Also helps with grip strength, was wondering if it could help with wrist pain from spending too much time using a keyboard and mouse.
It shouldn't help much since, based on your description, the pain and discomfort originate from the extensor muscles and tendons of your fingers, and in the hanging activity, it's the opposite flexion action that's involved.
I would say that doing finger extensions with a band used to hold vegetables would help more, but even that shouldn't be enough to achieve sufficient strength levels without causing discomfort.
Perhaps you'd be interested in trying this: get a breathable glove for tendonitis (the one in the image isn't) and sew or glue elastic tape to it, which you can get at a hardware store, as follows:
1. Glue a piece of elastic tape to the center of each finger of the glove that corresponds to the metacarpals of your hand. Each piece should be long enough to reach the center of the glove's wristband.
2. Place your fingers at their maximum extension and stretch each strip one by one. They don't need to be taut, just fully extended. Use a marker to mark a line on each strip so that the end aligns with the beginning of the wristband fabric, but without overlapping the adhesive Velcro.
3. Cut and attach the elastic strips where appropriate.
Now everything should be easier, even if you don't actively think about relaxing your fingers instead of lifting them as you normally would; the demands on the finger extensors are considerably reduced.
Also, make sure the wrist position remains neutral by using a loose wrist brace, since tendinitis generally results from the relationship (friction) between the constant use of the tendons and a decrease in the extensor retinaculum, which is the collagen band that holds the extensor tendons in place.
Dead hangs are great, although they can exacerbate low back pain in some people. This video talks about the issue and offers some solutions:
(A good way to increase spine stiffness and stability is to do the classic
McGill "big 3" exercises. The advice is to do all of them daily, but personally I just do one exercise per day, then the next exercise the following day, etc.)
Shoulders can be a limiting factor as well when dead hanging, but there are ways to fix the problem, for example:
I was surprised, and this was my experience (it was some time ago, but I hadn't shared it here).
I had hung before, but nothing had happened. This time, while adopting a neutral grip to reduce spinal arching and keeping my pelvis fairly neutral by resting my feet on a bench, I noticed something wasn't quite right in my lower back (I hung twice for a minute each time). Later, I felt a very slight numbness in my glute and leg, so I pressed on the sciatic nerve through my glute to see if the sensation would increase, and indeed, it was slightly inflamed.
I applied moderate pressure to the thoracolumbar fascia area, searching for trigger points to reduce the muscle spasm, and I woke up feeling fine the next day. (This type of massage is also used in spondylolisthesis treatments to accelerate progress, provided corrective exercises are performed concurrently.) I went back to hanging after waking up pain-free, this time without supporting myself with my feet. Instead, I maintained sufficient intra-abdominal pressure to keep my hips neutral. It went much better, but I'll definitely be sticking with the cat-camel position for a while.
This whole problem stems from a debilitating herniated disc I suffered several years ago due to poor deadlift technique. At the time, I recovered in about three months following specific protocols, regaining my strength and eliminating the pain. However, I see that something hasn't fully healed, or at least I haven't achieved sufficient internal stability. Therefore, I will resume the protocols and extend them for a longer period.
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?
Grip strength is a limiting factor that impacts the number of pull-ups you can do more than the ability to do one, since strength comes from the latissimus dorsi and biceps/triceps muscles depending on the grip used (a pronated grip, which uses the triceps, is usually better since this muscle generally generates more force than the biceps).
The eccentric training tips already given, such as holding isometric positions at the most difficult points or reducing the weight by wearing light clothing, going barefoot, or eating a large meal, have an impact; a couple of kilos often makes the difference between being able to do a pull-up or not.
As far as I'm aware if you perform an exercise using a load sufficient to produce muscle and strength adaptations, there will be similar improvements in connective tissue. You cannot stimulate muscle hypertrophy or strength increases without also stimulating connective tissue adaptations.
Maybe there are some for whom the connective tissue is slower to adapt due to genetic factors, their lifestyle is such that they need to take more care of their joints than most, or their recovery is compromised because of age, diet, or environmental factors. But I expect such people are outliers.
Yes, that's the point. Tendons begin to respond much better in terms of adaptations from loads of 80% of the maximum repetition or more (armwestrling practitioners often exceed the maximum repetition in their tendon training, but use partial ranges of motion). They also require more rest than muscles, 4 days for a full recovery. Often, bodybuilders do not respect any of these previous parameters.
According to this guy dead hangs amongst other few exercises are best predictor for longevity
The guy in the first video Jones shared also mentioned it; at first glance, it seems like a case where having greater grip strength is a consequence of having better health... But several meta-analyses have shown that static isometric exercises, such as using handgrips or doing static squats (the same should apply to hanging or doing farmer's walks), lower blood pressure even more than aerobic exercises, and in considerably less time... It's theorized that this could be because static isometric exercise, once finished, increases nitric oxide production.
Of course, there could be other health-promoting mechanisms involved, and nitric oxide itself also participates in the nervous and immune systems.
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