Why Grip Strength is Linked to Longevity and Healthspan

Want to know if you’ll live to 100? The best test may not require a blood sample, expensive imaging or even a blood pressure cuff. It’s as simple as “grab this and squeeze.”

That’s because grip strength is a surprisingly strong indicator of longevity. In this article, we’ll explore why grip is such a good indicator of total-body muscle and longevity, whether grip strength itself is really important, how to measure your own, and how to make your grip (and your whole body) stronger.

What is Grip Strength?

Grip strength refers to the amount of force your hand and forearm muscles can generate when you squeeze or hold an object. While it may seem like a measure of hand strength alone, it actually reflects much more, including neuromuscular function and overall muscle strength throughout the body.

Because of this, grip strength has become a widely used clinical and research tool. It offers a simple, accessible way to assess functional strength and has been extensively studied as a marker of aging and longevity.

In most people, grip strength closely reflects total-body muscle strength and function. Because muscle health is deeply tied to mobility, metabolism, and resilience, grip strength has become a simple but powerful snapshot of how well the body is aging.

How is grip strength measured?

Most grip strength tests use a device called a dynamometer. Patients (or study participants) squeeze the handle, and it instantly displays their grip strength in kilograms or pounds on a digital readout.

This is a much more manageable way for scientists to test strength than using barbells, weights, and other exercises, says Joshua Davidson, a lecturer in clinical exercise science at the University of Derby who studies grip.

Why Is Grip Strength Important?

Quick refresher: As we age, our muscle mass declines by 3–8% every decade, accelerating as we get older.^[1] Muscle strength also declines with age, often at an even faster rate than muscle mass. Over time, this loss of strength can impact independence, quality of life, and overall health.

The more we can stave off this muscle loss, the lower the mortality risk. A 2014 analysis of more than 3,500 people found that those with the lowest muscle mass had significantly higher mortality,^[2] while individuals in the higher muscle mass groups had about a 30% lower risk of death compared to those with the least muscle.

Grip strength offers a simple way to capture changes in muscle health. Because it reflects overall muscle strength, a weaker grip could be an early sign of broader declines happening throughout the body.

What Does Grip Strength Tell Us About Muscle and Longevity?

Decades of research have shown that grip strength is strongly associated with overall muscle health and longevity.

A landmark study involving grip strength began in the 1960's and followed individuals from midlife until death. The researchers found that centenarians, or those who lived to at least 100 years, were 2.5 times more likely than those who died before age 80 to be among the group with the highest grip strength. This helped establish grip strength as a useful long-term biomarker of aging and survival.^[3]

It’s not the only study to link strength in the hands, wrists, and forearms with longer, healthier lives. Many large-scale studies have since confirmed that higher grip strength is associated with lower risk of mortality, disease, and disability:

• A study^[4] of more than 14,000 adults aged 50 and older found that those with weaker grip strength had about a 45% higher risk of death over a 12-year period compared to those with stronger grip.
• The PURE (Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology) study, followed more than 142,000 adults^[5] across 17 countries and found that for every 5 kg (11 lb) reduction in grip strength, the risk of death from any cause increased by 16%, cardiovascular death by 17%, heart attack by 7%, and stroke by 9%. In this study, grip strength was a greater predictor of all-cause mortality than systolic blood pressure!
• In adults aged 50, a greater grip strength^[6] has been associated with about a 30% lower likelihood of depressive symptoms.
• Grip strength isn’t just about muscles. Stronger grip strength is linked to slower biological aging, while weaker grip is associated with faster aging at the cellular level.^[7]

Grip strength itself isn’t causing longevity. Rather, it reflects underlying muscle health and physical function, both of which are strongly linked to long-term health outcomes.

How Does a Stronger Grip Help with Healthspan?

One of the biggest threats to independence as we age is falling. One out of four Americans aged 65 and over falls each year, resulting in 3 million trips to the emergency room. And suffering a fall results in a 20 percent dent in your ability to do “activities of daily living,” the aging science term for normal activities like walking, going out, and enjoying an independent life.

A strong grip, Davidson says, can help you avoid turning trips into potentially life-altering falls.

Grip plays a part in what we call functional righting, or corrective mechanisms... If I were an older adult and I was traveling down the stairs and I misstepped, my instinct is I’m going to reach out and grab something.Davidson

Having the strength and endurance to right oneself can keep this person upright. Keeping a strong grip, then, may help improve our healthspan by avoiding the function-sapping fallout of a spill.

How Can I Test Grip Strength at Home?

The simplest way to test grip strength is the same way it’s done in all the longevity studies and doctors' offices: With a dynamometer. These tools can be ordered online for $30 or less^[8]. In addition to being easy to administer, they’re fun to try out with family and friends.

If you buy one, test your grip while seated in a chair, with your elbow bent 90 degrees, and your upper arm against your side^[9]. Testing in this way will take your core and leg strength out of the equation, as they can help when you’re standing.

What’s a “good” grip strength?

Standards for a “strong grip” are different based on sex, ethnicity, and even location: Studies comparing populations around the world show that the grip strength thresholds used to define sarcopenia vary by region:^[10]

• In the U.S., the cutoff for “low muscle strength” has been set at less than 26 kg (57.3 pounds) for men, and less than 16 kg (35.3 pounds) for women.
• In Europe, the cutoff value is less than 30 kg (66.1 pounds) for men, and less than 20 kg (44 pounds) for women.
• Across Asia, the cutoff value is less than 26 kg (57.3 pounds) for men, and less than 18 kg (around 40 pounds) for women.
• In India, the cutoff value is less than 27.5 kg (60.6 pounds) for men, and less than 18 kg (around 40 pounds) for women.

Most of these studies were conducted on seniors. Certain areas of the world have not been studied as much, so there aren’t established cutoffs.

How Can I Test Grip Strength Without a Dynamometer?

If you don’t want to buy a dynamometer, you can still test your grip at home. Here are three simple methods, with benchmarks from Davidson:

Simply hang from a pull-up bar with both hands, and see how long you can hold on.

If this is too hard, or if you’re worried about falling, try this variation: Place a chair under a Smith machine (the machine at a gym with a bar that slides along a track, and can be fixed at multiple positions). Set the bar so that it’s a little more than arm’s length above your head. Grasp the bar and hang, and see how long you can keep your butt off the chair.

To measure your results: “Good” grip strength in this test will depend on your weight, as it’s easier if you’re lighter. But here are some simple benchmarks:

• Beginner: 0-60 seconds for men, 0-30 seconds for women

• Intermediate: 1-2 minutes for men, 30-60 seconds for women

• Elite: More than 2 minutes for men, more than 1 minute for women

In this case, you’ll hold dumbbells that add up to 25 percent of your total bodyweight. So if you’re 200 pounds, you’ll hold 25-pound dumbbells in each hand. Hold them at your sides, palms in. Once you pick them up and place them, time yourself.

If you don’t have access to dumbbells, Davidson says, you can also do this at home by loading reusable grocery bags with the same amount of weight.

To measure your results: For this test, as with the hang, the difficulty will scale with your weight. Instead of a “good” ranking system, try it once to set a benchmark for yourself, and see how you improve over time.

This will test your grip endurance more than its strength, Davidson says. To do it, grab a tennis ball with all your fingers around the ball. Squeeze the ball until your index finger and thumb touch, then see how long you can hold the squeeze before they separate.

Depending on the size of your hand, this may be harder or easier; if your hands are small, or if you can’t bring the thumb and index finger all the way together, use a marker to mark where they start when you grasp the ball, and try to bring those two lines closer together.

To measure your results: As with the dumbbell hold, set a benchmark time for yourself, and see how you improve over time.

How to Strengthen Your Grip Strength?

You could work on strengthening your grip alone (and Davidson has a series of exercises with that in mind), but for grip to be a proxy for your all-body strength, he says, you’ll ideally want to do moves that strengthen your whole body and your grip simultaneously.

This means moves in which your hand is completely wrapped around a bar or a weight as you continue to grip it to finish the exercise.

Here are some strategies that can help build your grip and full-body strength:

Farmer's Carries

To do this move, grab heavy dumbbells and hold them at arm’s length at your sides, palms in. Stand tall with a proud chest, and walk forward with the dumbbells for 10-20 meters, then walk back. Put them down, then repeat 2-3 times.

Rows

Any kind of row works: barbell rows, cable rows on a machine, or dumbbell rows. All these exercises require a full grip and mimic the type of “grab and hold” you’d do when righting yourself after tripping.

Chin-ups and pull-ups

Whether performed with assistance from a machine or band, or at full bodyweight, these moves will challenge your grip. Make sure to remove any rings from your hands before attempting the exercise.

Dumbbell lunges

Perform lunges while holding dumbbells at your sides, palms in. Take a large lunge step forward with your right leg, lowering your body as you step until both knees are bent to 90 degrees. Push through your foot to return to standing. Do all your repetitions on this side, then switch sides and repeat.

Rowing machine

Using the rowing machine for cardio workouts can help build grip strength and endurance. Davidson suggests mixing up your grip to challenge it in different ways: Alternate two minutes of rowing with an overhand grip, then two minutes with an underhand grip.

Building Muscle Strength with Mitopure®

Supporting muscle strength isn’t just about exercise. It also depends on what’s happening inside your cells.

Your muscles require a constant supply of energy from the mitochondria; however, as we age, mitochondrial function declines, contributing to age-related loss of muscle strength.^[11] Supporting mitochondrial health is emerging as an important strategy for maintaining muscle function as we get older.

Mitopure is a clinically validated form of Urolithin A that works by stimulating mitophagy, the body’s natural process of recycling and renewing mitochondria. Healthier mitochondria help muscle cells produce energy more efficiently, which can translate into stronger muscle performance over time.

Randomized controlled trials found that 500 mg of daily Mitopure supplementation carried exercise-like effects, increasing muscle strength by up to 12% after 16 weeks, without changing diet.* In the same study, participants taking 1,000 mg of Mitopure daily experienced a 5% improvement^[12] in grip strength from baseline, though the change did not reach statistical significance.

By improving the quality of the mitochondria inside muscle cells, Mitopure may help support strength and healthy aging.

Closing Remarks

Research consistently shows that grip strength is more than a measure of hand power; it’s a powerful snapshot of overall muscle and longevity. A stronger grip often reflects greater whole-body strength, healthier muscle mass, and lower risk of age-related decline.