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Hanging Back Contest


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Hey Guys and girls, do you want to have a fun little contest?

 

This is what I did when I was 19 (6 years ago) and it was fun.

 

How long do you think you could hang from a pull-up bar? Just hanging there.......3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 mintues?

 

That is what I thought when I was 19. Then my friends Tim Martin (who started this website with me 3 years ago) and Ross Duncan (first ever contest winner on this site) had hanging contests.

 

Tim was an elite wrestler and Ross was an elite soccer player (now playing professionally in Australia....although just returned to Oregon last week).

 

We took turns hanging with a pronated grip, standard for doing pull-ups, an had our stop watch ready. I was able to hang for the longest time each day we trained together and I think my record was 1 minute and 35 seconds!

 

That seems so short, but give it a try. Today I was at the gym and was just hanging around (no pun intended) Ok, major pun intended.....and I could only hang for 40 seconds before dropping! Then only 35 the next time!

 

My goal is to break 1:35, my personal best.

 

Please try it out and post your times if you wish, it's actually pretty fun and makes you mentally tough too. I usually visualize something or sing to myself as my grip tries to leave me.

 

It is also a good way to train the lats too.

 

Let's see those times, I'm sure I'll be back over a minute next time in the gym.

 

Make Training Fun

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Topher, I gotta hear about this because today I did it again and got 1 minute and 1 second. So I met my goal of breaking a minute but I can't imagine holding myself off the ground for minutes!

 

MH-What I mean is just hanging there, arms dangling, as if at the bottom end of a pull-up, when you first grab the bar, just take your feet off the ground and hang by your hands, pronated grip.

 

I'm still trying to break my own 1:35 record, but I'd like to hear other peoples' times too. And it actually is really fun!

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I never do pull-ups, and I just tried and got 1 minute 7 seconds. I think I could do more, I will try again tomorrow.

 

How do you have your hands when you do it? Palms facing towards you or away from you? Is one way harder? When I did it, I had my palms facing forwards.

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Cool, thanks for sharing the results. It's harder than it seems, isn't it? I figured I could hang from my own grip for minutes, but it is tough!

 

I'll try it again later on today and see how it goes. I don't have a super strong grip so I'm hoping this exercise will help with that.

 

I know there are plenty of grip exercises I just like this one because it is timed, reminds of me competitive running I guess.

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Today at the gym I was with the 18 year old kid I'm training. I told him about my back hanging contest. I asked him how long he thought he could just hang there from the pull-up bar. He responded with, "probably 19 or 20 minutes." I smiled and said, "I thought the same thing when I first started doing it for fun when I was 19, I thought 5 minutes would be easy but 1:35 was my best back then."

 

So then I tried to be my 1:01 from yesterday. I ended up with 1:24 on my first try, 11 seconds short of my record. He hopped on there and within about 15 seconds was getting pretty tired, but I kept encouraging him to hang on because he was getting close to my record. He ended up with 1:33, beating me by 9 seconds and 2 seconds shy of my record. And he doesn't even workout, it's his 2nd time in a gym ever, yesterday was the first day. So, I guess I need to get down to business and get some better grip strength. Of course, he's an average 18 year old and only weighs about 125-135 or something so not much to hold up, but still beat me and I congratulated him. He's feeling pretty good about his experiences in the gym so far, and that is fun for me

 

>1:35 is coming soon (is that the symbol for "greater than?")

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Ah, today was my pullup today, but I didn't read this until I finished at the gym today and I'm too tired now to try. I'll try this on my next pullup day.

 

My son started taking gymnastics a few weeks ago (he's 17 months old) and he can now hold onto the bar (and the rings) for around 30 seconds! I'm excited, for his age he's way above the curve

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Will, that is awesome, one strong boy!

 

So 1:37 is the record to beat now I'm headed off to the gym to train with my 18 year old buddy in less than an hour. I'll report my time today when I get back.

 

MH-I thought I had my greater than faced the right way

 

Thanks to all who are participating in this. I think it's FUN, as I keep mentioning. I'm a huge fan of little friendly competition that also helps strengthen my grip, my arms, and gives a great stretch to my back.

 

Also 8-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney used to do this too, just hang around for part of his back training.

 

Will-Let's see that time later this week!

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Today I just made one attempt and then went on with my workout.

 

I got 1:26, so I"ve been improving everyday so far. I'm still 9 seconds short of my own record, 11 seconds short of the best time posted in this thread so far, and 34 seconds short of my distant goal of 2 minutes.

 

I've been at the gym each of the past 4 days, so Saturday and Sunday will be rest days. Monday I'll come ready with my back attack!

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1 minute 40 seconds. just had to beat 1;37! by the end my grip on my right was practically gone and i was holding on by the fingers.

 

also, earlier in the day i did 2hours of ice climbing which totally wrecked my forearms! i think that i can do 2minutes with the hanging back.

 

jonathan

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Today I posted a new recent best time of 1:29, 3 seconds longer than last time and just 6 seconds shy of my personal record.

 

But check this out.......I've been training with that 18 year old kid who posted a 1:33 his first time. Well, his friend, another 18 year old, who I"ve known since he was born....my neighbor growing up named Nathan, put up 1:57 in his first attempt! And today was hist 1st day in the gym, ever!

 

Again, these guys are only 135 at most so not much to hold up, but they are doing a great job. They don't lift very heavy, barely benching 100 pounds, but boy can they hang out!

 

So the official record on this board from members is 1:40 but my buddy put up 1:57 today while I watched, so let's all keep shooting for 2 minutes!

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