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A grip strength test men over 50 can do is simple: squeeze a hand dynamometer as hard as you can and record the peak force in kilograms. In a large international study of 139,691 adults, every 5 kilogram drop in grip strength went with a 16 percent higher risk of death from any cause. That is an association, not proof that a weak hand causes early death.
I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. This page explains what the research says about grip strength, how to measure yours, and what the published norms look like. If you have hand pain, a recent injury or surgery, or a condition that affects your nerves or joints, talk to your doctor before you test or train.
Grip is one piece of the bigger picture covered in our guide to men’s health after 50.
What does a grip strength test measure?
It measures the most force your hand can produce in a single squeeze, usually read in kilograms from a handheld dynamometer. It is a test of maximum effort, not endurance.
Researchers like it because it is simple, quick and inexpensive. The PURE study authors describe grip strength as a “simple, quick, and inexpensive” way to sort people by their risk of cardiovascular death. In sarcopenia and frailty work, which means age-related loss of muscle and function, grip is used as one measure of overall muscle strength. A 2014 PLoS One paper by Dodds and colleagues describes grip strength as a key component of the sarcopenia and frailty phenotypes.
Inference, not a source finding: because it is one number from one hand, it works as a rough signal of general strength, not a full picture of your health.
What did the PURE study find about grip strength and early death?
It found that weaker grip went with higher risk of dying. The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, published in The Lancet in 2015, measured grip with a Jamar dynamometer in people from 17 countries. After a median follow-up of 4.0 years, 3,379 of the 139,691 people in the analysis (2 percent) had died.
The authors reported these hazard ratios per 5 kilogram lower grip strength:
- All-cause death: 1.16 (95 percent confidence interval 1.13 to 1.20)
- Cardiovascular death: 1.17
- Non-cardiovascular death: 1.17
- Heart attack: 1.07
- Stroke: 1.09
The paper also reports that grip strength was a stronger predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular death than systolic blood pressure. The study did not find a significant link between grip strength and new diabetes, hospital admission for pneumonia or COPD, injury from a fall, or fracture.
One limit worth knowing: the study enrolled households where at least one member was aged 35 to 70, so it was not built only around men over 50. The results apply to a broad adult group.
Does weak grip strength cause health problems?
The PURE study does not show that. The PURE authors themselves say more research is needed to find what drives muscular strength and to test whether improving strength reduces death and cardiovascular disease.
Inference, not a source finding: a weak grip strength is more likely a marker of something broader, such as low overall muscle, poor fitness or an existing illness, than a cause on its own. Squeezing a gripper harder is unlikely by itself to change your odds. Building strength across your whole body is the better bet, which is the point of our guide on how to maintain muscle mass after 50.
How do you test grip strength at home?
You need a hand dynamometer. I did not find a validated way to measure grip force without one, so a timed bar hang or a handshake check is not a substitute for the numbers in the studies.
The CDC’s NHANES muscle strength procedures manual shows how a national health survey runs the test. Here is that protocol, adapted for home use:
- Stand with feet hip width apart, toes forward, and stand tall without leaning.
- Hold the dynamometer in line with your forearm, at thigh level, with your arm straight at your side and your wrist neutral. Neither your hand nor the device should touch your body.
- Adjust the grip size so the second joint of your index finger bends to about 90 degrees on the handle.
- Breathe in, then blow out as you squeeze as hard as you can until you cannot squeeze harder.
- Test each hand three times, alternating hands, with 60 seconds of rest between squeezes on the same hand.
NHANES does not test a hand that had surgery in the past three months. Take the same caution.
One note on which number to record. The NHANES manual records every trial. The Dodds norms below used each person’s maximum value. I would write down your best squeeze per hand and use that for comparison.
What is a good grip strength for a man over 50?
Compare your best squeeze to published centiles. The best primary source I found is Dodds and colleagues (PLoS One, 2014), which combined 60,803 measurements from 49,964 people in 12 general population studies in Great Britain. Their Table 2 lists these values for men, in kilograms:
- Age 50: 10th centile 35, median 48, 90th centile 60
- Age 55: 10th centile 34, median 47, 90th centile 59
- Age 60: 10th centile 33, median 45, 90th centile 56
- Age 65: 10th centile 31, median 43, 90th centile 53
- Age 70: 10th centile 29, median 39, 90th centile 49
The 10th centile means 10 percent of men that age scored lower. The 90th means 10 percent scored higher. A man at the median sits in the middle of the pack.
For US readers, 1 kilogram is about 2.2 pounds. By my own conversion, a median of 48 kilograms at age 50 is about 106 pounds, and a median of 39 at age 70 is about 86 pounds.
Two cautions. These are British data, not American, though Dodds and colleagues report that their findings held up across dynamometer type and seated or standing position. And a number below the median is not a diagnosis. Your own trend over time tells you more than one reading.
How fast does grip strength drop between 50 and 70?
It declines from midlife onward. Dodds and colleagues describe three periods: a rise to a peak in early adult life, maintenance through midlife, and a decline from midlife on. The male peak median was 51 kilograms between ages 29 and 39.
Using the table above, the male median falls from 48 kilograms at age 50 to 39 kilograms at age 70. That is a 9 kilogram drop, or about 19 percent, by my arithmetic. Because this compares different men at each age rather than following the same men, it shows a pattern across the population, not what will happen to you.
The paper also counted weak grip strength, defined as at least 2.5 standard deviations below the peak mean for your sex. In males that reached 23 percent by age 80. The Dodds paper does not state a per year percentage decline, so this page does not give one either.
How can men over 50 improve grip strength?
Resistance training is the best-supported route. A 2025 systematic review and network meta-analysis in Frontiers in Physiology pooled 13 randomized trials with 711 older adults who had sarcopenia (average age about 68, about 80 percent women). It found that resistance training improved handgrip strength, with effective ranges of 2 to 5 sessions a week over 4 to 24 weeks.
Those were older adults with sarcopenia, and mostly women, so they are not a perfect match for a healthy man in his 50s. The US Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans give the general target: muscle-strengthening activity of moderate or greater intensity that involves all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week. For older adults they recommend multicomponent activity that includes balance training plus aerobic and muscle-strengthening work.
Inference, not a source finding: exercises that make you hold a heavy load are a sensible way to train grip while you train everything else. Examples are carrying heavy dumbbells or kettlebells at your sides, rows, deadlifts and hanging from a bar. I did not open a trial that tested these exact exercises for grip. If you decide to try an adjustable kettlebell for carries, talk to your doctor first. Bowflex describes the SelectTech 840 Adjustable Kettlebell as adjusting from 8 to 40 lbs. If you train at home, our at-home workouts for men over 50 are a starting point.
How often should you retest, and what should you do with the number?
Test under the same conditions each time, and look at the trend, not a single reading. Inference, not a source finding: since the NHANES protocol uses a fixed position and a fixed set of trials, repeating the same setup and the same dynamometer is the fairest way to compare your own results over weeks or months.
If your grip strength is well below the centiles above for your age, or has dropped noticeably over a short time, raise it with your doctor. A single low number cannot tell you why. Pain, nerve problems and joint problems can all change how hard you can squeeze.
For the longer view on why strength matters as you age, see our post on strength training and lifespan for men.
A few habits keep your grip strength results useful. Test the dominant hand first, then the other hand, and use the same position each time. Compare your numbers with strength norms for your age band, and treat the average grip for your age as a rough guide, not a verdict. Grip strength is one assessment of hand strength, and it does not diagnose anything on its own.
Strength declines with age for most people, and healthy aging does not require a perfect score. If your grip strength is below the norm, the practical step is the same as for any weak spot: train the muscles of your forearms, upper back and core with regular exercise, and retest every few months. Track grip strength over time instead of reacting to one number, and ask your doctor if your grip strength drops quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good grip strength for a 50-year-old man?
In British normative data from Dodds and colleagues, the median for men at age 50 is 48 kilograms, with the 10th centile at 35 and the 90th at 60. Scoring above 48 puts you above the middle of men your age in that dataset. Your own trend over time matters more than one number.
Can grip strength predict how long I will live?
It is linked to risk across large groups, but it cannot predict one person’s outcome. The PURE study found a hazard ratio of 1.16 for all-cause death per 5 kilogram lower grip strength. That describes a pattern across 139,691 people, and the authors still call for research on whether raising strength lowers risk.
How often should I test my grip strength?
The sources I opened do not give a retest schedule. A reasonable approach, and this is my judgment rather than a study finding, is to test at the start and end of a training block of several weeks, using the same device and position each time.
Is a dynamometer the only way to measure grip strength?
It is the only method used in the studies cited here. The PURE study used a Jamar dynamometer, and the NHANES survey used a Takei digital dynamometer. I did not find a validated substitute that gives comparable numbers.
Does grip strength differ between my left and right hand?
Some difference between hands is common, but I could not confirm a normal range from a primary source, so I am not giving a percentage. If one hand is much weaker, especially if it changed suddenly or comes with pain or numbness, ask your doctor about it.
Can I train grip strength if I have arthritis or hand pain?
That depends on your joints and your diagnosis. Hand pain can limit how hard you can squeeze and make a test unreliable. Ask your doctor or a physical therapist what is safe for you before testing or training.
