Introduction:

In recent years, handgrip strength assessment has gained special relevance in health. However, a standardized application protocol that includes warm-up procedures is required to measure it.

Objective:

To compare the acute effects of four warm-up strategies on maximal handgrip strength (MHS) in sedentary overweight women.

Materials and methods:

Single-blind, randomized, crossover study in which MHS was measured in 12 overweight women under the following conditions: i) no warm-up (control condition), ii) static stretching warm-up, iii) strength-based warm-up (i.e., resistance band exercise), and iv) isometric squeezing-ball warm-up for the forearm muscles. A Jamar dynamometer was used for the measurements, which were taken on four different days, at 48-hour rest intervals; three measurements were made per hand.

Results:

MHS mean values were 23.8 and 24.9 kg without warm-up, 20.3 and 21.4 kg after stretching warm-up, 20.9 and 22.9 kg after strength-based warm-up, and 22.0 and 23.0 kg after squeezing-ball warm-up for non-dominant and dominant hand, respectively. No significant differences (p>0.05; one-way ANOVA) were observed between protocols, nor were there differences in MHS in relation to nutritional status, lean mass, or fat mass.

Conclusion:

Warm-up is not required to measure MHS in overweight sedentary women when three measurements are made.

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