How to Make Your Hands Bigger and Stronger

Sometimes, bigger is better and size does matter.

That’s what you’re probably thinking about your hands right now.

To make your hands bigger and stronger, exercise them to improve the length and strength of your fingers and their muscles. While surgery is possible, non-surgical ways can be just as effective without any cost or pain. If you want thicker hands and wrists, there are options.

Now, don’t get any unrealistic expectations on getting massively sized hands overnight.

That won’t happen.

But, if you follow the steps in this article, you should be able to increase the length, circumference, and breadth of your hands and fingers.

In this article, I’ll go over:

• The average hand size
• What big hands mean
• 7 exercises to get bigger hands
• How to get thicker wrists and hands
• How to increase the muscles in your hands
• Surgical options to get bigger hands
• When your hands stop growing

Let’s get started!

How to Get Manly Hands

First off, let me make it crystal clear that having big hands does NOT make you manly. Having small hands does NOT make you unmanly.

But, society typically associates bigger hands as an indication of masculinity.

In that vein, I’ll go over:

• The average hand size
• What big hands mean on a guy
• If having big hands means you’re going to be tall
• If big hands are attractive

Let’s dive a little deeper!

What is the Average Hand Size?

Before I get into the average size, let me just mention that there’s a strong chance your hand will already be average-sized without having to measure it.

Most people have average hands.

Maybe a finger is slightly shorter. I’m convinced my pinky is shorter because I had issues playing the cello in school. But, that doesn’t mean there’s a problem with me.

The average hand size for men is 7.6 inches long (19.3 centimeters. The average hand size for women is 6.8 inches (17.3 centimeters).

I’ve included the full measurements with breadth and circumference below in a table for your convenience.

Average Hand Size

This data was sourced from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

What’s important to note in the table above is that those measurements are for adults only, not kids or adolescents.

Your hands will continue to grow as a kid, so there’s no point in measuring it at the present time until you mature and you have a final hand size to go off of.

Once you know your hand size, you can make the determination of if you want to make your hands bigger or not.

What Do Big Hands Mean on a Guy?

Having big hands can be a convenience, really.

With bigger hands, you can do things like:

• Grip things more easily
• Hold larger items

Men with longer ring fingers are noted to have better hand strength, regardless of age and body size. Several studies suggest the idea that longer ring fingers are linked to superior athleticism.

So, if you have larger hands, then you may be a better athlete.

But, no guarantees…

You can have big hands and still be a klutz.

Does Having Big Hands Mean You’re Going to Be Tall?

A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition involved 465 adults between the ages of 19 and 91 with the intent of determining if it was possible to predict height based on hand length.

What they found is that you can predict a person’s height from their hand length, as well as using your hand’s length to predict your BMI.

While you can have bigger hands and be small, the Guinness Book of World Records holder for the largest hands and tallest person ARE the same person, so there is a correlation.

But, it’s not a hard and fast rule.

Genetics are just one factor.

If you’re not sure you’re tall, here’s a helpful guide on what height is considered tall.

Are Big Hands Attractive?

A study from The University of Geneva found that while men with bigger finger length discrepancies were found to be more facially attractive, they weren’t considered more masculine.

And, women did NOT show any preference for longer-fingered men based on their odor or voices.

A lot of attraction comes down to self-confidence.

If you feel confident about your hand size, regardless of whether it’s small, average, or large, then you shouldn’t have to worry in the looks department.

Take care of your nails so that the focus isn’t on the size of the hand, but rather, its quality.

7 Exercises to Get Bigger Hands

To get bigger hands, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you need to exercise your hands and fingers.

If that’s something you didn’t think was possible or even something you hadn’t tried yet, it is.

You can get real results by using these exercises, although you shouldn’t expect massive growth.

That’s unrealistic.

Here are 7 exercises to get bigger hands:

1. Use a hand gripper
2. Squeeze a soft ball
3. Do a push-up with your finger
4. Stretch your finger with elastic bands
5. Try sandbags and punching bags
6. Lift weights
7. Take up a hobby

Let’s explore these in a little more depth!

1. Use a Hand Gripper

What is a hand gripper, you ask?

A hand gripper is a small device that’s used to test and increase the strength of your hands.

You may have accidentally tried one of these in a health class in high school without even realizing it. I’m fairly certain I did now that I think about it.

Why hand grippers work is their crushing grip, which allows the muscles in your fingers to increase and grow, increasing your hand size.

It also helps increase your forearm’s muscles.

Each day, work on doing 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps to begin to see results.

Don’t just rely on one exercise…try them all!

2. Squeeze a Soft Ball

Whenever I give blood, I always end up squeezing a soft ball. I think it helps circulate the blood to get it pumped out faster so I don’t have to sit there for an hour and a half.

When you squeeze a soft ball, your palm muscles increase their strength.

It can be any foam stress ball or object.

To do this exercise, hold the ball tightly for a good 3 to 5 seconds and then release.

Make sure that you do this exercise 10 to 12 times for each hand to see results.

It may be disheartening to not see immediate results, but keep at it and you’ll see improvements over time.

3. Do a Push-Up With Your Finger

This is one of the harder things to do if I’m being completely honest.

Most people have enough of a challenge doing a simple push-up. Some other types of push-ups include:

• Diamond
• One-handed

What this push-up calls you to do is to just use a few fingers on one hand to support your entire body up and down.

When doing this, it will be quite challenging at first if you’ve never done it before. So, you can give yourself a handicap and start with just a few fingers on both hands to get accustomed to the exercise.

After time, you can work on doing it with just one hand.

You want to make sure you’re using your fingertips and not the knuckles of your hand to get real results. Try doing 2 to 3 sets of 10 push-ups a day.

If that’s too much, start out lower and work up to it.

4. Stretch Your Fingers With Elastic Bands

Elastic bands are just another fancy-schmancy way of saying rubber bands.

Everyone has rubber bands lying around, right?

To exercise your hands with rubber bands, you’re going to need 4 of them and then follow these steps:

1. Place your fingers on the inside of the elastic bands
2. Your palms should be facing outward
3. Your right index finger should be on one end and your left index finger on the other end
4. Put the rest of the bands in the same manner for your other fingers
5. Pull the band outward, contracting your fingers

You should aim to do 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 10 times.

If your rubber bands break, just get another one. They should be large enough to stretch (the tension is what works your muscles), but not too large that they’re ineffective.

5. Try Sandbags and Punching Bags

If you’ve never taken your aggression out on a punching bag, then you’re really missing out.

There’s nothing better than taking your feelings out on something that can’t argue with you or fight back.

Your hands should be properly bandaged or in boxing gloves before you begin punching a sandbag or punching bag.

If this is something you’ve never tried before, make sure to do it under the supervision of someone else or a personal trainer.

10 to 15 minutes of work on a punching bag should be plenty to help grow your hand size.

6. Lift Weights

Yes, lifting weights can be effective at growing your hand size, arm size, and bicep size. It’s the perfect workout for people with skinny arms.

For this exercise, you won’t want to use a:

• Barbell
• Stumbling block
• Kettlebell

Instead, you’re going to use 2 to 3 weight dumbbells in each hand.

By doing this, you will strengthen your hands and fingers by holding the plates together throughout your workout.

Try to do 2 to 3 sets of 10 reps of this exercise in a day.

7. Take Up a Hobby

No, your hobby does NOT need to be rock climbing like the photo above suggests.

I’ve always hated going rock climbing. I did so freehanded in Israel once and was so petrified that I thought I was going to die.

Some hobbies you may want to consider include:

• Climbing
• Carpentry
• Woodworking
• Forging
• Sculpting
• Restore cars

Basically, what you want to do is choose hobbies that put a large cyclical load on your hands.

When your hands deal with pressure and tension, they get stronger.

How to Get Bigger Hands

In case you missed my answer above, here it is again.

To make your hands bigger and stronger, exercise them to improve the length and strength of your fingers and their muscles. While surgery is possible, non-surgical ways can be just as effective without any cost or pain.

So, that being said, you’re probably wondering:

• How to get thicker wrists and hands
• How to increase your hand muscles and make them grow
• If you can get your hands bigger to play basketball (or any other sport)

Let’s dive into those a little more!

How to Get Thicker Wrists and Hands

To get thicker wrists and hands, there are several exercises you can try:

• Curls
• Push-ups
• Pull-ups
• Chin-ups
• Deadlifts
• Radial training

The key with any of these is repetition.

You’re not going to grow your wrists or hands by doing one or two push-ups or pull-ups. You have to make a concerted effort.

I wouldn’t measure your wrist’s circumference weekly, though. That’s a surefire way to get disappointed about your progress.

It’s not going to happen overnight.

It will take months or years of repeated effort.

How Do I Make My Hand Muscles Grow? How to Increase Hand Muscle

To increase your hand muscles, you should do a lot of wrist curls and finger curls.

Many people don’t pay much attention to the hands and wrists in lieu of biceps and triceps, but that’s a mistake. Your forearms and wrists allow you to perform the exercises that develop and maximize your biceps, triceps, deltoid, chest, and back.

Just like you shouldn’t skip leg day, you shouldn’t skip hand and finger day.

Another way to increase the muscles in your hand is to improve your flexibility. Having a more flexible hand and fingers will improve your hand’s mobility.

You should try the exercises in this article to grow your hand’s muscles.

How Can I Make My Hands Bigger for Basketball?

While you can be short and play basketball, you can also have smaller hands and play basketball.

But, the more that you are able to grip the ball and keep it in your possession, the better. Having a better grip on the ball will also enable you to be a better shot.

If you want to palm a basketball, here are some exercises for you to try:

1. Barbell reverse grip curls
2. Fingertip push-ups
3. Towel grip pull-ups
4. Cable reverse grip tricep push-downs

You may just need to come to terms though that your hands won’t grow and that you’ll have to adapt how you play basketball to your hand size.

Surgery to Make Your Hands Bigger

Unless you have a deformity, most doctors will advise against you getting surgery on your hands.

At that point, it’s cosmetic work (aka plastic surgery) and your insurance will likely NOT cover it.

If you’re insistent on getting surgery to make your hands bigger, then you’ll want to look into a plastic surgeon who can help you restore your hand and finger function.

But, any time you try to do surgery, it’s possible your hand won’t look normal. While doctors try to preserve the look, function is the most important part to them.

At the end of the day, I just can’t endorse getting hand surgery unless you have something that’s functionally wrong with your hand.

If you don’t, learn how to be happy with the hands you’ve got and do the exercises listed above.

When Do Your Hands Stop Growing?

The biggest growth you’re going to see is during puberty, like other things when it comes to men and women and the parts we consider to be more adult.

The fastest rate of growth is 1 to 2 years after puberty has started. Most boys and men will have stopped growing taller at 16 and be fully developed at 18, but that’s not set in stone.

As I mentioned above, hand size can be tied to height, so when you’ve grown as tall as you’re going to get, chances are your hands will have, too.

But, this is just the normal growth in hand size you’d expect to see for an adolescent.

If you do the exercises in this article, you can gradually continue to increase your hand size and muscles over time.

Your hands stop growing when you’ve decided you’re going to let them be.

Do Hands Stop Growing With Age?

Yes, as mentioned above, your hands will stop growing at the end of puberty for most people.

Puberty happens because you’ve got a lot of growth hormones (human growth hormones, also known as HGH). Adults still have small amounts of this in their systems, so it’s entirely possible for your adult hands to continue to grow slightly.

The growth hormone can also make your face bigger.

But, as you continue to age, your hands may become arthritic and have thin skin. Use a moisturizer to keep your skin as taut as possible.

Conclusion

I hope you have a better idea of how to get bigger hands and what you can do to increase the muscles in your hands and wrists.

In case you scrolled past my answer, above, here’s what you can do to make your hands bigger.

To make your hands bigger and stronger, exercise them to improve the length and strength of your fingers and their muscles. While surgery is possible, non-surgical ways can be just as effective without any cost or pain.

I also went over:

• The average hand size
• What big hands mean
• 7 exercises to get bigger hands
• How to get thicker wrists and hands
• How to increase the muscles in your hands
• Surgical options to get bigger hands
• When your hands stop growing

Do you have any questions about your hand size or the exercises I included in this article? Let me know in the comments below.

I look forward to hearing how you’re achieving your dream body.

To your bodybuilding success!