Does Grip Training Extend Your Lifespan?
If you’re into fitness or follow health trends, you’ve probably heard it: grip strength is the secret to living longer. Podcasts featuring health gurus, headlines from longevity experts, and even mainstream news outlets have popularized this claim. But is it really true? Can squeezing a grip trainer or mastering your deadlift actually add years to your life?
The fascination with grip strength as a marker for health comes from robust data. Research consistently shows that higher grip strength relative to age is associated with lower risks of all-cause mortality, frailty, cardiovascular disease, and other age-related issues. It’s a simple yet powerful indicator: those who can grip stronger often age better.
Read more about the grip strength data by clicking here.
But here’s where we need to dig a little deeper. While grip strength is undeniably a reliable health marker, improving it alone doesn’t directly extend your lifespan. Instead, it serves as a proxy—a reflection of your broader health and vitality. A stronger grip often indicates that someone is staying active, maintaining muscle mass, and engaging in strength-based activities throughout their life.
This emphasis on grip training has been misinterpreted as a need to dedicate more specific exercise time to strengthening the grip. But before you rush out to buy a grip trainer or dedicate an entire workout to wrist curls and isometric holds, let’s put things in perspective. The individuals showing impressive grip strength in studies aren’t just squeezing stress balls or exclusively training their forearms. Instead, they’re likely engaging in activities that challenge and strengthen multiple muscle groups. Think heavy lifts that engage the posterior chain, core, and upper back. Movements like deadlifts, pull-ups, or farmer’s carries not only test your grip but also contribute to overall strength, stability, and mobility. Which are all key factors in aging well.
3 Multi-joint movements that will simulatenously train your grip and other structures to support healthy aging
The Benefits of the Hype Around Grip Strength
What I do love about the focus on grip strength is that it underscores the importance of strength training, especially as we age. It’s a reminder that building and maintaining muscle isn’t just for athletes or bodybuilders—it’s for everyone. Strength training helps preserve muscle mass, support joint health, and maintain the kind of functional strength that lets you stay independent and enjoy life as you grow older. It’s something that at a young age we take for granted. However, the habits we develop now could have life-long impacts on how we age. Performing strength-based exercises now could mean that later you’ll be able to carry groceries inside, or open jars by yourself.
So, while grip-specific exercises like squeezing a ball or using grip trainers have their place, they aren’t the magic secret for longevity. If your goal is to live a longer, healthier, and more active life, focus on movements that train your entire body. These will naturally challenge your grip strength while building the resilience and vitality that will serve you for decades to come.
In the end, grip strength is a fantastic health marker, but it’s not the whole story. Think of it as a signpost, pointing to the bigger picture of maintaining an active, strength-based lifestyle. And that’s the real key to aging with grace, health, and vitality.
How to Measure Your Grip Strength at Home
Not all of us have access to a hand-grip dynamometer, which is the tool used to measure grip strength. However, you can measure your grip strength at home by using this simpler method.
Grip your bathroom scale with your elbows bent at 90 degrees and squeeze it as hard as you can.
Write down the highest number you get.
Repeat this 3 times and take the average measure of the 3 values.
Although this increases the risk of innacuracy given the different styles of bodyweight scales, it does provide an easier route to test it out for fun.
