A grip dynamometer is a handheld meter that measures how hard you squeeze. You make that physical measurement; this website compares the reading with published reference data for your age and sex.
Follow your meter’s instructions and use the best valid reading from three squeezes on each hand where comfortable. Enter the reading in kilograms or pounds. The result explains where it falls in the reference group and what the comparison can and cannot tell you.
If you do not have a dynamometer, the optional dead-hang log on this page can keep your own timed records. It does not provide the grip comparison.
The reference behind the percentile
Dodds and colleagues’ 2014 study combined 60,803 observations from 49,964 people in 12 British studies. We transcribed the published 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th centiles in Table 2. The source studies used the highest available reading, usually from three attempts on both hands.
The table gives values at five-year age points. We interpolate between those points and between published centiles, then label the percentile approximate. Below the 10th or above the 90th, only that bound is reported. The calculator accepts adults aged 18–90; the source’s age-15 and age-20 rows bracket ages 18–19 without extrapolation.
The main comparison uses people of your age and sex. Within the middle 50% means the 25th to below the 75th percentile; below and above that band get their own labels. The median is the 50th percentile. A reading can be below the median and still fall within that broad middle band. These are reference categories, not diagnostic thresholds. Body size, equipment, position and technique affect your reading; British population references may not transfer perfectly to every population.
What does “Reference median match” mean?
The optional Reference median match explanation is the rough analogy sometimes called “grip age”. It asks which age group’s median resembles your reading, a different question from where you fall among people your own age. For example, a 40-year-old man with a 45 kg reading is around the 29th percentile for his age: within the middle 50%, below the 50 kg median. That same 45 kg is the median at age 60 in this table. Those comparisons describe the same reading in two ways; they do not mean he has aged 20 years.
Grip strength first rises into adulthood, plateaus, then declines in these cross-sectional data. A single grip number can therefore match more than one age. The analogy uses only the declining adult median: from age 35 for men and 40 for women. At or above the peak, it says “35 or younger” or “40 or younger”; below the oldest reference median, it says “90 or older”. It never invents a younger exact age from the plateau.
This is a way to describe a reference comparison, not your biological age. The study compares different people and explicitly cautions against using its centiles as individual aging trajectories. A stronger retest is a change in your measured performance, not proof that you reversed a certain number of years.
Optional: keep your own hang-time record
Open No grip meter? Keep a hang-time log on this page. If this browser already has a hang record, choose Open your saved hang-time log.
A dead hang means holding a secure bar with your feet off the ground. If hanging is suitable and comfortable for you, use a bar you can step away from safely. Use your own stopwatch to time the hang, then enter the seconds here. Stop for pain or before losing control; skip it if hanging is unsuitable for your shoulders or hands. The website records your time; it does not time the exercise.
The first entry saves a starting duration and date in this browser. Save 60 seconds today → your starting record is 60 seconds. There is no percentile or extra score on that first save. On a later visit, a 75-second entry gives you +15 seconds since the starting record, with its date, so you do not have to remember or calculate the difference yourself.
Repeat when you are ready, using the same bar, grip and technique. An optional six-week calendar reminder can help you check back in; it is not a waiting period. Hang time also depends on body weight, shoulder tolerance, bar diameter and practice. A change in time does not establish a change in your health or lifespan.
The log uses seconds only, with no age, sex or unit conversion. It cannot turn hang time into dynamometer kilograms, a grip percentile or grip age. Those comparisons require a dynamometer reading.
Your starting record stays on this browser, and later entries do not silently replace it. You can explicitly replace or remove it. If another method already has a saved record, the page explains the conflict before replacement. If storage is unavailable or a save cannot be verified, the page says so; keep your own copy before leaving.
Read grip strength and longevity, muscle mass, resistance training and how to test fitness age at home.
Estimate only, not medical advice. A low or changing grip result can have many causes. Discuss unexpected weakness, pain or a major difference between hands with a qualified professional.