Do you have a good grip or a weak grip, like always struggling to unscrew jar lids?
There’s a proven relation between grip strength and early death, disease and disability.
A groundbreaking study, led by the University of South Australia and involving 140 researchers worldwide, has created the largest and most globally diverse set of handgrip strength norms.
These new standards will allow for comparisons across countries and age groups, helping with health screening and monitoring for age-related diseases and disabilities.
The study, published in The Journal of Sport and Health Science, analyzed data from 100 observational studies that included 2.4 million adults age 20 to over 100 from 69 countries.
It’s the first of its kind to provide handgrip strength norms for different age groups and both genders on an international scale.
Handgrip strength is a simple but reliable indicator of muscle health.
It’s measured using a handgrip dynamometer, which records the maximum force a person can exert by squeezing the device for a few seconds.
Low handgrip strength has been linked to a higher risk of death, cardiovascular disease and physical disability.
The study established a percentile system for handgrip strength, which can be used to classify an individual’s strength.
- Adults below the 20th percentile are considered to have low strength.
- Those between the 20th and 39th percentiles have somewhat low strength.
- Those in the 40th to 59th percentiles have moderate strength.
- Those in the 60th to 79th percentiles are somewhat strong.
- Those in the 80th percentile or higher have high strength.
This system allows for a clear understanding of where someone stands in relation to their peers, based on their age and sex.
It provides health professionals a reference to monitor healthy aging by observing changes in strength over time.
Clinicians can use these new norms to identify people at risk for health issues by comparing their results to others of the same age and gender.
Professor Grant Tomkinson, the lead researcher, emphasizes the importance of muscle strength as a key indicator of both current and future health.
This study gives clinicians and exercise professionals a way to interpret grip strength results using percentile rankings, making it easier to track potential health risks.
Why is hand grip strength predictive of future health?
People with a strong grip are more likely to be regularly involved in at least one physical activity that requires a solid grip.
Such a physical activity – which may be gym workouts or sport – engage the entire body along with the grip.
Thus, these individuals would obviously have physically fit bodies.
Since they’re regularly engaged in structured exercise and/or sport, we can safely assume that the majority of them are mindful of nutrition and weight management. It’s also logical to assume that most don’t smoke.
Thus, a fit body, plus a nutritious and tobacco-free lifestyle, would invariably lead to a longer life, a lower risk of early death and reduced odds of suffering a major cardiac event or becoming disabled.
Example of Grip Strength Directly Tied to Good Fitness and Health
Someone who strength trains will frequently be picking up and holding onto dumbbells just to remove them from the rack and return them there. This alone will strengthen grip.
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However, this person will do all sorts of exercises while holding onto dumbbells.
They’ll also use barbells and may also engage in pulling routines using cable equipment.
Because they value a strong fit body, chances are pretty high that they make a point to have a healthful diet with minimal ultra-processed foods.
The strong hand grip is a byproduct of weight training, and a healthful diet and avoidance of smoking almost always come with one’s enthusiasm for building lean strong muscle.
The totality of this is high odds in favor of a long life in which one ages gracefully rather than painfully and with disability.
If you sit around all day eating junk food, smoking and are obese, but decide to squeeze hand grip devices every day to strengthen your grip, this is NOT the way to swing the odds in your favor for a long and fruitful life.
That’s because only relying on handheld grip devices is a local application that will not affect the entire body.
Hand grippers won’t override a sedentary lifestyle, cancel out the bad diet and smoking nor negate the hazards of obesity.
Hand Grip Devices
Certainly, these types of tools are sometimes used by workout enthusiasts; it comes with the mindset of wanting to be strong. I myself, a lifelong gym rat, have a pair.
But hand grips are not a panacea for poor fitness or bad health.
If you want a strong grip, you should take up an activity that gets your entire body involved – while strengthening your grip – such as strength training, powerlifting and indoor wall climbing.
Racquet sports and vigorous gardening will also improve grip strength while increasing fitness for the entire body.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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