Relationship Between Handgrip Strength and Vertical Jump Performance in Olympic Female Volleyball Athletes

Cabarkapa, DV, Cabarkapa, D, Bankovic, V, and Fry, AC. Relationship between handgrip strength and vertical jump performance in Olympic female volleyball athletes. J Strength Cond Res 39(7): 809-814, 2025-The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between maximal upper-body strength assessed using a handgrip dynamometer and lower-body strength and power-producing capabilities assessed through countermovement vertical jump (CMJ). Sixteen female Olympic volleyball players volunteered to participate in the present investigation. After completing the warm-up routine, all athletes performed 3 CMJs with hands on hips (i.e., no arm swing) while standing on a dual uniaxial force plate system sampling at 1,000 Hz. The following metrics were derived from the force plate system: eccentric peak and mean force, concentric peak and mean force, and vertical jump height (i.e., impulse-momentum calculation). After the completion of the CMJ testing protocol, the handgrip strength was assessed using a digital dynamometer. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used to measure the strength of linear regressions (p < 0.05). The results revealed moderate to strong associations between handgrip strength and CMJ performance (r = 0.415-0.696). Specifically, the dominant handgrip strength revealed a statistically significant relationship with 8 of 9 force-time metrics of interest (e.g., eccentric peak force, concentric mean power, and jump height), while the nondominant hand demonstrated a positive association with only 5 of 9 CMJ performance metrics. These results suggest that within this specific cohort of athletes, the strength of the dominant hand might be a better predictor of the overall CMJ performance, including both eccentric and concentric force and power-producing capabilities, as some of the foundational physical attributes that volleyball athletes need to possess.