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Best exercises for grip strength: 7 moves and a sample week

Grip carries the shopping, opens the jar, holds the bar. Train it 2 to 3 times a week, at the end of your strength work. Ten minutes is enough.

By Susmit Jalan, coach at Online Fitness Worldwide.

Grip is the strength in your hands and forearms. You use it all day. Bags, jars, children, a heavy door.

Researchers like it because it is quick to measure: one squeeze on a hand dynamometer. Grip tells you a lot about your overall strength.[5]

In the PURE study, 139,691 adults aged 35 to 70 in 17 countries, including India and the UAE, had their grip tested. Over about 4 years, every 5 kg less grip was linked to a 16% higher risk of death from any cause.[2]

That is a link, not proof. The authors say more research is needed to test whether getting stronger lowers that risk.[2] So we don't chase a number. We train the whole body, and the hands with it.

You need a dumbbell or two (or bags of water), a towel, a rubber band and 10 minutes after your strength work.

The 7 best exercises for grip strength

  1. Farmer's carry

    Why
    Heavy in both hands, and walk. The hands squeeze, the forearms burn, the shoulders and trunk hold you tall. The most useful grip exercise there is.
    How
    A dumbbell, a kettlebell or a bag of water in each hand. Stand tall. Shoulders down. Walk slowly, short steps. Put them down before your grip gives out, not after.
    Dose
    3 to 4 walks of 20 to 30 metres, or 30 to 40 seconds.

  2. Dead hang

    Why
    Your body weight, held by your hands. It builds grip that lasts, and it works the whole hand at once.
    How
    Only from a pull-up bar or a frame rated for your weight. Step up from a stool. Hands shoulder-width. Hang with shoulders gently engaged, not shrugged to your ears. Too hard? Keep your feet on the stool and take some weight off.
    Dose
    3 hangs of 10 to 30 seconds. Rest a minute between.

  3. Towel row

    Why
    A towel is a thick, soft handle. Your fingers have to work much harder to hold it. Your back gets a row at the same time.
    How
    Loop a small towel through a dumbbell handle, or around a band. Hold both ends in one hand. Other hand on a chair or bench. Row it to your hip. Lower slowly.
    Dose
    3 sets of 8 to 12 each side.[8]

  4. Pinch hold

    Why
    Most grip work forgets the thumb. Pinching trains it. Think of carrying a laptop or a tray by the edge.
    How
    Two weight plates, smooth sides out. Or two thick books, or one heavy book by its spine. Pinch between fingers and thumb, arm long by your side. Hold.
    Dose
    3 holds of 15 to 30 seconds each hand.

  5. Wrist curl and reverse wrist curl

    Why
    The muscles that bend and lift your wrist sit in your forearm. Training both sides keeps them balanced.
    How
    Sit. Forearm on your thigh, wrist just past your knee. A light dumbbell or a water bottle. Palm up: curl the wrist up, lower slowly. Then palm down: lift the back of your hand, lower slowly. Small range. No jerking.
    Dose
    2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 each way. Light.

  6. Squeeze: hand gripper or soft ball

    Why
    Closing the hand hard, again and again. Simple, and you can do it at a desk.
    How
    A hand gripper you can close for 8 to 12 reps, or a soft ball or rolled-up towel. Squeeze hard. Hold 2 to 3 seconds. Open slowly.
    Dose
    2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 squeezes each hand. When 12 is easy, use a stiffer gripper.[8]

  7. Finger extensions with a rubber band

    Why
    Six moves of squeezing. One of opening. Hands that type all day and grip all session need the other side too.
    How
    Put a thick rubber band around your fingers and thumb, near the tips. Open the hand wide against it. Hold one second. Close slowly.
    Dose
    2 to 3 sets of 15 to 20 each hand.

How often, how heavy, and what grip tells you

WHO advises muscle-strengthening work for all the major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week.[1] Grip fits inside that. Add it to the end of 2 or 3 strength sessions. Not every day: hands and forearms need rest days too.

Use the same rule as any strength work. Pick a load or a version you can do 8 to 12 good reps with. When you beat the target by 1 or 2 reps, add a little: 2 to 10% more load.[8] For holds, add seconds first, then weight.

Does grip training work? In a review of 24 trials with 3,018 older adults (average age 73), exercise programmes raised grip strength. The gain was small.[7] Programmes that trained the task directly, or mixed several kinds of exercise, looked best.[7] That is why this list does both.

Grip is linked to more than hands. In half a million UK adults aged 40 to 69, lower grip went with a higher risk of dying from any cause, and from heart disease, lung disease and several cancers.[3] In 6,089 healthy men aged 45 to 68, the weakest third by grip were more than twice as likely as the strongest third to have trouble caring for themselves 25 years later.[4]

These are links, not causes. Weak grip often goes with weak muscles overall, and with illness and poor nutrition.[5] Squeezing a gripper won't undo that on its own. Strength work for the whole body is the point. Grip is a good way to check on it.

Doctors use grip too. In Europe's definition of sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss), low grip strength is the first sign to look for: under 27 kg for men and under 16 kg for women, on a hand dynamometer.[6] That is a clinic test, not a home one. If you are worried about losing strength, ask your doctor.

A sample week with grip work

Sample only. Not a prescription. Adjust it to your body, your health and your history.

  • Monday: strength session, then farmer's carry and pinch hold.
  • Tuesday: a brisk walk.
  • Wednesday: strength session, then towel row and dead hang.
  • Thursday: rest, or a walk. Finger extensions at your desk if you type a lot.
  • Friday: strength session, then wrist curls and the squeeze.
  • Saturday: carry the shopping home. That counts.
  • Sunday: rest.
  • Grip on 2 or 3 days, never two hard grip days in a row.

Want it coached live?

Iron Hour is 60 minutes, 1:1. Set-up at minute 0: camera placed so I can see your hands and your whole body. Warm-up from minute 4. The primary lift at 14. Accessories at 28: this is where carries, hangs and holds go. Cool-down at 50.

Lean Reset is 20 sessions a month, 1:1. Open Floor is a small group.

Coming back after a long break? Return is 45 minutes, 12 alternate-day sessions a month. We build the base first, grip included.

Coached live on Google Meet, Zoom or FaceTime. In Hindi or English. On IST. Not sure yet? Start with a 30-minute consultation. It is a conversation, not training. Booking holds a time. The fee is agreed directly.

See the programsAsk on WhatsApp (opens in a new tab)

Before you start

General information, not medical advice. ACSM's screening model says: if you are inactive, have no symptoms and no known heart, metabolic or kidney disease, you can start light to moderate exercise without medical clearance and build up gradually. If you have one of those conditions, or symptoms, get medical clearance first.[9] Breathe through every hold. Don't hold your breath, especially with high blood pressure. Have hand, wrist, elbow or shoulder pain, arthritis in your hands, a recent injury or surgery, or numbness or tingling in your fingers? Ask your doctor or physiotherapist which moves suit you first. Hang only from a bar that is fixed and rated for your weight, and step down onto a stool, don't drop. Stop if you get sharp pain, or numbness or tingling in your hand.

ASCA Level 1 (strength and conditioning) and ACE (anatomy and biomechanics). These are credentials held by the coach. Neither body endorses this business or this article.

Sources

  1. [1] World Health Organization. WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Geneva: WHO; 2020. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128 (opens in a new tab)
  2. [2] Leong DP, Teo KK, Rangarajan S, et al. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. Lancet. 2015;386(9990):266–273. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62000-6 (opens in a new tab)
  3. [3] Celis-Morales CA, Welsh P, Lyall DM, et al. Associations of grip strength with cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer outcomes and all cause mortality: prospective cohort study of half a million UK Biobank participants. BMJ. 2018;361:k1651. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k1651 (opens in a new tab)
  4. [4] Rantanen T, Guralnik JM, Foley D, et al. Midlife hand grip strength as a predictor of old age disability. JAMA. 1999;281(6):558–560. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.281.6.558 (opens in a new tab)
  5. [5] Bohannon RW. Grip strength: an indispensable biomarker for older adults. Clin Interv Aging. 2019;14:1681–1691. https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S194543 (opens in a new tab)
  6. [6] Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Bahat G, Bauer J, et al. Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis. Age Ageing. 2019;48(1):16–31. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afy169 (opens in a new tab)
  7. [7] Labott BK, Bucht H, Morat M, Morat T, Donath L. Effects of exercise training on handgrip strength in older adults: a meta-analytical review. Gerontology. 2019;65(6):686–698. https://doi.org/10.1159/000501203 (opens in a new tab)
  8. [8] American College of Sports Medicine. Position stand: Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41(3):687–708. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181915670 (opens in a new tab)
  9. [9] Riebe D, Franklin BA, Thompson PD, et al. Updating ACSM's recommendations for exercise preparticipation health screening. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2015;47(11):2473–2479. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000664 (opens in a new tab)