How To Do the Invisible Box Challenge: Texas Teen Explains the Gravity-Defying Move

Screen Shot 2017-12-07 at 10
Ariel Olivar on 'Good Morning America' explaining how to do the invisible box challenge. ABC

Kids today. They've gone and figured out a way to defy the laws of gravity.

The hot new trend among teens is the "invisible box" challenge—also known as the "invisible step" challenge—where the accepter of the challenge seemingly steps up onto an object that's not actually there.

So, yeah, teens have declared miming to be in again.

Like many internet challenges, it's hard to trace the exact origin of invisble-box trend. (Remember planking and cinnamon-eating, anyone?) Videos of the gravity-defying challenge date back as early as 2014, and earlier this year an Anderson University student posted a video of himself completing the gravity-defying move.

But the stunt really took off this month, thanks to a particularly well executed phantom step from Texas high school cheerleader Ariel Olivar.

challenge accepted pic.twitter.com/QQ1JWbkXx0

— ⍣ ariel ⍣ (@arielo1220) December 2, 2017

Her Twitter video went viral, with more than 145,000 retweets (a number that will surely grow.) And if you think it looks easy, try it for yourself—it's a lot harder than it looks, as this reporter discovered. (You can also find proof of its difficulty in the hundreds of less-impressive invisible box challenge videos posted on Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube.)

me being a failure with the invisible box challenge pic.twitter.com/uRxqFJohg6

— aliya (@aliyaImighty) December 6, 2017

Olivar was featured on ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday to explain exactly how she did it. So here it is, the step-by-actual-step guide to mastering the invisible box challenge.

1. Set the scene.

As Marcel Marceau might say (or act out), the key to any good miming display is setting the scene. A key part of this challenge is to convince your audience there really is an "invisible box" in front of you. Brush it off, wipe it down, give it a pat—anything to establish this idea of the step. Really throw yourself into the part. If you don't believe in your box, how will anyone else?

2. Flex your foot, and hold it.

Place your flexed foot on top of the "box" you just established. Tighten your leg muscles to lock your foot into this position.

3. Jump by lifting your opposite leg higher than your stationary leg.

"You have to have enough force and leg strength" to get your other foot higher than the foot on the box," Olivar told Good Morning America. This is the tricky part. While you're jumping high with your opposite leg, you have to make sure your box leg doesn't move.

4. Celebrate.

It helps if you have a posse of friends off camera to loudly cheer for you after you've completed the challenge. This will help hammer home the message that you're really cool.

Happy miming, teens!

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About the writer


Anna is a Newsweek culture writer based in New York City. Previously she was a Film/TV writer at Elite Daily and an ... Read more

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