anti-gravity loopkicks by LiL B

March 17, 2012 2:03 PM

Lil B Loopkicks Camp 2011 Sampler | Brandon "Lil B" McCuien (born April 4, 1990) is a Street Tumbler from Little Rock, Arkansas. He started cheering when he was 7 and is now currently a cheerleader in Garland, Texas. In July 2010, he showed that he had taken an interest to freerunning by releasing an outdoor freerunning sampler. | Team Loopkicks is a martial arts demonstration team that promote the art of sport karate and tricking which is a combination of kicks, flips, and twists
posted by nickyskye (21 comments total)

That threw me for a loop for just a second. This "Lil b" is Brandon McCuien, born in 1990, but I was thinking of the other "Lil B", Brandon McCartney born in 1989. BasedGod moonlighting as an incredible gymnast would be quite a story...
posted by shmaw at 2:20 PM on March 17, 2012 [9 favorites]

The floor tumbling in the freerunning sampler video is pretty amazing.
posted by Osrinith at 2:33 PM on March 17, 2012

If only the floor routines in Olympic gymnastics competitions were this cool...
posted by AMSBoethius at 2:33 PM on March 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Aside from all the obvious reasons this is awesome, I think it's really cool to see how enthusiastic all these people are about each others' performances. They all charge in after good tricks to cheer and pat each other on the back.
posted by SharkParty at 2:45 PM on March 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

They need to remake The Last Dragon and put this kid in it.
posted by empath at 3:31 PM on March 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

This guy needs to be an action movie star — he's like an American Tony Jaa.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 3:32 PM on March 17, 2012

Why did I misread that as "Street Tumblr"? Time to get off the internet and go outisde.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:36 PM on March 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Shark party, you said exactly what I was coming in here to say. That was awesome.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 4:14 PM on March 17, 2012

Just wow.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:33 PM on March 17, 2012

I'm most impressed by the part in the freerunning sampler where he gaps the tall rectangular block as part of a sequence of flips in one direction, continues to the edge of the gymnastics floor, ceases momentum with a single tumble, takes less than a second to regain equilibrium, then smoothly flips back over the block in the opposite direction.
posted by The Confessor at 4:49 PM on March 17, 2012

The reversals in direction are astonishing, they fooled my eyes - thanks for posting!
posted by carter at 4:59 PM on March 17, 2012

One thing I love about this is that, unlike some feats of extreme skill, none of it looks unphysical to me— all the motion is just as you'd expect, action, reaction, angular momentum— but watching a human being do it with such skill and grace literally gives me chills.
posted by hattifattener at 5:25 PM on March 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

This guy must have drank some of that juice that the gummi bears in the Gummi Bears cartoon were always drinking.
posted by TheRedArmy at 5:56 PM on March 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Must have drunk? Must have dranken? Ugh.
posted by TheRedArmy at 5:56 PM on March 17, 2012

I'm pretty sure I can't do that. I haven't tried, but I still am pretty sure.
posted by neuromodulator at 6:11 PM on March 17, 2012

I was a competition gymnast, and at my peak performance, championship level training, I could never have done that. That is magic and art and physics all rolled into an amazing human.
posted by dejah420 at 8:16 PM on March 17, 2012

Oh SHIT! If you're reading this thinking "yeah sure" - no, watch that video.
posted by cashman at 8:33 PM on March 17, 2012

If this were gymnastics it would be pretty uneven. They got applause for things that were moderately difficult but executed poorly. I love the way they build up momentum and then use that to hurl themselves up into the air, but I found myself wincing at the potential injuries.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:38 PM on March 17, 2012

all I can think is that I once sprained my ankle walking down a ramp.
posted by aloiv2 at 10:55 PM on March 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

I was just a recreational gymnast but I've been a fan for a long time. I must be old: I'm so grateful to see him learning his tricks indoors on spring floors and tumble tracks (long strips of trampoline) instead of outdoors on fields and streets. He's a joy to watch despite the form issues (his twisting technique made me wince). I laughed out loud when he came up off the tumble track to bounce off the wall in one of the videos. He looks like he's having so much fun.

Thanks, nickyskye.
posted by swerve at 12:13 AM on March 18, 2012

Wow.
posted by flippant at 12:17 AM on March 18, 2012