Take my Money
I’ve asked Amazon to take my money for a lot of reasons (Hi, it’s Megan, not Dr. Dee Bonney, felt like I should mention that as I describe fighting with pickle jars in a minute) but this might be the weirdest in the last couple months but it’s for good reason! Well, according to the longevity books and research anyway. Take a peek at this page from Dr. Peter Attia’s book Outlive where he talks about the association of handgrip strength and dementia. Or an excerpt from the article a little further down in this blog about aging and grip strength.
Pickle Jar Issues
If you’re constantly locked in battle with pickle jars 🙋♀️, perhaps it’s time to invest in hand grip strengtheners. Say that ten times fast! But why bother with grip strength, you ask? Maybe you’re not a pickle fan, and longevity studies don’t sway you. Consider the simple act of moving things around your home without fumbling. Imagine as you age, a momentary slip—you’ll want the assurance of a sturdy grip to catch yourself. Weak hands? You’re bound to take a tumble, no matter the circumstance.
Average Grip Strength
can vary depending on factors such as age, gender, and overall health. Generally, grip strength tends to be higher in men compared to women due to differences in muscle mass and hormone levels. However, here are some rough estimates:
For men:
- Average grip strength typically falls in the range of 105-115 pounds
For women:
- Average grip strength usually ranges between 75-85 pounds
“Want to know how well you’re aging? Check your grip strength…
“…Strength training is likely just as important. A study looking at nearly half a million patients in the United Kingdom found that grip strength, an excellent proxy for overall strength, was strongly and inversely associated with the incidence of dementia (see figure 8). People in the lowest quartile of grip strength (i.e., the weakest) had a 72 percent higher incidence of dementia, compared to those in the top quartile. The authors found that this association held up even after adjusting for the usual confounders such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, diseases such as diabetes and cancer, smoking, and lifestyle factors such as sleep patterns, walking pace, and time spent watching TV. And there appeared to be no upper limit or “plateau” to this relationship; the greater someone’s grip strength, the lower their risk of dementia.”
Hand Grip Strength Program 👇
Start off with training 3x a week with a rest day in between. You can always increase the amount, but make sure that your rest is present.
- Begin with a Warmup. Use 25% gripper that you can actually close and get those wrists working.
- Exercise 1: 5 sets, 10 reps closing 75% of the heaviest gripper you can close
- Superset Exercise 2: 5 sets, 10 reps fully opening using extensor trainer.
- Repeat Exercises 1-3 three times, resting 2 minutes between each circuit
- Exercise 3: 5 Sets of Goal Gripper Attempts.
- Rest 2 minutes between each attempt
- Exercise 4: 5 Sets of Goal Gripper Holds. This means, use the tools at your disposal and manage to get the gripper shut. Then prevent it from opening up for as long as your strength allows.
These are the ones I ordered from Amazon and have liked.
*note: if you have carpal tunnel, you may need to check with your carpal tunnel doc about starting this routine. If you are gripping too much too quickly you might exacerbate your carpal tunnel. You want to listen to your body, go slow, and allow rest and recovery time like you would with any other part of your body that is inflamed.