How To Measure Hand Size For Fitness, Sports And Gloves[2023]

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What is so particular about the hands of some fashion celebrities and beauty queens? Observably, most of them have slimmer, thinner, and beautiful hands with skinnier, longer fingers. However, having bigger, muscular, and larger hands boost performance in Fitness, combat, and some athletic sports like basketball, mountain climbing. It is been observed that even in unfavorable weather conditions, climbers, Golf players and NFL Quarterbacks with wider and bigger hand sizes produced an impressive performance. If you are one lucky sportsman who wants to get a better grip and more control when throwing the ball, learn how to measure your hand size first while doing some hand strengthening exercises to get muscular and bigger hands. Also, it is always better to determine a game player’s hand size for gripping a gaming mouse, and only a hand size measurement can help.

If you want to get bigger hand size, you must keep checking your hand size growth. You don’t just want to get thicker muscular hands, you also want your hands to be wider and stronger, for fitness, sports and games.

Most NFL teams have learn to prefer that their quarterbacks have an enormous handspan of at least 9.5 inches even if their heights come under average. From the experience of some basketball coaches like Browns coach Hue Jackson, they won’t be hesitant to pick a quarterback with a hand size that measures 10 inches or wide.

Again, Chip Kelly, a Philadelphia Eagles coach had noticed that quarterbacks don’t thrive to bring home victory because they are taller, but because they got really wide hands. A basketball player with huge hands, just like a climber, has a strong grip on the ball regardless of their height.

This article takes a look at how to measure hand size for fitness, gaming mouse, gripping baseballs and for sizing hand gloves. How some NFL quarterbacks  performed over the years had nothing to do with their heights, but only their impressive larger hand sizes.

Read more: What is the accurate average wrist size for a woman?

Confused between Hand span or hand length?

It is very common to find people take handspan for hand length. These hand dimensions are quite different and to stop further confusion, an individual’s hand span is almost, always greater than hand length. When sizing the hand, it is absolutely necessary to measure both the handspan(not hand width) with hand length.

Handspan measurement determines how large, big or wide, your hand is, from tip of the thumb to the tip of the longest finger. Hand length is the measure of how long your hand is, from the tip of the longest finger to the base of the hand, around the wrist bone.

Hand Size Measurement

People have different hand shapes and sizes. While your hand length is important, there is more to your hand size than the length. A hand’s length is typically measured from the tip of the longest finger to the crease under the palm, near the wrist.

But adult men have an average hand length of about 7.65 inches while that the average hand length for adult females is around 6.8 inches. However, we will focus more on hand size as the metric also aid in choosing the correct power hand tools for individual uses

In this article, we will learn how to measure hand size, how to measure hand for racing gloves that fit, determine average hand size and also create hand size to height chart(relationship between hand size and height). We cannot leave out comparing athletes’ hands sizes and knowing the largest hand ever measured.

Actually, hands get bigger with age but human bodies grow at different rates, so are hands. Others grow faster than others but what if your bone growth is slow and perhaps, the bones stops growing when your hand size isn’t big enough?

Well then, that means you will end up with slimmer hands, tiny wrist and skinnier forearms. In fitness, wrestling, boxing and other games, that will make you look weaker and mean. If you have skinnier hands, try out hand strengthening exercises on how to increase hand muscle and on how to get bigger wrists and forearms.

How to do hand size measurement Accurately

humanly, everyone looks quite different, but there are common body measurements that is absolutely right to perform. Just as it is utterly necessary to measure your height for identification, you will need to know your hand length, grip, and palm size.

Some people simply assign qualitative measurement, by looking at their hands. Saying “I have big hands” is just a subjective way to gauge your hand dimensions, relative to someone else’s hand. However, serious people prefer to use conduct precise measurements of their hands.

The kind of dimension you are looking for when measuring hand size, depends on the purpose for measuring the hands. If your objective is to make proper racing or NBA glove sizing, you must determine the circumference or length of the hand either in inches or centimeters.

Handspan is a hand dimension that is use to define an athletes grip, and a very important metric to count when coaches assess a player’s grip and aptitude for sports. The handspan size is also important when selecting certain musical instruments. here are hand measurements we well look at:

• Hand circumference
• Handspan or hand width
• hand length
• hand grip

1. Measuring Hand Circumference

The circumference is one best and the right metric for sizing gloves and its pretty straightforward how to measure hand size for gloves. To measure your hand carefully, use a hand sizing chart too, at least, this would give you an accurate size for your hands.

Hand gloves come in a wide range of sizes to fit just about any human hand, but this is how to accurately measure your hand size or glove size. Use a flexible measuring tape from a Seamstress and your dominant hand.

Steps how to measure hand size circumference

• Open out your dominant hand
• place the end of the tape(0 mark) at the base of your index finger, the crevices between the thumb and the index finger
• Wrap the measuring tape around your palm, from above the inside of your thumb, pass your pinky finger and back.
• Make sure the measuring tape overlaps itself starting point near the base of your index finger
• Record the total circumference, to the nearest quarter of an inch or to the nearest whole number in centimeters.
• look into the glove size chart below and compare the sizes

2. Measuring Hand Length

When sizing work gloves, you need to measure but hand length for large hands. Hand circumference does not play a significant role if your hands are especially large or long, so hand length is the best metric to use instead of the hand circumference when selecting glove size.

Hands that are significantly longer, than the average hand length, can only fit nicely into the largest glove sizes. How thick the palms are, does not matter in this case. While hand size is important consideration when buying hand tools and sizing gloves, it is different when you hands a pretty longer. Here is how to figure out the length of your hand.

Steps how to measure hand size for gloves (gold, baseball, nfl)

• Hold out your dominant hand,
• Extend the fingers and turn the palms towards your face
• Place a flexible tape to measure the distance from the base of your palm, where your hand meets your wrist, to the tip of the middle finger
• Read where the tape measurement in inches or millimeters.

3. Hand grip size and grip diameter

Here are easy ways how to measure your hand’s grip diameter, which is a great metric to get a hand grip size. Here is the simple calculation
hand Grip size = your grip diameter X 3.14.

You could preferably use a hand grip dynamometer, but here is how to measure hand grip diameter and hand grip size

 how to measure hand size and grip size with Hand tool handle.

• Pick a short uniform cylinder like a short pipe, or tube or a hand tool that feels small when you grab your hand around it
• Wrap a piece of long paper or duck tape around where you hold the object.
• Grab the object again if it starts to feel less flexible or too large
• Reduce the tape when you feel its too large to grip or increase then tape wrap until it starts to feel to big to grab
• Make sure you stop when the wrap is comfortable in your hands
• Using a flexible tape, wrap it over the place where you grab the object, until it meets the other tape end.
• your grip diameter is the tape measure around the area where you you grip the object, with the best flexibility
• Hand grip size = your grip diameter X 3.14

 how to measure hand size and grip by Hand length Calculation

This is not exact on all cases and for all hands, but you grip diameter is approximately 20% of you hand length. Not everyone is a math savvy, but what I means here is that the length of your hand is about 5 times your grip size. Consider the you got your hand length at 7.3 inches,

• then your grip diameter = 7.3 inches/5 or 20% of a 7-3″
• your grip diameter = 1.5 inches
• Hand grip size = hand’s grip diameter x 3.14

how to determine hand size and grip size using from Diameter of Thumb-finger circle

• Like making an okay sign with your hand, bring your thumb tip to meet with tip of your index finger, in a circle
• Using a ruler or tape, measure the inside diameter of the Thumb-finger circle to find the diameter.
• calculate your grip size by multiplying your hand’s grip diameter by 3.14.

4. Measuring Hand Span

Also called a grip span, a handspan is the distance between the thumb and tip of the little finger when when it is widely opened flat. This handspan number tells alot about your ability to perform in gripping sports, throwing objects, catching games like football goalkeeping, tackling highly needed in quarterbacks.

Don’t be surprised you may be asked to send in your handspan measurement for analysis if you are participating in competitive basketball and American football. In addition to natural advantage for sports hand span size is one great metric used to size musical instruments like violin.

Steps how to measure hand size grip for sport activities

Whether you are sizing hands for gaming mouse, a football players sizing football gloves, an nba player or golf players trying to measure your hand size for golf gloves, hand span is the best hand dimension that determine how much you can grip.

• flex and open your dominant hand to be flat and make the fingers as wide as possible
• Pay attention to your thumb and pinkie finger
• put your hand palm-down on a surface
• place one end of your tape or ruler on the tip of you thumb
• Place the tape or ruler to run perpendicular to the other fingers, up to the tip of your little finger
• Read and write down the value of your hand span in centimeter, inches or millimeters

If you had wanted to know your grip width, measure the width of your hand, in centimeters, divide that it by 5, and add then 1.5 cm. If the distance from the tip of you little finger to the tip of your thumb is 18 cm, then your strongest grip 18cm divided by 5, then plus 1.5cm = 5.1 cm.

Average Hand Sizes

To determine whether you have smaller, medium or larger hand sizes, let us group average hand size measurements in to adult men, adult women and children hand sizes.

1. Average adult hand size

A man’s hand length is measured from the below the palms(the crease) to the tip of the longest (middle) finger.
An adult man’s hand breadth is measured from the first finger to the last finger. This is done around where the fingers meet the palm because it is across the widest area where the fingers join the palm. This measurement is excludes the thumb.

The man’s hand circumference is the distance measure around the palm of the most dominant hand. The best accurate circumference is the length measurement below the knuckles, without including the thumb finger.

In an attempt to take human body measurements, NASA got to know the average size of the the different proportions of the human body. And here is the data for the average adult hand size based on gender.

Children’s Average hand sizes

Hands get bigger with age. Kids have smaller hands as compared to adults. In children, there is bone growth but it becomes impossible to change the size of bones with exercise at adult age. However, you can make your petite wrists and hands more muscular by performing wrist and forearm exercises.

Average adult grip size

We have seen various ways how to determine grip size. With a proper tool selection, the optimal handle diameter of a tool is about 19.7 percent of the user’s hand length. The our grip sizing steps above, we approximated to 20%, and that is why we were dividing some measurements like the hand length by 5. or multiply by 0.2.

Take for example

if you got your hand length to be 7.8 inches, your grip size is obtained by multiplying 7.8 inches by 0.197 . This little number is the optimum handle diameter for a tool such as a hammer, when you grab it. For example, the right diameter for a hammer you would comfortable handle during construction activities, would be 1.5 inches.

Hand grip size is one of the most considered metrics and technique that is absolutely vital when selecting hand tools. But there is more into choosing the right hand tools than just the handle diameter. According to Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) , you should also consider points like, if the tool is

• purposely and rightfully designed for the job
• easy and comfortable to grip
• requiring a certain amount of force to handle it
• not too light for the task

Hand Glove Sizes – Choosing the perfect hand gloves

It is insane to wear oversized gloves for your hand, as this could result in unhealthy contamination of dangerous substances with your hands. Most people never realize that they make the wrong glove size when buying one.

Some pretty hard work in construction sites, and farm, involve the handling of heavy machinery, so you often require you wear gloves to avoid harm, bruises and hand fatigue. But what size glove is right for you?

How can you choose a glove that fits your hand, properly, to ensure job safety?

The best and the correct hand size metrics for selecting gloves is the hand circumference. We have seen it already, you measure from inside of your thumb through your pinky finger and back, on your dominant hand.

Hand circumference directly correlates to the glove size. After you obtained your hand circumference, compare the number with the “standard” measurements as a way to find your glove size. So here are the average glove sizes for men and women hands.

Related: Shop for the best hand gloves on Amazon

Hand Size, Grip Size and Athleticism

How strongly we can grip something, is associated with our hand grip size, which ofcourse, offers better in-gym and sports performance.

A research in 2011 looked at how hand dimensions, hand shape, and other anthropometrics related to one’s grip strength in sports and athletic activities. While conducting multiple hands/arm measurements like finger length, finger perimeters, finger span, palm length, forearm length, and hand length, the researchers surprisingly discovered a higher relationship exist between athletes’ grip strength and their hand dimensions.

Today, NBA players, Football goalkeepers, National Football League(NFL) now have a way to assessing and predicting an athlete’s abilities and performance in grip-based sports. Most coaches in various sports use total span of the fingers, handspan, index finger length, and full finger perimeter length in their analysis.

So your really big hands or your wider hand Size bears a strong relationship how you can perform in athletic sports. Odell Beckham’s hands has a whopping length of 10″ which is well over the average male’s hand length of around 7.5.

How Is Hand Size Measured in the NFL?

In Professional athletic sports, hand sizes(length and span) is very important. National Basketball Association (NBA) recommends official hand measurement.

NFL Combine does hand size measurement for players, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the pinky finger. Ofcourse, this is done when the hand is outstretched. Extremely rare, but the highest handspan, or spread in Combine history, that an NFL player has had is 11.75 inches.

This exceptional big hand size makes me think of players like Gosder Cherilus, DeForest Buckner, and Mo Alie-Cox. Their handspan came far beyond the average male’s handspan which is around 8.5 inches.

Also Michael Jordan’s hand measurements featured 9.75 inches in hand length with a 11.34 inches in handspan. This dimension shows that Jordan’s hand span was about 21 percent wider than mens average handspan for people at his height of 6’6”.

In the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), Brittney Griner, is 6’9″ tall, with a hand size of 9.5 inches. She is regarded as one of the best women’s basketball players in the world. Her hands dimensions have contributed to her impressive performance.

At first, it was though that height is the main factor that creates performance in athletics sports. More recently, it was noted that hand grip size affect performance more and that there is a relationship between hand size and height.

According reports, there is a close link between somebody’s height and hand length, hand size, finger size, gender, and age. Here are some NFL Quarterbacks who had the larger hand sizes, some of them were shorter, far below the estimated height that goes perfectly with their handspan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do athletes measure hand size?

There are many forearm and wrist exercises that strengthen, and grow hand muscles, but after that, most people naturally don’t measure their palm sizes. They just, sort of, qualify their hands by making observations with the eyes.

How to NFL measure hand size?

Not many athletes measure their hand, so are some NFL teams. The few that do hand size measurement at the NFL know that a handspan of 11 inches or wider, is hard-to-find amongst NFL players.

A Detroit Lions quarterbacks like Matthew Stafford is about 6.3″ in height and most people expected, based on average measures, that at his height, the hand size should be 9.20 inches. The biggest surprise is, Stafford’s handspan dimension hits 10.00 inches. This is 0.85″ more than some players in his height.

Although the average male’s handspan is approximately 8.5 inches, the largest hand size measurement in history is 11.75 inches. Unfortunately, some athletes never get to know their true handspan. Even if you have got picky hands and fingers, there re accurate ways to determine how larger you hand really is.

What is the average hand span for men and women?

Men have an average hand width in the range 7-11 inches, while the average handspan for women falls in the range 6.5-9.5 inches.

Are my hands big for my height?

Not really, if your hands are 8.3 inches long, and 9.3 inches wide( hand span) that is not small. For example, a basketball player like Kareem Abdul Jabbaris 7.2 inches in height , with hand span of 9.5 inches. What about Tim Tebow who has been one of the greatest quarterbacks. he is just 6’3” in height but has a remarkable handspan of10.13 inches. This gives a predicted height with this handspan of 7’1”.

Who has the largest hands in the world?

Guinness World Records tells us that a living person with the world’s largest hands is Sultan Kösen. Born in Turkey in 1982, he is 8’3″ tall, with a hand length of 11.22 inches. he is well known, too as the world’s tallest man. Considering this century, Robert Wadlow (1918–1940), according to Guinness Book of record had the largest hands ever, with hand length of 12.75 inches.

How Finger Length and Hand Size Relate to Grip Strength

The larger your hand size, and the longer your fingers and palm size, the larger your grip strength. You know, how strong we grip something is a direct indicator of our maximal strength.

This is true with gym performance, rock climbing and other exercises involving pulling, pushing and pressing. This explains why babies with tiny little hands can grip as much as adults do.

The difference is in the sizes of their hands, finger, wrist and forearm muscles. So does your hand size correlate with strength?

What’s the best way how to measure hand for baseball gloves?

Measuring glove size for baseball or tennis ball focuses on length of the hand, if you have for slim longer fingers. The width of your hand is equally important for sizing baseball gloves when  you have muscular hand, and thicker fingers.

You know that a baseball glove, need to extend from the tip of your middle finger to your wrist. For a tennis racquet grip size,you would like to extend the plastic tape from the tip of your middle finger until you reach down to the lowest crease of your hand palm.

The number of inches measured corresponds to the size of the glove. As concerns your grip, you can use your hand size to determine your grip size, The longer your hand, the better grip you have,especially if you are a professional basketball player.

How do you choose cello?

Love cellos? Don’t miss to See latest cellos

Is 8 inch hands big?

Considering the average length of an adults, with female’s hand length at 6.8 inches and mens hand length at 7.6 inches. You would see that 8 inches hand is medium sized when you consider average mens handspan. Small hand size: .7.5-8 inches, medium hand breadth: 1.5-9 inches, Large hand width: 9.5-10 inches and Extra Large hands size: 10.5-11 inches.

Can you workout your hands?

YES, hand tools like Grip Strengthener can workout your hands and make them muscular, thicker and stronger. There re many other hand-held equipment you can use at home to strengthen hands, increase hand muscles, like Hold a soft ball squeeze.

Besides just growing size and strength in hands, the workouts are great for treating and relieving osteoarthitis. For more, check here how to get larger and powerful hands through exercises, combined with proper nutrition.

But beware, some of the exercises would produce finger weight loss and make your fingers thinner, if you consume less calories than you burn exercising each day.

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