Bizarre ‘Tiny Arms Challenge’ goes viral on TikTok

Georgina Smith
Ethan Klein and celtmeister participate in the TikTok Tiny Arms Challenge

TikTok users are obsessed with a funny new trend, the Tiny Arms Challenge, that sees people position their phones in a specific way on the floor to make their body look bizarrely out of proportion.

With TikTok booming in popularity over the last year in particular, and stars like Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae building a following of millions thanks to the platform, many are turning to the Bytedance-owned app for their daily dose of entertainment.

The app has also become widely recognized for its host of trends, which pop up very frequently and spread to For You Pages across the world. These videos often range from hilarious to straight-up weird.

TikTok app logo on a phone
New trends go viral on TikTok every week.

The ‘Bugs Bunny’ trend was one challenge that had people across TikTok miming to a Russian song called ‘Gucci,’ lying on the floor on their front and tucking their feet behind their head to give the illusion of having bunny ears.

While that trend proved to be an opportunity for TikTok users to show off their best look, the Tiny Arms Challenge has got people intentionally trying to make themselves look as strange as possible.

Participants will put their phone on the floor facing up, and position themselves so they are standing leaning slightly over the top of their phone. Usually to the tune of Daft Punk’s song ‘Around the World,’ people raise their arms in the air so they appear to be much smaller than they actually are, dancing along to the song.

While it’s hard to pinpoint where exactly trends start on TikTok, many cite user joegrizz1y as being one of the first to try out the strange camera angle, with others finding out about the trend via lisagiordanoo’s popular video.

Countless people are participating in the Tiny Arms Challenge, including H3H3’s Ethan Klein, as the pose matched with the upbeat tune makes the perfect combination for a viral TikTok.

If you decided to give the trend a go you might find that it’s hard to get the exact pose right the first time. But by experimenting with the position of your phone and how far in you zoom, you should eventually be able to mimic the tiny arms effect.

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About The Author

Georgina was formerly an entertainment writer for Dexerto. She covered all aspects of influencer culture on TikTok and more, including creators such as Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae. She also wrote about hit reality shows such as Love Island and Below Deck.