Month: November 2024

Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults

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For those interested in fitness, training and Aging, looking up “Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults” (PMCID: PMC6778477  PMID: 31631989) is time well spent.

Grip strength is closely asociated with “overall strength, upper limb function, bone mineral density, fractures, falls, malnutrition, cognitive impairment, depression, sleep problems, diabetes, multimorbidity, and quality of life.” There is aslo evidence “for a predictive link between grip strength and all-cause and disease-specific mortality, future function, bone mineral density, fractures, cognition and depression, and problems associated with hospitalization”

This suggests that the routine use of grip strength can be recommended as a” stand-alone measurement or as a component of a small battery of measurements for identifying older adults at risk of poor health status”

If you fancy building your grip, here are a few ideas

Whats the least you can do to get strong?

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for the lazier of my readers

The paper “Minimum Effective Training Dose Required for 1RM Strength in Powerlifters” (PMC34527944 Patroklos Androulakis-Korakakis  et al) explores the concept of the “Minimum Effective Training Dose” (METD). Basically, what is the least you can do to boost strength.

After numerous tests and interviews, they concluded

You can expect to gain strength by doing:3-6 working sets of 1-5 repetitions each week, with these sets spread across 1-3 sessions per week per powerlift, using loads above 80% 1RM at a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) of 7.5-9.5 for 6-12 weeks.

If that was too much its possible to perform autoregulated single repetition sets at an RPE of 9-9.5 though strength gains will be less likely to be meaningful.

However, the addition of 2-3 back-off sets at ~80% of the single repetitions load, may produce greater gains over 6 weeks while following a 2-3-1 squat-bench press-deadlift weekly training frequency.

it was observed that when utilizing accessory exercises in the context of METD, PL athletes typically utilize 1-3 accessory exercises per powerlift, at an RPE in the range of 7-9 and utilize a repetition range of ~6-10 repetitions.