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30-Day Hanging Challenge – Against Shoulder Pain & Impingement

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Shoulder pain, impingement syndrome, problems with the rotator cuff, or tennis elbow.

When clients come to me with such problems, hanging becomes one of the most important exercises in their training plan. (You can find more info about me here or on Instagram: @marcomeyermoves)

I even insist that they install a pull-up bar or something similar at home and send them the Amazon sales link for it—because hanging is indeed one of the most effective exercises I know.

But these exercises offer much more than just healing or preventing shoulder problems. That’s why they’re ideal for athletes (for example: strength training, swimming, tennis, handball, boxing, judo, etc.) or people who have jobs involving overhead work (for example: painters, aircraft mechanics, window cleaners, etc.).

I’ll explain how and why hanging is for everyone in this article. At the end, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in the 30-day Hanging Challenge.

Babies Can Probably Hang Longer Than You!

Can you even hold onto a bar and hang?

If not, your grip strength is weaker than that of a baby (proportionally).

John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner test the grip strength of a newborn.

Yeah; the picture looks a bit weird, but she is holding her hands under the baby… 

It shows a baby’s grip strength is present from birth. Through the palmar reflex, it grabs and can hold its own body weight. Whether it’s a girl or a boy.

So, grip strength seems important to nature.

Similar to monkeys. A baby monkey has to hold on while its mother swings through the trees.

What else do monkeys do? They hang daily. We humans don’t. When was the last time you hung or held your hands over your head?

Your body needs this activity. It has to perform certain movements regularly to function. If you don’t, problems can arise. The most common ones:

  • Stiff shoulders
  • Shoulder pain
  • Impingement syndrome
  • Injury-prone shoulders
  • Lack of grip strength

The good news is that your body can heal itself…

“Hanging Heals 99% of All Shoulder Pain”

That was Dr. Kirsch’s statement in an interview with Newsmax. I don’t know if the statement is true, but it’s a good enough reason to test it.

In his book “Shoulder Pain? the Solution & Prevention,” he explains how in his study, 90 patients (out of 92) got rid of their shoulder pain through hanging (and strength training) or avoided shoulder surgery.

Dr. Kirsch seems to have experience. He has been an orthopedist and surgeon for over 30 years. He has been conducting clinical studies on shoulder function for over 28 years.

The book is divided into three aspects: facts, training protocol, and theory.

I’ve already covered the facts. Hanging with strength training heals most problems related to shoulder pain. Here are some:

  • SAS (Subacromial syndrome) / Subacromial impingement
  • Rotator cuff tear
  • Frozen shoulder (painful shoulder stiffness)
  • Arthritis of the shoulder joint

I am looking at this from a personal trainer’s perspective because I am not a physical therapist nor a surgeon. I think his training protocol is fine, but I disagree with some things, so my training protocol would look different. He says, for example, that you have to push through pain. I say discomfort is good; pain is not. I also think that there are better exercises for strengthening the shoulder than the ones he describes.

I’ll briefly touch on his theory, as it explains why hanging works and how impingement syndrome occurs. However, it’s only a theory.

How It Works in Theory – Shoulder Roof, Rotator Cuff, Subacromial Space

I’ll explain some anatomical terms so you can understand what happens to your shoulder when you hang.

Look at the picture here. That’s the left shoulder. It looks more complicated than it is.

Your shoulder roof (coracoacromial arch) consists of your…

… 1. Acromion (red), also known as shoulder bone. If you press on the top of your shoulder, you’ll feel this bone. It’s the highest point of your shoulder blade.

… 2. Coracoid process (blue) is also part of your shoulder blade.

… 3. Coracoacromial ligament (green) is the band that connects the acromion and coracoid process.

Under the shoulder roof is your rotator cuff (pink), which envelops your shoulder joint. You can think of the rotator cuff as a network of muscles and tendons. These muscles and tendons are covered by your deltoid muscle.

The four muscles’ task (see box no. 10 in the picture above) is to keep the upper arm bone head (no. 8) in the joint socket of the shoulder blade. The functional result is extreme mobility in your shoulder.

Unfortunately, the rotator cuff is also very susceptible to injuries. One of the most well-known injuries is a rotator cuff tear – these are tears that occur at the muscle attachments.

Most (according to Dr. Kirsch, 95%) rotator cuff tears occur due to the subacromial impingement syndrome.

What Is Impingement Syndrome?

Impingement occurs due to a narrowing or stiffening of the shoulder roof. Between the shoulder roof and your rotator cuff is a space (subacromial space) and a bursa (bursa subacromialis – see picture above, no. 9). The space and bursa give your arm painless freedom of movement.

Comparison of the shoulder without impingement (left) and with impingement (right). 1. Acromion; 2. Coracoacromial ligament; 3. Coracoid process; 4. Rotator cuff.

If this roof now “sinks” and presses on the bursa and your rotator cuff (see picture above, right side), we call it impingement. Then you feel that annoying pinching in your arm. Maybe you know the feeling when bench pressing, especially when lifting weights overhead.

How does impingement syndrome occur?

Dr. Kirsch suspects gravity and non-use.

That makes sense to me: The average arm weighs 5 kg (of course, it weighs more for bodybuilders). If you never lift or hang your arm, the weight of your arm always pulls in one direction: downward – for decades.

Your shoulder roof is deformed downward, and the rotator cuff, which is already weak due to non-use, gets pinched – “ouch.”

Hanging Can Reshape Your Shoulder

According to Kirsch’s research, regularly hanging from a bar can help straighten out the curved acromion, thereby increasing the gap in the subacromial space, which in turn reduces the pinching and friction on the tendons that pass through that gap.

In simple terms: If you enlarge this space (by hanging), you may no longer have that “ouch.”

To the right, you can envision a person hanging (with a touch of imagination 🙂), while to the left, it depicts their shoulder in a suspended position. 1. Acromion; 2. Upper arm bone.

Hanging has the potential to shape your bones and tendons.

Bones and other tissues change their shape when exposed to stressors. Orthodontists use this principle to straighten your teeth. It’s called Wolff’s law. Just like in strength training, you naturally need a certain load size, duration, and sequence (I’ll provide you with this information in the Hanging Challenge in the next email).

Dr. Kirsch shows in his book several pictures and studies that demonstrate how the upper arm bone is brought into a position during hanging where it lifts / bends the shoulder roof.

What you do with your shoulder is up to you. I recommend you try hanging.

I’m not a doctor or physical therapist. If you have shoulder pain or problems, I recommend seeing one of our expert physical therapists. Show them these exercises and ask if you can perform them. Use your common sense. If you’ve been to many doctors and none could help you or they recommend surgery, try hanging – what do you have to lose?

3 More Benefits for Office Workers and Athletes

I got the idea of hanging from a movement practitioner called Ido Portal. The data and information come from Dr. Kirsch, self-tests, and tests with my clients. Before I wanted to write an email about this, I tested hanging on myself and my clients. The results were often too good to be true.

  • Shoulder pain and impingements: Clients who could hardly lift their arms due to pain can now easily press weights over their heads or do shoulder presses. I had an uncomfortable pulling in my left shoulder when I trained handstands (shoulder elevation). It disappeared after 3 weeks of hanging.
  • Stiff / inflexible shoulders: Two of my male clients, who used to do bodybuilding for a long time, can now hold their arms straight over their heads without arching their backs.
  • Neck pain: A client got rid of her years-long neck pain because she learned to relax her upper trapezius muscle.

And if you think about it, it makes sense: When hanging, you position your shoulders in an optimal range of motion and use your upper body as nature intended.

Hanging pulls on your tendons, joints, muscles, etc., from hand to foot. Your tissue is stretched, relaxed, and internally straightened with the help of gravity. It’s like a chiropractor straightening you out.

That’s why hanging is also suitable for people with wrist or elbow pain (tennis elbow, etc.).

But it’s not just for prevention and rehabilitation. Hanging has other benefits:

1. Performance enhancement

Top-notch teachers like Ido Portal use hanging with professional athletes like Connor McGregor to improve their performance and power production. He uses this method, among other things, to free the kinetic chain from blockages.

He believes that missing power is often because a person has one foot on the gas pedal and the other on the brake. It’s not always about getting stronger; sometimes it’s about relaxing in the right physical region at the right time. Hanging can help here.

2. Grip strength

You improve your grip strength and endurance. This helps you in many sports like judo, climbing, gymnastics, or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

3. Body awareness

Your body awareness improves. You learn to feel and coordinate your shoulder blades, which helps you in climbing, bouldering, calisthenics, and many other sports.

In conclusion, hanging isn’t just for monkeys; it’s a fundamental activity for our shoulder health and overall well-being. If you’re intrigued by the potential benefits and eager to try, get ready for what’s next.

So you can start right away, let me walk you through how to hang today.

Hanging – Here’s How It Works

Simply said:

  • Hang every day for 30 consecutive days for an accumulated time of 7 minutes per day.
  • Unless you have shoulder issues (see info below) you will use the passive hang method with a pronated grip or overhand grip (palms facing the bar).

Let’s go into detail below on some terms that you need to understand and tips on how to keep track of your progress. You will also find a link below where you can download your training logbook. 

3 Hanging Methods

We differentiate between 3 methods: Passive, active, or dynamic. For the hanging challenge we will focus on passive and active hanging (not dynamic). 

Passive Hanging – You relax your shoulder. This elevates your shoulder blades – Elevation. 

Active Hanging – You pull your shoulders down, away from your ears – Depression. 

Dynamic Hanging – You mix active and passive and move other body parts, swinging, etc. This is advanced and only done when you have healthy shoulders. 

Grips

For the hanging challenge, we will use the pronated and neutral grips (not the supinated). Use your thumb (no monkey grip). 

Pronated – Overhand Grip

Neutral – Hammer Grip

Supinated – Underhand Grip

How to hang when you are dealing with shoulder issues, weakness, or immobility

Before I go into this topic, please know:

I’m not a doctor or physical therapist. If you have shoulder pain or problems, I recommend seeing one of our expert physical therapists. Show them these exercises and ask if you can perform them.

While hanging, you stretch your body lengthwise, often revealing old injuries or current tensions. Hanging exposes your weak points. Maybe it’s the grip or you feel some twinges in your shoulders, elbows, or wrists.

General rule: Discomfort is okay, pain is not!

Especially if you have damaged or painful shoulders, hanging can be extremely helpful. Of course, that doesn’t mean you jump to the bar like a maniac and then try to hold yourself up freely. No, you approach it cautiously. Keep your feet on the ground for example as a support and then over time use them less and less. 

I had a client who couldn’t lift his arm due to pain. In the first training session, I had to lift his hands up so he could reach the pull-up bar. The pull-up bar was about 20 cm above his head. Then he squatted down so that his arms felt a bit of tension.

In this case, you want to feel enough tension that it’s uncomfortable but not more – no pain.

Think of this uncomfortable feeling as a limit that restricts your range of motion. You’re pushing that limit out a little to expand your range of motion.

You do this just like in strength training – progressively / step by step.

Here are some general rules that I follow when I include hanging into their training program (please check with our expert physical therapists if you are not sure):

Shoulder pain

  • Hang passively
  • Pronated or neutral

This is Dr. Kirsch’s method. He does not differentiate between active and passive. His method only shows passive hanging. According to him, with passive hanging, you have the greatest chance of adapting / restructuring your shoulder.

Shoulder pain – (partial) dislocation

  • Hang actively
  • Pronated or neutral

If you’ve recently dislocated your shoulder, I would be very careful with hanging and only do active hanging. You can consult with one of our therapists if you are not sure. Active hanging can tighten your shoulder and teach the muscles, capsules, and tissue to hold and stabilize better.

Healthy and strong shoulders – but stiff

  • Hang passively
  • Use Gymnastic Rings (if possible)

This is essentially the opposite of loose and painful shoulders. That’s why you hang passively. Passive stretching. To get mobile shoulders, you often have to do more than just hanging, but hanging is one of the best exercises and thus a good start.

Healthy and mobile shoulders – but weak

  • Hang passively and actively
  • Pull-up bar (if possible)

If you can’t do pull-ups or fewer than 3, then I recommend the following: Hang passively for 2 minutes and actively for 5 minutes, This way, you maintain mobility and strengthen and stabilize your shoulder blades, which will help you later with advanced exercises.

Elbow pain

  • Hang passively 
  • Use Gymnastic Rings (if possible)

If you can’t fully extend your elbows without pain, then do the 30-day challenge with slightly bent elbows. Approach it cautiously. The goal is to gradually open them until you can hang with fully extended elbows.

Feel free to drop a comment below if you have any questions. And if you’ve seen results (which is what excites me the most), don’t hesitate to shoot me an email or leave a comment.

Join the 30-Day Hanging Challenge now!

Sign up above ↑ and I’ll send you all the details for the challenge. Plus, you’ll get:

  • Tips on progressions to help you gradually increase your hanging time to 7 minutes or more
  • Your very own training logbook in PDF format to track your progress

Consider teaming up with a friend for extra motivation and accountability.

If you found the article helpful, I have a small favor to ask: Share it!

Think of friends and colleagues who could benefit from this information. Share it on social media or send it directly to your boss to encourage setting up a pull-up bar in the office.

-Marco

P.S. Looking for another challenge? Check out the 30-Day Spine Challenge!