Remember the thrill of conquering the monkey bars as a kid? That feeling of hanging in the air, defying gravity, and channeling your inner gladiator? It turns out, there’s more to those playful moments than nostalgia – hanging, specifically the dead hang, is an underrated powerhouse of an bodyweight exercise. Not only does it strengthen your upper body and improve your grip, but it also decompresses your spine, stretches tight muscles, and might even improve your posture. Intrigued? So was I. When I stumbled across a ‘Hang for a Minute’ challenge, I thought, “How hard can it be?” Spoiler: It’s harder than it looks – but the rewards? Worth every second. Dead hanging is great for grip strength as well as other benefits, including shoulder health, scapular mobility, efficient pulling mechanics and spinal decompression️. The spinal decompression benefit for me was massive. Imagine hanging from a bar and feeling everything from your shoulder joints to your neck to your spine lengthen. This is exactly how I felt when hanging – like I was being stretched, creating space between each vertebrate while stretching out my pecs, lats, and shoulders. My core was also activated as I recruited my six-pack muscles to […]