Extreme Pogo Videos Make the Milk Crate Challenge Look Like a Walk in the Park

If you thought the Milk Crate Challenge that was all the rage last year on social media was daring, you haven’t seen extreme pogo yet.

The adrenaline-pumping trend started sometime after September 2004, when the Flybar hit shelves. It was the first high-powered pogo stick, appropriately made by the original pogo stick company SBI Enterprises and designed by MIT dropout Bruce Middleton.

The Flybar was soon rivaled by the Vurtego, an air-powered extreme pogo stick designed by retired firefighter Bruce Spencer. With the ability to fly over six feet in the air, pogo enthusiasm literally reached new heights.

Hence the inaugural Pogopalooza, a four-day extreme pogo competition, in 2009 in Pittsburgh, which drew thrill-seekers from around the globe.

Now, viral extreme pogo stars like 25-year-old Dalton Smith dominate social media, pogo-ing into the air, doing flips, and jumping off decks. And it’s not just for “likes.” Smith has made pogo his career, and is a Guinness World Record holder many times over.

Watch these impressive moves:

“My favorite trick is the slingshot flip,” Smith told Mel Magazine. “It’s tricky. It’s dangerous. It’s drawn blood and chipped bones many times. But it’s glorious. I didn’t come up with that trick, but I was the first — and for many years only — person to land it.”

Of course, like any sport, extreme pogo isn’t without its injuries. Smith once shattered both his kneecaps and broke all his toes and his nose at a world championship, and spent four months in a wheelchair. (Ouch.) But the experience apparently wasn’t traumatic enough to keep him away. That was 12 years ago and he’s still pogo-ing strong.

Inspired to get started? Well, all you need are some balls and a primo pogo stick, which will set you back around $500. We think that’s a small price to pay to defy gravity whenever you want to.

Cover Photo: YouTube