Do NOT Deadhang your Pullups

​Whats up people, 

I made this short video today on pullups, which caused quite a stir on X

The confusion seemed to be based on this premise that for a pullup rep to count, it MUST be done with your muscles completely passive, meaning you release all active tension, and you fully hanging between every rep

THIS IS CATEGORICALLY FALSE

Why people think you need to do this on a pullup, I dont know. I will make a mildly bold statement and tell you that fitness professionals telling you otherwise are WRONG. 

To both understand why its 

A) not necessary

and 

B) can lead to pain/injury

We need to examine what fundamental lifting technique 

When We Perform Resistance Training, We Create ACTIVE Tension within Our Muscle Fibers

​On a cellular level, the individuals cells that comprise long filaments (think threads) of muscle fiber will contract and slide past each other, generating cross bridge connections, which creates mechanical tension 

Now in plain english, that means are muscle fibers are creating tension. They are creating tension as they shorten (concentric, also called the positive portion of the rep), and they are maintaining this tension as they LENGTHEN (eccentric, also called the negative portion of the rep) to be able to shorten again

At the same time they are contracting and creating this active tension, there is also tension on the tendons that the muscles connect to, which connect to the bone. There is tension being placed on the ligaments, which connect bones to each other. And there is intermuscular tension and coordination happening between ALL the muscles that are prime mover in the movement, as well as stabilizer muscles

So when you do a pullup, its not only your lats, its ALL the muscles that attach to the humerus and cross the shoulder blade and also attach to it; Latissimus, teres major, teres minor, subscapularis, all the rotator cuff muscles, your biceps, your triceps, even your chest is being stretched out. And your abs are engaging as well

Your arm bone (humerus) and shoulder blade (scapula) everything is coordinating together. 

The term for this is Joint Centration 

Joint centration describes the optimal mechanical position of joints and balanced muscle forces around those joints.​

This applies to EVERY exercise you can do, not just pullups

We want optimal coordination to be happening in order to execute proper biomechanics, that is what good technique is

HOWEVER, WHEN YOU RELEASE ALL THE TENSION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ROM, YOU FUCK THIS UP 

I cannot possibly be more blunt in saying this. 

By ceasing all active tension in your muscles, and letting yourself "deadhang" you disrupt this joint centration. Everything is not centrated. What you are left with is passive tension (since its a pullup) of your own bodyweight pulling on your tendons and ligaments, which are now all out of proper alignment to contract efficiently 

And now you have to reset and reorient your joints and muscles on every single rep

THIS DOES NOT MAKE THE EXERCISE BETTER, IT MAKES IT WORSE

Imagine you are performing a heavy bench press for example, and are told that when you lower the bar to your chest, you must let all of your muscles completely relax so the weight can rest on your chest. This might get an extra cm range of motion or two, but now your shoulders, humerus, your whole upper body will be out of alignment. 

Or imagine you are doing a squat, and are told at the bottom you must fully relax, let your back round over, lose all the tension in your legs, and ONLY then do you reset to come back up. 

Again, this will get you a little more depth, but now you are imbalanced, your entire body has lost its joint centration and alignment, and its made the exercise worse because youve put all your muscles in a worse position to produce force and contract

We dont do this because 

A) its dangerous 

B) it makes the exercise worse for the reasons already stated. 

C) it (hopefully) seems intuitively wrong to you to relax your body when you have it loaded with resistance 

Pull-ups (and chin-ups) are NOT any different 

The argument solely seems to be this misguided notion of what full "range of motion" is. 

Full range of motion on any exercise still requires maintaining ACTIVE tension. And your active rom of motion is ALWAYS going to be slightly less than your passive ROM (your muscles in a fully relaxed state) 

So when you watch the video, you will see there is a difference between me fully relaxing versus maintaining tension. The fully relaxed is obviously not better. It does not lead to more muscle growth or strength.

In contrast, its more likely to lead to long term pain or injury, as many people attested in the comments and finally realized why this was happening

Hopefully this fully answers the question for everyone