Resting positions

Straight-arm hang and hip position

Hanging from a straight arm lets your skeleton take the weight instead of your biceps, and moving your hips toward the wall shifts weight onto your feet. Together they make the same hold cost less grip.

2 min read 5 sections

In plain words

With a bent arm, your arm muscles and your fingers are both working to hold you up. With a straight arm, you hang from the bones and the shoulder, so the arm muscles can relax and only the fingers keep working. Where your hips are matters too. Hips away from the wall push your weight back onto your hands. Hips close to the wall put it over your feet. Less weight on the hands means a lighter grip, and a lighter grip lets more blood reach the forearm.

Memory hook
Hang from the bones, hips to the wall.

Arms and hips

Straight arm, not bent arm

Bent armBiceps and fingers both working

Straight armSkeleton holds the weight; hang from the shoulder

Same hold, same feet. On the right the arm is straight and the body hangs below the hand.

Hips in, weight on the feet

Hips away from the wallWeight falls on the arms

Hips into the wallWeight moves over the feet

Side view, wall on the right. Moving the hips toward the wall moves weight from the hands onto the feet.

Putting it together on a rest

Straighten the holding arm

and let the shoulder take the hang. Keep the shoulder engaged, not completely slack.

Bring the hips in

or turn one hip to the wall, whichever puts more weight over the feet on this wall angle.

Soften the grip

until you're holding just enough, then shake the other arm (see shaking).

The evidence

Coaching practice Straight arms and hips close to the wall are standard teaching for saving energy. We found no study in the research pack that measured them directly.
Measured The harder the grip, the less blood reaches the forearm: flow is cut off at roughly 45–75 % of maximum grip (Barnes 1980, cited by MacLeod et al. 2007; adults). Anything that lowers the grip you need helps blood flow.
Model On the forearm model, lowering the grip needed on a rest hold from Fair to Good noticeably raises the level where recovery flattens out.

Try it

Drill

Straight-arm traverse.

Next read

Drop knee, stem, knee-bar, heel hook, toe hook.

Common mistakes

Resting with a bent arm

it keeps the biceps working and usually means a harder grip.

Hanging completely slack from the shoulder

keep the shoulder lightly engaged. A fully passive hang isn't the goal.

Hips sagging away from the wall

weight drifts back onto the hands.

Over-gripping out of habit

test how lightly you can hold before you start shaking.

#In plain words

#Arms and hips

#Straight arm, not bent arm

#Hips in, weight on the feet

#Putting it together on a rest

#The evidence

#Try it

#Common mistakes