IF you're struggling to get that final rep in at the gym, looking at your finger length could be the key to your strength.

Researchers found that women who have an index finger, which is shorter than their ring finger could actually have more strength.

The Austrian study looked specifically at handgrip strength and people's 2D:4D ratios.

This ratio is used to determine the difference in length between the index and ring finger.

Experts then looked at how this is related to muscle strength.

Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences, the experts found that women with a lower 2D:4D ratio had higher strength grip than those with a higher ratio.

The ratio has already been linked to male strength and the new study claims the same could apply for women.

It's a biomarker of the level of testosterone a person was exposed to in the womb.

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Your ratio is calculated by dividing the ring finger length by index finger length and ratios at the lower end mean higher exposure to testosterone.

A lower rate means higher testosterone, suggesting a person will be more masculine.

In order to get their results, the experts measured the ratios of 125 women between the ages of 19 and 31 years of age and women who had injuries were excluded.

Handgrip was then measured with a dynamometer, which is most commonly used for medical screening and analysing a patient's grip.

A lack of hand grip strength plagues many people who frequent the gym.

This is why you often see gym-goers using chalk, gloves or weight grips to assist them in their work out regime.

Reduced handgrip strength has previously been associated with chronic conditions.

It's believed to increase the severity of illnesses such as obstructive pulmonary disease and conditions such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes, insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

They concluded that a longer index finger meant it was likely you had more muscular fitness.

It's easy to measure your ratio and to do this, all you need to do is straighten your fingers and look at the palm of your hand.

Then you'll have creases under each finger, you need to select the crease closest to the palm of your hand and then choose a point on the crease midway across the base of the finger.

Mark with a pen and measure from your dot to the tip of the finger.

MEASURE UP

Dr Karan Rajan previously revealed how you can guess the size of a man's penis by just looking at his hands.

He referred to a study which claims that you can measure the size of a man's penis by how short his index finger is.

He explained: "According to a urological study in the Asian Journal of Andrology a shorter index finger compared to ring finger correlates to a bigger snozwaggler.

"This is known as the second to fourth digit ratio, calculated by dividing the length of the index finger by the length of the ring finger.

"The smaller the index finger, the lower the 2D 4D ratio.

"A smaller digit ratio points to high exposure to testosterone in the uterus. According to the study testosterone doesn't just control future penis length but also future finger length."

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