We have conducted the same grip strength experiment at a number of recent events aimed at whole families, including university and hospital open days, and a Blue Peter ‘Olympic Torch’ event. The five graphs below show that the results have been very consistent:

Across the lifecourse, grip strengths ranged from 2 to 85kg. Males are shown on the graphs by blue dots and females by orange ones. Adult men were, on average, stronger than women, but this distinction was not so clear during childhood and adolescence.

Strength rose steeply with age to about 20, and then stayed fairly constant to about age 50 in men and 45 in women. After that the decline we expected to see was indeed present. This was particularly clear in women whereas in the men, the variation in grip strength for any given age seemed much greater. Of course this was not a rigorously conducted scientific experiment, but we think the findings are very interesting.