TikTok is always bursting with all sorts of viral tests claiming to challenge your balance, fitness, strength, and mobility. If you’re looking for ways to get moving, strengthen your body for summer outdoor sports, and maybe challenge your friends, here are three to try out from @Dr.Dan_DPT, a physical therapist who often posts challenges and PT exercises on TikTok.
The Strength and Mobility Test
“A lot of people have mobility or strength,” Dr. Dan says in this video. “This is a test to see if you’re one of the few people who have both.” To do this challenge, bend one knee and hold your foot with your hand. Then raise your opposite arm, and bend over to tap the floor with that hand. Then, stand up straight again, and bend your standing leg until you can tap your opposite knee on the ground. Finish in an upright position.
This challenge tests mobility in your hips, knees, and shoulders, while testing the strength in your lower back muscles, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and core, according to a Bustle article examining the trend with personal trainer Mary Sabat, MS, RDN.
The ‘Iron Knee’ Test
How are your knees doing? Test how “well-oiled” they are by trying this exercise from Dr. Dan that requires doing a squat and then rising up onto your tiptoes to get your knees parallel to the ground. You’ll have to rise up to a standing position and go back down into a deep squat onto your tiptoes, then rock back so your heels hit the floor again before you stand up straight. If you can do this without falling over, well done. If not, you can work on strengthening the leg muscles around your knees with this set of exercises from physiotherapist Sammy Margo.
The Get Ready Challenge
Want to create some new House Olympics? If you live with a partner or roommates, try Dr. Dan’s “Get Ready Challenge” to see who can get dressed faster—without losing their balance. To do this, stand on one foot and pull on one leg of your pants, then put on your sock and then your shoe without letting that foot hit the floor. Then, switch legs, without letting both feet hit the floor at the same time.
Looking for more ways to get active—and maybe get off your phone, too? Analog walking might just be for you…
