I decided to see what would happen if I hung on the horizontal bar for a minute every day for a month. Below I will tell you about 3 changes that happened to my body.
Spine
It doesn't matter whether you play sports or not, most likely at least once in your life you have encountered pain in the spine (the so-called “shooting” and pinching), or simple pulling pains that overtake you after a hard day at work. Unpleasant sensations do not have to be sharp, they can be not so significant and manifest themselves when you fall asleep (the spine relaxes) or wake up. If you turn a blind eye to this, over time the situation will only worsen, since the spine has the property of settling, which causes negative axial pressure – it leads to pinching, protrusions and hernias, which begin with a simple aching pain that can be completely ignored. Hanging on the horizontal bar is great for preventing spinal injuries and relieving it after a hard day.
However, this is NOT a treatment for serious disc problems. In case of existing serious herniations or acute pain, you should always consult a doctor or physiotherapist, as improper execution can worsen the situation.
However, there is one nuance that can negate the beneficial effect – this is the wrong time for hanging. The right time is evening and night. Morning and daytime intervals are not as effective, since in the morning the spine does not need axial unloading, and in the afternoon the compressive load is still insufficient. The evening can give a greater sense of relief, since there is no load after a working day and unloading the spine from compression is a great idea. This will not only help get rid of evening fatigue and tightness in the lumbar region, but will also serve as a good prevention of injuries throughout life.
The number of pull-ups has increased
We are all used to the fact that the useful load in most cases is dynamic: you need to perform some dynamic actions to improve your physical fitness, increase strength, endurance and speed-power indicators. Hanging on the horizontal bar (along with the bar) is one of the few exercises that can increase your strength and endurance, doing practically nothing. The thing is that in exercises, for example, pull-ups, not only muscles work, but also ligaments. A huge plus for ligaments is that they are strengthened not only from dynamic, but also from static work. For example, if you take a dumbbell and bend your arm at the elbow with it to an angle of 90 degrees, your ligaments will begin to strengthen and the results in biceps curls will increase.
The hang involves three joint-ligamentous apparatuses at once: the shoulder, elbow and wrist, and together with them the muscles of the shoulder (biceps) and forearm (brachialis), which perform up to 40% of the work in pull-ups. So, before my 30-day hang marathon, I pulled up exactly 17 times with my own weight of 84 kg. After the hang marathon, I crossed the cherished milestone of 20 times and performed (in a stable technique) exactly 21 times. I got an additional 4 repetitions “just like that”, without doing pull-ups as such. If you are stuck at 3 – 10 repetitions, hanging on the horizontal bar is a great way to significantly advance in your results, devoting only a minute a week to it. If, against the background of hang, you also do pull-ups, your result can be even more impressive.
Stiffness and impact strength
Due to my age, I am not very interested in any showdowns of the “who is right and who is to blame” format, especially if they take place on the street. You need to use your mind and language. Nevertheless, there are situations in life when your opponent cannot use his “brains” due to their poor functioning, which makes it difficult to avoid conflict. That is why, from time to time, I take time to practice 3 strikes: a straight, a side and a left side to the body – this is the minimum that helps to speak the language of those who are not used to using their gray matter.
After a month of hanging on the horizontal bar, the strength of my punch increased. Usually, increases occur only after gaining my own weight. Why did the strength of my punch increase if the weight remained the same? It's simple: I strengthened the 3 main links that transmit momentum from the legs – the shoulder, elbow joint and wrist (hand). It is the weak wrist that “extinguishes” most of the force of the punch, since it is a certain weak link. In order to strengthen the wrist, many athletes do push-ups and fist stands. Hanging also helped me strengthen my shoulders and elbows as a bonus.
Джерело: ukr.media
