Stuck lid? Exhale to prevail.

Transcript

0:00 · You know, when you can't open a jar, there is actually a scientifically legitimate trick that you can use here that means you'll never have to struggle again. All you got to do is just the moment you're ready to give it some well, is just forcibly breathe out.

0:17 · The reason why this works is that your arm is this floppy little noodle. It's ling around all over the place and it's attached to your torso, which is also extremely floppy. Has to put a lot of effort into stabilizing itself, your arm. And you want all of that energy to go into opening the jar. So, one thing that you can do, you can take a deep breath in and hold your breath, filling your lungs with air and increasing the pressure in your internal cavity.

0:42 · Basically, turning your torso into this really stiff cylinder, a stable base of support for your arm to twist from. This is what weightlifterss do, of course, and it's actually also what people instinctively do when they're trying to perform anything that's strenuous. But you can go further than this because specifically when you're opening a jar, you are creating this twisting motion which has to be countered by your shoulder and your spine. And the muscles that you need to counter that twist are your internal obliques and your transverse abdominis. And you know what muscles get engaged when you happen to do a big forced exhale?

1:18 · It's exactly the same ones. It's your internal obliques and your transverse abdominis. So what you are doing when you are making this forced exhale of [snorts] is you are priming your body.

1:28 · You are locking your base of support.

1:30 · You're allowing all of your energy to go into that jar like magic.

1:37 · Oh, [clears throat] that was me acting, by the way. I don't know if you know that. That was that was some acting going on there.

1:46 · [clears throat] [laughter] [gasps]