There are times when you might encounter a certain person with a rather insistent handshake. Perhaps not Donald Trump himself, but there’s definitely people out there who are particularly forceful when it comes to greetings.
There is, of course, always the option of falling over awkwardly, or the French response of standing your ground and gritting your teeth, as demonstrated by President Emmanuel Macron. For those of us who prefer a more direct response, the boys from the Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy have made a video to show you how to defend against such vigorous hand-shaking, especially the types that attempt to pull you in (sound like anybody we know?)
Of course, neither we, nor the Relson Gracie practitioners are suggesting that you use their response against President Trump. Still, it’s a useful technique, and we should always be looking for new things to put into the toolbox.
To quote the boys directly: “As he grabs really hard and pulls you in, I go with it. I step in with the outside foot, I wrap around the elbow. As I do that, I’m going to block his arm from here, I bend the wrist in, the other hand wraps over the top of the knuckles and boom — now you have what we call a goose neck.”
This is, you understand, not precisely easy on the wrist. It will prove quite an effective deterrent, of course, and may lead to further vigorous discussion.
What do you think of the practitioners’ technique? Do you have any suggestions of your own for dealing with the arm drag handshake?
