Dead hang time by age: what does your result mean?

Updated 1 November 2026. The GRIP-6 sample is young and trained. Attia's numbers are a podcast target for very strong people. Neither is a population average.

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Your hold seconds, or minutes:secondsReference values to show OptionalBoth setsMen’sWomen’sYour age Optional

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Dead hang times by age: what the chart can tell you

An age chart is only as useful as the test behind it. The same person can record different hang times on different bars or with different assistance. Keep the testing conditions consistent before interpreting a change.

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Measured hang times in a published study

The 2025 study measured 25 trained recreational athletes aged about 20. Men held a passive bar hang for 64 seconds on average and women for 48 seconds. Individual variation was wide. No large population study of dead hang time exists. Treat these as one measured sample and not a norm.

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The standard deviation is more than half the mean for both sexes. Individual times in this sample ranged widely. An older and smaller test gives a second reference point (Drury et al. 2004). The test found that 32 moderately trained men averaged 95.4 seconds on a standard bar and 107.6 seconds on a different bar design called the Tri-Bar. That is a male-only sample on two bars. It is not a norm either.

Men’s times and women’s times

Published handgrip-force norms differ by age and sex. Those measurements use a dynamometer and report force. Supporting bodyweight from a bar for time involves another task. Applying the force percentiles directly to hang duration would be misleading.

Dodds et al. explain the instruments and populations in their study. That paper does not provide the age-specific dead-hang seconds previously displayed here.

Expert hang-time targets for men and women

Peter Attia said on his podcast in December 2024 that a "very strong" 40-year-old man should be able to dead hang for at least two minutes and a "very strong" 40-year-old woman for at least 90 seconds. That is his target for strong people. It is not an average. 11 men averaged 64 seconds and 14 women 48 seconds in the GRIP-6 study. Their mean age was about 20.

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He also said to subtract about 10 seconds per decade. That is a rule of thumb from a podcast and not measured data. This page does not turn it into an age table. The wording comes from the episode transcript; the show notes are at peterattiamd.com. The 80:41 Guinness record is a separate category and is covered on the dead hang world record page, which lists every Guinness hanging title.

Published hang-time targets compared (none is a measured norm)

Five publishers state hang-time levels. They disagree, and none is a measured population norm. Each row shows only what the source says, with the basis it gives. The measured figures are the GRIP-6 means above. Every measured hang-time sample we found is compiled in the dead hang statistics table.

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Three sources use the label intermediate: Eat This means 21 to 45 s, BodySpec 45 s (ages 20 to 29) and Marathon Handbook over 60 to 90 s. None names a measured sample of people hanging as the basis for its bands. Use them to see the range of opinion and not to rank yourself.

Why does this page not give dead hang percentiles?

A percentile needs an appropriate comparison population and a standardized test. We do not have that dataset for these timed hangs. A result such as 60 seconds cannot truthfully become “top 25%” simply by assigning a band to it.

The calculator instead shows what fraction of your own target you have reached. A 30-second hold against a 60-second target is 50% of that target. It says nothing about how many people you outperform. The dead hang standards page covers how to make the test repeatable.

Is your time useful to build from?

A controlled hold gives you a starting record. A feet-supported hold is also recordable; keep it separate from an unassisted hold. Short holds are not failures. End the attempt while you can step down safely.

10, 30, 60 and 120 seconds are convenient round-number milestones. They are not validated age cut-offs or required fitness standards. Choose your next target and use the personal hang calculator to compare it. Set it as a goal in the dead hang timer and training log.

What does your time mean?

A one-minute dead hang is a little under the 64-second mean of the men in the GRIP-6 study (11 men, mean age about 20) and above the 48-second mean of its women. It is well under Attia's two-minute target for a very strong 40-year-old man. Those are different groups. This is a rough comparison and not a ranking.

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Individual times in the study varied by roughly 30 to 35 seconds (one standard deviation) either side of the means. A gap of 10 seconds says little. The calculator tracks progress against a target you choose. The beginner dead hang guide covers short holds for people starting out.

What changes when you repeat the test?

Record your bar, grip and assistance consistently. A different bar diameter, chalk or foot support changes the conditions. Compare like with like. A lower result on one day is not a diagnosis of declining health. Heavier people generally hold less at the same grip strength, so compare with your own earlier holds.

Does hang time fall with age?

Grip force falls with age. Nobody has measured how many hanging seconds are lost per decade.

A pooled analysis of 12 British studies (60,803 measurements from 49,964 participants) found median peak grip of 51 kg in males aged 29 to 39 and 31 kg in females aged 26 to 42 (Dodds et al. PLOS ONE 2014). That is force in kilograms and not seconds. The grip strength by age guide covers the force side.

Turn your baseline into a routine

Choose manageable holds and enough rest to maintain control. Record what you actually held instead of saving the timer setting as a result.

The training plans organize practice and review points without promising a particular gain.

How long should you dead hang in a session?

Level 1 is the starting dose: 3 hangs of 15 seconds each, with 90 seconds of rest between hangs, on 3 non-consecutive days a week (for example Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Stop each hang 1 to 2 seconds before your grip gives out. This is common training practice and not a tested prescription. Stop if you feel sharp pain. This is not medical advice.

Rest, progression and how to add sessions are covered in how often to dead hang.

Common questions about hang time

What is a good dead hang time?

A useful starting point is a controlled hold you can repeat without pain. Use 10, 30, 60 or 120 seconds as personal milestones if they suit you. They are not population averages. Compare repeat tests under the same conditions.

How long should a 40-year-old be able to dead hang?

The sources cited here do not establish a required time for a 40-year-old. Training experience, bodyweight, grip, bar and assistance all affect the task. Record your own baseline instead of treating an age table as a pass or fail.

Is a two-minute dead hang good?

Two minutes is Peter Attia's target for a very strong 40-year-old man. This site cannot assign it a verified population percentile. It is not necessary to reach two minutes before a session counts as useful practice.

Does dead hang time decrease with age?

Handgrip-force studies show age-related differences across groups. They do not tell us a fixed number of hanging seconds lost per decade. Your own repeated measurements are more useful than subtracting seconds from an invented age norm.

What is a good dead hang time for a woman?

No single women’s pass time is supported by the sources on this page. Record the same grip and assistance over time. Population handgrip-force differences cannot be converted directly into a timed-hang ranking.

How long can the average person hang from a bar?

We cannot verify one population average from the studies cited here. A bar hang measures a different task from the dynamometer tests used in the referenced grip-strength research. The main measured timed-hang sample is a 2025 study of 25 young athletes and is summarized on this page.

What is the average dead hang time?

No large population study of dead hang time exists. One 2025 study of 25 trained recreational athletes aged about 20 measured men at 64 seconds on average and women at 48 seconds. Treat these as one measured sample and not a norm.

Is a 1-minute dead hang good?

A one-minute dead hang is close to the 64-second average of the men in one 2025 study of trained recreational athletes aged about 20 and above the 48-second average of the women. It is below Peter Attia's two-minute target for a very strong 40-year-old man. These are different groups. Treat it as a rough comparison.

How long should I dead hang in a session?

A Level 1 session is a few short hangs that stop just before your grip fails. The full dose is in the session section above.

What dead hang time does Peter Attia suggest for a strong 40-year-old?

He said on The Peter Attia Drive (episode 329, December 2024) that a very strong 40-year-old man should be able to dead hang for at least two minutes and a very strong 40-year-old woman for at least 90 seconds. He said to subtract about 10 seconds per decade. It is his target for very strong people and not an average or measured data.

What is an elite dead hang time?

No measured threshold for elite exists. Attia's two minutes for a very strong 40-year-old man is a target for strong people and not a population figure. The Guinness World Record for the dead hang position is 80 minutes 41 seconds. Kenta Adachi of Japan set it on 18 November 2022.

Sources and method

The hang times come from the GRIP-6 study (Chomiuk et al. 2025). Dodds et al. (2014) supplies the grip-force figures. They measure squeeze force in kilograms and not hanging time. The personal-goal examples on this page are arithmetic and editorial milestones and not research-derived training prescriptions.

The editorial standards explain how we distinguish research and interpretation from equipment advice.

Sources for the figures on this page

1. Chomiuk T, Męczyński A, Kasiak P, Mamcarz A, Śliż D. Impact of 6-Week Combined Gym and Climbing Training on Handgrip Strength and Arm Size: GRIP-6 Study. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol 2025;10(4):427. doi:10.3390/jfmk10040427. Hang times in Table 2.
2. Drury DG, Faggiono H, Stuempfle KJ. An investigation of the tri-bar gripping system on isometric muscular endurance. J Strength Cond Res 2004;18(4):782-786. doi:10.1519/R-13883.1.
3. Attia P. The Peter Attia Drive, episode 329, Special AMA, 16 December 2024. Show notes and transcript.
4. Dodds RM et al. Grip strength across the life course. PLOS ONE 2014;9(12):e113637. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0113637.
5. Guinness World Records: longest duration in the dead hang position (male), Kenta Adachi, 18 November 2022.

Community discussion (self-reported, one thread)

One beginner reported a 40-second neutral-grip dead hang in a 2020 StrongFirst forum thread on getting a first pull-up. A reply said that more hanging past about 30 seconds will have "little, if any, effect" on pull-up ability.

That is one anecdote and not a norm. Read the original thread (opened 19 October 2026).