German Hang Question

...and then you realise you don't know the answer to a very basic question...

Q - In german hang to I keep tension across my chest and in my arms or do I fully relax my upper body?

I can see arguments for both:

If GH is a prerequisite for back lever then keeping tension in arms and chest is good as thats what you do in BL.

If GH is to prepare the biceps tendon for other ring work then I feel the most strain in my biceps tendon when I don't keep tension in my arms and chest.

I can hold 60s sets of both, so I am not losing sleep but I would like to know if there is a "right" answer or if there are just benefits from both.

The german hang is primarily to help open the shoulders and begin biceps tendon conditioning. Usually you want to relax (not go limp, big difference) and try and get your body and arms in as straight of a vertical line as you can.

Your arm and chest tension would be better used for pulling from a german hang through a tucked back lever all the way up into an inverted hang for reps.

Thanks for the clarification Slizz

I know this thread is a week or two old, I just want to add something

I remember reading that shoulders should be down and back during the german hang. When I go as far down as I can, my shoulders naturally go forward, and it takes tension to try to move them back. So, if I'm supposed to relax, this is OK, right?

For what its worth, I tried pushing my shoulders down and back and the tension brought me into a back lever. I had never actually done a back lever, only tucked ones and german hangs. I was really excited and videod it

In the video I don't go into full german hang before tensing, but thats how I first realized it

Nice! Now it's time to start working on palms down!

Is it possible to perform this exercise on pull-up bar instead of rings?

Yes it is, i perform it on my pull up bar all the time

Yep, in that case I'd start in an undergrip or supinated grip and tuck your body through. Kind of a pain but doable if you don't have a set of rings.

We also do them this way with the girls a lot since we have lots of girls and you can fit 3 or 3 per rail this way.