Hanging at home!

Why hang?

Hanging is really good for mobility and strength. It decompresses the spine, builds grip strength, improves shoulder joint range of motion and the ability to transfer forces through the body.

Hanging also feels good because it helps you mobilise fascia, which has a lot of sensory nerve endings (mechanoreceptors).

Strength and mobilisation

I like to hang for both traditional strength-based exercises, such as chinups, pull ups and core work, and also I like hanging as a myofascial mobiliser.

Hanging mobilisers involve stretching your front, back and and lateral lines of fascia by hanging from one or two hands and moving in and out of a range of motion. They feel fantastic, particularly if you have been sitting or still for a while, and want to re-energise.

Hanging at home

Finding something to hang from at home can be tricky. About two years ago I came across an innovative product (via the MovNat Women's Facebook group) that solves this problem beautifully.

'Eleviia' is a set of portable pull up bars from the Calgary-based company Duonamic that enables you to do hanging-based exercises at home or when travelling.

They clip onto a standard door frame in a few seconds and don't leave marks. They are also small and light enough to take carry-on luggage too - when we can travel again! They cost $99 USD and are well-designed and robust.

I've added these to my shop as an affiliate link - they have been popular during lockdown but will be back in stock in June 2020.

Highly recommended for home hanging!

(Update 13th April - Duonamic have featured this post on their community blog after I let them know about this article, and also given me a 10% discount code to share - see shop page for details! and thanks Duonamic!)

Footnote: I learnt about mobilising fascia via John Polley’s Next Level 1 mentorship, and it has been life changing in terms of better understanding human movement, anatomy, and experiencing for myself the physical benefits of mobilising fascia. Freeing up ‘sticky spots’ in the key lines of fascia through the body improves movement patterns, which facilitates improved ‘performance’, whatever this is for you - e.g. from rehab, to everyday movement, to athletic endeavours.