HANGING AROUND
Our shoulders are meant to hang
(and swing) from things. Unfortunately this is not a skill encouraged by
our culture (look around your work place/home/public space, are there
any anchor points for you to hang from?) or taught in yoga class for
that matter, which means it is not something that has had the time it
needs to develop properly in most people. Ideally you should have
developed the ability to hang as you were growing in height and mass so
to st
art as an adult takes more than just doing it – especially if you haven’t done it in years.
If you feel your shoulders/arms/neck need some TLC before attempting
the following I recommend getting hold of Katy Bowman’s aligned and well
‘From the shoulders up’ DVD and doing it daily.
If you are
ready to monkey around then the next few weeks will be a series of
progressions for hanging basics and then a few drills for building
serious scapular stability. These are the preceding qualities for
swinging, brachiating and basic body-weight pull-ups so if you get the
urge to take your hanging journey further I’ll through in a few drills
for those too.
But we will begin at the beginning and I’m making
this one meaty to make up for missing last week! Doing it all with a
ridiculous grin on your face is optional...
1. Find a bar or
branch that you feel confident will take your weight. Ideally put one up
in your living space so you can monkey around on a daily basis.
2. You hands are probably going to dislike you in the beginning.
Ideally your skin would have been gently loaded by using this skill
throughout a lifetime, but all is not lost if this wasn’t the case. To
build up beautifully callused hang ready hands will take time and I
recommend trying the following three steps out on different surfaces
i.e. bark/rock/metal/rubber to build strong skin.
3. If it’s been
a really really long time since you tried this then please keep your
feet on the ground to start so that you can load your body in a
respectful way by introducing a load that is much less than your weight.
Try each arm by itself and then both together. Try palms up and palms
down. Also, the bar doesn’t need to be over-head, it could be waist
height, like a railing, if you don’t yet have the mobility for an over
head reach.
4. Add some more weight to your ‘one arm feet on the ground hang’ by carrying something heavy.
5. Then try it with your feet of the ground!
Finally, if you have kids, encourage them to hang regularly. You will be doing their bodies a great service.
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