Ever since Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal introduced the viral ‘impossible’ handstand challenge to Instagram, professional gymnasts have basically been running away with it.
First came Olympic gold medalist and gymnastics legend Simone Biles, who leveled up by showing off her ability to remove her sweatpants using only her feet—all while maintaining a perfect free handstand. Fellow gymnast Katelyn Ohashi—known for her 2019 perfect 10 floor routine—quickly followed suit.
So it may come as no surprise that things haven’t stopped there. This week, yet another core-crushing challenge appears to be emerging on social media: The TikTok Clock. The origin appears to be the account of 26-year-old Brazilian gymnast Arthur Mariano, who won a bronze medal in floor exercise at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and is the 2019 World Champion in the horizontal bar.
All of which is to say that Mariano has no ordinary abs, as he demonstrated in a recent TikTok video—posted to Instagram—in which he begins in a handstand pose and turns his feet into the arms of a virtual clock, creating a wide circle as he moves them in tune with a remixed version of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” (As with most things on TikTok, it’s better if you just watch it.)
Nory tagged yet another gymnast—Vinicius Reis—who quickly accepted:
And since then, it’s caught on with yet more gymnasts, with two-time Olympic medalist Laurie Hernandez being the latest to pull off the stunt.
If your abs aren’t exactly Olympic-level yet, however, allow us to suggest a more modest goal: These four fitness progressions will get you on your way to doing a perfect handstand.
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