Get outside! Go on, git!

It's really, really important to take your training outside as much as you can. 

Let's say that the gym is where you develop your muscles, the more you train, the stronger you get... but it's running and climbing and jumping and leaping and hanging and swinging outside that you actually develop your tendons and your connective tissue and your stabilising muscles.

You'll realise this as soon as you try and obstacle course somewhere... you might be able to do a pull up or two, but suddenly on some course, getting from one tire on a chain to another tire on a chain is really, really challenging... it's those stabilising muscles that you're missing.

You might also notice that your legs or arms or whole body gets sore from running and leaping around, and that's exactly what you need to train and develop.  Sometimes on the Ninja Warrior show, you see competitors take massive falls as they've leaped off an obstacle at speed.  The strength and toughness to hit hard and carry on is as much practise as anything else.

AFL is a good example.  Sometimes you see footballers get hit hard or monster tackled to the ground and they just spring back up.  That's because all their stabilising muscles are as strong as their main gym muscles, and their body is used to being hit.  Kickboxers have to practise heaps before hitting the bag doesn't hurt their shins anymore, Karate kids get hit heaps to deaden the nerves and strengthen the connective tissue and fascia.

You'll need to be tough and you'll need to be strong to take on the Ninja Warrior course. You are definitely going to make awkward falls, you're going to have to grip on so tight that your hands would bleed if they weren't so calloused... you're going to have to take the hits and bounce along like nothing happened.  You can not be successful any other way.

So, training in the gym is fine, get as strong as you can... but you also need to train outside, anywhere that you can find so that you can also get as tough as you can. 

American Ninja Warrior Training - First attempt on a salmon ladder

For those that don't know, the Salmon Ladder is an obstacle on American Ninja Warrior that's been around since the start, is incredibly hard, is in every version of the show and forces veterans and rookies alike to get dunked in the water.

I tried it myself for the first time last Sunday, and it is so much harder than I ever imagined!

For those that don't know, basically, you grab hold of a bar, and then with a kind of pull-up jumping motion, you jump the bar (and yourself) to the next rung. My trainer only has 3 rungs, and it's a metal bar on metal rungs, so it's loud.  It echoes throughout the suburb.

Surprisingly, I didn't struggle on the strength requirements, it was the coordination that did me in.  My left side found the rung every time, but my right side often missed... which is weird because I'm definitely stronger on my right side.  I didn't actually make it up all three rungs, and my very first attempt was easily my best....  it's brutal on the hands,

I now have even more appreciation for the athletes that compete on the show, and given how unco my attempt was, I think it's crazy to try and compete without mastering the Salmon Ladder first, strength is important but technique is everything!

Training - Taking a few days off

 

I haven't seen my personal trainer for a few weeks for various reasons, and so eventually when I caught up with him over the phone, he was concerned that I had taken on all his recent exercises plus my usual exercises plus a new rock climbing course... I was kinda complaining that my hands were always tired and sore, and when he mentioned it was way way too much, it totally dawned on me that I was heading thick and fast towards injury.

I always do this, I get so involved with what I'm doing and making progress, that I don't really let my body heal.  And the whole mattress thing hasn't helped. I tend to only take breaks from training when I get sick and I'm forced to take breaks.

I think part of the reason is that I don't see myself even close to being ready for American Ninja Warrior and so I'm pushing pushing pushing to get to a good place.  I need to remember that I've still got 9 months or so before I have to actually prove myself... and so I have time to progress without pushing myself to injury.  It's hard, my enthusiasm is probably my best skill and my most dangerous quality.

I always struggle with the concept of resting, 'cos, that's what everyone else is doing all the time right?

So... with my personal trainer totally alarmed, we decided that I would take 5 days off over the Memorial Weekend (30th of May).  I was going away with some friends down to the coast of Oregon over the long weekend, so it all worked out perfectly.

In the few times I've taken a break from training for reasons of injury, after about the 2nd day I'm raring to go, and my back hurts from lying around and my legs are jumpy just crying out for some jumping.  This time (somewhat alarmingly to me) I've hit day 5 and I still don't feel ready to get back into exercising.   Did I get fat and lazy?  I totally took a break from my diet, so I might just be feeling the effects of Sudden Carbs and Secret Sugar, but yeah, weird.

I hope my body has enjoyed rest time, because mentally, I am ready to punch it again... especially with ANW kicking off tonight.   Yeewwwwwwwwww!

American Ninja Warrior - 4 steps to training

One of the reasons I love Ninja Warrior is that no one type of athlete, body type, age or discipline is perfect for it. The rock climbing guys are usually great at Stage 3, but there is a heap of balance obstacles to trip them up before before then. I have no real background, I did competitive dancing in my early 30s, then played a heap of indoor soccer, and gym it up a lot, but I've overhauled everything to train for Ninja Warrior. Basically, my thinking is that the four areas I'm training are: Parkour, Rock Climbing, Calisthenics and Endurance. I am brand new to all of these things, but it's fun.