then see if pull-up capability improves. A sense that your muscles are starting to switch on and fire up in the pull-ups movement. Once a sense of increased muscle firing develops then bring back in eccentric contractions and assisted pull-ups. I wonder if it would work?

 

[Jones]

You can try using resistance bands to reduce your weight.

I'm 162cms and 55kg. I don't need to reduce weight but I am concerned about retaining fitness and mobility as I age. I generally prefer work with a physical element rather than desk jobs so do loaded exercises regularly in the course of work, but have noticed a decline in strength over the last decade or so.

The Mercola paper suggests that dead hangs take less time and fewer reps to induce mechanotransduction -remodelling of muscles, bones and tendons. The same process happens with muscle loading apparently, but takes larger loads and more repititions. Some chiropractors have specific traction or decompression tables. Mine doesn't, but does apply traction and gives traction exercises. A mixed approach of passive and active hanging seems that it will probably be better later and I'm open to it. I would really like to be able to swing from bars like I did as a kid, the prospect sounds like fun!

I asked grok for some references to follow up on later:

Overview
While direct scientific papers on "dead hangs" (isometric hanging exercises) and mechanotransduction are scarce—likely due to the exercise's simplicity and focus in popular fitness rather than specialized research—numerous studies explore mechanotransduction in response to traction loading in tendons, muscles, and the spine. Traction forces, like those in dead hangs, induce tensile stress that cells convert into biochemical signals, promoting collagen remodeling, tissue adaptation, and repair. Dead hangs apply bodyweight traction to finger flexors, shoulder tendons, and the spine, potentially triggering these pathways via integrins, PIEZO1 channels, and MAPK signaling. Below, I summarize key relevant papers, grouped by focus. These were identified from PubMed, Google Scholar, and related databases. I've prioritized peer-reviewed articles from 2003–2024, emphasizing traction's role in tendon and spinal mechanotransduction. For full texts, search PubMed Central (PMC) or the journal sites. Papers on Mechanotransduction in Tendons from Traction/Mechanical Loading. These studies detail how tensile loading (similar to dead hangs) enhances tendon stiffness and ECM remodeling, key to grip and upper-body adaptations.




Broader Reviews on Mechanotherapy and Traction

These integrate traction exercises into clinical contexts, linking to tissue repair.

• Mechanotherapy: How Physical Therapists’ Prescription of Exercise Promotes Tissue Repair (Rio & Moseley, 2008): Reviews mechanotransduction as cells sensing loads to drive repair in tendon/bone; prescribes controlled traction (e.g., hangs) for tendinopathies.
• Mechanotransduction: How Muscle Contraction Strengthens Tendons (Subramanian & Schachner, 2019): Muscle-tendon unit traction shapes progenitors via signaling; relevant for integrated loading in hangs.
• The Role of the Tendon ECM in Mechanotransduction: Disruption and Repair Following Overuse (Connors et al., 2021): Overuse disrupts ECM traction signals; exercise restores via pericellular matrix changes.

Key Insights and Gaps

• Mechanisms: Traction activates FAK-MAPK for collagen upregulation and mTOR for adaptation, but overload risks inflammation.
• Exercise Protocols: Studies suggest 3–5 sets of 30–60s hangs, 3x/week, for tendon gains (similar to eccentric loading meta-analyses).
• Limitations: No papers exclusively on dead hangs; most use lab models (e.g., cyclic strain). Future research could quantify hang-specific tendon stiffness via ultrasound.
• Clinical Note: Start conservatively to avoid strain; consult a PT for back issues.

For deeper dives, I recommend searching PubMed with "tendon mechanotransduction traction exercise."

Also, when I was younger and had done a few years of strength training. There was an older woman at the gym that was a competitive body builder and she asked me if I was going to compete. Then she wanted to know if I could do pull-ups, the answer was no, she couldn’t do them either and was baffled as to why she just could never develop the strength in the movement. I also played rep women’s rugby and so was quite strong and had a good power to weight ratio. I still could not do a pull-up. I switched sports to canoeing after a season of paddling I discovered on playground equipment one day, I could do pull-ups! I was amazed

In the original video, I haven't been able to find it again yet, that come across my feed that sparked my interest on dead hangs the guy was saying that in some folk, active exercises under load don't always improve tendon and ligament strength in all people - they build muscle but their tendons and ligaments don't keep pace with the muscle. He reckons that using dead hangs to improve tendon and ligament strength and health is the answer. He didn't differentiate between men and women so I assume that some men have the same issue. I guess that some people might just have finer tendons and ligaments or something.

I have not read any research on this so if anyone wants to test it? A month (or longer?) of dead hangs every daily then see if pull-up capability improves. A sense that your muscles are starting to switch on and fire up in the pull-ups movement. Once a sense of increased muscle firing develops then bring back in eccentric contractions and assisted pull-ups. I wonder if it would work?

Sure, I'll have a shot. I'll see if I can actually do a pull up at the park today.

 

[Fluffy]

I'm 162cms and 55kg. I don't need to reduce weight

pretty sure @Revolucionar meant reduce the weight you have to hold for a lift, not your body weight. You’d be a stick!

 

[Jones]

pretty sure @Revolucionar meant reduce the weight you have to hold for a lift, not your body weight. You’d be a stick!

Woops! My bad.