Self-experiment, part 1: can I increase my grip strength?
20.10.2026
Translation: Katherine Martin
Pictures: Siri Schubert
Grip strength is a well-studied indicator of health and longevity. Plus, it’s important during both exercise and everyday life. Unfortunately, it tends to decline with age. With this in mind, I want to take a targeted approach to training my grip strength now. Here’s how I plan to do it.
There’s a certain measurement that reveals more about you than you might think. It’s linked to your cardiovascular health, muscle and bone strength, cognitive fitness and even your biological age: grip strength.
A study involving roughly 140,000 adults in 17 countries demonstrated that grip strength can predict disease mortality. When examining the link between hand grip strength and other health indicators, other researchers showed that the harder you grip, the healthier and fitter you are. And, as a result, the likelier you are to lead a long, healthy life.
The plan: a self-experiment
Given how promising this sounds, I’m inspired to try a self-experiment. I want to test my own grip strength, then spend several weeks trying to boost it through a variety of methods and devices. On the one hand, it’s the prospect of gaining more insight into my health that’s spurring me on. On the other hand, the need to start strengthening my hands and forearms is driven by purely practical reasons.
Having recently taken up wakeboarding, my sessions at the cable park have quickly made me realise that my hands and forearms tire out much faster than the rest of my body. I want to strengthen them so that I can board for longer and have more fun doing so. Plus, it’ll help me prevent overuse injuries.
Strong hands are also a plus during strength-training workouts, including during kettlebell lifts, pull-ups and barbell exercises. In an article for Red Bull Magazine, Danish Hyrox athlete, Ida Mathilde Steensgaard, revealed how she improves her grip strength for competitions. If you’re a rock climber or play tennis, you might’ve already incorporated grip strength training into your workout to improve performance or prevent injury. Strong hands also come in handy in day-to-day life. For instance, when opening a jar of jam or pickles, carrying your bike up from the basement or uncorking a bottle of Prosecco.
What you need to know
It’s easy to develop the misunderstanding that a stronger grip equals better overall health. That said, the two are correlated. People who have a stronger grip are generally fitter and have a better chance of living a long, healthy life.
Grip strength increases until the age of 30 to 40. After that, it declines, worsening much more rapidly from age 50 onwards. A grip strength of less than 27 kilogrammes for men and less than 16 kilogrammes for women is considered a sign of age-related loss of muscle mass and strength (article in German).
However, rather than indicating your likelihood of developing disease, grip strength tells you how well you’ll recover from it.
That said, the reverse hasn’t yet been scientifically proven: there are no studies demonstrating that training grip strength boosts longevity. Even so, it might be worth paying some attention to this particular aspect of strength. After all, using machines during strength training often takes the strain off your hands and forearms. So, giving them a boost definitely wouldn’t go amiss. And besides, if improving your grip strength helps you do more pull-ups or dumbbell reps, you’ll find it easier to carry your bike up your basement stairs or lug heavy grocery bags home from the supermarket.
My test device
To measure my grip strength, I’ll be using Fitagon’s electronic hand dynamometer. The manufacturer provided me with the device for the purposes of my self-experiment.
Before running my first test, I need to slot in two AAA batteries, which, luckily, I already have at home. Using a straightforward screw mechanism, I adjust the device to fit my hand size. That way, I’ll be able to grip it firmly.
For users more impatient to get started, the dynamometer has a quick-start mode. However, since I want to measure my grip strength regularly, I preconfigure the device by entering my age and gender. The device saves my data so that I’ll be able to track my progress.
There are various ways of taking your grip strength measurements. I opt to take mine with my forearm resting against a surface. To make sure the readings are roughly comparable, I’ll try to take them in the same way, at about the same time of day. I’ll make three attempts at every measurement, taking the best result each time.
Different devices measure things differently, but in this situation, I’m more interested in the changes than in the absolute figures. If I see a significant increase using the same device, that’ll be enough for me. However, fluctuations and measurement errors do happen. With this in mind, I’ll be monitoring and documenting the results over the measurement period. I’ll only consider my grip strength training regime as successful if I see an upward trend.
My training devices
So, how will I train my 39 hand muscles? With the Fitagon hand training set, which includes five different trainers. Incidentally, I also got this straight from the manufacturer. The set includes a conventional grip trainer with a spring, a stress ball, a finger trainer, a rubber finger spreader and a rubber ring. I especially like that the grip trainer’s resistance can be adjusted between five and 60 kilogrammes using a screw wheel. That way, different people can use it. What’s more, as my grip strength increases (which I hope it will), I’ll be able to use the device to introduce new training stimuli.
Luckily, the set also comes with a leaflet containing exercises. Although the devices are pretty self-explanatory, I wouldn’t have figured out all the different ways they can be used. Thanks to these exercises, I can vary the trainer’s resistance and specifically target muscles like the ball of my thumb.
Training your hand muscles doesn’t just mean moving your hand. Many of the muscles they train are located in your forearm, extending towards your fingers via long tendons. I can really feel the strain in my forearms when I use the smaller devices in the set. In fact, it’s also noticeable in my upper arm, as the trainer works the muscles all the way up to your shoulder. Since lots of tendons are involved in hand movements, it’s important not to overdo it. Muscles adapt more quickly than tendons. To avoid tendon irritation or inflammation, you should make sure you get enough rest between grip workouts and build up the intensity gradually.
To complement my workouts with the set, I’ve added a Powerball to my training plan. I’ve had the ball for many years, but unfortunately I’ve neglected it. Now seems like a good opportunity to dig it back out of the drawer.
We don’t currently have my version of the ball in our range. However, there is an alternative:
My training plan
When I do an initial test with the hand dynamometer, I get a reading of 32.2 kilogrammes. According to the device, that’s not bad for a woman of my age. This gets me wondering how much room for improvement I have. As we all know, the better your start, the harder it is to achieve further gains.
Curious to see how it’ll go, I resolve to train my grip strength for about 20 minutes, four times a week. I’ll alternate between strength-building exercises with the Fitagon set and the Powerball. The exercises in the hand training set are supposed to build strength, while the Powerball focuses more on control and endurance. With this in mind, it makes sense to use each device on different days.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll regularly be tracking the results of the exercises. In eight to twelve weeks, you’ll be able to read all about how the experiment went. That’s the minimum amount of time it’ll take for my muscles and tendons to adapt and for lasting changes to become noticeable.
Header image: Siri Schubert
Siri Schubert
Senior Editor
Siri.Schubert@digitecgalaxus.chResearch diver, outdoor guide and SUP instructor – I love being in, on and around water. Lakes, rivers and the ocean are my playgrounds. For a change of perspective, I look at the world from above while trail running or flying drones.
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