Relaxed hang
Hang from a bar with straight arms and let the shoulders go up.
Gets the shoulder used to being loaded overhead again, in the simplest possible position, and builds grip.
Starting dose: 3 × 10–30 s, resting 60 seconds between sets. Keep some toes on the box to take weight off if a full hang hurts.
You need a bar.
Step 1 of the pull-up progression, from a hang to a strict pull-up (7 steps).
Want a clock for the holds and rests? Use the free dead hang timer.
How to do it
- Take an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders. Use a box so you can step down at any moment.
- Take your feet off the box and hang with straight arms, letting the shoulders rise towards your ears.
- Breathe normally. Step back onto the box before your grip fails, not after.
Think about
- Long arms
- Slow breathing
- Feet ready for the box
Watch for
- Dropping off the bar with a jolt at the end
- Holding the breath
Easier: Hang with your feet on the floor or a box, taking only part of your weight through the arms.
Harder: Active hang.
What it works
- Forearm and finger flexors
- Latissimus dorsi
- Glenohumeral ligaments
- Coracohumeral ligament
- Latissimus and teres major tendons
See all of them on the body model →
Checking it on camera
Phone on the floor or a shelf two to three metres in front of the bar, the whole of you in frame, bar included. See it in the filming guide.
The pain rule
- 0–3 out of 10 during the drill: fine, carry on.
- 4–5: do less — a smaller range, fewer reps, or the easier version.
- 6 or more: stop that drill for today.
- Worse the next morning than before the session: that session was too much. Step back.
- 6 or more on waking, any morning: rest the shoulder that day.
Sharp or catching pain, or pins and needles, means stop regardless of the number.
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Where it is used
- Phase 1 — Set the shoulder blades — Shoulder: kipping works, strict pull-ups do not