The Band Behind the Up and Down Challenge on TikTok Wants Users to Stop Making Videos

While most TikTok challenges are done in good fun, like the Gibberish Challenge and the Album Cover Challenge, there are some that have the potential to cause injury. With many people stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic, people are spending much of their free time on the addictive video sharing app, and they're trying to increase their exposure through participating in challenges.

The Up and Down Challenge initially began as a test of one's stamina while performing exercises. But, as more people began creating videos, the stakes were raised in order to go viral. 

What is the Up and Down Challenge on TikTok? Find out what it takes to successfully complete the challenge, and to learn why the band behind the song is asking people to stop making the videos. 

The viral challenge originally began when TikTok user @Sioned69 posted a video, which has since been liked more than 269,000 times. In it, she and her and her partner perform an ab challenge to the Vengaboys song "Up & Down." One participant lies on the ground and uses their knees to hold the second person up in the opposite direction. 

The quick repetition of the lyrics "up and down" indicate whether the person on the bottom does a sit-up, or lies back down. 

After repeating the sit-up move several times, the top person then slides down and mimes a crawl. In @Sioned69's video, she ends the routine by doing a somersault to the ground. 

The #UpAndDownChallenge has been viewed more than 331 million times, and celebrities have even gotten in on the fun too. Singer Olly Murs participated in the challenge with his girlfriend, and he posted the results on his Instagram page. 

Because the exercises performed in the Up and Down Challenge go very quickly and place an emphasis on the knees and the wrists, many users have hurt themselves while trying to record the video.

Unfortunately, several of the injury videos have become some of the more popular Up and Down Challenge videos. 

Because the song in the background by Eurodance group Vengaboys is part of every Up and Down Challenge video, it's been streamed millions of times in recent weeks. While this would normally be good news for Vengaboys, especially since it was originally recorded in the '90s, the group wants TikTok users to stop making the videos. 

Two members, Captain Kim and D-Nice, issued statements about being appreciative for the re-surge in attention for their decades-old song. But, they noted, the injuries that can result from participating in the challenge are not worth the risk. 

"We are of course delighted with the huge success, but we still want to ask the TikTok community to stop this challenge," Captain Kim said in a statement for the group. "If you break a finger or sprain your wrist, you still have to go to the hospital where they have more important things on their mind right now." 

"At least TikTok has added a warning to the 'Up and Down' challenge videos," D-Nice continued. "And even though we can see that a lot of people are having fun, we are pleading with them to stop."

Whether users heed the warnings of the Vengaboys members remains to be seen.