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Grip-Strength Percentile

How Strong Is Your Grip?

Find out exactly how your handgrip strength compares, by age and sex, against large population studies, with your grip age and the clinical weakness threshold.

Created by Maurice Lichtenberg, Founder, Longevity Cities · Updated

years
kg

Enter your best (maximum) squeeze in kilograms, measured with a hand dynamometer. Not sure how? See "How to measure" below.

Your result

Enter your age and grip strength to see your percentile, where you land on the curve, and your row in the table below.

Men: grip strength percentiles by age (kg)

Age10th25thMedian75th90th
203035404652
253641485561
303844515864
353945515864
403844505763
453642495661
503541485460
553440475359
603339455156
653137434853
702934394449
752631354145
802327323742
851924293338
901620252933

Source: Dodds 2014 (British). All values in kilograms (kg). "Median" is the 50th percentile, half of people are above it, half below.

Adult grip strength peaks around age 30 to 45 at roughly 54 kg for men and 34 kg for women in German data (Steiber 2016), then declines about 0.3 to 0.5 kg per year after 50. Grip below 27 kg for men or 16 kg for women is the European threshold for clinically low strength (EWGSOP2). Each 5 kg less grip is linked to about 16% higher all-cause mortality (PURE study, ~140,000 adults). Enter your best squeeze below to see your percentile.

Not medical advice

This tool provides general health information, not medical advice, a diagnosis or a treatment plan. A grip-strength percentile is a fitness and screening signal, not a clinical assessment. Talk to a physician or physiotherapist before starting a new training program, especially if you have arthritis, a recent injury, joint pain or a chronic condition.

Read our full medical disclaimer

Why grip strength predicts how you age

Grip strength is a cheap, fast proxy for whole-body strength, and one of the most consistent predictors of healthy aging we have. It is part of the Fried frailty definition and the entry test for sarcopenia (EWGSOP2).

  • In the PURE study of 139,691 adults, each 5 kg drop in grip strength was linked to a 16% higher risk of all-cause death and a 17% higher risk of cardiovascular death, and grip out-predicted systolic blood pressure (Leong 2015).
  • In UK Biobank (502,293 adults), lower grip tracked higher all-cause, cardiovascular, respiratory and cancer mortality, with hazard ratios of roughly 1.16 to 1.31 per 5 kg less grip (Celis-Morales 2018).
  • Grip is a recognised marker of frailty and the screening test for "probable sarcopenia": below 27 kg for men or 16 kg for women flags low muscle strength (EWGSOP2 2019).
  • Low grip strength is also associated with faster cognitive decline and dementia, and with slower recovery and worse outcomes after surgery.
  • Grip rises into the 30s and 40s, then declines by roughly 0.3 to 0.5 kg a year, but the decline tracks training, so it is partly in your hands (Bohannon 2019). The link with mortality is observational, not proof that raising your grip lowers your risk.

How to measure grip strength correctly

A percentile only means something if your reading is taken the standard way. The clinical reference is the Southampton / ASHT protocol with a Jamar hydraulic dynamometer (Roberts 2011).

  1. 1Sit in a chair with back support, feet flat on the floor, shoulder relaxed and down by your side.
  2. 2Bend the elbow to 90 degrees, forearm and wrist in a neutral position, with the dynamometer held just clear of the chair arm.
  3. 3Squeeze as hard as you can for 3 to 5 seconds while someone encourages you ("squeeze, harder, harder"), then relax.
  4. 4Take three measurements on each hand, alternating sides, with a short rest between squeezes.
  5. 5Record your single highest value, the best of all attempts on either hand. That is the number to enter above.

Device and protocol matter as much as the number. A Jamar (hydraulic) and a Smedley (spring) dynamometer are not interchangeable, and standing with a straight arm reads a few kg higher than sitting with a bent elbow. Cheap consumer dynamometers can be off by several kg. Use the same device and protocol each time, and compare against the German (Smedley) or British (mixed-device) table accordingly.

How to improve your grip strength

Grip is mostly a window onto your whole-body strength, so the biggest gains come from training everything, with a little dedicated grip work on top. Expect early neural gains in 2 to 4 weeks and clear strength changes by 6 to 12 weeks.

Train your whole body first

Grip strength mostly reflects total muscle and general strength, so whole-body progressive resistance training is the highest-leverage move. In a network meta-analysis, every resistance program beat doing nothing for strength and size (Currier 2023).

Pull heavy things

Deadlifts with a double-overhand grip, barbell and chest-supported rows, and pull-ups or lat pulldowns load the hands hard while building the whole posterior chain, grip improves as a side effect.

Add loaded carries

Farmer's carries of 15 to 40 m for 4 to 8 rounds, 2 to 3 times a week, are one of the most direct grip and total-strength builders.

Use dead hangs

Hang from a bar with straight arms for 3 to 5 sets of 10 to 20 seconds, building toward 30 to 45 second holds, to train isometric grip strength and endurance.

Finish with grippers and wrist curls

Hand grippers (3 to 5 sets of 5 to 12 reps) and wrist curls (3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps) are low-fatigue accessories, keep 1 to 2 reps in reserve early on (Li 2025).

Progress the load

Add a little weight, a rep, or a few seconds of hold whenever a set feels easy. Progressive overload is the single biggest driver of adaptation (ACSM 2009).

Eat enough protein

Aim for about 1.6 to 2.2 g of protein per kg of body weight a day to support the muscle that underpins strength (Morton 2018). Training plus protein, not protein alone, builds strength.

Be consistent and patient

Train each major muscle group 2 to 3 times a week, roughly 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle weekly, and give it months. Progress tracks consistency, sleep and recovery, and naturally slows over time.

An honest note on what this can and can't tell you

A single squeeze is one snapshot of one proxy for whole-body strength, and the percentile depends entirely on entering your true maximum on a properly calibrated device. The German default table (Steiber 2016) publishes means, standard deviations and medians but not deciles, so its 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles here are modelled from a normal distribution, validated against the British data to within about 2 kg, but still an estimate. The British table (Dodds 2014) shows the actual published percentiles. The two use different devices and sit a few kg apart, which is why they are kept separate rather than averaged. Finally, the mortality links are associations from observational cohorts, not proof of cause. If you have arthritis, a recent injury or joint pain, get medical clearance before training grip and never push through sharp pain.

Frequently asked questions

It depends on age and sex. In German data (Steiber 2016) the average man peaks around 54 kg in his early 40s and the average woman around 34 kg, declining to roughly 33 kg and 21 kg by age 80 to 90. A "good" grip is anything above the 50th percentile for your age and sex; the 75th to 90th percentile is strong, and the 90th and above is excellent. Enter your value above for your exact percentile.

Across adult life the average (median) handgrip is about 40 to 54 kg for men and 28 to 34 kg for women, depending on age, peaking in the 30s and 40s (Steiber 2016; Dodds 2014). Values fall steadily after about age 50.

The European EWGSOP2 consensus flags grip below 27 kg in men and 16 kg in women as clinically low strength ("probable sarcopenia"). The Asian AWGS uses 28 kg and 18 kg; the US FNIH project uses 26 kg and 16 kg. These are fixed thresholds, not percentiles, and were designed mainly for older adults.

With a hand dynamometer, usually a Jamar, while seated with the elbow bent to 90 degrees. You squeeze maximally three times per hand and record your single best value. Standing with a straight arm, or using a different device, can change the number by several kg, so always match your reading to the right reference table.

It is strongly associated with it. Each 5 kg lower grip was tied to about 16% higher all-cause mortality in the 140,000-person PURE study, where grip out-predicted blood pressure, and UK Biobank found similar links to heart disease, cancer and respiratory death. Grip is a marker of overall strength and health, though, not a guaranteed cause of a longer life.

They come from different studies with different equipment. The German SOEP norms (Steiber 2016) used a Smedley dynamometer and the maximum of up to four squeezes across both hands; the British norms (Dodds 2014) pool several devices. The two sit about 2 to 4 kg apart at every age, so we keep them as separate, switchable tables rather than averaging them.

Yes. Because grip mostly reflects whole-body strength, the best results come from progressive resistance training (heavy pulls, loaded carries and dead hangs) plus enough protein (about 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg/day). Expect early gains in a few weeks and clear changes within a few months.

Measure both hands three times each and enter your single highest reading (your maximum). That matches how the reference tables and the sarcopenia cut-offs are defined.

Sources

Every number on this page traces to a peer-reviewed primary source. Each link goes to the original paper, and every reference below was independently verified.

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