Grip Strength Test

Grip Strength Test: what is it?

Grip strength has an unusual status among field tests: it is a specific, local measurement that tracks something far broader than the hand. Because it is fast, cheap and highly standardized, it is used well beyond the gym as a general indicator of strength and functional status, particularly in older adults. For a coach it does two things at once. It gives you a hard number that moves when a client gets stronger, and it gives you a screening signal worth acting on when it comes back low.

Standardized protocol

Grip readings are only comparable if the position is fixed, so this is a test where the setup matters more than the effort. Use a hand dynamometer of the Jamar type, adjust the handle so the second joint of the fingers sits comfortably around it, and keep that handle setting recorded for every retest.

The client sits or stands with the shoulder adducted, elbow at ninety degrees, forearm in a neutral position and the arm unsupported. They squeeze maximally for about three to five seconds while you encourage them. No swinging the arm, no leaning into it, no bracing the elbow against the body.

• Three attempts per hand, alternating hands so each one gets a rest between efforts.
• Record the best value or the mean of the three, and write down which convention you used.
• Note which hand is dominant, and always test them in the same order.
• Record the handle setting. A different setting produces a different number on the same client.

What the numbers mean

Low grip strength is a standard screening criterion for sarcopenia, and the commonly used low-strength cut-offs are below 27 kg for men and below 16 kg for women. Those are clinical screening thresholds, not something a coach diagnoses from. A client below them is a client you encourage to speak to their doctor, and whose program you would build around progressive resistance training rather than around conditioning.

Between the two hands, a difference of roughly ten percent in favor of the dominant hand is normal and not worth acting on. A markedly larger gap, especially in a client who has not had a recent injury on that side, is worth investigating and worth mentioning to a clinician if it is accompanied by symptoms.

Using it in practice

Grip is a low-cost addition to a reassessment battery: it takes about two minutes, it fatigues nothing that matters for the rest of the session, and it produces a number that improves in response to general resistance training rather than only to grip-specific work. That last point is what makes it worth tracking rather than a curiosity.

It earns its place most clearly with older clients and with anyone returning from a long period of inactivity, where the screening value is highest. With a well-trained younger client it is more of a nice-to-have, and a loaded strength test will tell you more about their training.

What can distort a reading

Hand pain, arthritis, a recent wrist or forearm injury, and any current tendon problem all reduce the reading for reasons that have nothing to do with strength. Ask before testing and skip the affected hand rather than working around it. Time of day, warm-up state and how firmly you encourage the client all move the number too, which is why the protocol has to stay identical.

And a coach reports a measurement. Stating that a reading falls below a widely used screening threshold is a factual observation you are entitled to make; naming a condition or estimating disease risk from it is not.