Could you step over an 'invisible box'? Internet goes wild for new viral trend where people appear to walk on air (but how do they do it?)

  • Baffling videos have taken social media by storm, people seemingly walking in mid-air by stepping over an invisible box
  • The premise involves stepping onto the 'box' with one foot and leaping over it with the other foot
  • Some have performed it to perfection such as Anderson University football player Dontez Hines and Manvel High School cheerleader Ariel 
  • Others hilariously fail, tripping over their own feet or even falling to the ground
  • The trick works by jumping with one foot while keeping your 'stepping' foot still
  • So the person hops forward on one foot while keeping the other fixed in mid-air

By Mary Kekatos For Dailymail.com

Published: 14:07 EST, 3 December 2017 | Updated: 09:13 EST, 5 December 2017

Baffling videos have taken social media by storm, people seemingly walking in mid-air by stepping over an invisible box.

The premise involves stepping onto an 'invisible box' with one foot and leaping over it with the other foot.

Some have performed the trick to perfection such as Anderson University football player Dontez Hines and Manvel High School cheerleader Ariel.

Others hilariously fail, tripping over their own feet or even falling to the ground.  

However, many Internet users have been left dazed and confused wondering how the trick actually works.  

Baffling videos have taken the world by storm, people seemingly walking in mid-air by stepping over an invisible box. The premise involves stepping onto an 'invisible box' with one foot and leaping over it with the other foot
Some have performed the trick to perfection such as Anderson University football player Dontez Hines and Manvel High School cheerleader Ariel (pictured)

Baffling videos have taken the world by storm, people seemingly walking in mid-air by stepping over an invisible box. The premise involves stepping onto an 'invisible box' with one foot and leaping over it with the other foot. Some have performed the trick to perfection such as Anderson University football player Dontez Hines (left) and Manvel High School cheerleader Ariel (right)

Others hilariously fail, tripping over their own feet or even falling to the ground
However, many Internet users have been left dazed and confused wondering how the trick actually works

Others hilariously fail, tripping over their own feet or even falling to the ground (left and right). However, many Internet users have been left dazed and confused wondering how the trick actually works

The invisible box trick seems to go back a while, with a few posts on Reddit asking how to pull it off. 

In a video posted to YouTube, dancer Marcos Grados, from Guadalajara, Mexico, is seen completing the move during a performance.

In one of the first instances seen of this trick, back in August 2014, the video has been viewed almost 889,000 times.

The basis of the trick is all about jumping with one foot while keeping your 'stepping' foot still.

So the performer has to essentially hop forward on one foot while keeping the other fixed in mid-air.

Last month, Men's Health fitness editor Ebenezer Samuel broke the move down one leg at a time.

The basis of the trick is all about jumping with one foot while keeping your 'stepping' foot still
So the performer has to essentially hop forward on one foot while keeping the other fixed in mid-air

The basis of the trick is all about jumping with one foot while keeping your 'stepping' foot still. So the performer has to essentially hop forward on one foot while keeping the other fixed in mid-air

The invisible box trick seems to go back a while, with a few posts on Reddit asking how to pull it off
In one of the first instances seen of this trick, back in August 2014 by Mexican dancer Marcos Grados (left and right), the video has been viewed almost 889,000 times

The invisible box trick seems to go back a while, with a few posts on Reddit asking how to pull it off. In one of the first instances seen of this trick, back in August 2014 by Mexican dancer Marcos Grados (left and right), the video has been viewed almost 889,000 times

The leg that is stepping on the box uses a great deal of hip flexor, glute and core stability. 

'All [the] hip stabilizers on the right side are firing on overtime to hold that hip in position,' he said.

'You'll notice [the] body rotates toward the leg on the step as well; there's a ton of oblique and ab stability maintaining that position.'

But the moving leg that hops forward faces a greater challenge. 'Very explosive hip flexor, abdominal and glute strength is what is driving the leg up and over the box,' Samuel said.  

This not the first trend to go viral. Other challenges include the planking challenge where participants must lie face down in odd locations, the cinnamon challenge where participants eat a spoonful of ground cinnamon in under 60 seconds without drinking anything or the mannequin challenge where people remained frozen like mannequins while a song plays in the background.

Comments 344

Share what you think

  View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

  View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Add your comment

What's This?

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.