Are you strong? Statistically speaking, probably not.

Ask most people if they are strong and most people will likely say “yes”. If they don’t say it out loud, they still probably believe it to be true. At the very least, most people believe they are strong enough or stronger than average.

It is natural to feel that way because it should be no surprise to learn that being strong is actually very good for you. The bad news is, most people aren’t strong and in general people are getting weaker every year.

Obviously from a survival perspective strength goes beyond opening jars and bottles but doing work, fixing stuff and self defense. But what I find interesting is that being strong, in particular measured in regards to your grip strength, is strongly (wink, wink) lined to your health status.

A higher handgrip strength (HGS) means a lower risk of overall cardiovascular disease mortality, CVD being among the main causes of premature death worldwide. Beyond that a stronger grip is related in the medical community to vitality and better overall health.

https://today.uconn.edu/2011/06/grip-strength-is-good-indicator-of-overall-health/#

But back to the question, the only way of knowing how strong you really are is to properly measure it. It’s a rather simple stat to track so I got myself one of these gadgets. (affiliate link to Amazon below in case you want to give it a go)

CAMRY Digital Hand Dynamometer Grip Strength Measurement

It costs just a few bucks and it lets you know how strong you are for real. “Strong” is best, at the very least you want to be on the right side of the “Normal” bracket and you definitely don’t want to be “Weak”. If you are though, you may want to start working out more, increase your general fitness level and keep track of the progress made.

Take care,

FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”