Do Not Put Keys Between Your Fingers for Self-Defense.
Even if they did not get to the point of formal self-defense training, many people (especially women) pondered what strategies they would use if they were attacked by a stranger. The popular idea is that you can use an object on your body as a weapon of protection – for example, keys.
The technique known as “Wolverine”, where you place your keys between your fingers ready to hit your attacker, is widely known, but according to self-defense instructors, it is also not the best approach. The belief that holding the keys between your fingers turns your hand into a more lethal weapon is actually such a common misconception that all the self-defense experts we spoke to said that at some point they dispelled the myth for student. But, as Gabrielle Rubin, founder of the Female Awareness Self Defense Course, tells us, even if you start out with less than ideal strategies, “I love the way you think about something.” Here are some more powerful ideas to help you keep yourself safe – and yes, some of them are still associated with your keys:
Put your keys on something for you to reach
The problem with the keys-in-hand gambit, Rubin notes, is that if you’re at the point where you try to punch someone, it’s closer than you want it to be. She suggested attaching the keys to something called a cubaton , which is a kind of keychain based on a small bamboo weapon that you can use to hit your attacker (as well as track your keys). This is both a weapon, if they come close to you, and a handle that you can hold onto, beating them with the weight of the keys themselves.
“I put it on a carabiner,” says Rubin, “so if I held them and rocked them on the carabiner, I could swing them like a nunchaku.”
Another option is to attach the keys to a lanyard or chain for optimal rocking, although this assumes that you are competing with a janitor for your collection of keys.
Keep your keys so you don’t get hurt
Keys between your fingers may resemble a wild animal or your favorite Marvel action hero, but the chances of damaging your own hand are high. Matan Gavish, founder of the Krav Maga Academy , tells us that if you hold the keys this way, chances are you will have more problems than your attacker.
“Firstly, the metal jagged part of the key can easily damage the skin between the fingers with heavy use,” he wrote. “Such a sharp pain can cause the fingers to open, which will immediately reduce the effectiveness of any blow.”
He added that the base of the key hitting the inside of your hand after being hit will also hurt, which means you can drop your keys, leaving them vulnerable to the bad guy picking them up. (And you’d be locked out of the house.) However, Gavish notes that if you have to throw a large bunch of keys in someone’s face to get away, that’s an option.
He also suggests that if you must use your keys for combat, try “clenching it in a fist so that the sharp edge comes out of the bottom or little finger.”
Poke or pound?
When it comes to using keys, think about how you would like to use them. Rubin reduced all available techniques to two factors: “hit the bone, poke into the flesh.” If you hold the keys in your hands, as Gavish suggested above, you are poking around. Work on your eyes, throat, solar plexus, and groin. If you are holding them like a club, you need to hit them in places with a lot of bones. Punching someone in the hand is always much more painful than, for example, the forearm, which is usually protected by fleshy muscles.
JKD NYC’s Chris Moran also shared a few photos of effective punching, and while he didn’t criticize Wolverine as harshly, he still said that this technique limits the person to “punches in punching mechanics”. He suggested two ways to hold your keys, depending on how many you have, and then attack the attacker as if you were “drawing a cross to attack with your hand.”
The general message is that keys can be used as weapons in a confrontation, but some tactics are much more effective than others, and the most widely publicized method can actually be counterproductive to your safety.
Simple idea: “I’ll use my keys!” associated with what Rubin calls the “illusion of security”; many people are afraid to carry more serious means of self-defense with them because they are afraid that they will be turned against them. Plus, most of us would rather just not think about the unpleasant prospect of an attack. But if someone is close enough to poke your keys, you are probably better off pulling their hair, scratching your nails, and touching their eyes. In addition, she points out that the scratches “get their DNA.” No wonder no one wants to think about all this.
This post was originally published in 2017 and has been updated in 2020 to follow the Lifehacker style guidelines.