there's a self-defense myth that drives me absolutely crazy
what is this myth?
when someone shows a knife to you
you can just very easily slap or hit the knife out of their hand
with your hands, with an object or with something
i see this everywhere: i see this on instagram, i see this on facebook i see this on youtube
i don't know why people keep spreading this myth
it's always that assumption that humans weren't naturally born with grip strength
let me show you something...let me show you the natural grip strength that even a baby has
when pressure is placed on the baby's hand, you can see the grasping reflex at work
lily's grasp is strong enough to support almost her entire body weight
the grasping reflex....
I remember learning about this in high school psychology
since high school I've known a lot of that knife defense bullshido is bullshitto
babies...newborns are born with a bunch of reflexes...
there's the moro reflex, there's the babinski reflex, there's the walking reflex there's
this like parachute reflex and of course there's the grasping reflex
so starting when we're newborns we know how to grasp and hold on
if it's something so innate in us to just grasp and hold on
You think a little hit, you think a little hit's gonna make you let go whether
from someone's hand, someone's fist, someone's palm, someone holding a bag, someone holding something
you think that's gonna make you let go? especially if the person has intention?
so then some of you might say, "Yeah but jerry come on man... in a bar i've knocked people's drinks out of their hands accidentally.
how do you explain that?
think about how you're holding a drink... is a cup meant to be
used like a knife?
you see the difference between the grip?
i've interviewed this viewer saul...
i'm gonna give a big shout out to him because he gave me another cool video
basically the summary to this video is that these two fingers right here have a lot of grip
so let's watch a little bit of this video
if you try performing pull ups with your little fingers sticking up in the air
you're going to find that a lot more difficult
now try doing the same thing with your index finger sticking up in the air
and you'll find it's actually not as difficult
another interesting bit of information is that the strength that the little finger contributes
is disproportionately greater on the dominant hand than it is on the non-dominant hand
i encourage you guys to watch the original video, and what you're going to learn also is that
This digit contributes about 30 to 60 of your grip strength
so now let's go back to the bar example
i bet you i will guarantee you most of you hold your glasses like this or like this
very few of you put your pinky into it...same with a cup like this, right?
very few people will grip with the pinky like this....
you're probably gripping like this, you know, you're chill, right?
let's look at how you hold a knife...are you holding a knife like this?
if someone's holding a knife like this or maybe holding a knife like this
maybe you can knock the knife out of their hands
but i guarantee you the way the knife is shaped, most people are gripping with this
little pinky...your strongest grip is
being applied to a knife
so again: is this going to be very easily knocked out of your hand?
is this going to be really easily knocked out of your hand?
i hope what i showed you through this talk is to examine things
i don't have all the answers and i encourage you guys to challenge me
if you think that you can knock something that's held very tightly out of someone's hand
show me
If you can prove to me that people hold knives like this or you know some other way maybe
they hold knives...you know...no matter...i don't see how i'm not gonna put my pinky into it, you know?
nobody's gonna go like this
show me guys...show me...this was jerry from fight commentary breakdowns
thank you so much i'm gonna give a shout out to rokas, Icymike
matt from reality check self defense, ramsey dewey, micah Kwonkicker and London wing chun mark phillips
okay guys
[Throat singing]
and a final note, if you look at how the baby grasps
the baby actually grasps mostly with these fingers too
the baby basically didn't use the index finger
if you guys have kids, little babies or whatever, it'll be really cool to see how they grasp
Send it my way if you want man... all right, thank you guys