How long should I hang from a bar for shoulder rehab?

This program starts at 3 × 10–30 s of relaxed hang, stepping down before grip fails, and works up to a 20-second active hang within the pain rule.

The relaxed hang starts at 3 × 10–30 s, resting a minute between sets. Keep some toes on the box to take weight off if a full hang hurts, and step back onto the box before your grip fails, not after.

The active hang — shoulders drawn down with straight arms — starts at 3 × 10–20 s. Phase 1 of the program ends with a 20-second active hang, filmed, with pain during it at 3 or under.

Those are starting doses, as ranges, because the right number is the one that stays inside the pain rule, not the one printed here. If a hang is too painful to try at all, this program is not the place to start.

Warning signs: see a clinician first

Do not start, or stop, if any of these apply to you:

The pain started with a fall, a dislocation, or a sudden pop or tear, and you cannot lift the arm since.
Numbness, tingling or pins and needles running down the arm or into the hand.
Weakness that is getting worse, or the arm suddenly much weaker than the other.
Pain that wakes you at night and does not ease when you change position.
Swelling, redness, heat or a fever with the pain.
Pain in the chest, jaw or left arm with breathlessness or sweating — call emergency services.
A visible lump, change in shape, or the shoulder looking different from the other.

These are general reasons to have a shoulder examined. They are not a complete list.

Drills for this

Camera checks it

Relaxed hang

Hang from a bar with straight arms and let the shoulders go up.

3 × 10–30 s

Camera checks it

Active hang

From a relaxed hang, draw the shoulders down away from the ears and hold, arms still straight.

3 × 10–20 s

What it works

In the program

Phase 1 — Set the shoulder blades — Shoulder: kipping works, strict pull-ups do not

Hang again without pain, and learn to draw the shoulder blades down from a hang with straight arms.

Film a set Read the program

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.