Background: Grip strength is one of the important criteria in determining the physical fitness of all people, especially athletes. The purpose of this study was to compare the Hand-grip strength of young highly trained male athletes of different fields and the effect of some anthropometric indices on it.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 78 athletes of four fields -wrestling, badminton, tennis, judo and 20 matched non-athletes (as control group).

A questionnaire was used to record demographic data, also MIE Digital Pinch / Grip Analyser System was applied to evaluate hand grip strength, anthropometric indices( the forearm length and the upper third of the forearm circumference) was measured by cm tape. ANOVA and Tukey tests were used for statistical analysis and comparing the data of the groups. Pearson correlation coefficient was also calculated to determine the correlation between hand grip strength and anthropometric indices.

Findings: There was a significant difference between athletes and non-athletes in hand grip strength (P=(  0001/0 as well as wrestlers , tennis , badminton and judo players; The highest difference was between  wrestlers and badminton players (P=0/0001 with the average difference= 13.65)  and the lowest difference was observed between the control group and badminton players (P = 0/04 with the average difference= 5.10). Also, there were some correlations between the upper third of the forearm circumference and grip strength in the wrestlers, in the badminton players and the judo players (P = 0/03, P = 0/04, P = 0/0001, respectively).

Conclusions: The results of this study indicated significant differences between athletes and   non-athletes as well as significant differences among wrestlers, tennis, badminton and judo players. In addition, there were some correlations between the forearm circumference and hand grip strength of wrestlers, badminton and judo players.

Key Words: Athlete, Power Grip, Forearm Length, Forearm Circumference, Handgrip Dynamometry.