Reverse grip pros: Looks cool. Reverse grip cons: literally everything else.

Dude behind him looks like that character in an anime that doesn't do anything the whole series until the end and it's really badass

Normal grip: wow that warrior looks really stupid Reverse group: wow that dead body looks awesome

Basically. Dagger: Reverse grip acceptable Short Sword: Reverse grip no

My dad used reverse grip all the time and he perfectly nailed it May god rest his soul

Reverse grip is only useful to spin around until you're dizzy while screaming "Blade Fury!" to block incoming magic attacks or when you teleport behind your opponent.

Silent dude in the back _italian accent_ “You can’t do this, no? There’s just no reason.” *silent dude nods, arms crossed*

Me who use reverse grip on both hands in a gun fight. *MY GOALS ARE BEYOND YOUR UNDERSTANDING*

It was nice of Johnny Silverhand to take time out of his day to help this guy with sword stuff.

Dude behind is the type of guy to teleport behind you and say " heh, nothing personal kid"

This man is on a crusade to eradicate reverse sword grip forever.

Everybody : Ok. Cool Levi : Oi oi oi!

What about if you’re a 5’2 middle aged man with dark hair, extremely traumatic childhood, tons of fan girls and use that grip to spin like a fidget spinner to kill titans?

Finally i can defend myself from people attacking me with a claymore sword

"Wake the f*ck up samurai", was one of my thoughts on the dude behind him

Reverse grip is what you use with a knife when you want to ventilate someone’s neck or check the temperature of their heart from behind. Or, if armored, it is what you use to pierce your opponents eyes once you’ve grappled them to the ground. Be smart folks, don’t bring a knife to a sword fight. They are a highly conditional weapon at the best of times.

you forget that reverse grip gives +30 respect which will give you a 24% chance for each opponent to not attack you due to feeling inferior

This is why u usually only see reverse grip used with small knives at close range. It is mostly used in grappling range for stabbing purposes. Which is exactly where u see them in the historical treatises.

Reverse grips only work if you're trying to get yourself killed or in grappling range

The “icepick grip” is an historical technique used in majority with roundel daggers, so yes this grip is effective, it’s just not used with a short sword against a longsword...

After you beat all the mall ninjas these guys are the final bosses

I'll remember this for next time I need to defend against a longsword attack

Dude is helllllla pissed. Can’t blame him he’s got a good point

Yeah after trying to do that in blade and sorcery I 1000% understand what you are saying 🤣. There is literally no benefit in using a sword reverse grip over normal

I think the whole reverse grip thing was designed to present how skilled a character was because they are essentially fighting with a handicap. What about icepick grip with shorter blades?

Meanwhile in another universe Levi: I don’t know why but I felt as if I been insulted by the way i do things.

Tell that to Ahsoka..

Yes, exactly! Saw in a fictional movie or tv show recently where someone was teaching knife fighting and said that “pros hold it in reverse grip” and im like noooooo that’s literally the exact opposite of what pros do😂

Allright, time to give the pinned comment. I've practiced kali and Tae Kwon Do for over 8 years now, and from what I've got to know, the point in a reverse grip with a long weapon (Like the Korean Do or the Phlippine stick) is to hide it on first sight to be able to strike an unsuspicious opponent, wich is why usually when you get one of this weapons for actual sport, they're usually made customized to each person measurements so it can be hidden with the arm or back. After the first attack, both failed or successful, you've blown up the cover, so you can (and should) go back to a regular grip. There's also a certain posture with a regular grip sword in one hand and a reverse grip knife on the other, meant for spacing with the sword and stabbing with the knife. In both styles, using it in mid-battle makes absolutely 0 sense *at all*

Idk why but these dudes giving me either protagonist or dangerous mercenary villain that everybody likes vibes.

Reverse grip is for daggers, when you get to the ground.

Me: reverse grip is kinda cool This guy: *so you have chosen death*

I'm sure this will come in handy someday

Reverse grip works wonders in ping pong. I was able to win a game because my opponent was laughing so much

The purpose of the reverse grip in Chinese swordsmanship with a Jian is to literally signal "I'm not in combat" and "I'm not a threat to you" to others even though you have it out of its scabbard It's basically like carrying a long gun with its muzzle pointed to the ground while not in combat You immediately transfer to an underhand grip as soon as there is a threat or enemy you have to fight

The actual benefit of reverse grips is the increased accuracy and close range maneuverability. This is why reverse grip daggers and knives are a thing, while anything more in line with a main weapon isnt.

I think the main reason to use a reverse grip is that when you hold a knife in reverse grip it makes it almost impossible to the opponent to grab your knife hand from the wrist. Thus making disarming even more difficult. There is a video about an old ww2 veteran who demonstrated that you use reverse grip when killing sentries by anchoring the knife's grip to your chest and you dont push but instead you pull the enemy to you and use the enemy's own weight to thrust the knife in the lungs. I dont know if that is true or not though. Reverse grip also makes it realy difficult for the opponent to drive your own knife into your chest if you fall on your back and and the opponent gets on your waist.

I wouldn’t grip a machete like that but I’d hold a small knife like that

Ah yes, this takes me back. When me and all my friends would gather kitchen knives and meet up at the local park to have some super safe knife fights. Thank God the cops were there to make sure that if anyone got unruly they could promptly call a social worker to come and talk to us

FINALLY! Someone that really knows their way around a blade. I'm going to take this advice and hope I can better defend myself against the samurais on my block.

Yeah reverse grip with swords is impractical (although there are some similar things that you can do with for example a longsword), but with daggers it’s amazing haha!

I don't even care but this man is making some pretty solid points

"Were doing it cuz its cool" "sun tzu"

There's absolutely 💯 a reason to hold your sword in reverse grip. To look cool AF 😎

Imagine holding a sword and shield being in a line with thousands of other men with swords charging at thousands of other men with swords. The old days were brutal.

I always tought that reverse grip was only useful when you wanna stab with a knife, for strength reasons

People who use reverse grip are either people who don't know what they are doing at all or people who know what they are doing. And people who know what they are doing don't take chances.

Another video where I'm gonna waffle for ages because you're both right AND wrong in a short :p Please bear with me, I just like talking swords! If I ever actually get around to making my own videos this is one I have practically scripted already! So the lack of range is not a bug, it's a feature. It's specifically intended for very close quarters work where you're getting within someone's reach and likely switching to unarmed, which is why it shows up in martial arts stuff like tai chi - it's a very different approach from some sword arts which are more focused on keeping the other person the hell away from you. (Possibly a feature of classical training being unarmed for a decade before you pick up a weapon? Unsure). It's also not intended to receive heavy blows, it's intended to *sweep* blows - you catch and deflect with sideways motion, with the blade usually flat along your arm, or very nearly (you're correct the extended version has no mechanical strength). Basically you've 100 percent correctly identified why you shouldn't use the version you see in films and tv, which is why the correct version doesn't *look* like that. And the correct version is *still* relatively niche, not a position you hang out in all day. In the dao/Jian forms I'm familiar with it's actually one of the opening moves, *before you've drawn the sword* - basically someone has got up close to you and tried to strike you, so you want a quick deflection from the carry position (granted each move has lots of applications). It's part of a series of essentially unarmed movements before you actually separate the blade from the sheath. (In the Jian you then switch to a longer measure I believe, the dao still tends to be very close range.) Ironically, of all places that gets it right, there's a moment in Rings of Power where Galadriel does this in that scene where she's 'training' numenoreans. Most of it is not very impressively shot, but the bit where she does that particular move? Probably not perfect but off vague memory was surprisingly pretty close to what we do in the form If you know this and are just talking about the "Hollywood" reverse grip rather than the times it actually can be done, then fair enough - I think what often gets lost in the discussion is "yes it can work, but NOT like that". There are even *some* strikes you can do from it (thrust mainly) , but Jesus Christ no not the ones you normally see being done! Those are just...*so* bad. I have a suspicion it started being done by knife choreographers who didn't know how swords work, and I absolutely hate it. (I believe if you're working with *short* blades the more Hollywood style icepick grip actually works pretty well, hence why it was so popular for rondels and such, but I've never fought with one)

"It looks cool on film" is the only argument made in its defense. Since most movie goers know next to nothing about actual sword fighting it will probably continue to look cool on film for a long time.

I just wanna look cool when I jump at someone with 2 daggers in my hands :(

Brilliant! I found your videos not very long ago and really appreciate the knowledge. Thanks

The whole "reverse grip works good as a defense" comes from larpers, mainly. And in larp, it's true. But even in larp, reverse grip is still only really used by newcomers who haven't gotten the hang of combat yet and elite veterans who are trolling their opponents.

Are we going to ignore the fact that he is wearing sunshades inside...

Salt bae in the back wanted to play with bigger *knives*

Agreed, stabbing overhead is the only thing it's good at

I heard of one possible use for reverse grip. I don't remember what manuscript it's from but it was for greatsword binds. When the blades are locked up over the head. Kinda like in crown guard. you could switch to a reverse grip on your weapon and thrust downward

I will remember this next time I get into a sword fight

Steven Seagals gunna be pisssed

"Millimetrically precise" yes, because tonga were never used to block swords that way

Hey. You guys. You are forgetting about Starkiller! Reverse grip works when you are a space-wizard!!

İ trust this guy in my next swordfight on the street because the guy in the background looks trustworthy.

I've been digging your content guys! Keep it up!

I have a sword fighting trick that always works in battle :) It’s called: “Bring a loaded gun”

There is an application for reverse grip we learned in Krav. For the most part it’s to attack the inside, slash eye of elbow, shoulder by the arm Pitt. It’s like to get in between the places where your armor would normally cover.

But that's how gray fox holds it! 🤣

Him: this is bad Some anime characters: hold my sword. Im about to prove you wrong with this kunai knife

The only use for a reverse grip EVER is as a means of concealment of a smaller blade in a situation where you want to have a weapon actively drawn and most others unaware of it. Those situations are EXTREMELY rare for a majority of people.

basically: unless you have superpowers, don't reverse grip swords unless you're stupid, use reverse grip on daggers jokes aside there are times in history at least Japanese history where katana ARE somehow used in reverse grip but it's for a quick swing towards an opponent who sat in front of you and drop their guard or in an enclosed Hallway, this is also used more commonly with ninjato since it's more for stabbing

What about a reverse grip thrust?

Its only useful in one context I can imagine. To look stupid while your opponent disembowels you

Just because reverse grip works for knives doesn't mean it would work for a sword.

I swear to you, if you ever lose a bet we are gonna make you play Force Unleashed, just so you'll have to look at reverse grip for the next 10 hours of gameplay.

Ahh yes the age old life saver I remember when I was debating how to hold my sword before running into battle.

Back then as a kid i was like how do they swing so far in the movies because if you try you know that its like glued to your arm

It makes about as much sense as sunglasses inside 😂

For me and how I was trained to use it like that was to ensure that my collision points are actually not the blade at all and that the blade is at the ready to be switched to the normal position. I do agree with you, I'm never going to practical use that augmentation to the fighting styles I was taught however if I'm having to use a bladed weapon and have me to not cause lethal damage it would be the most optimal way to use it for how I was trained. There are a couple of additional hand tricks and motions that are utilized especially if the blade is one-sided and you would never hold it that way if it was double-sided. Keep making awesome videos!

Got ninja salt bae in the background:p

Dude in sunglasses is a whole vibe... I like it

what I'm gathering is that the only practical application of reverse grip is a downward stab with a dagger, which isn't too useful in an actual confrontation but it does make eating with a fork marginally easier

every anime swordman: i missed the part where thats my problem

Thanks for being honest and for destroying sand castles 👍☮️✌️

Its simple your sword grip should be orienting your thumb with the side with the most weight aka the blade end. Try holding something without the thumb and swing it around. Thumb gives most of your control and has direct attachment to alot of the muscles in your forearm giving you clear advantage over reverse grip. Theres no reason to reverse grip even stabbing downward.

Reverse grip has one use, and one use only, stabbing with a small blade.

In PTK (a Filipino martial arts) the reverse grip (called Pakal) is used only with knife fighting in extreme close combat in order to make use of the biomechanic for a heavier downward strike and to "hook" the opponent. It's usually only used with a knife with a 4 inch or shorter blade. But other that that very specific case, the standard grip (called SakSak) is usually the go to.

I've always thought about this. A thought that lives in my head rent free lol. Glad someone else agrees

Are they at a Cyberpunk convention?

Reverse grip is typically for a knife because a reverse grip knife is much stronger grip and your opponent will 99% get sliced trying to disarm you, but with swords it can be used to hook. Especially if dual wielding you could reverse grip one and hold the other regular.

I understand what you say. But Ashoka Tano with two lightsaber reverse grip is awesome.

Only cool in anime, but irl those characters would be getting hurt a lot more...

It was never made for defense in the first place. It's a professional grip for those who know how to use knives or any stick like weapons.. reverse grip is awesome for counter kill strikes and offensive defense, for only seasoned warriors. As for swords, it's just not practical at all. This is a good video explaining the simple reasons why.

Only reason do wield a blade like this is a switch : let loose tension and pierce it into the ground (with enemy feed between) and therefore you need a second one to controll your enemy while you let the pressure go , espeacially after a Bluffpush.

Reverse grip for knifes: Perfect Reverse grip for swords: Witchers only

These are the type of guys I want to be teaching me swordplay.

There's actually a school that teaches you how to get a black belt in being an rpg character?! F it, subbed!

In Scotland, Highlanders would use their Dirks (long single edged knives) with a reverse grip in their main hands and grapple with their off hand. Or they'd use a club on their main hand and the reverse gripped Dirk in the off hand

One of the major problems is the weapon not being designed to be held in reverse. Designing a new weapon with the purpose of reverse grip might make a viable option.

I HAVE THE POWER OF GOD AND ANIME ON MY SIDE

You sir are completely right, however I still think you should train reverse grip because in some situations you might not have the time to hold your weapon the way you want to like when you grab it in a hurry for example. Then fend off the attacker as beste as you can to switch to the better way of holding the weapon 😁 but thats justy 2 cents 😇👍🏻

Levi:it doesnt matter as long as i kill the titans right?

Ok but as all dark souls players know: Style points > viability/literally anything else. You probably just haven’t mastered the art of parrying everything