Relaxing In A Dead Hang

So everything I've been able to find on dead hangs on this site tells me to relax, even actively push my shoulders up into my ears.  And that I should begin each pullup the same way.

 

I have a few questions about this.

 

1. is the strain that I feel in the bottom of a dead hang merely load being placed on the tendons, or are they also being stretched?  My understanding is that only muscles should be stretched, tendons and ligaments need to be kept "tight"  and will merely lose structural integrity when lengthened.

 

2. Should you also begin a one arm chinup from a dead hang?

 

I can understand why entering and leaving a hang would be beneficial in terms of generating power, scapular strength ect (it's similar to the added push from the scapulars you have to do in a pushup) but the shoulders are the most complicated joints in the body and I want to make sure i'm not risking a tear or dislocation here.

You can't control tendons. They are completely passive structures. You should think about them like ropes that attach muscles to bones. As forces go up, they stretch, but they are made for that! Only with near-maximal loading, and very high compressive loads, will you need to be careful so that you don't damage the tendons. That is why we recommend slow, steady progress with straight arm work.

 

The ligaments aren't an issue in the shoulder in healthy people. It's possible to have injuries or conditions that cause shortening, but they'll just end up stretching back out to a proper length with hangs. The ligaments are around twice the size of the humeral head, and are quite lax most of the time.

 

What you're feeling is your lats, and perhaps some muscles that attach to the scapula.

 

When you're in a dead hang, you want to be actively upwardly rotating the scapula. I think it is a very good idea to watch some Youtube videos on scapular upward rotation so that you know what I mean. You have to be doing the same thing in the handstand.

Actually, what I was mostly feeling was centered around my pecs, and running deeper into my armpits.

Probably pec minor.

 

Look at a pic on google and see if it looks like that's what's going on.

 

If so, you're feeling a useful stretch and it will probably go away with time as the muscle lengthens.

 

Do you happen to sit at a keyboard a lot, or use a smartphone a lot, or both? Road bike on a competitive set-up? Anything that has you tilting the scapular forward, which we call anterior tilt but what can commonly be thought of as "rolled shoulders," can contribute to this shortening. People who do a lot of these things will just have to do extra stretching and scapular prehab

Looks about right.