The Connection Between Grip Strength and Longevity, Explained

While vanity used to compel me to exercise, I now need to explore new motivations to work out as I age, like the slow creeping threat of death. Good news: a large body of research shows that people who participate in regular physical activity have significantly lower mortality rates. As for what type of physical activity, workouts that increase grip strength are crucial for longevity.

Grip strength was found to be a better predictor of premature death than other barometers, like blood pressure, in a massive study that tracked the health of 139,691 people for a median of 40 years. Another review of literature on the subject concluded: “There is adequate evidence to support the use of grip strength as an explanatory or predictive biomarker of specific outcomes such as generalized strength and function, bone mineral density, fractures and falls, nutritional status, disease status and comorbidity load, cognition, depression and sleep, hospital-related variables and mortality.”

Simply put, workouts that increase your grip in life will increase your grip on life. Experts suspect that this could be because low grip strength is linked with sarcopenia, or age-related muscle mass and strength loss. Muscles play an integral role in the metabolic system, so it makes some sense that lower grip strength would be a sign of metabolic dysfunction, which can lead to several health problems, including type 2 diabetes, low bone mineral density and cognitive impairment.

To put this in perspective, grip strength shows how strong our bodies are overall, explains professional rock climber Iain Miller. “This, in turn, allows us greater efficiency in how we perform, especially heavy repetitive tasks,” Miller tells me. From brick-laying to gardening to competitive sports, greater grip strength will make these tasks easier and reduce the physical strain they place on the body.

Although Miller maintains a firm grip by climbing sea stacks, or dangerous rock formations off the coast of Donegal County, Ireland, he says that a basic rock climbing wall can be a fun and accessible way to achieve the comparable benefits.

“Climbing walls are excellent places for climbers to train and get stronger,” says Miller, who is also an author and instructor. Not only do they provide a “near-perfect replica of outdoor rock,” but climbing walls also allow people to increase their grip strength year-round. “By climbing indoors weekly, most people will find their grip strength increasing in a relatively short time period.”

I’m always on the lookout for a new workout, and Movement Gym, a rock climbing facility with multiple locations in my city, seemed like a great option. On the advice of Miller, I signed up for my first class to help me get a grip.

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My First Bouldering Class

One great thing about Movement Gyms is that the first class is free, so I had no excuse not to try one on a Saturday morning. Beginner options include “Introduction to Rope Climbing” and “Introduction to Bouldering,” both one-hour sessions. I chose bouldering because it would get me up on a wall.

When I arrived, the smell of chalk reminded me of gymnastics class as a kid, where I would stand in the corner coating my hands in lieu of participating. But at a rock climbing gym, chalk hands were for more advanced members. I was given a pair of special shoes and directed to a group of fellow first-timers.

One woman had decided to stick around after her rope class, another was there to work on her fear of heights and one guy was just curious about climbing. Bouldering involves climbing short routes — usually 14 to 17 feet high — without ropes or harnesses. Instead of endurance, it focuses on mastering short, powerful sequences that increase in difficulty based on their grade. Grades range from V0 to V16, with V0 being the easiest, and the letter V stands for the nickname of the professional climber who developed the rating system — John “Vermin” Sherman.

Before we could start climbing, we had to practice falling safely. Although the bouldering walls were surrounded with mats for a soft landing, the key to a good fall was bending your knees while resisting the reflex to catch yourself with your arms. Instead, you’re supposed to keep your arms out in front of you and roll backward, and stop once your neck and back are flat. It wasn’t the most intuitive way of falling, but once I realized it was similar to those “rolling like a ball” exercises in Pilates, I caught on quickly. Conveniently, falling was a fun way to warm up my body before bouldering.

Finally, our instructor took us through a few V0 and V1 bouldering sequences, and we all had a chance to try, along with a V2 or V3 if we were feeling confident. High on hubris from my successful falls, I attempted a V2 and V3 and only made it two or three rocks before falling. In the end, the Vermin grading scale was appropriately matched to my lack of skill, and V0 and V1 sequences were just enough of a challenge to still allow me to reach the top.

Was It a Good Grip Workout?

Bouldering felt like an easy workout…until the next day. For two to three days after, muscles in my forearms and back were sore that I hadn’t felt in years. Based on this, I would say it was a great workout that addressed muscles other workouts had missed, and likely initiated the process of strengthening my grip.

But more than a good grip workout, bouldering was a uniquely stimulating workout for my brain because I had to use my body in a different way. Beyond finding new ways to fall, climbing requires you to be strategic about how you spend energy. For instance, while it felt natural to use my arm strength to cling to the wall, it’s better to hang with straight arms because it conserves energy in your arms and forearms, allowing your lower body to do most of the work. This makes foot placement (and footwear) all the more important. Once I figured out how to do this, the bouldering sequences became easier. I also noticed that when I hung with my arms straight, as instructed, the main upper-body muscles engaged were my forearms and hands.

Between acclimating to using my body differently and the mental stimulation of learning new rock climbing slang like “spraying beta” (which means giving unsolicited advice), the 60-minute class flew by without feeling like work. To me, a good workout that doesn’t feel like one is a great workout.

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The Bottom Line

A weak grip has been linked with weak muscle mass throughout the body. At the same time, research confirms that training the muscles in your upper and lower body can have a positive effect on your grip overall. So, you don’t necessarily need to join a climbing gym; you just have to incorporate some type of strength training into your routine. Part of this can include exercises to address grip, such as farmer’s carries and wrist curls — or even just squeezing and holding a tennis ball for intervals 15 to 30 seconds.

Exercising for better grip strength came down to the same rule that applies to most workouts: you have to enjoy the activity to do it consistently. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed bouldering and would absolutely boulder again.

I never intended to join the gym, but for $98 a month, which includes access to climbing walls, a gym, guest passes, yoga/fitness classes, discounts on climbing workshops and a sauna at my location, it made me question why I’ve spent marginally more on a membership to a hot yoga studio for sweaty stretching alone. My only regret was not blocking off the rest of the day to take advantage of all the amenities, which newbies also have access to after their first class. But as is to be expected for someone exploring longevity workouts, I had to rush out for a friend’s 40th birthday.