Nothing can be more annoying than having diminutive hands while the rest of you is built like a silverback gorilla. 

But that’s a sad reality that a lot of people have to come to terms with, including myself.

And trust me when I tell you, if you are a guy reading this, you know that nothing looks better than having big, muscular, thick hands. Girls love it.

And I can tell you exactly what they do not love, and that’s having tiny little grabbers. Mix that with skinny little arms and your looking at slim pickins my friend.

Like Jared Goff, the quarterback who made headlines at the 2016 NFL Scouting combine for having the smallest hands, apparently, the coaches decided that you need to have hands big enough to be able to manipulate a football. 

Else, you aren’t cut out for a career in professional football. No mincing words.

So not only do bigger hands look good, but they are extremely more useful than little ones. So how the heck do we get bigger hands? How did I do it?

Oh, did we mention the myth about smaller hands being a sign of having a smaller manhood? Or is it for real? 

Either ways, it seems to be ingrained deeply in the public lexicon. So if you catch people staring at your tiny hands, we know what they are thinking. 

Irrespective of whether you are plain embarrassed by the size of your hands or you are looking to gain a competitive advantage in a professional sporting career, or just want them to look good, you are at the right place. 

Today, we will share a set of techniques and tips that will help you increase the size of your grabbers. 

Strap in and enjoy the read. 

Is It Possible to Get Bigger Hands?

The Genius that was Julius Wolff

For a very long time, it was believed that your physical limitations such as being tall were set by your genetics and that there was no way in which you could escape them. 

However, a German surgeon by the name of Julius Wolff demonstrated through a series of experiments and tests that you can in fact not just makes your hands bigger through growing your hand muscles but you could actually alter the appearance and size of your bone structure through constant, strenuous loading. 

A case in point would be powerlifters or weight lifters who undergo a dramatic increase in bone density as they continue to put their bodies under stress day after day. 

Ditto with tennis players who have thicker, stronger appendages on their hands which wield the racquet as compared to the other one. 

Henry Gassett Davis, the American orthopedic surgeon who’s credited with creating the first splint that’s used for traction today, stated that continual and intense tension can help elongate as well as strengthen tendons and ligaments. 

That explains why a laborer often has thicker, bigger hands and fingers as compared to someone who works on a keyboard all day. 

Another case in point, I broke my leg Sep 1st and have not been able to put weight on it what so ever. My most recent X-rays (Jan 13th) showed that all of my bones in my foot have started to turn spongey. This is from not putting any weight or strain on my foot.

My bones look almost see-through on the X-rays, and before they were thick and greyish-white

So, yes, you can make your hands bigger, It’s easy, and trust me, big hands look darn good. They are underrated.

You’ll read below some techniques to help you, but the best way that I got my hands bigger, thicker, more muscular and veiny was through the use of a hand gripper.

You can check out the one that I use on amazon for cheap by clicking here.

This is the only one that I recommend. I tried a few others and they were junk. I got the Captain of Crush 280 lb option and works like a charm.

Take a look at all of the reviews. They speak for themselves.

I still use this thing, and my hands look darn good. The hand gripper that I use is the 280 lb option but I am quite strong, (I like to think), so for someone getting started out and just now starting to work their hands I would recommend the 140 lb option or the 195 lb option.

It’s nice to, especially when driving my car, on a date, when you rest your hand on the middle console or shifter. I literally try and show my hands off, without being too obvious about it.

There are bunch of grippers out there that claim to work. And while i have not tried all of them, I have tried a lot of them.

Here is the first on that I tried that literally didn’t do diddly squat.

I have tried several others but the only one that worked for me was the Captain of Crush Hand Strengthener

Get yourself a gripper, get the veins pumping and make your hands bigger.

How to Make Your Hands Bigger & Thicker

Based on these scientifically proven theories, there are a bunch of techniques that can help in increasing the size of your hands. 

Use a Hand Gripper – Helps Build Muscular Thick Hands – It’s What I Use

As I said above, it’s what did the trick for me.

If you want to see the one that I use you can check it out on amazon by clicking here. If it’s still in stock.

The classic hand gripper has been around for ages and if often overlooked in favor of fancier fitness devices. 

This simple device though is used to increase grip strength by bodybuilders, weight lifters as well as the layman looking for an improvement in performing everyday tasks.

As unbelievable as it sounds, it can also help in increasing the size of your hands along with increasing the strength. 

And if those reasons weren’t motivating enough, there was an article published in the ‘Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care’, just four years ago that states that grip strength might even be an indicator or cardiovascular health as well as mobility issues in the later stages of your life. 

Thankfully, it’s extremely easy to use a hand gripper. Just pick one that’s suited for your current grip strength levels. Squeeze them together until both the handles touch each other, hold for 6-8 seconds and release. Do three sets per day until you can squeeze it easily. Progress to the next level. 

Expand your Hand bands – Builds Bigger Wider Hands

Expand your hand bands are designed specifically for builder bigger and wider hands, they are designed in a way to work your hand muscles the right way.

They are essentially just better designed rubber bands that help stretch the fingers in the opposite direction in order to build the muscles of your hands and to stretch the tissue. I’ve used these before and they do a great job building the back side of your hand.

Hold the palms facing you, slip all five fingers inside the bands, contract (expand in this case) your digits and hold for a few seconds before releasing. Do 3-4 sets for each hand. Trust me it seems a bit crazy but it freaking works. It’s also the cheapest strategy to get bigger hands. 

You can check out the Expand your Hand Bands for dirt cheap on amazon by clicking here.

And Just my opinion, but these bands you can carry around on your wrist anywhere and I personally think they actually look pretty good on my wrist and it allows me to get a hand workout in anytime I want or if I want.

Finger Push-ups

Instead of using the palms on the floor, use your fingers to do pushups. The fingers should be stretched out, like the legs of a tripod and will be used to support your entire bodyweight. So we recommend that you try this only if you have some level of expertise. Practice 1 rep sets of finger pushups until you are ready to do more. 

Knuckle pushups

Another pushup variation that’s guaranteed to give you incredibly sore knuckles with tons of calluses on them. But the constant tension will also lead to an increase in the size of your finger muscles. 

These will force your bones and hands to get not only bigger but tougher.

If you are a beginner or a young man you should stick with regular push-ups though, the average 18-year old can do a limited number of push-ups in a session so if you fall into this category start with regular push-ups.

Other exercises you can do if you can’t do regular push-ups are underhand dumbbell rows, and underhand front raises, once you get a bit of muscle you can start doing dumbbell pullovers and even neutral grip pull-ups.

Squeezing a Tennis Ball

Grab a tennis ball in your palms and squeeze it until the insides touch. Hold for 8-10 seconds and release. Do 3 to 4 sets every day. 

Sandbags & Punching Bags

Most martial art routines emphasize on having tough arms because chances are that they will be the only weapons you have in a self-defense scenario. Punching on sandbags, heavy filled punching bags, or wooden dummies as well as other hard surfaces are a surefire way of developing tougher palms, knuckles and a fist. However, do not attempt this on your own at home. Always do this under the supervision of a trainer. 

The Iron Palm bone and muscle conditioning techniques

The Iron Palm techniques which are one of the original arts taught in Shaolin are a set of exercises that help strengthen the muscles and bones in your hands. Sandbags filled with rice, beans or even metal bearings are used for repeated and progressive punching exercises that put the hands under severe stress. As proven, the severe and repeated stress leads to an increase in bone strength, density and size. The Iron Palms training technique is a very advanced method that must be accompanied by adequate rest, targeted massages as well as healing salves. Else your hands may end up injured and severely disfigured. 

Become a Weekend Warrior – Compete!

There are many ways to have fun while still making sure that you are increasing the size of your hands. One of my favorite activities that have definitely helped me get bigger, rougher hands is competing in weekend competitions like Tough Mudder and Obstacle Course Endurance Events. Events like this force you to dig deep and go beyond your limits forcing you to use your hands for extreme forces that will cause strong muscle growth in your hands as well as your hands to adapt to the rugged training.

Find a hobby or a part-time job that requires you to use your hands to good effect. Wood working, carving, rock climbing, rappelling, rope climbing, carpentry, masonry, steel work, lumber work, machine work, there’s no dearth of hobbies to choose from. 

Anything that subjects your hands to vigorous, repeated loading will help make them stronger and beefier. 

Getting Bigger Thicker Hands is Possible

Getting bigger hands is not an overnight process. It will be a painstakingly slow one that might take months and even years of repeated effort. 

So be patient. Don’t cut corners or progress to more severe exercises too soon. The risk of injury is real and it’s a huge one. If you end up breaking one of the bones, it may lead to permanent lack of mobility.

Related Readings:

• Biceps vs triceps
• 10 Pack Abs
• How Much does the Barbell Weigh?
• 100 Crunches a Day?
• What Muscles are Used in Arm Wrestling?

Ben Mayz

Hi there! I'm Ben, main author and chief editor at Fitlifefanatics.com. I have been obsessed with Strength Training and Fitness for 18 years now.
My passion for living a happy fit lifestyle is what made me realize that fitness is what I wanted for my future.
I went on to earn my Masters in Sports Training & Biomechanics.
My passion for Strength training & fitness and my love of helping others is what made me start Fitlifefanatics.
Here, myself, and a team of specialist aim to provide the most accurate, and actionable information possible in hopes to help foster the fitness community forward.
You can learn more about Fitlifefanatics on our About Page