“Doctors Were Shocked by My Grip Strength at 80”

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Ed Rose here, the Art of Hitting channel. We welcome you back. Uh, I hope you enjoy what we have to present.

[00:00:11]The Secret Power of Grip Strength [music] by Ed Rose. What if I told you one of the strongest signs of aging well could be hiding in your hands? [music] Today at the doctor's office, the nurse handed me a grip strength tester. I [music] squeezed it and the number came back 51. At first, [music] I didn't know what that meant, so I went home and researched it. What I discovered [music] shocked me. Research shows the average man in his 80s scores somewhere around 28 to 30 kg. Strong men may score in [music] the upper 30s or low 40s, but 51. That places me [music] near the top 1% for men my age. Doctors say grip strength is one of the strongest indicators of overall health, muscle condition, resilience, [music] recovery ability, and even longevity. Not just hand strength, overall body function.

[00:01:05]And it got me thinking, maybe all those years of softball had something to do with it. Thousands of swings, thousands [music] of games, years of gripping the bat, years of competition, years of movement. When I [music] think back over 40 years in softball, the greatest hitters I ever played with all seemed to have the same thing in [music] common.

[00:01:27]Strong hands, not bodybuilding strength, functional strength, [music] the kind of strength that creates bat control, whip through the zone, stability at impact, and power when the barrel meets [music] the ball. Guys who could still hit rockets in their 70s and 80s all had that look about them. strong forearms, strong grip, [music] strong presence.

[00:01:49]And now, modern research is starting to confirm something softball players figured out a long time ago. Strength matters. Movement matters. Purpose matters. Maybe softball gave us more than championships and friendships.

[00:02:04]Maybe it helped [music] keep us young.

[00:02:06]Maybe it helped keep us alive. So maybe don't let anybody tell you you're too old because some of the strongest [music] people in the world are still walking onto a softball field. And maybe the secret isn't age at all. Maybe the secret [music] is never stopping the swing.

[00:02:52]and grip strength.

[00:02:53]>> Dr. Jeremy Allen, board certified sports medicine and family medicine physician with a handy tip for you. Believe it or not, hand grip strength has been correlated with mortality. Meaning that when we see decreases in hand grip strength, we see increases of associated people dying. And there is even a study that shows a decrease in 5 kg of hand grip strength, increased mortality with all causes, including heart, lung, all causes, which is just crazy to me. So you test it with something like this.

[00:03:26]This is called a dynamometer. And you would take it and zero it. And then you would squeeze.

[00:03:36]And then you'd look at the number. 42 kg. Let's try my other side. 1 2 4 kg. I'm equal. But one value is not necessarily the most important thing.

[00:03:53]What's more important is that we trend this. So now I'm going to want to do this either monthly or if I'm younger maybe every year but as I get older and make sure that grip strength [music] for example is a good marker of propensity for longevity well in everyone but particularly in elderly people and it isn't as you pointed out because grip strength per se is particularly important but because grip strength happens [music] to be a good marker for overall what would you say psychophysiological integrity >> 100% if you compare the top desile to the bottom desile and grip strength It's a 70% [music] difference in incidence and death from dementia. All cause dementia, not just Alzheimer's.

[00:04:31]>> Yeah. In later age, not because being strong necessarily makes your brain better, but because generally people who have better grip strength in later age have been doing other things to maintain that grip strength and there's a systemic positive effect. Your strength and your well-being. Grip strength, for instance, is a very good predictor of cognitive ability in later age. Not because being strong necessarily makes your brain better, but because generally people who have better grip strength in later age have been doing other things to maintain that grip strength and there's a systemic positive effect your strength.

[00:05:00]>> What I've learned through this whole experience is something I probably should have understood years ago.

[00:05:07]We all know hand strength matters in softball, but I never realize just how important it may be to longevity and quality of life. And that's really the mission of this channel. Not to force my ideas on anybody, but simply to share what I've learned over more than 60 years in this game. Softball has taught me lessons about competition, friendship, movement, discipline, and now maybe even health, and aging. Now, let me be clear. I've always had above average strength for my age and size.

[00:05:45]Even as a young man, I pushed myself physically. There were years I did 100 push-ups a day. Today, at 80 years old, I still do 50. And most men my age may struggle to do five. So this isn't about suddenly becoming strong late in life.

[00:06:07]It's about maintaining strength, protecting it, using it, training it, and refusing to surrender it to age. For more than 50 years, I've carried a hand exerciser in my car. Every red light, every traffic jam, every mile down the road, I turned dead time into training time. And maybe all those small moments added up. So now I am curious. I plan to start testing members of the club and tracking the numbers. Not because grip strength is some magic answer and not because it is guaranteed to save your life, but because maybe it can help all of us stay stronger a [music] little longer. Maybe it can add more quality time to our lives, more games, [music] more laughs, more friendships, more moments, acting like kids again. And honestly, when you look around the softball field, that may be one of [music] the greatest gifts this game gives us. Not just competition, >> joy, [singing] movement, purpose, connection. So [music] enjoy these next few moments. Watch the smiles. Watch the [music] energy. [singing] Watch the friendships. Because maybe [music] staying young has less to do with age and more to do [music] with never losing the joy of the game.

[00:07:39][singing] >> Slow. Your heart is all I [music] own.

[00:07:45]And in your eyes, your [laughter] >> I found a love.

[00:07:56]>> You might have heard the little too flat.

[00:07:58]>> Little too flat.

[00:08:02]>> Another shot hit in the direction of the left fielder armage. And he's just going to stand and watch that one go. Wait, it looks like