There are no peer-reviewed age and sex norms for an adult dead hang
How long should I be able to dead hang for my age?
The finding
The search found no population norms and no health outcomes for an adult straight-arm hang. Hits were climbing studies in small groups of trained climbers, a scoliosis X-ray method and police fitness tests.
- Authors
- Longstanding research (PubMed search); Ortega FB et al.; Clemons JM et al.
- Published
- PubMed search, 12 Oct 2026; Br J Sports Med 2011;45:20–9; J Strength Cond Res 2004;18(3):630–6 · 2026
- Evidence
- Read in the primary source; numbers checked.
- Source
- pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22dead+hang%22
How it was studied
A PubMed search on 12 Oct 2026 for "dead hang", "bar hang", "straight arm hang", "passive hang" and "hang time", plus the nearest tests that do have norms.
The numbers
The nearest tests with norms are youth tests with bent arms: the HELENA study published bent-arm hang percentiles for 3,428 European adolescents aged 12.5–17.5 (Ortega et al., 2011).
In 60 college women, the flexed-arm hang correlated with one-rep maximum per kg of body mass (strongest r = 0.72) but not with absolute strength or endurance (Clemons et al., 2004). Hang time measures strength relative to body weight.
What it does not show
Absence of evidence in one database search. Grey literature such as military or police standards was not searched in full.
What Longstanding does with it
The dead hang is labelled "estimated" everywhere it appears. Its percentile comes from coaching bands, and the 20% per decade reduction after 45 is our own assumption, which the test page states. Hang time is most useful as your own trend.