A while ago I saw a youtube video where a guy entered a dead hang competition. He paid $10 to enter, he then had to hang off a chin up bar for 100 seconds to win $100. One hundred dollars for one hundred seconds, this guy was young and ripped so thought it would be simple. He failed.
I looked around and found similar competitions, some were 100 seconds and others were 2 minutes. Most people looked far stronger, younger, and more athletic than me, and most of them failed. I found that surprising because I was pretty sure I could do it.
They all yelled and hooted and hollered and jumped about regardless of if they failed or succeeded. The crowd always yelled and carried on like pork chops.
I wondered if a skinny fat guy like me could dead hang for 100 seconds. I haven't tried something like this in decades, so it was time to give it a go. If I failed then I decided I could work up to it.
We have a set of monkey bars in our yard that I had been using for chin ups and other exercises. I could dead hang off them which made it a lot easier as I could do this in my yard without having anyone watch me fail. The only way to improve is to try harder, and you usually aren't trying hard enough unless you sometimes fail.
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| Dead hang using a skinny bar - I'm hurting |
I got my 12 year old son, went to the monkey bars, and the two of us gave this a go with my son calling out the time.
I learned a few things.
Firstly I need someone to call out the time every ten seconds. Ten seconds feels like an eternity. Without someone calling out the time it feels like I have hung there for hours and I want to give up.
Secondly I could complete 100 seconds of dead hang on either a fat bar or a skinny bar. It was difficult, really difficult, but I did it.
Thirdly the showboating that I saw in all of the videos seems really off putting. I know it is meant to pump up people and get them in the zone, but I hate it. I could do this because it was quiet and I could focus. Had people been yelling and cheering I would have found it far more difficult and am not sure if I would be able to do it.
Fourthly I was unable to do 2 minutes the first time I tried. I kept trying each day and after a few days I was stronger and was able to do a little over 2 minutes. It is incredibly difficult, but I can do this on either a fat bar or a thin bar. If someone as skinny as me can do this, then most people should not find it impossible.
Fifth and probably most importantly, my 12 year old son can dead hang for 2 minutes. He struggles badly, I mean he is really feeling it and hurting badly, but he can do it. If a skinny 12 year old can do this then you should be able to do it too.
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| Dead hang using a fat bar - struggling through |
I need to keep my strength up, that way if I ever see a 100 seconds dead hang challenge I can enter and win some money. Far more important than winning money, I would love to successfully complete this among more athletic people who were unable to complete it, that would be pretty sweet.
If you have access to a chin up bar, time yourself holding a dead hang and let me know in the comments how long you could hold. It is harder than I thought, but I was still able to do it.
Give it a go, if you can't do it then train. If you can do it, then train even more. Do prochnost strength training, try harder, and be more (более)!
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