Trey+Keeley+and+Luke+Strong

Do Football Players Have A Higher Grip Strength then Volleyball Players?

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to find out who has a stronger grip strength; a volleyball player or a football player. Volleyball players are on the court longer than football players but football players have to have grip strength to hold on to a ball.(Strength vs. Endurance,2012)This is why we think that football players will have a higher grip strength.We will test this using a hand dynamometer which is used to measure grip strength. ("Grip Hand Dynamometers.", 2012)The force you can muster when squeezing an object or a weight doesn't only reveal how strong your hand and arm are. It can be a measure of overall muscle function and — according to one recent study — even portend how long you're likely to live.(Stein,2011) We also believe that football players will have all-around better strength because they lift weights three to four times week, unlike volleyball players who usually lift at a maximum of twice a week. . Football players lifting weights gives them an all around better muscle complex which will help their grip strength.Looking at a normal Volleyball players workout, it seems as if they do have nearly the same workouts as football players but football players have more of a static workout. (Weik, 2008)(Stein 2008)When you exercise your grip strength you are doing a static workout. A static workout is a workout where you don't move the object you are using to get stronger.(Newton, 2012) Football Players do a lot of static workout which makes their grip strength better. We think that all these factors weigh in to the football players having a better grip strength then volleyball players.

Hypothesis:If we test the football players, according to our data they will have a better than average grip strength while volleyball players will have an average grip strength.

Materials: Hand Dynamometer

Procedure: For our project we will take 5 Freshman football players and 5 Freshman volleyball players. They will squeeze the Hand Dynamometer and we will record the data. They will squeeze it 3 times and we will record the average of the three. Their arm will be at 90 degrees when they squeeze it. We will compare the grip strength of the volleyball players to the Girls National Average and then we will compare the football players to the Boys National Average. We will see how they compare to the normal of all of the boys and see if they are above, below, or normal. It will interesting to see how each group compares to the national average and how they compare to eachother.

Data:(We promised the people involved they would remain nameless)
 * Football Players || PSI (force) || National Average (Boys) ||
 * 1 || 27 || 19 ||
 * 2 || 19 || 19 ||
 * 3 || 19 || 19 ||
 * 4 || 19 || 19 ||
 * 5 || 20 || 19 ||
 * 6 || 20 || 19 ||
 * 7 || 22 || 19 ||
 * 8 || 21 || 19 ||
 * 9 || 21 || 19 ||
 * 10 || 23 || 19 ||

Graphs:
 * Volleyball Players || PSI (force) || National Average (Girls) ||
 * 1 || 12 || 15 ||
 * 2 || 13 || 15 ||
 * 3 || 14 || 15 ||
 * 4 || 14 || 15 ||
 * 5 || 14 || 15 ||
 * 6 || 15 || 15 ||
 * 7 || 16 || 15 ||
 * 8 || 17 || 15 ||
 * 9 || 17 || 15 ||
 * 10 || 19 || 15 ||



Analysis: In my graphs you can clearly see that the football players had a much better grip strength according to the national averages of most of the boys their age. The football players had only 30% at the average and none that were below the average. The volleyball had an average grip strength with 50% below average. The trends that this graph sets shows that football players have a much higher grip strength than that of a volleyball player. The reason we think it happened is because strength is a big part of football so football players lift, while in volleyball strength is not that big of a factor. We believe that football players have a better grip strength, according to the national averages, because they are more worried about their strength and lift weights on a daily basis, therefore having healthier muscles.

Conclusion: Our hypothesis of " If we test the football players, they will have a better than average grip strength while volleyball players will have an average grip strength." was backed up. The football players did have a better grip strength than the volleyball players. The football players had more over the average and had no one that was under the national average of boys their age, while the girls had 50% under the average.

Limitations: One of the limitations we had was that we could not test the whole football team or the whole volleyball team. Another thing that went wrong was that our procedure was not as controlled as we would have liked it to be. The last thing that went wrong was

Bibliography: "Grip Hand Dynamometers." // Grip Hand Dynamometers //. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.

Newton, David E. "Eurofit." // The Gale Encyclopedia of Fitness //. Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2012. 286-288. // Gale Virtual Reference Library //. Web. 27 Nov. 2012

"Strength vs. Endurance." // Straight Health RSS //. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <[]>.

Stein, Jeannine. "Losing Your Grip? It Could Be a Clue to Your Health." // Los Angeles Times //. Los Angeles Times, 03 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <[]>.

Stein, David "Body Building." 4 April 2008. __ Bodybuilding.com. __ 14 December 2012 []

Weik, M. (2008, October 28). // Body Building. // Retrieved December 14, 2012, from Bodybuilding.com: []