'I’m 63 and Did a Dead Hang Every Day for a Month—Here Are the 3 Changes I Noticed'

Reported by Women's Health Magazine.

At 63, April Nading wasn't chasing a fitness trend. She was dealing with real pain — a tingling in her leg and toes tied to a spinal disc issue she'd been managing for nearly a year. When her chiropractor floated dead hangs as a potential fix, she committed fully: thirty days, every single day. What she got back was more than relief.

The neurological symptom that launched the whole experiment? Noticeably better. "It's not completely gone, but it's not as intense or as frequent," Nading says, according to Women's Health Magazine. A lower back issue that had been flaring during yoga also quieted down. Strength and conditioning coach Andy Vincent offers the likely explanation: hanging from a bar lets the spine elongate with gravity, relieving pressure on vertebrae and discs — decompression that can translate to real pain reduction over time.

The Bonus Benefits Nobody Talks About

Spinal relief was just the beginning. A shoulder pinch and elbow discomfort she'd accepted as background noise both disappeared by day thirty — not surprising, given that dead hangs move the shoulder into full flexion, a position modern life almost never demands. Flexibility and range of motion followed. Then came the strength gains she hadn't anticipated: grip so improved she ditched her gloves entirely, a 90-second hang she can now hold with control, and visibly more defined arms. "The more I did it, the stronger I got," she says. She earned calluses and, with them, a new ability to swing across monkey bars without stopping — something she's openly proud of.

The mechanics are simple enough that there's no excuse to wait. Grip an overhead bar with palms facing away, hands shoulder-width apart or slightly wider. Lower yourself until you're hanging freely — don't jump into it. From there: exhale to engage your core, squeeze your glutes, tuck your tailbone, and let your shoulders relax open. Keep your ribcage down and pelvis lightly tucked so your lower back doesn't hyperextend. Hold until your shoulders and neck start to genuinely strain, not just feel challenged. A basic pull-up bar is affordable and, as Nading's month proves, quietly transformative.

Dead hangs won't fix everything — but for a one-minute daily investment with zero equipment barrier, the shoulder mobility, spinal decompression, and grip strength on offer make this one of the more underrated habits a woman can build into her routine.

Read the original at Women's Health Magazine.