Hanging — You Need To Do More Of It
One of the most common places I see people hurting is in their shoulders. Some people have rotator cuff problems, others have impingements, but most people have shoulder “issues.”
Massage and other treatments can certainly help shoulders, but one of the best things you can do for your shoulder health is to use them.
One of the primary uses of the shoulders is hanging. When we were all kids and as adults in the previous millennia, we would use our shoulders all the time to climb trees or other obstacles. During those periods, our shoulders were mobile and healthy.
Just like most of the body, it’s the sedentary lifestyle and repetitive, limited range of motion movements that start to break down the shoulders.
Thankfully, restoring the strong and healthy shoulder is frequently as simple as using it again.
Start by hanging from a chin up bar or tree limb. Anything will do. Just grab something with your hands and relax down until you are supporting your bodyweight by your arms. Stay there as long as is comfortable.
When you start, it might be difficult to even hang for a few seconds, but it will quickly improve and you will start to feel your shoulder health improve drastically over time. If you aren’t strong enough to support your bodyweight yet, keep your feet on the ground and support as much of your body as you can.
Please keep in mind, hanging should not hurt. If it does, you need to stop. Pain is not your ally when you are improving your health. The gains will come when the pain isn’t present.
The best way to hang is periodically throughout the day. The more frequent the better, but I understand that is unrealistic for most people. If you can only get it in while you are at the gym, throw it in throughout the workout so you get several exposures with plenty of rest between each one.
Try to accumulate a few minutes of hanging every day. In a month you will be shocked at how mobile and strong your shoulders have become and I suspect most of the pain will have disappeared as well.

