Who Has The Strongest Grip Strength: NFL Players, Scottish Highland Games Athletes, Or Construction Workers?

As we learn below which athletes, workers, or soldiers have the strongest grip strength (on average) I think it is first a good idea for you to take a guess on who you think has the strongest grip as measured by a hand dynamometer. There are clips below of NFL players, competitors in the Scottish Highland Games, construction workers, firefighters, US Army soldiers, rock climbers, farmers/ranchers, and more.

Grip strength is crucial across various disciplines… NFL players need to be able to hold onto the pigskin without it being ripped out of their hands or grab onto an opponent and not let them go. Construction workers need to manipulate countless building materials and do a lot of heavy lifting. Rock climbers, that should be obvious.

I think you all get the point here, that there are LOT of people in contention for who should have the strongest grip strength but the question remains…

Who Has The Strongest Grip Strength?

Well, I’ve been seeing these Handexer videos on TikTok for months if not years. They always pop up in my feed and these are the types of videos, similar to Spencer at SBMowing, where when I scroll past the video I stop and watch the whole thing every single time because they are fascinating… First up, let us take a look at the grip strength of competitors in the Scottish Highland Games:

That was their most recent video and one that honestly surprised me a bit. Obviously, Highland Games competitors need to have strong grip strength for numerous reasons but it’s not abundantly clear why they need to have grip strength that is on par with some of the most elite athletes in America… Which takes us to our next video: the grip strength of NFL athletes.

Why on God’s green earth does Joe Burrow have such weak grip strength?! The man’s job is to clutch and toss a football. That hand should be a steel vice! Also, remind me to never cross Dion Hawkins… Goodness gracious.

Trey Hendrickson was out there pulling 140lbs without even flinching. If he actually put some effort into that I think he could have easily eclipsed 175lbs of force.

Grip Strength Battles: Firefighters versus Army Soldiers

Firefighters and Army soldiers don’t hold any beef, as far as I know, unless there is some secret underground war brewing between them. But there should be a steady back-and-forth of roasting after this video because the first guy from the Army came out firing a score that, and I don’t want to demean our soldiers year (thank you for your service, sir), but it is laughably weak.

Meanwhile, the first gentlemen from the fire station utters ‘that hurts my booby’ while pulling 158lbs of force on the Handexer grip strength tester. That is A-tier for sure. It isn’t anywhere near Dion Hawkins who might have the strongest grip strength around

Do Construction Workers Have The Strongest Grip Strength?

One of the most-viewed Handexer videos is this one below on concrete workers. The video has 5.9 million views. I suspect it went viral among the Construction and Concrete community but let’s see how their grip strength compares to the others above, shall we?

That clip starts off with him saying “my best is 232” and thatis unclear if that means the best anyone has ever pulled on the Handexer ever, or the best he has personally pulled. But the numbers in order for concrete workers are 108lbs from a guy ripping a dart, 88lbs, 135lbs, 138.2lbs, 75lbs, 123lbs, 147lbs, 94.2lbs (second try)… Not the best we see.

Grip Strength Of Rock Climbers

This was a video I went into expecting them to have, by far, the strongest. I went to a rock climbing gym in Portland over Spring Break and saw dudes hanging from two single fingers and that was just their warmup! The amount of grip strength I saw in their hands was incredibly impressive but do rock climbers have the strongest grip strength of any athletes/workers? Let us take a look:

Those grip strength numbers (in order) for rock climbers are 120.6lbs, 104lbs, 104.2lbs (F), 112.4lbs, 125.6lbs, 129.8lbs, 144.4lbs… Definitely not the strongest of any of the groups. We could get into a ‘pound-for-pound’ discussion because they were all pretty skinny/fit but what’s the point, rock climbers to not have the strongest grip strength around.

Last, but not least,let us take a look at farmers and ranchers. This is one of the most-viewed Handexer videos with a whopping 4.5 million views:

The numbers in order for farmers and ranchers are 129.8lbs, 153.6lbs, 148lbs, 127.8lbs, 134lbs… Then the video jumps to Iron Workers! I’m not sure if this was meant to demean iron workers or if Handexer has some axe to grind against iron workers but the first dude they show pulled just 86.6lbs. He was followed by 107lbs, 95lbs, 116lbs, 127.4lbs, and 113.2lbs.

Did we forget anyone? What about, bodybuilders, gym rats, and strongmen…

Pretty powerful across the board but not quite as strong as I’d expect. From that video among the men, the range was 116.8lbs to 159lbs. I’m slightly underwhelmed by that crew, if we’re being honest here. Also, Google says the strongest grip strength in the world is 287 pounds and that record is held by Alexey Tyukalov. That is an unimaginable benchmark.

So, who has the strongest grip strength around?

With MULTIPLE Scottish Highland Games competitors pulling 170+lbs on the Handexer they simply have to be in the conversation for the group with the strongest grip strength. NFL athletes are up there too at the higher end.

If they were to try out the Handexer say, at the gym after getting in a few sets or at practice after they are fully warmed up, I think it would be a different story.

For what it’s worth, the Handexer is an item that’s for sale. I have never considered buying one myself but the $29.99 model tests up to 195lbs so I’d be curious to test myself at some point.