Rick Walker Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 http://m.nautil.us/issue/45/power/raising-the-american-weakling 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnie Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Two more articles lauding grip strength and lamenting its decline, which will please us gripsters: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/15/todays-men-are-nowhere-near-as-strong-as-their-dads-were-researchers-say/?utm_term=.dfc65dd7aa15 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5898311/?report=classic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Climber028 Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 The average male teenager today has equal grip strength to the average female teen in the 80's. Don't worry everything is fine haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Walker Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 I would love to do some research on those who train grip and mortality versus just regular people who train, but do not do grip work, and mortality, and see how they correlate. I think that natural grip strength may be a good indicator of health, but if someone trains their grip it could give a false reading on how grip is related to overall mortality. I don't think I would take a #4 closer with metabolic syndrome and consider them healthy based solely on a dynamometer reading. But, it is a great way to analyze the older population. If they have a base line reading and start falling off, it might be a good indicator that something is going on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Walker Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 3 hours ago, Climber028 said: The average male teenager today has equal grip strength to the average female teen in the 80's. Don't worry everything is fine haha. What may be more disturbing is the average male teenager cannot do 1 pull-up... I remember having to be tested in pull-ups in school and your performance in pull-ups, rope climbing, the peg board, push-ups, sit-ups, and the mile run was shown in your grade. Today kids get an A just for remembering their gym clothes. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KapMan Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 1 hour ago, Rick Walker said: What may be more disturbing is the average male teenager cannot do 1 pull-up... I remember having to be tested in pull-ups in school and your performance in pull-ups, rope climbing, the peg board, push-ups, sit-ups, and the mile run was shown in your grade. Today kids get an A just for remembering their gym clothes. When I was in elementary school we got tested on running, pullups, situps. Your basic military style pt test. Middle school through highschool that didnt happen. Id like to see a PT test. Make gym great again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Climber028 Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 1 hour ago, Rick Walker said: I would love to do some research on those who train grip and mortality versus just regular people who train, but do not do grip work, and mortality, and see how they correlate. I think that natural grip strength may be a good indicator of health, but if someone trains their grip it could give a false reading on how grip is related to overall mortality. I don't think I would take a #4 closer with metabolic syndrome and consider them healthy based solely on a dynamometer reading. But, it is a great way to analyze the older population. If they have a base line reading and start falling off, it might be a good indicator that something is going on. I don't believe for a second that grip strength has a casual link to health. My hypothesis is that living a life that results in having strong hands also fulfills unseen positive health benefits such as increased movement, mental stimulation, and many other hidden variables. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Walker Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 25 minutes ago, Climber028 said: I don't believe for a second that grip strength has a casual link to health. My hypothesis is that living a life that results in having strong hands also fulfills unseen positive health benefits such as increased movement, mental stimulation, and many other hidden variables. This may be the problem today. Not many jobs require labor today as compared to 20 years ago. Even more so compared to 50 years ago. Technology is great, but it has softened humans. So much so that it has been proven that regular exercise does not even balance out a desk job for 8+ hours a day! My focus is on cardiac physiology, so much of my research has been done in that area. It is no coincidence that those who are going through cardiac rehab after an event who were more physically active in their younger years bounce back quicker than those who were not active in their younger years. I have even went back as far as childhood and discovered that those who spent most of their childhood riding a bicycle are quicker to respond to rehab, quicker to heal, and quicker to get back to a normal life than those who did not. The carry over is amazing. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricMilfeld Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 I certainly don't dispute the decline in grip strength, but what's interesting to me is that when younger generations do apply themselves to athletic endeavors world records continue to fall. I'm weird, but I look back with fond memories of all the manual labor I did as a teen and early twenty-something: landscaping (which included ditch digging in limestone), driving steel rods into limestone setting up mobile homes, framing houses with a heavy framing hammer, etc. Made me feel alive and worthwhile. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Climber028 Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 41 minutes ago, EricMilfeld said: I certainly don't dispute the decline in grip strength, but what's interesting to me is that when younger generations do apply themselves to athletic endeavors world records continue to fall. I'm weird, but I look back with fond memories of all the manual labor I did as a teen and early twenty-something: landscaping (which included ditch digging in limestone), driving steel rods into limestone setting up mobile homes, framing houses with a heavy framing hammer, etc. Made me feel alive and worthwhile. I just see the bell curve flattening. Sure, the best are getting more and more elite but the average person is pretty much devoid of any physical intelligence and the low end can't even navigate stairs. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KapMan Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 14 minutes ago, Climber028 said: I just see the bell curve flattening. Sure, the best are getting more and more elite but the average person is pretty much devoid of any physical intelligence and the low end can't even navigate stairs. Me in a nutshell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Walker Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 1 hour ago, EricMilfeld said: I certainly don't dispute the decline in grip strength, but what's interesting to me is that when younger generations do apply themselves to athletic endeavors world records continue to fall. I'm weird, but I look back with fond memories of all the manual labor I did as a teen and early twenty-something: landscaping (which included ditch digging in limestone), driving steel rods into limestone setting up mobile homes, framing houses with a heavy framing hammer, etc. Made me feel alive and worthwhile. I actually enjoyed being up at 3 am to get our Limousin cattle into the barn to feed and water them. Then it was a bike ride to the neighbors to round up 100 head of milkers, get them into their chutes, get the milkers on, then clean up and get the sh*t pushed into the conveyor belt. Next was a bike ride back home to shower before leaving for school. Summers went spent haying the fields for hours on end in the blazing sun. There were always fence posts that needed replaced and new barbed wire strung. Fall began the wood chopping to heat the house. Winter saw hauling wood, shoveling, etc. I loved it as a kid. When I started lifting weights, I realized just how much I loved the manual labor. I could bang out 15 pull-ups in the fourth grade with ease. I make sure my sons all do pull-ups now and my 8-year olds can do sets of 10. I have yet to meet one of their friends that can do ONE rep. I credit my upbringing and manual labor as the foundation for my strong back and good work ethic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_wigren Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Obviously training grip isn’t going to improve your health. I mean, how would that even work? However as Rick said. Having strong hands might be an indicator of an active healthy lifestyle. My guess is that it could also be that grip strength is depended on good vascular health. And good vascular health is correlated to a longer and healthier life. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Walker Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 2 hours ago, David_wigren said: Obviously training grip isn’t going to improve your health. I mean, how would that even work? However as Rick said. Having strong hands might be an indicator of an active healthy lifestyle. My guess is that it could also be that grip strength is depended on good vascular health. And good vascular health is correlated to a longer and healthier life. Yes, and in the elderly it is a great indicator of someone who sits and does nothing all day versus someone who remains active into their later years. My father is 84 years old. He can still close a #1 COC. I bought him a Guide, Sport, Trainer, and #1 years ago when he had carpal tunnel surgery. He used them all the time to get his hands back to where he was able to do wood work again. Now, several years later, he hasn't touched the grippers but he can still no set the #1 at 84. A good indicator that his daily work of laying hard wood floors, stone patios, making cabinets, chairs, etc. is keeping him healthy despite no actual exercise. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnie Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 18 hours ago, Climber028 said: I don't believe for a second that grip strength has a casual link to health. My hypothesis is that living a life that results in having strong hands also fulfills unseen positive health benefits such as increased movement, mental stimulation, and many other hidden variables. That would be my gut feeling on it, too. So I am glad that I apparently have lived my life sufficiently healthily that it gave me the strong hands, and I await my duly earned yet unseen health benefits. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 17 hours ago, Climber028 said: I just see the bell curve flattening. Sure, the best are getting more and more elite but the average person is pretty much devoid of any physical intelligence and the low end can't even navigate stairs. That’s thanks to all the technology and pansy comfortability that kids are afforded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Walker Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 6 hours ago, Joseph Sullivan said: That’s thanks to all the technology and pansy comfortability that kids are afforded. No doubt. It is by no coincidence that my children do not have social media, cell phones, and the only computer they have access to is the one in the family room where we can see everything. They do all have Chromebooks for school. It was strange when we moved to the south and found out every child from 3rd grade on gets a Chromebook, so they do log on to do assignments for school, but the computers have blocks on them so they cannot do much else on them. Homework, workouts, reading time. If they have an hour before their 8 pm bed time (yes, even my soon to be 15 year old), they are allowed to watch TV or play Xbox. It is all very limited. You would think I would get an earful of complaints, but they all are used to it and find it strange that other kids do not workout and are attached to their phones... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 6 minutes ago, Rick Walker said: No doubt. It is by no coincidence that my children do not have social media, cell phones, and the only computer they have access to is the one in the family room where we can see everything. They do all have Chromebooks for school. It was strange when we moved to the south and found out every child from 3rd grade on gets a Chromebook, so they do log on to do assignments for school, but the computers have blocks on them so they cannot do much else on them. Homework, workouts, reading time. If they have an hour before their 8 pm bed time (yes, even my soon to be 15 year old), they are allowed to watch TV or play Xbox. It is all very limited. You would think I would get an earful of complaints, but they all are used to it and find it strange that other kids do not workout and are attached to their phones... Take a look at the google chrome symbol. Tell me what you see. Look close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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