Does grip strength really translate into longevity? I wish it were that simple. But maybe the next best thing is to understand the big picture. An important study dropped earlier this year. Let’s talk about it.
But first, a warning:
If you’re a man, get ready for something that will rock you to your core: the study involved only women—but still (as far as we know) fully applies to you. I know, I know. We’re all processing this in our own ways.
Something for the ladies (and?) the gentlemen.
The study followed almost 5,500 women between the ages of 63 and 99 years old over nine-ish years and skipped any self-reporting on exercise (memories are fuzzy, at best) and instead tested two things:
- Grip strength
- Time (in seconds) to complete five unassisted chair stands
The researchers also had participants wear accelerometers for a week to understand how often – and how intensely – they were moving. This is an important detail because…
Wait for it
Higher muscle strength was associated with lower mortality EVEN if participants didn’t meet the guidelines for aerobic activity. It’s worth mentioning that the researchers controlled for pretty much every factor, from inflammation to education, and the trend was still clear. This is compelling because most of the discussion around exercise for longevity focuses on aerobic fitness and/or VO2 max. Even when strength is brought up, it’s often in support of aerobic fitness. But being sedentary wasn’t a liability if grip strength was high. Being stronger correlates with living longer.
What’s the story!?
Well, this is where the research ends and I get a bit editorial. The first thing to clarify is that adding grip exercises to your workouts probably won’t extend your lifespan. Then again, who knows when you might have to pull yourself up a cliff, so don’t quote me on that. That being said it’s more useful to look at grip strength as a proxy for overall physical capacity because if you do a broad range of activities – the kinds that extends into lifelong health – the effects should trickle down into places like your grip. Strength also takes longer to develop BUT sticks around longer because it’s more structural in nature than, say, aerobic fitness. That’s probably instructive too.
I'm not saying that aerobic fitness isn’t important. In fact, I would say that we get the most general benefit out of a mixture of activities that includes strength.
Also interesting
“The correlation between grip strength and chair stand time was relatively small…This suggests that the 2 measures are largely assessing different constructs.”
While controlling for multiple factors did little to dull the predictive power of the grip strength test, the chair stand time was a lot likely to be affected by lifestyle factors. In that sense, it might be a more sensitive barometer for what’s going on. E.g. your orthopaedic health, general strength, and muscle power.
Related: just last night, I was chatting with a member about how much I can learn from about someone by the way they put their socks on.
Some questions to ask (at any age):
- Am I developing my strength?
- Can I carry more – or hang longer?
- Can I move fast, including jumping and squatting movements?
- Am I maintaining or increasing my muscle mass?
GG
P.S. I forgot to share this when it came out, but I spoke with The Globe and Mail about P90X workouts and, more specifically, did one with my friend, reporter Graham Isador.
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