People Can’t Work Out If Guy Is Running Forwards Or Backwards On Treadmill

TikTok users can't work out if a viral video shows a man running forwards or backwards on a treadmill, saying they feel 'more confused' than they have have been.

The clip was posted by a sports performance facility Ubrzati in Melbourne, Florida, which regularly shares footage of athletes of all ages running really, really, really fast on treadmills.

It was in response to another post, in which someone called Chet was running on the machine, with a TikToker commenting on the video: "Chet moves so fast he looks like he's going backwards."

Presumably, they found they saw a similar optical illusion to when a car's wheels appear to be rolling backwards despite it moving forwards, which always looks a bit trippy.

The facility then re-posted the comment with two clips of Chet running - although this time, he seemed to actually be going backwards.

"What about now?" a caption on the clip said.

TikTok/@Ubrzati

The footage has confused many social media users, having left some unable to work out what's going on.

In fact, it's baffled so many people that it's racked up 7 million views as users try and make sense of what they're seeing.

One commented: "Okay but he's actually running backwards tho right? Or am I crazy?"

Someone else said: "I'm more confused than I've ever been."

A third joked: "What in the Tenet."

But some people think they've cracked it, saying the footage has been reversed to give the illusion that Chet is running backwards.

"You can see a guy walk backwards in the background," one eagle-eyed TikToker pointed out.

Okay, so what about the audio of a man saying 'Gotta work, gotta work, gotta work'? How come we're not hearing that backwards if the clip has been reversed? Well, there seems to be a simply solution to that too.

Someone explained: "Nah the video is in reverse but the audio overlap is still normal. Gottem."

The gym didn't appear to deny the idea, simply replying: "Let's go!"

For context, here's the original clip that prompted the whole debacle:

Sure, Chet's running fast, but it doesn't look quite as much like he's running backwards as the supposedly-reversed clip.

You can also see the original post looks to be the same as the one used in the second, backing up the idea that it had simply been reversed.

Yup, my brain hurts too.

Topics: Viral, SPORT, News, TikTok

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman