{"id":55749,"date":"2019-04-30T17:50:21","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T22:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=55749"},"modified":"2026-01-08T14:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T20:12:20","slug":"the-complete-guide-to-giving-a-great-handshake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/relationships\/social-skills\/the-complete-guide-to-giving-a-great-handshake\/","title":{"rendered":"The Complete Guide to Giving a Great Handshake"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2016\/04\/shake.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-56073 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/shake.png\" alt=\"Two men smiling while shaking hands.\" width=\"361\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/shake.png 361w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/shake-320x399.png 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 361px) 100vw, 361px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Whether you&#8217;re first meeting someone or greeting them for the hundredth time, a good handshake is important. A strong shake conveys confidence, strength, warmth, honesty, and a host of other good character traits. The fact that well-executed handshakes create a positive first impression isn&#8217;t just anecdotally true, either, but has even been born out by several research <a href=\"https:\/\/www.everydaypsychology.com\/2006\/11\/does-handshake-matter.html#.VyUzNGQrJhB\">studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So if you want to learn how to impress compadres and strangers alike,&nbsp;we offer this complete multi-media guide to giving a great handshake.<\/p>\n<h3>How to&nbsp;Give a Great Handshake:&nbsp;An AoM Instructional Film<\/h3>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U-vrx28sKcY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The&nbsp;Full-Text Instructions<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Giving&nbsp;a successful and confident handshake boil down to these 3 keys:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>How you do it<\/li>\n<li>When you do it<\/li>\n<li>Where you do it<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>1. How<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure your handshake is firm&nbsp;and&nbsp;not a dead fish grip. However, you don\u2019t want to crush the other person\u2019s hand with a death grip.<\/li>\n<li>Go for the &#8220;web touch.&#8221; You want the webbing between your thumb and index finger&nbsp;to meet the same spot on&nbsp;the other person&#8217;s hand.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure you don\u2019t have food or grease on your hands. You want the person to remember<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><em>you<\/em>, not what you ate.<\/li>\n<li>If your hands are sweaty, give them a quick nonchalant wipe on your pants.<\/li>\n<li>When you offer your hand, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/people\/social-skills\/look-em-in-the-eye-part-ii-how-to-make-eye-contact-the-right-way-in-life-business-and-love\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">look the person in the eye<\/a> and smile.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2. When<\/h3>\n<p>A good handshake requires good timing. At a party or social event, make sure to&nbsp;shake the host&#8217;s hand&nbsp;when&nbsp;arriving&nbsp;and&nbsp;leaving. Shake hands with&nbsp;anyone you&#8217;re meeting for the first time, as well friends, family, and acquaintances with whom&nbsp;you don&#8217;t feel close enough for hugging to seem appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>Many people avoid offering handshakes because they\u2019re afraid of being left hanging. If you\u2019re not sure if someone will notice your offer, extend your hand&nbsp;anyways. Most of the time people will notice your handshake offer and quickly grasp your hand.<\/p>\n<p>So what if you <em>are<\/em> left hanging?<\/p>\n<p>I hate when this happens, especially when everyone but the person with whom you were trying to shake hands saw the rejection. Don\u2019t feel embarrassed. The problem isn\u2019t that the other person doesn\u2019t think you\u2019re important, but simply that you\u2019re timing was off. Remember the following tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t offer a handshake if the other person is engrossed in conversation with someone else.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t approach someone from the side with your extended hand. It\u2019s hard to see.<\/li>\n<li>Audibly greet the person to get their attention and&nbsp;<em>then<\/em>&nbsp;offer your hand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also be aware of varying social norms. Most cultures have different customs for when and if to shake hands.&nbsp;In our culture, for example, you typically want to wait to see if a woman offers her hand first, instead of initiating the shake yourself.&nbsp;In other cultures, shaking hands with a woman is never appropriate. Be aware of these and other cultural differences, especially when you travel.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Where<\/h3>\n<p>Handshakes are good everywhere! Make sure to shake plenty of hands when you go to any social gathering, religious function (again, being sensitive to varying customs), family reunion, wedding, etc. Be liberal with your handshakes, and you&#8217;ll perfect the art in no time.<\/p>\n<h3>Your 60-Second Illustrated Crib Sheet<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19583 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2011\/08\/Handshake-3.jpg\" alt=\"Two men showing how to shake hands like a man.\" width=\"600\" height=\"754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Handshake-3.jpg 600w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Handshake-3-320x402.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you&#8217;re first meeting someone or greeting them for the hundredth time, a good handshake is important. A strong shake conveys confidence, strength, warmth, honesty, and a host of other good character traits. The fact that well-executed handshakes create a positive first impression isn&#8217;t just anecdotally true, either, but has even been born out by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":56073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,42285,42293],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-55749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-relationships","category-social-skills"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/shake-361x280.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/shake-320x399.png","rpwe-thumbnail":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2016\/04\/shake-45x45.png"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55749"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56017,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55749\/revisions\/56017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55749"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=55749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}