Episode Details

Click to Download Audio

“Who’s stupid idea was this anyway?”

It definitely wasn’t the first time I had asked myself this in the last six months since declaring that my #1 goal for 2018 was transforming From ‘Dad Bod’ to American Ninja Warrior.

I was asking myself this question this particular instance after having just woken up at 5am on a Saturday and driving 350 miles north to Monterey so I could pay good money to run 10 miles in the mountains, carry sandbags and buckets full of gravel up hills, army crawl under barbed wire, climb 2500+ feet of elevation gain, and wade through mud (just to name a few of the over 30 obstacles).

Here’s the catch: Three days before the race I couldn’t bend over to tie my shoes. I had strained my QL muscle (lower back) earlier that week doing kettlebell deadlifts. To add insult to injury, two weeks before that I landed awkwardly while practicing a vault in parkour class and had a deep bone bruise in my left knee...which I later discovered was also a sprained MCL.

Needless to say, I don’t know a lot of other sane people who would wake up at 5am on a Saturday after having worked a 60+ hr week, drive 700 miles in a day, and run a 10 mile Spartan Race on a bum knee who can barely tie their shoes.

But sane is boring.

Striving for a life of comfort ultimately leads to complacency which leads to boredom which leads to unhappiness which leads to self-loathing which leads to hours spent in front of screens every day to escape the drudgery of life.

Living life outside your comfort zone is where real growth and change occurs.

To quote one of my favorite ANW superstar athletes:

“Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

- Flip Rodriguez

Having spent the majority of 2018 up until this point being very uncomfortable on a daily basis, here are six lessons I’ve learned after six months of training for American Ninja Warrior.

LESSON #1. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is today.

At 38 years old I have a lot of excuses for why becoming an American Ninja Warrior is just a stupid idea. Most of the athletes that compete on the show, even those who are my age or older, have an athletic background. Many are former gymnasts, track & field stars, pole vaulters, professional and amateur rock climbers with decades of experience, gym owners and personal trainers, or freerunners and parkour artists.

The last time I did anything truly athletic was in high school when I trained for (and earned) a black belt in martial arts. Once I hit college and then the real world I was 100% career focused. A few years ago once the weight started to pile on I took up obstacle course racing and did a few Spartan Races and Tough Mudders...but as a hobby. I was a “Weekend Warrior,” and my only objective was finishing the course and having some fun along the way. Training intensely for 10+ hours a week for a sport like American Ninja Warrior is a world I haven’t inhabited since my face was covered with acne, my voice cracked, and I was studying for my driver’s test.

There’s no question the best time to become an athlete was twenty years ago. I can’t even imagine how much easier training would be today had I chosen to continue my martial arts study, or take up gymnastics, or become a rock climber in college.

But that’s no excuse.

Rather than thinking “it’s too late,” I instead look at my circumstances from a different perspective.

In December 2017 when I decided my #1 goal for 2018 would be to train for American Ninja Warrior, I closed my eyes and jumped into my mental time machine to travel fo