Get a Grip: 6 Exercises to Strengthen Hands and Increase Functional Abilities

I’ve been studying the implications of hand strength and its relationship to increased longevity, and it’s been an interesting journey of discovery.

While these exercises work well for my patients, I recommend you consult your medical provider to see if they are right for you.

1. Towel Wringing

Who knew that the humble bath towel, that terrycloth harbinger of health, could be such a boon to your daily function? But it is, and this simple exercise shows how.

What you'll need: A regular hand or bath towel works fine for this exercise, but if you want to get fancy or happen to have one lying around, you can use a “flexible resistance bar”—a thick rubber bar used for bending and twisting exercises.

Step 1: If using a towel, fold it in half longways. The towel has to be tight to work for twisting, so pre-twist it the long way as far as you can.

Step 2: Once you’ve removed the slack, grip it tightly and twist it as hard as you can for two seconds before relaxing. One hand will move into wrist flexion while the other moves into wrist extension. This counts as 1 repetition.

Step 3: Alternate the direction between sets by switching the towel direction so one hand and wrist will move into flexion for 1 set and extension for the other. Try to perform 4 sets of 15 repetitions.

Practice note: You want to run out of strength before you run out of range of wrist motion, so keep that towel tight and twist slowly.

Why I like it: This exercise is especially excellent at building a good old-fashioned generalized grip with real twisting power. Jar lids will soon live in fear of you.

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2. Finger Curls

Your thumb is very important for hand function, but strength in your grip comes primarily from the other four fingers. Finger curls allow them to work together to build greater strength.

This exercise is excellent to perform with kettlebells.

Practice tip: It’s easy to drop the weights until you get a handle on this exercise. Because of this, it’s a good idea to perform it over a pillow to be proactive.

Step 1: Stand with your arms by your sides. With your right hand, hold onto a kettlebell with hooked fingers—your thumb should be straight and resting along the side of your palm.

Step 2: Extend your fingers and lower the weight on the joints next to your fingertips until they are as straight as you can make them without dropping the weight.

Step 3: Curl your fingers back up as far as you can before lowering them back down. Move slowly and carefully, being sure to control the movement. Lowering and lifting the weight back up counts as 1 repetition. Try to perform 3 sets of 15 repetitions per side, feeling free to alternate sides as you go or perform all sets on one side before the other.

Why I like it: This exercise strengthens your fingers and trains them to function autonomously from your thumbs.

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3. Cylinder Carry

The hand has 20 intrinsic muscles that lie in the hand itself and not on the forearm. This exercise can help strengthen them.

Step 1: Stand with your arms hanging straight down. Hold onto the top of a can or an inverted and full water bottle with just your fingertips, and your fingers straight. As your grip strengthens, you can go beyond the standard can/water bottle size to the largest you can successfully hold.

Step 2: Try to hold onto the cylinder as you walk for one minute before switching hands and performing the exercise on the other side. Feel free to carry a can in each hand to exercise them at the same time.

Step 3: Try to perform 3, 1-minute carries per hand.

Modification: If carrying with straight fingers is too difficult, you can bend your fingers. The “contracted” grip adds a challenge of its own.

Why I like it: Strengthening your lumbricals helps increase the coordination of your fingers in addition to your strength.

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Alternative exercise for lumbrical strengthening: Place your hand flat on a table or counter and practice rubbing your fingertips firmly back and forth on the table, then drawing them back and forth while keeping your finger joints straight and only bending the knuckles. The harder you push, the better the benefit.

4. Pinch Carry

Where the cylinder carry has your fingers holding onto the periphery of a cylindrical item, this exercise places them side-by-side along the length of a book. How big should the book be? As large as you can comfortably control for a minute of carry. See, there’s still a good use for those old encyclopedias you haven’t tossed yet.

Practice tip: If your immediate environment is bereft of books—maybe you’re at the gym—you can use a weight plate.

Step 1: Start this exercise like you did the cylinder carry.

Step 2: Hold onto the book and walk for one minute. Don’t squeeze too tightly, but hold on tightly enough to avoid dropping it.

Step 3: Carrying the book for one minute counts as 1 set. Try to perform 3, 1-minute carries per side. If you have matching books, you can do both hands at the same time.

Why I like it: This is a sort of do-or-drop exercise in that you have to be sure to apply consistent pressure to the book in order to keep from dropping it.

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5. Leg Lift

By now, your legs are completely jealous that you’re spending so much time on your hands, so let’s include them in an exercise, if for no other reason than to assist your hands.

Step 1: Retrieve the trusty terry towel you used for the first exercise and fold it lengthwise. Sit on a chair and place your foot through the bottom ‘'loop” while holding onto the other two ends with one fist.

Step 2: Lift the dead weight of your right leg with your right hand, gripping the towel tightly. Resist using your leg muscles to help—and avoid having your leg hear you refer to it as dead weight. Once you lift the leg approximately four to six inches, slowly lower it back down.

Step 3: Repeat the exercise using both hands to pull the leg up.

Step 4: Lifting your leg up and then placing it back down counts as 1 repetition. Try to perform 3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions per side using the single hand grip, alternating sides, or performing all lifts on one side before the other.

Modification: If lifting your leg with one hand is too difficult, use both hands on the towel and double the repetitions you perform.

Why I like it: In my experience, there’s “gym” strength and “hoss” strength. Gym strength you get by using scientifically designed, easy to manage weights—which is good, but doesn’t always translate into a corresponding amount of increased function. Hoss strength is the ability to just plain get things done. This exercise works on hoss strength.

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5. Hand Grippers

Grip strengtheners have been around for a long time, and for good reason. These simple spring-loaded devices can help build hand strength without having to think too much about what you’re doing, and they come in resistance levels ranging from mild to insane.

Step 1: Wash and dry your hands first to ensure they are free of oils, which can complicate your grip.

Step 2: Place the gripper in your hand and slowly squeeze it, taking one second to either touch the handles together or squeeze them as close together as you can. Don’t worry if you can’t touch the handles together at first. You will get stronger over time, and even squeezing the gripper halfway will be beneficial.

Step 3: Hold for one second, then relax your hand to allow the gripper to open back up. Squeezing the gripper and then releasing it counts as 1 repetition. Try to perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions per hand, feeling free to modify sets and repetitions as needed.

Why I like them: First, grippers are cheap tools for strength. You can buy a whole set for not much money. Second, they’re extremely durable.

Modifications: Many different strengths of grippers are available. Use the one that will give you the most challenge throughout 3 sets of 10 repetitions. Remember: If you can’t squeeze your gripper all the way closed, just squeeze as far as you can.

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Strong hands make so many things seem more manageable and give you a sense of confidence. Your new acquaintances will be duly impressed by the strength of your handshake—just try not to hurt them.

Hand exercises can be performed almost anywhere, and I hope this routine proves effective in helping you get the grip you both want and need.

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