Earlier this year we wrote an article about the 30/30 Squat Challenge by Ido Portal. The premise for that article was to get people to improve their posture and mobility through body weight deep squatting. The article looked at the challenge set by Ido Portal, who is a world renowned movement guru, which introduced participants to progressively working their way up to sitting in a deep squat position for a cumulative period of 30 minutes each day for a period of 30 days in a row and then to continue on in maintaining that hip, posture and mobility health after the challenge goals have been met.

In that article we highlighted the fact that over time many people within our society have begun to develop poor posture and this has led to a dramatic restriction in their ability to move the way in which the human body was designed and should be able to. Subsequently, we have seen many people suffering crippling and debilitating health due to extremely poor posture and the ailments that come from that. Ultimately, this can be blamed on many different things but that of which is not least is modern technology.

The lack of general human movement that many people forego in this day and age is concerning. All day sitting hunched over at a computer desk to then drive home and lounge around on the couch watching television means that not only are many people missing out on well needed exercise but even more critically they are missing out on keeping the body mobile and agile especially in comparison to our ancestors and even the early caveman.

It is no secret that in modern times the human body has changed but what we want to try and do is recreate some of that intended movement and strength that our body was initially created for in order to better our overall health and wellbeing.

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What we want to do in this article is to provide for a continuation on from the “30/30 Deep Squat Challenge” and introduce people to the “30 Day Bar Hanging Challenge” which will provide for a complete strategy in improving your overall mobility, strength and posture.

Whilst the 30/30 Day Squat Challenge by Ido Portal focused on the hips and back, in this new challenge also put together by movement guru Ido Portal we focus on straight arm strength and shoulder health. This is done through a number of bar hanging exercises which we will discuss in further detail shortly.

Bar hanging exercises just like when we were kids playing in the playground swinging on the monkey bars. We didn’t seem to have a worry in the world when we were young children however the reality is that for many people today they actually struggle to fully extend their arms above the head which is a clear indicator of poor shoulder health and mobility.

Throughout this article we encourage you to understand the importance of straight arm strength and shoulder health and put in place a practical strategy to gradually work your way up to participating in and then completing the “30 Day Bar Hanging Challenge by Ido Portal”.

Once you are in a position where you have completed the challenge then we would be very keen to hear from you about the benefits that you have derived from your successful completion of the challenge.

The Benefits of Hanging Exercises

It is not only your shoulders that will benefit from hanging exercises but a whole range muscles, joints and ligaments will benefit from you being able to complete the 30 Day Bar Hanging Challenge.

Hanging exercises involve what is called straight arm strength and this type of body weight strength can significantly improve your grip strength, your wrist flexors, your forearm strength and of course your shoulder strength.

The wonderful thing about hanging exercises is that if you are a novice and do not have much straight arm strength then you can start off with relatively easy hanging exercises and as you become stronger and progressively work your way up to more advanced hanging exercises which are certainly not for the faint hearted.

The specific benefits you will get from incorporating Bar Hanging Exercises into your training routine will include:

Bar hanging exercises to build stronger shoulders is not about building really big deltoid muscles to impress yourself in the mirror. Instead what we are interested in doing is creating stronger and healthier shoulder joints and stabilization of the shoulders.

The 30 Day Bar Hanging Challenge will definitely go a long way to promoting healthier and strong shoulders and it does this through stabilizing the scapulae and strengthening the smaller intrinsic and extrinsic muscles which all to often get neglected through weight training and exercise. Through scapulae stabilization and strengthening of the smaller shoulder muscles you will soon begin to notice a greater range of motion with your arms and shoulders whilst at the same time noticing more stability and support in the shoulder joints.

• Spine Decompression

You may not realize but just from carrying out your day to day routine your body and in particular your spine can take a significant amount of loading, subsequently becoming quite compressed. Simple activities such as sitting at an office desk or standing up from prolonged periods can result in a great deal of compression on the spine, even sleeping in bed can have minor spinal compression effects.

The benefits from spinal decompression can be fantastic for your overall well being and posture, you will feel looser more flexible and limber. It will also reverses the forward slouching tendency that so many of us have working at a desk.

What is the 30 Day Hanging Challenge by Ido Portal?

The image above which is taken from Ido Portal’s website (www.idoportal.com) outlines the basics rules surrounding what he calls “The Hanging Month” which in effect means that participants in the challenge need to work their way up to hanging on a bar for a cumulative period of 7 minutes every single day for 30 days or a whole month.

Sounds simple right? 7 minutes isn’t all that long each day, well let me tell you that if you haven’t done much or any grip, shoulder and forearm strength then I almost guarantee that you will not find this easy.

Firstly, you need to understand that you can and should spread out your hanging exercises throughout the day rather than try to smash out 7 minutes worth of hanging exercises in a short space of time.

The other thing that you should keep in mind is that before setting out to achieve this challenge you may need some practice and basic training to prepare you before attempting the Bar Hanging Challenge. So it is for this very reason that we want to talk about preparation for the 30 Day Bar Hanging Challenge.

In order to join the 30 Day Bar Hanging Challenge by Ido Portal then you can request to join the Facebook group where you can post pictures, videos and updates about your progress and hanging experience. You can also interact with others to discuss the same issues and topics that like minded challenge participants are also interested in. Click join Ido Portal’s Movement Culture Facebook Group.

These Swinging Hanging exercises are more advanced versions of the Passive Hanging exercises – they are not recommended for people with prior shoulder injuries or instability.

For more advanced hanging exercises and techniques then you may wish to check out Ido Portal’s More Hanging Materials.

“Last words of advice from Ido Portal:

• No pain. Just a strain.
• If you can use your thumb – do it. Thats why you have a thumb.
• Vary your anchors – rings, bar, tree branch, rope, towel, climbing grips, etc – all are good and all – different.
• Do less but more often. We are meant to receive such frequent movement signals.
• Be consistent with the work. No rest days in the first 30 days. Don’t break the habit – form it!”