A TikToker described how to escape if someone ties your wrists together with a zip tie, and the advice could save your life.
@theiwmf What safety tip do you want to see next? #IWMF #safetytraining #womanjournalist #staysafe #tutorial #survival #learnontiktok #safetytips #psa #escape #ziptie #ziptieescape #safety ♬ Efecto – Bad Bunny
The International Women’s Media Foundation (@theiwmf) is an organization that provides female, non-binary, and gender non-conforming journalists with safety training and other services. While the IWMF’s videos are intended to assist journalists, their safety suggestions may be valuable to anyone who finds themselves in a dangerous circumstance.
One of IWMF’s TikTok correspondents recently demonstrated how to escape if your wrists are tied together with zip ties in a video that was both fascinating and potentially life-saving. The video starts with a shot of a female protester laying on the ground, her wrists bound together with a zip tie. She rapidly works her way out of the zip tie, snapping it in half.
She then sits up and asks, “Have you ever wondered how to get out of a zip tie? Let me show you!” The demonstrator starts by allowing another woman to tie her wrists together with a zip tie. At this point, she explains that, if possible, it’s ideal to try to keep your hands as far apart as possible.
“It helps if you lay your hands out in a triangle,” she explains. “Even if the assailant orders you to put your hands close together, what you can do is make fists, put your wrists together and try to create space.” The next step, according to the demonstrator, is to remove one of your shoelaces and work it through the zip tie.
“It’s OK if you need to use your mouth for this part,” the demonstrator says. The demonstrator then ties the shoelace ends around each of her shoes. She lies on her back, the shoelace held taught between her feet and wrists and uses her core power to “bicycle” her feet back and forth.
“The friction that you’re creating is going to snap the zip tie,” the demonstrator says, as she breaks the zip tie in half. The video concludes with the demonstrator triumphantly holding up the zip tie.
As per Intheknow, viewers applauded the life-saving advice! “This is knowledge I hope I never need, but glad I now have,” one viewer wrote.
“We love an ab workout mixed with a captive escape technique,” another viewer joked. Hopefully, most people will never need to know how to break free from a zip tie. But it’s good to hope for the best while still preparing for the worst.