Grip strength takes about a minute to measure, and large studies link a weaker grip to higher mortality risk and faster biological aging. Here is what the research says, what’s generally normal for your age, and how strength training and protein, including options like NOVOS Bar, support a healthy grip.
Quick Overview
- What grip strength measures: The maximum force your hand can produce, read on a handheld dynamometer.
- Key finding: Each 5 kg lower grip is linked to a 16% to 20% higher risk of death in large studies.
- Peak: Around age 32, followed by a gradual decline from midlife.
- Weak grip: Below 27 kg for men and 16 kg for women.
What Is Grip Strength, and Why Does It Matter?
Grip strength is the maximum force you can produce when you squeeze your hand. It’s quick and inexpensive to measure, making it a common research point in studies of tens of thousands of people.
Grip Strength as a Window on Whole-Body Strength
You might assume that a strong grip means the rest of your body is strong, too. That isn’t always the case. In a study of 960 adults, ranging from healthy young adults to older adults recovering from hip fractures, people with a strong grip didn’t always have strong legs. Grip works best as one measure of physical health, used alongside others such as VO2 max.
Measuring Grip Strength
Studies use a handheld dynamometer, a device that reads squeeze force in kilograms. In the British studies behind the most widely used norms, most protocols took three tries with each hand, usually seated, and recorded the highest reading. Methods vary between studies, so compare your result against norms collected the same way.
Grip Strength and Longevity: What the Research Shows
Large population studies have measured grip and followed people for years, looking at risk of death, survival to very old age, and biological age.
Grip Strength and Mortality Risk
The PURE study followed 139,691 adults aged 35 to 70 in 17 countries for about four years. Each 5 kg lower grip was linked to a 16% higher risk of death from any cause, and grip predicted death better than systolic blood pressure. In UK Biobank, with 502,293 adults aged 40 to 69, each 5 kg lower grip was linked to a 20% higher risk of death in women and 16% in men.
A study of 121,116 adults aged 50 and older in 29 countries measured grip repeatedly over a median of 7.7 years. It found that stronger grip was linked to lower risk of death, including deaths from heart disease and stroke.
Midlife Strength and Living to 100
A 44-year study of 2,239 Japanese ancestry American men in Hawaii measured grip at an average age of 62. Compared with the weakest third, men in the strongest third had about 2.5 times the odds of living to 100 instead of dying by age 79.
Grip Strength and Biological Age
Biological age estimates how fast your body is aging from molecular markers. In one study of middle-aged and older U.S. adults, lower grip strength was associated with faster aging on DNA methylation clocks, including GrimAge, and predicted faster aging over the next eight to 10 years. Men who lost grip strength over time also aged faster on two clocks. Grip is one of the physical measures studied as aging biomarkers.
Why Is Grip Strength Linked to Longevity?
Researchers do not have a complete explanation. Grip may reflect biology that shapes aging, health problems a person already has, or both.
Muscle, Metabolism, and Aging Biology
Researchers have called grip a biomarker of aging. But the authors of the DNA methylation study note that the pathways linking low grip to poor health remain unclear. In the 29-country study, the link with mortality was stronger when grip was measured relative to body size.
Biomarker, Not a Cause
Studies linking grip to mortality are observational and show association only. Illness, poor nutrition, and inactivity can lower grip and raise mortality risk at the same time, a problem called reverse causation. No trial has tested whether training grip alone adds years to life. Use grip as a signal to act on: the habits that raise it are the ones we cover in cardio and weight lifting for longevity.
Average Grip Strength by Age and Sex
The table shows grip strength from nearly 50,000 people in 12 British studies. Half of people score above the median. The low column is the 10th percentile, which only one in 10 people fall below.
| Age | Men, median (kg) | Men, low (kg) | Women, median (kg) | Women, low (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 40 | 30 | 28 | 21 |
| 30 | 51 | 38 | 31 | 24 |
| 40 | 50 | 38 | 31 | 23 |
| 50 | 48 | 35 | 29 | 21 |
| 60 | 45 | 33 | 27 | 18 |
| 70 | 39 | 29 | 24 | 16 |
| 80 | 32 | 23 | 19 | 13 |
Grip peaks around age 32, holds fairly steady through the 40s, and drops faster after 60.
Grip Strength, Muscle Loss, and Sarcopenia
Sarcopenia is the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, and grip is usually the first test for it. The 2019 European consensus on sarcopenia places low strength at the center of diagnosis, using grip cut-points of 27 kg for men and 16 kg for women. Those levels sit 2.5 standard deviations below the young-adult peak, and by age 80, about 23% of men and 27% of women in the British data fell below them.
See also: What Is Sarcopenia and How Do You Slow It?
How To Improve Grip Strength
Grip responds to training like any other muscle group. Full-body strength work, a few grip exercises, and enough protein each play a part.
Full-Body Strength Training
In a 2025 meta-analysis of 13 trials in older adults with sarcopenia, resistance training improved grip strength, with the largest gains at about three sessions a week. Deadlifts and rows load the hands while training the back and legs.
Grip-Specific Exercises
Add one or two of these to the end of a strength session two to three times a week:
- Dead hangs: Hang from a pull-up bar with straight arms for 20 to 60 seconds.
- Farmer’s carries: Walk 20 to 40 meters holding a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand.
- Hand grippers: Squeeze a spring gripper for sets of eight to 12.
- Towel holds: Wrap a towel around a bar or dumbbell handle to make holding more challenging.
Protein and Recovery
The PROT-AGE study group recommends at least 1.0 to 1.2 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day for adults over 65. Learn more about protein and longevity. Each NOVOS Bar provides 15 g of complete plant protein.
What the Research Can and Cannot Say
The research shows grip strength is a consistent, low-cost marker linked to mortality and biological age across hundreds of thousands of people. It cannot show that a stronger grip causes a longer life. Other limits:
- Grip gives only a partial view of total strength.
- The most cited norms come from British adults and use varied measurement methods.
NOVOS Age is an at-home epigenetic test that measures how your lifestyle is impacting your biology; read more about biological age testing. NOVOS Core targets all 12 hallmarks of aging, and NOVOS Boost supports your body’s natural NAD+ production.
FAQ About Grip Strength and Longevity
Is grip strength a predictor of longevity?
In large observational studies, yes. Each 5 kg lower grip was linked to a 16% to 20% higher risk of death, and in one study, grip predicted death better than systolic blood pressure.
What is a good grip strength for my age?
At or above the median for your age and sex is a reasonable benchmark. At age 50, the median is about 48 kg for men and 29 kg for women; at 70, about 39 kg and 24 kg.
What’s the link between grip strength and mortality?
Grip reflects muscle strength, activity level, and general health. Illness also lowers grip, so part of the link likely comes from existing health problems.
Can improving grip strength help you live longer?
No trial has tested this. Full-body strength training raises grip and supports muscle with age, but grip exercises alone have not been shown to add years.
How do you test grip strength at home?
Use a handheld dynamometer. Sit with your elbow bent at about 90 degrees, squeeze as hard as you can for a few seconds, and take three tries per hand. Compare your best reading with the table above.
At what age does grip strength start to decline?
Grip peaks around age 32 and stays fairly steady through the 40s. It declines from midlife, with larger drops after 60.
What exercises improve grip strength?
Dead hangs, farmer’s carries, deadlifts, rows, and hand grippers all train grip. In a 2025 meta-analysis of older adults with sarcopenia, resistance training about three times a week produced the largest gains.
What is considered weak grip strength?
Below 27 kg for men and below 16 kg for women, the cut-points used in European sarcopenia guidelines.
