Heavy-duty zip ties are one of the hardest restraints to get out of - but the easiest for criminals to acquire and administer.

Handcuffs are expensive and hard to come by, but cable ties are cheaply available at every hardware store.

When tied up, the natural instinct is to try and twist and wriggle your wrists out of the plastic strips, but this only causes pain and cuts to your skin, usually worsening the situation.

But today, DailyMail.com is going to give a quick tutorial on a simple but effective way at ensuring you can break from zip ties, should you ever find yourself in such a position.

How-to: Daily Mail Online staffers Mati Milstein and Alexandra Klausner prepare to test out the maneuver

Simple: Raise your arms overhead as high as possible (left), and then throw them down (right)

Much like our recent demonstration on how to break free from duct tape restraints, to get out of being zip tied, start by putting your bound wrists over your head.

Hold them up as high as you can.

Then in a swift movement, swing your arms down towards the ground while spreading your hands apart.

The stress of the maneuver should cause the the tie to tear apart.

Sometimes it takes more than one try to actually escape. However in the Daily Mail Online's test, it was a pretty sure bet on the first go, according to photo editor Mati Millstein, one of our subjects.

'It was surprisingly easy to break zip ties using this method, taking advantage of momentum and the weight of your arms rather than just brute strength,' Mati said afterwards.

Free: Mati shows how the trick forces the zip tie to rip. It causes some pain to the wrists, he said

'Though I, obviously, would prefer not being kidnapped and held captive in real life, I now feel more prepared for just such an event.'

However, it's important to point out that the movement isn't exactly pain-free.

'Inevitably, this technique will leave your wrists scraped and chafed.' Mati said.