Unbanded and Left Hanging

The one exercise I, and probably everyone else at the Clinic, must do daily is some form of hanging. 

Long Hanging consists of two elements.  One is to hang your entire body from the top rung or something else that is high enough to allow you to hang with straight arms and without having your feet touch the ground.  The other form has you tractioning your shoulders down and lifting your head and neck up for 6 full seconds, then lower to the long hanging position and repeat, as many times as you can up to a set of 12. 



Half Hanging, or Short Hanging starts with your feet on the ground and in a squat position so that your shins to your knees rest on the ladder/wall.  Find a rung that allows you to sit in this position while taking all the weight on your hands.  Then you traction shoulders and rise as above, but always with your feet remaining unmoving on the floor. This of course is easier, and it is not difficult to cheat and use your feet to move your body upwards, but where's the satisfaction in that? 

Long Hanging was pretty generally felt to be most people's least favourite exercise and more like torture.

Ok, perhaps that is overly dramatizig the situation. I do tend towards the exaggerated don't I?  Apologies.  I blame the medication.

But the first day was particularly humbling as I was unable to do even one long hanging head lift!  (By the end I could manage 6! AND last a whole minute of Long Hanging part 1 - not that I'm bragging or anything of course)

This is where I found out one of the Clinic's rules was for a reason, the hard way.  "No jewellery" is one of the first things we were told and I broke the rules a teeny tiny bit.

Now, I understood why wearing dangly or hoopy earrings would get in the way.  Ditto with chains around the neck and wrist.  I even played along with taking my watch off.  After all, looking at it all the time would make the time go slower, and besides, there is a clock on the wall anyway.  But my wedding rings?  They haven't come off since I I did, or I would, or whatever the wording was I can't remember because it is almost 22 years ago and I was obviously only a child at the time ;)
 
But after only a few stretches of either of the Hangings I had blisters forming at the base of my fingers, with the ring finger in particular looking red and angry.  I realized that I would have to temporarily shed my circle without end.  They didn't go quietly into the night and I had to use a lot of cold water and olive oil to work them off. 

After 4 weeks I could still see the imprint my bands have made on my hand, but at least I accumulated calluses and not blisters from my hanging exertions.  I was not smitten by lightening nor propositioned, so life didn't alter, but I felt more fully dressed when I put them back on.

ring finger remembers
 

On the road I use a hand towel over a door and lift up my feet, which doesn't hurt my fingers any more than before.  I'm not quite sure how I will handle the hanging thing at home but I'll cross that bridge later. As long as my husband knows I still love him!

...were hard won and I wear them proudly!



they may be hard to detect but these calluses...