Easily popping the lid off a jar can mean you’ll live longer — but not for the reasons you think.
Great grip strength is regarded as a key indicator of longevity, with one 2019 study linking stronger grip strength with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cognitive impairment.
The iron-gripped among us also experience day-to-day health benefits. “Those same people tend to have just better metabolism as well,” Sarah Crawford, a physical therapist and owner of Anchor Wellness in Cincinnati, told Business Insider. “So better blood sugar regulation, better hormonal balance, reduced inflammation.”
What do these people all have in common (besides giving firm handshakes)? Staying very active, she said. Grip strength is formed by building small muscles in the hands and forearms, which is harder to do than building larger muscles like your hamstrings or quadriceps.
“So if you’re keeping smaller, deeper muscles strong, you have to be keeping bigger muscles strong, too,” she said.
This is why squeezing a stress ball throughout an otherwise sedentary day won’t do anything for grip strength.
“Grip strength is really a by-product of living an active lifestyle,” W. Zach Smith, a physical therapist and owner of HIDEF Physical Therapy in Seattle, told Business Insider. He compared it to a person’s walking speed, another sign of longevity: “It’s based on all of the things they do in their life to stay healthy.”
Try farmer’s carries and dead hangs
The relationship to grip strength and strength training is fairly simple: grip strength is vital to progressing in pull-ups or heavy deadlifts, Crawford said. As you challenge yourself in those exercises, your grip strength improves over time.
Smith said popular exercises like bent-over rows, kettlebell swings, or sled pulls (where you hold a handle instead of tying the sled around your waist) all naturally build your grip strength because they involve pulling or carrying motions.
“Even rowing on a machine is going to take quite a bit of grip strength, having to pull,” he said.
Crawford said farmer’s carries — holding a heavy kettlebell in each hand and walking — “build grip endurance, shoulder stability, and core control all at once.”
Similar exercises, such as a suitcase carry (holding only one weight) or using a trap bar (a hexagonal barbell that you can grip on its sides), also boost grip strength, Smith said.
“Even a simple dead hang from a bar is a great grip-builder,” he said, which involves simply holding on to a pull-up bar for as long as you can.
If weight-training isn’t your thing, Smith said other workouts, like bouldering or gymnastics, also build your strength — including your grip.
Desk accessories can work — on one condition
Because of the grip strength longevity buzz over the past few years, Smith has seen devices like hand grippers and squeeze balls become trendier.
With his own clients, he’s seen little success when using them without additional strength training in the mix. “Building grip strength for the sake of grip strength using grip trainers rarely works, and we have had many clients try,” he said.
However, if you’re already strength training, Crawford said it doesn’t hurt to do a few desk exercises in between Zoom meetings. The hand gripper “targets the primary muscles of the hand and forearm and can be used just about anywhere,” she said. She also recommended therapy putty, which comes in different resistance levels and “helps strengthen the smaller, intrinsic muscles of the hand that we often neglect.”
Sneak in grip exercises throughout your day
You can also get creative in challenging your grip strength throughout the day. “If you’re parking further away in the grocery store parking lot and carrying your groceries out of the store instead of pushing them in a cart, that in and of itself will have an impact,” Crawford said.
Even fine motor tasks, like coloring with a pencil, add up over time. “Daily practices that are pretty easy to implement will positively impact grip strength,” she said — as long as you’re still hitting the gym.
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