How much should you be able to hang?

[AdriaanRobert96]

So I’ve dabbled into hanging this week for unknown reasons, I always love getting into new things in the hope of improvements even tho they might be minimal.

So what is a decent hang time for someone weighing 95kg/209lbs?

I usually walk about 3 times per week and thought I’d do 2 sets of 1 min hangs after my walks, the second set I barely make it to 1min.

We got this huge lake surrounded by woods and there we have a calisthenics park, hence me doing my holds there.

Also what progressions are there to this, and when do you hit diminishing returns?

Edited September 19, 2023 by AdriaanRobert96

[EmilBB]

What are you trying to achieve with the hanging?
I would expect someone with your grip and at your weight to hang way longer than that, unless it's 1 handed hangs?
I only do hangs for shoulder health now, so I have switched over to using straps. If I do it without straps then it also affects my gripper workouts, however before I used straps I would sometimes do 2 min hangs and 45+ sec hangs with 1 hand. 

 

[Climber028]

My minimum for a fit person but not a grip athlete is 1 min with both arms. 3 minutes is good and 5 is great.

For progressions, once you could work up to 2 or 3 minutes I would start doing offset hangs with one hand on a towel, then eventually move to one armed hangs, one armed hangs with weight, one armed towel hangs, and them one armed towel hangs with weight. These progressions will keep someone busy for years that's a ton of work to get to that level. 

Some people go the other way and just increase time, there's plenty that can go over half an hour personally while I think this is a nice feat it isn't as valuable and doesn't have much carryover, just like the guys that can do 6 hour planks. More of a mental test at that point. 

[Climber028]

Oh and don't forget about just making the bar bigger, either using fat grips or wrapping with something or hanging from an axle held in a rack

[climber511]

I haven't found where hanging from a "bar" has any carry over to anything much for me - I do so much climbing and hangboard stuff the bar doesn't seem to do all that much work for me.  It is much different than climbing grips - I just never find myself doing it - no idea how long I could hang.  I used to hang from a 4" pipe on the power rack (thumb less) but I ended up using the pipe for another project.  I think hangs are more for shoulder health than grip strength for a actual grip sport athlete.

[AdriaanRobert96]

5 hours ago, EmilBB said:

What are you trying to achieve with the hanging?
I would expect someone with your grip and at your weight to hang way longer than that, unless it's 1 handed hangs?
I only do hangs for shoulder health now, so I have switched over to using straps. If I do it without straps then it also affects my gripper workouts, however before I used straps I would sometimes do 2 min hangs and 45+ sec hangs with 1 hand. 

 

I know right

I mean, in one set I couldn’t hanget probably longer than 1m and 30 sec.

I never do hangs, and yes I close a #3.5 but I don’t think it’s the same grip

I am not sure really what I wanna achieve, I just did it this week and it felt really good on my fingers and overall upper body.

Thought it might add atleast something to my grip maybe.

[AdriaanRobert96]

5 hours ago, Climber028 said:

My minimum for a fit person but not a grip athlete is 1 min with both arms. 3 minutes is good and 5 is great.

For progressions, once you could work up to 2 or 3 minutes I would start doing offset hangs with one hand on a towel, then eventually move to one armed hangs, one armed hangs with weight, one armed towel hangs, and them one armed towel hangs with weight. These progressions will keep someone busy for years that's a ton of work to get to that level. 

Some people go the other way and just increase time, there's plenty that can go over half an hour personally while I think this is a nice feat it isn't as valuable and doesn't have much carryover, just like the guys that can do 6 hour planks. More of a mental test at that point. 

So I lay at around 1m and 30sec atm, I got some work to do

If I can build myself to atleast 3 minutes I am happy with it.

I weigh around 209lbs atm so with the goal of 3min and with all those progressions I’ll have plenty to do, thank you

[AdriaanRobert96]

5 hours ago, Climber028 said:

Oh and don't forget about just making the bar bigger, either using fat grips or wrapping with something or hanging from an axle held in a rack

I have the fat gripz extreme I can use for that

[AdriaanRobert96]

2 hours ago, climber511 said:

I haven't found where hanging from a "bar" has any carry over to anything much for me - I do so much climbing and hangboard stuff the bar doesn't seem to do all that much work for me.  It is much different than climbing grips - I just never find myself doing it - no idea how long I could hang.  I used to hang from a 4" pipe on the power rack (thumb less) but I ended up using the pipe for another project.  I think hangs are more for shoulder health than grip strength for a actual grip sport athlete.

Yeah I mean the hanging for grip is expected to not give me massive carry-over to other gripstuff but more so for shoulder health and it felt very nice om my fingers..

like a decompression, makes no sense I knows

[Fist of Fury]

8 hours ago, AdriaanRobert96 said:

I know right

I mean, in one set I couldn’t hanget probably longer than 1m and 30 sec.

I never do hangs, and yes I close a #3.5 but I don’t think it’s the same grip

I am not sure really what I wanna achieve, I just did it this week and it felt really good on my fingers and overall upper body.

Thought it might add atleast something to my grip maybe.

It's actually very similar if it's a standard size bar. It's not dynamic though so it's not exactly the same.

Everyone with a huge DO deadlift will be good at grippers as soon as they learn the technique. Stuff like hanging and deadlifting has probably the most carryover to grippers of all exercises I know of. But if you increase the diamteter of the bar so it's a fat bar it will have less and less carryover, the thicker you go. I'd say a standard bar 28-30 mm is the best, up to 50 mm works effectively to train with but the standard size being the most effective.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Fist of Fury

[Apneaa]

everything climber said is great, once you hit 2 min, unless youre going for endurance feats it's really not that usefull to up the duration

adding weight/dynamism(letting the fingers slide and then curling yourself up as a form of reps)/asymetry/different bar width/different grip implements is much more effective for progressing in grip overall

[AdriaanRobert96]

4 hours ago, Fist of Fury said:

It's actually very similar if it's a standard size bar. It's not dynamic though so it's not exactly the same.

Everyone with a huge DO deadlift will be good at grippers as soon as they learn the technique. Stuff like hanging and deadlifting has probably the most carryover to grippers of all exercises I know of. But if you increase the diamteter of the bar so it's a fat bar it will have less and less carryover, the thicker you go. I'd say a standard bar 28-30 mm is the best, up to 50 mm works effectively to train with but the standard size being the most effective.

Hm alrighty then, hanging it isI will stick to the standard diameter aswell to not mess up my grip again with fat bars.

Really look forward to it

[AdriaanRobert96]

3 hours ago, Apneaa said:

everything climber said is great, once you hit 2 min, unless youre going for endurance feats it's really not that usefull to up the duration

adding weight/dynamism(letting the fingers slide and then curling yourself up as a form of reps)/asymetry/different bar width/different grip implements is much more effective for progressing in grip overall

I think I’ll build up to 2-3 min max then go for one hand and when I can do 1min each hand I’ll progress to weighted.

[Fist of Fury]

2 hours ago, AdriaanRobert96 said:

Hm alrighty then, hanging it isI will stick to the standard diameter aswell to not mess up my grip again with fat bars.

Really look forward to it

Mix it up with one handed hangs or weighted hangs if you don't want to deadlift.

[David_wigren]

It also depends on the bar and if you use chalk or not. I did a hang on some challenge bar this past summer. Hands were sweaty and the bar was very greasy from other people having grabbed it. I thought I would hold for +3 minutes, like I propably could with chalk on a normal pullup bar. But i could just barely eek out 2 minutes on that greasy bar.

[AdriaanRobert96]

55 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

Mix it up with one handed hangs or weighted hangs if you don't want to deadlift.

Yeah that sounds like the way to go, I’ve been working out from home the past 4 years and felt good doing so.

I’ll buy myself a bb+weights package but until then, hangs it is

[AdriaanRobert96]

53 minutes ago, David_wigren said:

It also depends on the bar and if you use chalk or not. I did a hang on some challenge bar this past summer. Hands were sweaty and the bar was very greasy from other people having grabbed it. I thought I would hold for +3 minutes, like I propably could with chalk on a normal pullup bar. But i could just barely eek out 2 minutes on that greasy bar.

Damn, greasy bar, no chalk and still got 2min

Stop putting me to shame, I managed a measly 1:30 with an 9 on effort but it felt really nice on my hands afterwards!

I’ll do it outside at the calisthenics park close to the lake where I walk for 1hr 20min 3 days/ week so no no chalk.

I will how ever measure the circumference if it next time I walk which is tomorrow.

[David_wigren]

17 minutes ago, AdriaanRobert96 said:

Damn, greasy bar, no chalk and still got 2min

Stop putting me to shame, I managed a measly 1:30 with an 9 on effort but it felt really nice on my hands afterwards!

I’ll do it outside at the calisthenics park close to the lake where I walk for 1hr 20min 3 days/ week so no no chalk.

I will how ever measure the circumference if it next time I walk which is tomorrow.

If it’s any comfort I’d say that hanging for a long time has almost no correlation to strength and more about endurance. And also bodyweight. I’m sure there are gymnast 12 yo girls out there who can hang for more than 5 minutes.

[Lennix]

Rogue had a competition to hang, this guy went nuts 

 

 

[AdriaanRobert96]

24 minutes ago, Lennix said:

Rogue had a competition to hang, this guy went nuts 

 

 

Jesus Christ man, that’s ridiculous

[EmilBB]

30 minutes ago, Lennix said:

Rogue had a competition to hang, this guy went nuts 

 

 

I can't even hold my arms over my head for 5 minutes without dying, that guy is superhuman.

[AdriaanRobert96]

4 hours ago, EmilBB said:

I can't even hold my arms over my head for 5 minutes without dying, that guy is superhuman.

Damn, relatable af

[mcalpine1986]

I'd say for 95KG BW that 2 minutes would be respectable time.

I sometimes train dead hangs but don't see the point in just using bodyweight and hanging for as long as possible for time though.

Strap some weight on there and cut the time to 20-30 seconds and count the total weight. It's a much better workout for your grip than just bodyweight. I use a 2" thick bar to make it more difficult as it became too awkward adding so much weight on a normal thickness bar.

At a bodyweight of 75kg ive done an extra 120kg, 195kg total for 30 seconds on a normal bar.

On a 2" bar I've done an extra 95kg so 170kg total for 32 seconds. 

 

A thick bar is much better for grip.