Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
Mika Baumeister (left) and Giulia Squillace (right) via Unsplash +

Today’s story comes from the Good News Network.

This Rarely-Trained Muscle Is Recognized Worldwide as a Marker of Human Health–And the Test for Living to 100

By Andy Corbley –

If the man on the street had to guess the best metric for healthy aging, they might say blood pressure, cholesterol levels, lean muscle mass, blood triglycerides, or even telomere length if they follow aging science closely.

But it turns out that one of the best is grip strength. According to Joshua Davis at the University of Derby, UK, this relatively underdeveloped conditioning area is increasingly recognized as one of the most reliable markers of human health.

Grip strength is associated with positive health outcomes, whether measuring for diabetes risk or depression, and you don’t need any expensive equipment to measure it. Davis recommends you simply pop the top off a can of tennis balls.

“Being able to maintain a maximal squeeze on something like a tennis ball for 15-30 seconds would be a good standard to strive for,” Davis told the BBC.

It’s not necessarily the case that being the one in the house whose hands are the most capable of opening a stubborn pickle jar means you’ll live the longest. Instead, it’s the case that grip strength is an efficient proxy for total muscle conditioning, which is itself an excellent proxy for overall nutrition, physical activity, and disease profiles. In other words, it’s a proxy for a proxy.

For example, the BBC report cites one study that found grip strength to be an effective predictor of sarcopenia, the decline in muscle conditioning associated with aging, strongly correlated with mortality. Another study found that of those in middle age who had their grip strength measured in 1965, the ones who lived to be 100 were 2.5 times more likely to have had grip strength results in the highest third.

Yet another paper found that grip strength has a prognostic value for human longevity that exceeds blood pressure, one of the vital signs controlled for in every hospital patient.

It’s almost certainly not the case that developing grip strength alone will protect against disease and early mortality; as mentioned above, it’s a proxy for overall muscle conditioning.

There’s an old saying in medicine: “Break your hip, die of pneumonia.”

Muscle mass is one of the best defenses against the ravages of age. It cushions the joints and bones and provides protection from falls and the subsequent fractures that gave rise to this ghastly adage. It also soaks up excess glucose in the blood to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance.

The BBC also spoke with Mark Peterson, a physical medicine and rehabilitation professor at the University of Michigan. Peterson conducted a 2022 study that found that deep down in our DNA, patterns of methylated molecules in those with weak grip strength indicated they were aging at an accelerated rate.

If you don’t have a grip dynamometer to measure precisely how much force your handshake can exert, you can always perform the tennis ball test.

The good news in this article is not the grip as an indicator of overall health, but the idea of the benefits of continuing exercises to maintain muscle mass. Is it worth it? Yes. Today’s JohnKu talks about health. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Our Future by John W. Howell © 2025

When it comes to health,

We are in charge of our own. . .

Don’t stop exercise.

73 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  1. Who knew?!

    This comes off the heels of my knock down drag out fight with a jar of red cabbage the other day. That lid wouldn’t budge! But I got it done, eventually so it still counts right?

    I agree with your haiku. Exercise, exercise, exercise. It helps in every kind of way.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Absolutely. I blew out BOTH knees (at different times) in high school. If you told me I would be running on a regular basis forty plus years later, I would’ve told you nope. But it’s doing the job.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Since I’m older than you, I definitely agree. Satchel Page (American baseball legend) once said, “Don’t look back. Something may be gaining on you.” Old age is like that. 😊

      Liked by 1 person

  3. I’ve always heard to keep your legs moving to age well. I’m doing my part to keep walking and moving, but this is the first time I’ve heard about grip strength. I’m going to go get a tennis ball and see how I do. Oddly enough I do have one in my pantry! 😂

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Exercise is key! Grip strength another story… interesting… after working with my hands all of my life it’s the akindoling joints that I have to guard and protect which are vital to preserve. 🙌

    Like

  14. Your Friday posts are always inspiring, John. Thank you for helping us see the ingenious discoveries and inventions of others around us. Bravo! (Guess I better get back on the treadmill 😊)

    Liked by 1 person

  15. I’ve been active all my life, but I’ve never heard this about grip strength. Fascinating! Now I’ve got to raid the Domer’s closet for one of his leftover tennis balls and try this out. Thanks, John!

    Liked by 1 person

  18. I exercise regularly. One of the many symptoms of aging I’ve noticed has been the loss of grip strength. Some of this is likely due to aching joints, perhaps the beginnings of arthritis. I remember my dad always asking me to open jars for him when I was a boy.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Fascinating and encouraging… My doctor was complimenting me only yesterday on how much stronger I was getting because of my exercise routine, and it floored me. So, I shall continue to work on the grip and lowering the triglycerides!

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Who knew it was such a simply thing? I have one of those grippy things somewhere around the house; gonna have to search for it! Till I find it, I’ll keep logging the miles walking the House Pony-my best exercise partner who manages to keep me on my exercise toes. 😉 Thanks for the good news, John. I just love these weekly posts.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. JohnKu is true. We are in charge of our own health.

    I do long walks(2-3 hours) looking for street art, at least once a week, and 3 short walks 1/2 – 1 hour 2 – 3 times a week.

    I’ll have to try the tennis ball thing.

    Thanks John!

    🎾X ✊ X

    Liked by 1 person

  24. This was very interesting and makes a lot of sense. Muscle mass is so important. That’s why I go to the gym 3-4 days a week. Gotta fight off the old age. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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