Posted on 08/10/2016 6:24:50 PM PDT by SamAdams76
Think you’d beat your dad in an arm wrestling competition when he was your age? Bad news: he’d probably kick your ass.
Men today are weaker than they were 30 years ago, research in the Journal of Hand Therapy found.
In the study, men aged 20-34 have lower grip and pinch strength – which measures how strong your hand and upper extremities are – than the same aged guys did three decades ago.
In fact, the average grip strength for men ages 25-29 is nearly 12 kilograms lower today than it was before.
Your grip may not seem super important unless you’re a competitive arm wrestler, but it actually serves as a good proxy of your overall strength.
In fact, a 2011 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that grip strength was predictive of strength in push-ups, leg extensions and leg press.
What’s more, research in previous generations has linked lower grip strength to a variety of serious health problems including arthritis, heart disease, stroke and neurological conditions, says Fain.
It’s not clear whether grip strength actually makes people healthier, or if healthier people are just stronger.
So why are men today so much weaker?
They are less likely to be employed in manual labor jobs, such as in the manufacturing and agricultural fields, than they used to be, says study author Dr Elizabeth Fain, an assistant professor of occupational therapy at Winston-Salem State University in the US.
Working on an assembly line, for instance, requires repetitive tasks handling weighted objects, which can strengthen your hands, she says.
That day-in, day-out grind likely plays more of a role increasing grip strength than weight training – which may only be a few times a week – would do.
It’s also more helpful than the repetitive hand motions we’re more likely to do today, like texting or typing, which tend to activate smaller muscle groups, she says.
Your move, then, is to work on your own grip.
If you’re not working with your hands, you need to make training grip more of a priority.
I love a good scream.
I know a tenor player who can play “dog whistle” notes. I’ve also heard him whinny like a horse.
The Upsilon Male identified there was the first thing I thought about when I was the thread title.
The point of the Vesuvius meme, which might appear misplaced on this thread:
We are at a point on the arc of history right before “Crash And Burn.”
The emasculation, feminization and homosexualization of Western Man is a well-understood point on the arc.
After the crash, who knows what comes next.
Go to any weightlifting board and check out the articles regarding grip strength. Grip straps may help, but regardless, grip strength is a limiting factor for heavy lifting and thereby a valid measurement.
These modern gyms are not designed for strength training. The isolation machines are praying used for hypertrophic exercise to build muscle mass. While those Hollywood muscles may look good, they aren't going to help you when it comes to building strength.
well duh !!! 30 years ago I was 37.
I just read a book about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge (by David McCullough). Well recommended. Anyway, upwards of 20 men died building that bridge. Maybe as many as 50 as some workers literally went home to die (after getting injured or getting the bends while building the underwater caissons). The designer of the bridge (John Roebling) died as a result of getting injured on the job and his son (Washington) suffered from the bends and was confined to his home for most of the project. Still, he was able, with the help of his wife, to manage the project from home as Chief Engineer.
One thing that struck me was that immediately after an accident, the construction resumed. Usually within hours. This was dangerous work and death and injury was expected. Sure, they put what safety measures in place they could to prevent it. But they plowed full speed ahead despite the mounting casualties.
These days, construction projects are put on hold indefinitely when there is a death or serious injury on the job. When we had a Space Shuttle crash, it was a year or two before the next one went up. Now we don't bother putting people in space at all anymore. Too dangerous I reckon.
My father grew up on a farm during Depression Era. He had a hard live growing up. Had to be up at 4AM to take care of the cows before walking barefoot to school. Then had work in the fields after school. This was normal. He was very strong and athletic, even though he never had time for proper sports. I remember him effortlessly driving golf balls 250+ yards at a driving range despite almost never actually playing the game. He just had that kind of strength from growing up on the farm.
My father used to say (only half jokingly) that my brother and I were brought up more as girls than as boys compared to how he had it. And he had a point. My brother and I would consider even simple manual chores like mowing the grass or shoveling snow "hard work" and we'd grumble about it. Such was life growing up in the leafy suburbs in the 1970s. When my own children were growing up, we usually hired landscapers so they did even less.
I actually have a few lady friends that are like that.
"Ya. Ya, girly-man. Hear me now and believe me later - but don't think about it ever, because, if you try to think, you might cause a flabulance!"
Have you done football, manufacturing, fighting (boxing/full contact), rugby, Army combat specialty training (for a few years at least), weight training,...?
I saw quite a few fat slobs in manufacturing for heavier products. They moved their hands much, while the remainder of their bodies atrophied and bloated. They generally moved like sloths. It’s highly likely that none of them are alive today. They mostly stood in one place except for hand movements. Their were a few of us who often did more lifting from the floor instead of easy-to-reach bins. Manufacturing for lighter products is worse (e.g., electronics).
Manufacturing employees need fitness programs outside of work, including employees who do heavy lifting, typically with few muscle groups. That first came to me from a surgeon’s advice during the ‘70s.
On your rhetoric and joke image about pretty muscles, there’s more than one kind of weight training. During the ‘60s, fighters carried rubber balls everywhere they went, squeezing them every day. Later, there were quite a few other tools for the grip strength that afforded harder punches. Those who want to be able to keep their hands up will do overhead reverse curls with a curl bar from the back, fast, with many repetitions (and several other exercises including long runs with weighted hands high).
If you want more grip strength, fill a canvas duffle bag with sawdust. It will feel like it’s filled with sand. Then beat the crap out of it for a few years. And maybe toss a few tens of thousands of square hay bails and cut of few hundred cords of firewood.
And by the way, many of those working men who came before us geezers had even more grip strength than we did (excluding those who didn’t do real work).
I really didn’t mean to attack you. My joke wasn’t directed at you—hell, I don’t know you from Adam. I was simply talking about focusing on some muscle groups rather than overall conditioning. And throwing a couple parts around a bench won’t cut it either.
I already talked about growing up moving furniture. I split and stacked wood for $10 a cord for years. I also owned a farm, and operated heavy equipment (dug ditches) and repaired armor. I’ve also ridden a desk and I’ve lifted at gyms. I even have a nice one in my garage.
These days, not so much—arthritis has pretty much killed my weightlifting. I still work out, but my grip strength is a limiting factor. Not being able to open my hands and hours of pain make it rather hard.
“Show me . . . Paint the Fence.”
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