Fitness

What your grip strength says about your health — and exercises that will improve it

Published

2 years ago

November 17, 2024

What your grip strength says about your health — and exercises that will improve it

Want to know how healthy you are? There’s one health metric experts can look to for hints about everything from your cardiovascular risks to your brain health: grip strength, or how firmly you can hold on to something with your hand.

“There’s nothing about grip strength, per se, that makes it special,” except that it’s easy to measure, Mark Peterson, a University of Michigan professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, tells Yahoo Life. Research also shows it’s an excellent predictor of how you’re doing overall.

So what does your grip strength say about you, and how can you improve it? Here’s what to know.

What is grip strength, and why does it matter?

Grip strength refers to how much force you can generate when you squeeze something in your hand, and experts look at it as a good way to gauge someone’s overall strength or weakness. If you’re finding it harder to twist open a jar of pasta sauce, for example, that’s a signal you may be losing some grip strength.

Grip strength is measured using a device called a dynamometer, which provides readings of how many kilograms of force someone generates when they compress its handle in their hand. Normal grip strength varies with factors including BMI and sex, and researchers are still debating exactly what indicates weak grip strength. But one study suggests that men’s grip strength is considered weak if they produce less than 26 kilograms (or 56 pounds) of force; for women, it’s less than 16 kilograms, or 35 pounds, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

What grip strength indicates about overall strength also turns out to be an excellent predictor of other health status factors, research has found. People with weaker grip strength are more likely to develop heart disease, high blood pressure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and to die of any cause. Losing grip strength over time has also been linked to a greater risk of cognitive decline. Grip strength “has proven to be the strongest predictor of disease and mortality, [better] than virtually anything else,” says Peterson.

That’s because a loss of grip strength “is such a good marker of frailty,” Dr. Ardeshir Hashmi, section chief of the Center for Geriatric Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, tells Yahoo Life. When someone becomes frail due to a loss of muscle mass, they generally are aging more quickly and will fare worse against any health problems, he explains. And frailty isn’t a problem just for the elderly. “As early as the mid-40s, these changes can start happening, especially when we’re very sedentary,” says Hashmi.

The good news is that adopting exercise habits and good nutrition can restore strength to your grip, and everywhere else.

What’s the best way to improve grip strength?

It might be tempting to run out and buy the sort of hand-strengthener tool some athletes use to improve their grips. But Peterson says not to bother. “That’s just not going to help your heart, kidneys or brain,” he explains. Instead, Peterson advocates for resistance training, because strengthening your body overall has widespread benefits and will help prevent you from becoming frail. Hashmi agrees that strength training is important, but says that exercise to improve your cardiovascular fitness — such as cycling or walking — matters too, especially because it ensures good circulation.

Exercise combats frailty by building up a good reserve of muscle which, in turn, will make your body more resilient against aging and help it bounce back more quickly from injuries or illness. Hashmi adds that you also need to be getting the right nutrients — especially protein — to fuel muscle development.

Getting stronger has also been linked to better brain health. “We found a link between low grip strength and cognitive deterioration and anxiety and depression, but I think it’s mostly that … people who are physically active are healthier from the top to the bottom, and that includes mental health and brain health,” says Peterson. “Exercise is one of the most potent treatments for prevention and help with mental health disorders like depression and anxiety,” he adds.

Exercises to try

The most important thing is to choose exercises you like and will do daily, even if only for 10 minutes, says Hashmi. Peterson recommends doing exercises that require two joints, such as squats or lunges. Exercises that “use the hip and knee are the most important because so much muscle exists in the lower extremities that you can get a lot of benefit from doing those,” he explains.

It’s worth talking to your doctor about what kinds of workouts will work best for you, but exercises the two experts do recommend include:

Swimming and water aerobics
Lifting weights, especially deadlifts or dumbbell lunges. You don’t need fancy equipment to do either. Try them at home while holding light dumbbells, milk jugs or cans.

Don’t focus so much on:

Bicep and chest workouts such as curls. These won’t do much for overall muscle tone and grip strength, Peterson says.
Hand-strengthening exercises. It’s fine to do them to strengthen your grip, but full-body workouts will have more important benefits for your health, experts say.

One upside of resistance training is that “strength happens really fast,” says Peterson. “Neurological changes happen virtually in the first week of exercise.”

And, yes, your grip strength will likely also improve as a result of this exercise; experts say that matters as an indicator of more widespread internal changes that are benefiting your overall health. Hashmi likens it to athletes training during the preseason. “If you’re not putting [work] in now, something will catch you unawares,” he says.

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Fitness

Why this unexpected exercise is most effective for building arm muscle in your 50s – and how to do it properly

Published

8 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

Why this unexpected exercise is most effective for building arm muscle in your 50s – and how to do it properly

When it comes to building strong, defined arms, traditional fitness advice will usually point you toward endless sets of bicep curls and tricep extensions. But according to Dr Stacy Sims, a leading women’s exercise physiologist specialising in perimenopause and menopause, isolation movements like these aren’t necessarily the most effective. Instead, she advocates for one functional compound movement: the farmer’s carry.

Speaking on podcast A Life of Greatness, when host Sarah Grynberg asks how to get arm muscles like Dr Sims, the 51-year-old explained: ‘In order to get shoulders like this, heavy farmer’s carries. I’ve been travelling so much this year, and I haven’t been in the gym being consistent with all the push presses and Olympic lifts that I love to do, but what I have been consistent in doing is heavy farmer’s carries.

‘It’s good for grip strength, learning how to walk properly, core strength, shoulders – so if there’s one move everyone should do, it’s heavy farmer’s carries.’

The magic of the move lies in its ability to engage your biceps, triceps, shoulders, forearms and hands all at once. And because your arms are working continuously to stabilise heavy loads against gravity, the exercise activates the deep muscle fibres that don’t fire up as efficiently in single-joint arm movements, like bicep curls. Here’s how to do it with proper form, plus how heavy to lift and a workout to try, straight from Dr Sims.

How to do a farmer’s carry

Standing with feet hip-width apart and weights at the outside of the ankles, hinge your hips back and bend the knees, keeping your back flat.
Tighten up your lower back and abdominals before reaching down to grab the weights.
After gripping the weights, begin to stand tall by driving your heels into the ground, maintaining a tight form. Once you reach full standing position, tighten your armpits and make sure your shoulders are pulled back to activate the muscles in the rotator cuff area.
Finally, begin to take small steps forward, maintaining a strong grip and form. If you’re returning in opposite direction, set the weights down, turn around, and then grab the weights again before walking in the opposite direction.

Set/reps for results: Aim for three sets. Try timing your farmer’s carry for 25 to 30 seconds or go for 10 steps forward and back.

Form tips: Start out with a light weight to ensure you don’t end up leaning too far forward or towards one side. Make sure to keep your back straight for safety. When it comes to moving, small strides will do. They’ll keep you balanced as you increase your weights.

How heavy to lift

As for what “heavy” means to Dr Sims, she says: ‘How many people have heard that you should be able to farmer carry 75% of your body weight for a minute? That is made up from bro science. It’s a good metric but there’s no science behind it. So, a heavy farmer’s carry is you have two very heavy dumbbells by your side and you’re walking back and forth.’

Here’s a weight guide to follow:

Beginners: 2x 4-6kg
Intermediate: 2x 8-12kg
Advanced: 2x 12-20kg

Farmer’s carry workout

Dr Sims shares a descending ladder workout to try.

500m ski
500m heavy farmer’s carry
400m ski
400m heavy farmer’s carry
300m ski
300m heavy farmer’s carry
200m ski
200m heavy farmer’s carry
100m ski
100m heavy farmer’s carry

‘If you really have anything left in the tank after this workout, you go back up in 100m,’ she adds.

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One of our most frequently asked questions here at Women’s Health? How to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. So, we asked superstar trainer Oyinda Okunowo exactly how to do it. In this 4-week plan – created exclusively for Women’s Health COLLECTIVE members – you’ll get the workouts and nutrition guidance needed to help you on your way to better body composition. Tap the link below to unlock 14 days of free access to Oyinda’s plan and start training today.

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As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.

After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!

Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.

She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.

Fitness

When is the best time to exercise in the heat?

Published

18 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

When is the best time to exercise in the heat?

The sun is a welcome addition to our exercise routines come summer – but the novelty of a sunny run or hike can quickly wear off as the temperature climbs. With heatwaves and record-breaking temperatures already this year, it’s important to know the best time to exercise in the heat for the weeks ahead.

Obviously, if you don’t like the heat and would rather be inside, then you can exercise in an air-conditioned gym or studio at any time of day. A good swimming workout is another way to stay cool. However, if you enjoy running, hiking, cycling, or a garden strength training workout, it makes sense to choose the coolest times of day. In the peak of the summer, this is before 10 am and after 5 pm, but the earlier (or later) you can go, the better.

The body reacts differently in the heat, making exercise above 20°C degrees feel harder, even if you’re doing the same workout you did in the cooler months. As the temperature climbs, blood vessels dilate to push blood towards the surface of the skin to cool it down, which means there is less in the muscles. This means your heart has to work harder and beat faster.

Fitness

Kylie Minogue, 58, shares how she stays fit without a strict exercise routine – ‘I don’t really work out’

Published

1 day ago

June 18, 2026

Press Room

Kylie Minogue, 58, shares how she stays fit without a strict exercise routine – ‘I don’t really work out’

Kylie Minogue has stayed active her whole life, but, refreshingly, she doesn’t follow a punishingly strict routine to stay fit.

‘I wish I was one of those women who do their exercises first thing in the morning, or run straight to the fitness studio as soon as they get up,’ she told Star Magazine. ‘But unfortunately, I’m just not that disciplined!’

Instead, the ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ singer partly relies on her hectic schedue to keep her moving. ‘I don’t really work out, but I’m constantly on the go,’ she told Express.

‘My guilty confession is that there isn’t [a routine]!…I think I stay in shape with an active (read, exhausting!) lifestyle,’ she continued on Reddit. ‘My fitness is really sporadic. I have to thank my mum for good genes.’

Kylie Minogue’s go-to exercises

Despite her self-professed low-key approach, the global multi-platinum recording artist incorporates several workout methods into her day, preferring mainly low-impact and moderate-intensity exercise.

‘I do Pilates,’ she continued to Star. But she’s careful to keep things balanced. ‘I don’t overdo it,’ she clarified.

‘I like to at the very least do 15 minutes on the Yoga Studio app. I know how to do it without the app but the tone of the woman’s voice and that it’s timed, it goes by so quickly,’ she told WSJ. ‘Then I feel like that’s done and I feel good.’

Often, her exercise of choice also depends on what equipment is available.

‘If there’s a treadmill nearby, I like to do that. We say in my family, “Minogues don’t run.” None of us run. But we like to walk, so that works for me,’ she added. ‘If I’m somewhere where there’s Pilates, I love that.’

Workouts that provide holistic physical and mental benefits are often a favourite.

‘I’ve also tried Gyrotonics; that was really fun,’ she continued, referring to the gymnastics-and-swimming-inspired movement system developed by Julia Horvath in the 80s. Designed to decompress the body, build strength and flexibility, and improve posture, it’s increasingly being adopted by Olympic athletes and celebrities alike.

‘I loved aerobics and I used to do Callanetics,’ she added to Express. Created by classical ballet-trained Callan Pinckney around 40 years ago, Callanetics uses ‘small, precise pulsing movements’ to ‘activate muscles’. ‘I would travel everywhere with this home workout on a VHS tape and put it on in hotel rooms,’ Kylie revealed.

However, being the ‘Princess of Pop’ does mean that the physical demands are considerable, and often her endurance, coordination and overall fitness are put to the test when she’s on stage.

‘I would say my ultimate workout is being on tour. I’m never as fit as when I’m on tour, so I can’t wait to tour again. My body needs it.’

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