Podcasts about warped wall

Our special guest today is Kaden Lebsack "Last Ninja Standing" - American Ninja Warrior SN13 - WINNER! Kaden Lebsack (Super K WakeNinja) was born in Castle Rock, Colorado. Wakeboarding was his first passion starting at the age of 2. At the age of 10, he was the youngest member of the Mile High Wakeboarding Team. In the summer of 2016, is when Kaden discovered Ninja! Since then it's been nonstop training and competing. He has been across the US competing and is currently the back-to-back UNAA World Champ. Which stands for Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association At the heart of “American Ninja Warrior” is the Great American Obstacle Course, and its obstacles, like those of American life, are meant to teach us lessons. Plan your route through the rope jungle carefully. Never be afraid of the mini-trampoline, because it will sense your fear and punish you for it. Momentum is crucial on the spin cycle. Hesitate and you're done. Watch your forerunners carefully. One ninja's mistake is another ninja's education. American Ninjas are plumbers and dentists and stove cleaners and computer programmers and farmers who leap hay bale to hay bale, defying gravity and frightening the livestock. The show proudly boasts contestants from all fifty states. Ninjas are pro athletes and ex-Olympians and underdogs. Every season—we just wrapped the 13th season—follows the same arc. Each contestant must pass through the six obstacles of a city qualifier course—always culminating in a straight run up the infamous fourteen-foot Warped Wall to hit a buzzer on top—and then a Finals course in the same city, with four new obstacles beyond the Warped Wall, in order to qualify for Mount Midoriyama: a four-stage mega-course in Las Vegas that concludes with a seventy-five-foot vertical rope climb. The obstacles are a brutal parade of inanimate objects: Dancing Stones, Spinning Log, Floating Boards, Jumping Spider, Rumbling Dice, Monkey Peg, Cargo Crossing, Salmon Ladder, Double Salmon Ladder. On courses temporarily constructed, like pop-up playgrounds, in a series of curated urban locales—along the Venice beachfront, around Indianapolis's Monument Circle—contestants support and propel their bodies in feats of unthinkable exertion. They swing on ropes, grip onto pegs suspended high above safety pools, brace their bodies between parallel walls, hold onto rolling logs, hold onto spinning wheels, run across tilting tables and wobbling perches. To make it onto the show, they have to submit audition tapes— The show also brings back popular contestants year after year, a kind of American Ninja aristocracy. The hosts of the show are Matt Iseman, a “bro host” comedian, and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, a former N.F.L. defender and unrepentant pun addict. “American Ninja Warrior” is based on a Japanese obstacle-course show called “Sasuke,” named after the mythic ninja Sarutobi Sasuke. And yet I find that the moments when the show seems to illuminate something crucially American don't live in its stories of by-your-own-bootstraps or anyone-can-do-it success but, rather, in the rupturing of these myths. The ninjas were competing not against the course and not even, ultimately, against one another. They were competing to make history. From an Article by Leslie Jamison - The New Yorker Kaden Lebsack - ANW 13 Last Ninja Standing & Season 13 WINNER! He's also the CEO of Bucket of Chalk On IG: @kadenwake Bucket of Chalk on IG: @bucketofchalk https://www.bucketofchalk.com

It is a pleasure to welcome American Ninja Warrior rising star and physical education teacher Sandy Zimmerman to The Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast. Sandy Zimmerman made her American Ninja Warrior debut during Season Eight. While she competed in Season Nine, injuries sidelined her during the show’s tenth anniversary season, but her husband, Charlie, ran in her honor. Sandy returned more robust than ever during Season 11. She became the first mom in show history to successfully get up the Warped Wall and hit the buzzer during the Tacoma/Seattle City Qualifiers. Thanks to her appearances on American Ninja Warrior, Sandy Zimmerman caught the attention of various media platforms. She made an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show and was profiled on CNN Entertainment, E! News, The Huffington Post, and Women’s Health. Sandy also appeared on various podcasts, including Ninja Babes, Ordinary Champions with Austin Andrews, and The Socks & Soul Podcast with Kelly Ditto. Outside of American Ninja Warrior, Sandy Zimmerman has taught physical education for over 20 years. She also established the Ninja Fortress community in her backyard, where students of all ages can train for 40 different obstacles. In this edition of The Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Sandy Zimmerman discussed competing on American Ninja Warrior’s game-changing Season 12, which included getting onto the Warped Wall for the second season in the row. She also spoke about the expanding Ninja Fortress community.

American Ninja Warrior is a TV series where top athletes tackle America's most challenging obstacle courses.  On this episode, American Ninja Warrior Colleen McCormack talks with Hanna and Cari about her experience getting accepted onto the show, her training, and her relationship with the other competitors.  Colleen says that American Ninja Warrior is also a metaphor for life.Support the show (https://mybookcart.com/blog/apply/)

In this episode, Kevin and Steph have a fun conversation with 8-time American Ninja Warrior, Michelle Warnky. In season 6, she became only the 2nd woman in American Ninja Warrior history to climb up the Warped Wall and hit the buzzer. She also recently competed on the All-Stars Competition episodes with Team Matt.  Michelle’s Gym...

Today I am chatting with Maggi Thorne. Maggi is an American Ninja Warrior 5X competitor who was the 2nd Mom up the warped wall and first to beat the salmon ladder, NBC Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge 2X championship competitor, and a previous Mrs. International 2014. In 2013 she placed 2nd at The World’s Toughest Mudder running 75 miles and completing 330 obstacles in 24 hours. Maggi served as a Global Ambassador for feedONE traveling the world in an effort to further feedONE's mission of helping others with the gift of a nutritious meal. Recently she created a BOW patch with the Girl Scouts to inspire female entrepreneurship, empowerment and community engagement, which thousands of scouts have earned since 2019.   This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.    TRANSCRIPTION *Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors   [00:00:00] In this episode, I speak with elite athlete and motivational speaker Maggi Thorne. Key points addressed were Maggi's history as a track and field college athlete and the subsequent career that followed it at the University of Nebraska. Maggi explains how both of these opportunities led up to her becoming one of the most famous American ninja warriors to date. We also unpack the ethos behind Maggi's brand and how her phrase never give up serves not only as a guiding light for her present and future endeavors, but also remains a constant theme throughout her past, which was riddled with obstacles itself. Stay tuned for my fascinating talk with Maggi Thorne.   [00:00:42] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen. And this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status for industry. We aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen .COM. You can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.   [00:01:39] Hi, everyone. Welcome back. I am your host, Patricia. And today I'm elated to be sitting down with Maggi Thorne. Maggi is an athlete and motivational speaker. You can find out more regarding her, her services and all the information we talk about today on her website. W w w dot. Maggi Thorne dot com. That's w w w . m a g g i t h o r n e . com. Welcome, Maggi.   [00:02:05] Hello. Thank you so much.   [00:02:07] Hi. I'm excited to unpack everything through. We're talking off the record and I have your famous in my household. I have four children that worship American Ninja Warrior as well as all of the other games that you've been involved in with your story. And so I can't wait to kind of unpack that. You're there, our first ninja warrior on the show. So I'm excited to kind of climb through everything with you.   [00:02:25] Oh, I love that you just climb through everything, because we are certainly going to unpack some obstacles today. So thank you for the opportunity.   [00:02:31] You bet. For everyone listening who might be new to our podcast, I will read a bio on Maggi to give you a brief background before I start asking her to unpack her history with us herself. But prior to doing that, a roadmap for today's podcast and the trajectory of inquiry that we'll be following. We'll first look at Maggi's academic and professional background as it pertains to where she is right now. And then we'll look at unpacking all of her endeavors. We'll look at. I'm packing her athletic endeavors with American Ninja Warrior, Spartan race, things of that nature, as well as her professional life and getting into motivational speaking, some of the ethos and philosophy that motivates both of those things that she's kind of known for. And then we'll look towards goals that Maggi has for the next one to three years. This is an area that's changed for everyone. Given the pandemic climate that is upon us, as well as for Maggi herself, given her history with them competing and all of her activities, we're up everything up with advice that Maggi has for those of you who are looking to get involved or emulate some of her dynamic success. So, as promised, a quick bio on Maggi before I start peppering her with questions. Maggi Thornee is an American ninja warrior, five time competitor. She was the second mom of the Warped Wall and the first to be to beat the Salman letter, MBC Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge, two time champion competitor and a previous misses International 2014. In 2013, she placed second at the world's toughest mud rent motor running seventy five mile, completing three hundred and thirty obstacles in twenty four hours. Maggi served as a global ambassador for Feed One, Traveling the world in an effort to further feed one's mission of helping others with the gift of a nutritious meal. Recently, she created a BO patch with the Girl Scouts to inspire female entrepreneurship, empowerment and community engagement, which thousands of scouts have earned since 2019. Maggi is a previous Governors Award winner for inspiring community engagement and her American Association Heart of Gold Award recipient. Professionally, she speaks to hundreds of thousands on inspiration and never giving up. In addition to engaging volunteers globally, a mother of three, she and her kids love serving, being active, traveling together and in her spare time, she loves to eat chips and salsa. So I have to say, as possibly one of the most fantastic things to just kind of put out there about yourself. Thank you. I love for your career and everything that you've done and a lot of the particulars that I have to inquire with you about. I'm wondering if you can kind of give us a general background of your academic and professional history prior to becoming the American ninja warrior that kind of propelled you into this.   [00:05:12] One of the biggest misnomers about myself and any success is people say, oh, man, anything you do, you're successful at and you have the golden touch. But they don't really realize is where I started at. And to jump back to the good old days of the 1980s that we all love to be nostalgic. I was born in San Diego and grew up in a low income home. We lived with another family and I actually never played sports growing up at all. I wasn't an evolved child. I did Girl Scouts. I was a Girl Scout and loved that time as a Girl Scout. But it wasn't until a teacher in high school at the age of 14 who thought I looked fast in PE and gave me an opportunity to become a California state champion. I became one of the top runners in California. Or that ties in for me academically is both of my brothers were high school dropouts, the highest grade completed, and my family was high school. So college wasn't something immediately on the radar for me as a kid. And I thought I was going to enlist in the military and become some kind of Air Force person who would serve our country. And it turns out I got to be a professional athlete later in my life who ended up having a college degree. And that was the first person in my family who ever had a college degree, which was just of all the accomplishments, if I look back. A school was a huge challenge for me. I really struggled with it. I didn't have a lot of academic support, support and really looking at the academic history of my family around me. It was a little hard to be motivated when you think, well, both my brothers dropped out. There wasn't a huge push for me to go further academically. So it started to be a series of choices that I really had to realize. I'm going to write my own story that I'm going to have to choose where I end up. There's nothing else around me that is going to determine my path but me, I decide. And so that played a huge role into a lot of decisions I made going forward.   [00:07:12] Yeah. I mean, being a trailblazer that early on was something is, I think, college. You know, for those that don't come from a family of it is daunting, you know, that the prospect of anything at that level without having someone to kind of refer you as to, you know, the process, even silly things, financial aid forms, you know, those used in the day. Things have gone electronically. But it was that kind of thing. When you don't have anyone who's done it before, it can seem almost intermountain insurmountable. What did you end up majoring in?   [00:07:45] Well, I wanted to be a PE teacher, and two weeks after I got to the University of Nebraska, they unfortunately dropped that major. And the only other thing I could do was get a bachelors degree in community health without entirely starting over my academic career. I had a huge support system at Nebraska that was actually one of the top reasons that I chose Nebraska. It wasn't just that I got a full ride or they had a great check her room, which they absolutely did. But I had to take a step back and look at the academic support that they had. And it was off the charts. They have more academic all Americans than any school in the country. And that's even over Ivy League schools. And, you know, you're surrounded by cornfields and counselors. So they really help set the table for that. And then being able to decide that degree.   [00:08:29] What was that experience like as a college athlete? I haven't spoken to too many, particularly guests on this show that speak to the experience. We've heard stories in the news where things, you know, on Olympic teams and things like that can be horrific. And I've also heard stories of camaraderie. But for you, what was that experience like?   [00:08:47] Number one, I love my experience in Nebraska from the moment I stepped on campus for my recruiting trip. It was so welcoming. I do remember I'm a pretty sharp, quick, funny story. They got me a sandwich after I got off the airplane. And unfortunately, there had been a hair in my sandwich. And I think they thought I was never going to sign as a recruit. After that, they were mortified. When this big, long hair came out of their mouth.   [00:09:11] But from day one, they're like, we're so sorry. We'll make you right.   [00:09:14] And I remember walking around, everybody said, how are you? But then they stopped. They keep moving past you to mention it. They were really invested in your life. They knew. How's your family doing? Whereas when I was a student athlete, my brother had died by suicide. And the support I got from people, everyone writing personal notes, you know, not just a group card, but. Other people were on academic staff pulling me and my coaches. Do you need any support? Are you OK? So I really had an amazing experience there. There were things that were hard. Absolutely. There's things that we did as an athlete that we got push. But I think that it's shaped part of who I am. I had a coach that was from Russia. And at the time, I got so hard on me because there are other athletes. If it was snowing or raining, you know, we're in Nebraska. And I would see them not having to practice inside or outdoors. When we were or, you know, they would get some back out of the meat if it was snowing. But one day, because I was complaining I was being such a big baby. He goes, Maggi Easterday was big truck championship was run. Yes, Vector's absolutely. I'd run. If today was a national championship. Would you run? Yes, that was. He goes then today you run and every day you run like a champion regardless. I was like, OK, I think I just like five accents. He's Russian and he was fantastic. But I remember that because I think one of the reasons I've become successful is it wasn't deciding to be my best when it was always convenient or it was the most opportune time. It was learning to be my best when I was at my worst consistently, and that some people might have to wrap their head around that for a little bit. But my time at Nebraska shaped me for ever. It launched me into careers and what I did next, which will probably talk about in a second. But I love Venus student athlete, the discipline. That was a part of it. I was in the weight room by five thirty in the morning that I was in class and I took a power nap for 30 minutes every day and then I was practicing again. So I spent six to seven hours or whatever. Was NCW allowed? I don't want to. I'm sure we stuck to that. But I spent you know, I was a part time, full time job, if you really want to say it, being a student athlete and then working and then doing your academics. And then I also served on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. So there was there was a lot involved that it taught me how to have practical life skills that really applied to the real world.   [00:11:45] Yeah. And for the real world, you encountered, particularly right in your future to come, this one can be taken on a lot of levels. I think there are a lot of people that it's a it's an interpersonal dialog. That word conjures up different things for anyone that it's asked to, you know, and for athletes, it's a very special relationship with the word discipline. So I'm wondering, after you came out of college, what did you go into next? What was your first kind of professional encounter?   [00:12:13] When I was a student athlete, I had one class left before I graduated. And at that time, I actually thought I was going to end up being a personal trainer. And I was going to enroll in graduate school to get a graduate degree in nutrition and health science. I wanted to do nutrition counseling at the time, but I had that one class and then I had free time. And even as a student athlete or, you know, a college senior, I was so uncomfortable having so much free time, I thought I should really get a job. So I asked my coaches if they knew anybody on campus that needed worker. And it turns out the facilities and construction crew needed a worker. So I started as a student worker for Nebraska athletic department, picking up trash. I used to vacuum suites.   [00:12:57] I'd set up tables. And this turns out 10 years later, I ended up managing 340 million dollars in projects and designing and managing the facilities I used to clean. So that's in a scope of it. So I'm going to go back to literally no. How did that really happen? I was this do when I was a student worker on the grounds crew. They had a secretary that was gone one day and I was the only female. So they brought me in to answer phones. Yet we can all chuckle at that one. Only girls can answer phones, which isn't true. One of her puts, but there was a group of guys talking about projects and I had an idea. And so I spoke up. And I think it's so important for people to do that, to not think that you're not qualified enough, you're not good enough, your ideas aren't good just because you're not a person standing in the room with the suit. I mean, I had a T-shirt and jeans on and they all looked at me and then one of the persons who was in charge of that department said, I want you to start coming and bringing a suit and still bring your grounds to float, browse through clothes. And he would just give me projects, no instruction on the projects. You just tell me something to do and see where I would take it. And that's how it really started. It was because someone missed a day of work, which I'll say to this day, I can't transfer a phone call. There are so many notes that we could people they were out. They were busy like too many buttons. But eventually he asked me, said, what do you want to do with your life? I said, well, I'm not I'm not super sure, but I know I will never spend every day in an office wearing a suit. And I spent the next 10 years in an office wearing a suit. So I learned never say never. You have to open yourself up for opportunity because that could change the world literally can't count ourselves out. But it came down to. There was a one day when I think this is the day that I really got hired. We were working on the Nebraska football lounge. We were redesigning it. And it was a meeting that I wasn't even invited to. I'll see it right now. But I was hungry for it. And so what I did and keep in mind, you heard what my degree is. I had a bachelor's degree in community health. I never had any experience in construction, architectural design, engineering. But every day when they left office, I sat down and I taught myself how to use every single program that they used AutoCAD, 3D design, Photoshop, all of the Microsoft programs. And then I taught myself how to read for plants. And so it came down to that meeting. And my boss and they had a intern get a master's degree in architectural design. And I walked into his office with the floor plans and I said, are you ready to go? And he he didn't want to tell me no. So he's a. Yeah, sure. Come to the meeting. He was being so kind. And when we showed up, the thing that happened is I was prepared. No one had asked me to be prepared. No one told me what to do. If you want something, you've got a deal to figure it out. You can't sell yourself short. I didn't have the degree. So that was the day I think I got hired because the there is the principal of a firm who said, does anyone else have any other comments on the drawings? And no one expected me to say a thing. And I pulled up my floor plans and I said, I actually have some comments. And everybody, again, they looked at me. And after the meeting, they came up to me and said, I have to tell you. Nobody ever catches things like that except me. And he's a senior principal of a firm. And so my boss looks and eventually, six months later, I had to compete for that job against that intern that had a master's degree in architectural design. And I had a bachelors degree in community health and I got hired. So I spent my next 10 years doing that. And it was amazing. All the cities that got to use this student athlete, I got to create awesome environments, build an arena, expand a football stadium, build a volleyball arena. So if anybody ever wants to tell me, I can't I'm not equipped. I don't have the degree. My family was too poor and really the wrong person to say that, too.   [00:16:59] Yeah. Absolutely stacked against you. And those software, not for nothing but AutoCAD.   [00:17:04] I mean, when my partner in life is, you know, one of the original Silicon Valley computer nerds and I feel like I've touched almost every software piece out there. AutoCAD is my least favorite. It's not friendly. It is like in the arts. It is like too much there, too much utility. So teaching that to yourself is I mean, the grit that is required with that alone is is astounding. So you you went onto it. You were you were an employee through this department of the University of Nebraska for ten years. Yes. And universities are an interesting umbrella to work under because they're kind of their own microclimate. But they have a lot of the similarities as far as the aspects and the software and things like that. But they have their own hierarchy. I think, you know, I worked for the University of Utah for a spell and it's just its own microclimate. I tried to explain it to people like, you know, there's it's you have the professional industry and then you have the university bubble as well. And everything functions under boards and committees. And this and there's a lot of different boxes that get checked for things.   [00:18:04] So it's it's it's a lesson, I think, in patients as well as process. Right. They sometimes when I think about universities. So what happened? What caused you to leave the job?   [00:18:16] I love that job and I actually loved it so much that sometimes I would really choose it over friends or family in gatherings and there's a lot of things that got pushed aside. And I started to have this whole of every day. You know, we're building the east stadium expansion. And I watched it go up from the first piece of steel that went in. And I love something being built from the ground up. My heart space is on a job site. But as I watched it construct, I'd walk over this bridge every day from where I parked. And it's like that start to say, don't just build buildings, build people. And every single day I was on a job site and I felt it. And eventually, unfortunately, my best friend in the world, she was the maid of honor at my wedding when I had got married. She died by suicide. And she was the second person who in my life, my brother had in 2005. And then she died in 2011. So within 10 years, I lost two people to suicide. And the day of her funeral, I was standing over her casket. And I thought, I can have all the success in the world. But what if I lose people, I get. It just doesn't matter. I could put my name on every building in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, on. I've been a part of so many, quote unquote, important projects, but when you're a part of building someone's life. That's it's amazing, there's nothing that compares to being able to just share love and empower someone. So I made a commitment that day that I was going to love people. So I thought about three years we were in the middle of the biggest capital campaign that had ever existed for Nebraska athletics. And I wanted to be committed to what I was assigned. I was at the helm of a lot of the projects with my boss, John Ingram, who's fantastic and definitely inspired me in so many ways as a male leader supporting a female in a male dominated industry. But I had told him, I said, I think I'm going to leave eventually. And it's really my passion to go love people and build people and not buildings. And he knew that. So I started getting involved outside of work in Mrs. International. I wanted to take the skills that I had.   [00:20:34] And I learned over time because as a part of Nebraska athletics, that role grew a lot, whereas a part of hiring committee is a part of the rebrand for the entire athletic department. When we made our move to from the big twelve to the Big Ten contracts, you know, I ended up leading our recycling initiatives as a university. So there's a lot of things that I'd never had experience with. Yet there I play and I bet you these are skills that can translate and impacting lives. And how do we do that? And so I wanted to find platforms. I had a marketing background. Now there are things I knew how to do. You didn't know how to do makeup to save my life. I used to call eye shadow I powder. I mean, it took me like an hour in several minutes of tears to, like, not get my eyes glued together, putting my lashes. So patents was a great platform. But then I also felt like it was going to teach me how to speak well from that platform. And if you really want to impact lives, you need to sharpen those skills in 30 seconds. You should be able to tell anybody what you want to do with your life and how you're going to do it quickly and concisely. I think that's important for people to know that to always have an elevator speech because you need to live ready if you want to live with purpose. So I ended up competing for Mrs. International. I got top 10 my first year. And what I did was I stood back as I watched the other girl get crowned, because at that time I thought, well, I'm ready. You know, that was the athlete in me. I'm ready. I'm going to win.   [00:22:06] I didn't realize how ready I wasn't. So I just stood back and I was watching everything unfold on stage. And that's kind of how I learned. If you'll hear this theme over time, as I just learned and invested. So the next year I came back and I won. I wasn't a pageant girl. It had been about 15 years since I had done was as a teenager. And I'd also spent the last decade having babies. I have three children. So I decided to become a professional runner that time, too, because that makes sense. Let's do that. It really set the stage. This is all before American Ninja Warrior. They started to tie in together, but I really wanted to broaden myself to be able to have a broader audience and a broad impact and see how it could uniquely and creatively impact lives. Yeah.   [00:22:59] And it sounds like it. It all sounds very like a path that makes sense, you know, now that you're kind of unpacking it as to what you became, even the public health aspect of it, because, you know, I mean, what you went on to do, which is kind of affect public health. How did you first come into contact or how did American Ninja Warrior enter your radar zone?   [00:23:22] In college, I was roommates with Jesse Graff, which for you as a Ninja Warrior fan and for your kids. She is one of the top female. She she's absolutely amazing. And so people don't really realize we've actually been friends for 17, 18 years now. So we were roommates. I knew she had competed on American inj work. And I had someone tell me all you should do that. So I talked to Jesse and I applied. And the first year I really thought I was going to go out and crush it. Jesse was by my side. She helped me train. She flew out to Nebraska. She was trying to make sure I got ready and she had not competed. That year is actually an off year for her. But I went out and I fell on the very first step. My very first year. And they aired it. Luckily, the girl at this planet. Yep, yep. Yep. Little did we know five years later happened again, but in a much more traumatic way. But I applied the next year for Ninja Warrior and I actually got rejected. And then I applied the next year for Ninja Warrior and I got rejected again. So I was three years into it. And I can't tell you how many people at this point. My journey on the outside. It wasn't making sense to anybody. You're doing pageants for your in races now you're doing American means where and you're getting rejected and yet you're still going for it. Clearly, they don't want you.   [00:24:36] You should give up. And if anybody knows me, they think about my brand. It's never give up. And I believe that with every part of my fiber and my being and my soul and I believe that for people, if you have to know who you are and your passion so much that it's such a part of you that you can tell people, I'm going to continue it. I was not supported at that time. I will just say that it was a really challenging journey to keep going. So four years into it and came back as the top female. So I went from one of the worst to one of the best and the only one who had beat crank it up. And all those people who said you shouldn't do this shit is not right. How did you do it? And so it was just it was really important, as I learned, started to learn as a teenager, that I had to make a choice for my own journey and and also for me, knowing what God wanted for my life and that path and where it was going to go. So Ninja Warrior has been such an amazing platform to reach families, empower women. Bill, people in a real way of overcoming obstacles above and beyond.   [00:25:47] Of course, I remember when you were first the first time I saw you on, and I'm not sure which year it was for you, but I remember when I first saw you on watching it with my little girls. They were we were talking about. They had mentioned your story and they were talking about how you had three young children and you were a single mom. And. And I kind of paused. And the only thing that really big I've I've just met so many prolific, wonderful, amazing women in my life. It wasn't shocking. I just thought, I wonder when she sleeps, because if she's training for this and working and I'm a full time parent as a single parent would be. It seems to me like you would need some kind of help with some of it. What kind of aid did you have during that time period? And can you kind of describe your training routine? Was it similar to training in college? I mean, you have to do kind of design your own training. I would think the circuit, even if they're shared, prolific, you know, passes and things like that on line between the different ninjas, you're designing your your schedule, your training time, your routine. What did life look like during that time period when you went from, you know, unknown to the top female ninja warrior?   [00:26:57] It was really challenging. I, living in Nebraska, do not have any family here. So it was really hard to do it. I mean, there's there's no way to put it. And one time I actually got asked an interview. What do you like about being a single parent? And I didn't realize I was going to react this way, but I about had it like a nervous breakdown in front of them, like no one had ever asked me not. It hit me in such a way that I just I started sobbing. And I looked at them and I said, I hate it. I don't like this like it's not what life's supposed to be like. And they're like, just once you take a second, what's different, Krista? Because it was it was an in-person interview, actually, by the TV show. And I don't think they realize, you know, the number one I told the show, I never want to promote divorce. It was the hardest decision I ever had made. And I can't express enough the amount of counsel that I had surrounding that. If you can really work it out, why in both parties are willing. I want to encourage. I just need to say that now. And number two, it wasn't training like an athlete because I it was really hard to have set schedules. You know, my kids came first. So if I'm dropping off or someone says, hey, we've come have lunch with me today, mom, I forgot my bag. We bring it to school, you know. And then I freelanced for work doing what I could and find sponsorships. And so for me, really, it was the minute they went to bed is when I got to train. You know, if I could fit in an hour during the day or 30 minutes during the day, no one else will. Maybe I can give the rest of it. And tonight. So I didn't have these dedicated training sessions and then tried. The most difficult part for me was I. There is no ninja gym here.   [00:28:44] The entire time time I competed on American injured warrior. So all the equipment I trained on, I got from thrift stores attire I found on the side of a road, a truck tire. Really, if someone wants it, you can make it work. I just had to figure out how to adapt once again and thankfully my kids all of being active. So when I did travel, people notice like I'm a package deal. There's a really hard line in the sand. And if my kids can't be involved, I won't do it. And I have to trust God to, like, say no to some really hard thing sometimes that given the wow, that would be so financially good for the guy. It just might not be the best with your kids around him, like. Well, then it's a. because we are. I mean, you know, as a parent, you get such a short window of time and I'm just not willing to trade that.   [00:29:39] Absolutely. I wonder, though, when you talk about doing it on your own there, not being an engine there, the micro muscles, did you have to learn more?   [00:29:48] Did you study more about getting into because it feels like so looking at some of the obstacles over the years, especially how they've changed and things like that, it feels like you have to kind of fine tune in different regions. Jesse Graf is talking about it. I think a shoulder injury or something, or maybe it was someone else and they were talking about like slowing down their reps of their pull up so that they could get an absolutely perfect form so that the micro muscles and all that whole area would rehab correctly. And I think of in terms of the different obstacles, how would you get your body ready for the task at hand and get to the place that you did so prolifically without testing any of the courses or the activities themselves out? Did you find yourself studying anatomy or were you just doing what you could and hoping that there would be some kind of cross pollination effect?   [00:30:34] There's probably a mix of it. Jesse's always been a huge influence. And even to the point of what you just said, she's actually the one who taught me, hey, this is how you really do a pull up focus on these mechanics. So she's just always been a huge influence and have competed as a ninja.   [00:30:51] But also I think that's where being a track happily came in. I was a hurdler, which is a really it's a technical event. You have to even as you warm up, what's your mechanics go slow. Repetition, repetition, repetition. So repetition was very important for me. And what I learned to do was say flexible, build the muscle groups, especially I'm an older athlete. I mean, people to remember, both ninjas are in their early 20s. I am now thirty nine years old. So I had to make sure I don't want to throw myself eight feet in the air and catch something and rip both of my shoulders up. So that was something that was so important for me to make sure to build all of those groups, the dynamics, the functions. I didn't have a warped wall. Well, what muscle groups am I gonna use in a worthwhile what will most replicate it? And then absolutely, we spent a ton of time on playgrounds. I mean, people want to ninja Werdum, go swing around in a playground. So that was always super fun for us. And then I did have lots of opportunities to get out to ninja gyms as I was starting to speak. My kids will come with me. And so I would train on the road and try to get in some time in competitions. I will say, yeah, there's ways where I could see where it affected me, where I wasn't as fluid or I couldn't be able to cast myself as well on a laschet. And those are just things that eventually an owner of a gymnastics gym here in Lincoln, Nebraska, gave me a key to his gym just so I could try to practice Lachaise. And you can get creative. Yeah, yeah.   [00:32:20] And you have to. And it sounds like you've honed in on that skill your entire life. I'm wondering, you're starting to speak. You know, you're you're starting to compete. You didn't get in then you are. You got in on the walk on line for Ninja Warrior. This is prior to you taking the title. I'm wondering.   [00:32:39] You're starting to do public speaking and things like that. Recovery wise, like I think a lot of ninjas are starting to speak more about this. But in the past, I had a friend who is an Olympic hopeful in gymnastics, and she talked a lot about like the devoutness of her gym, about recovery after meats. And it's the reason why she thinks she went so far and a lot of fellow athletes that didn't have the same focus on that. And I'm wondering, how do you personally come at recovery? Because it kind of plays into your story as it lies now. But back then, when you were just beginning this first few years in seasons and things like that, what was recovery like for you? Like you trained nonstop? And then how long did you spend in recovery? Was there rehabilitation that had to take place? How did that all work for you?   [00:33:25] As a student athlete, it was a high priority. I will say I had to learn for ninja word because I was doing different muscles in different groups. I mean, I spent 10 years turning left and jumping over sticks. So there's a little bit of a different dynamic. But after practice and I think it's one of the reasons when I was a Division one athlete is I was an ice bath. Every day I made sure to do my cool down a stretch to eat right. I hydrated. I got sleep. So translate you had to binge warrior. I struggled to learn what to do, what was right or what my shoulders needed. And there were points where I didn't know when to stop. And now I've learned to listen to my body. But I did get to the points where I hurt my shoulder so that I put on or take off a sports bra was just about excruciating for me. And some days even just lifting my shoulder up. And that's when I started to make sure, as you mentioned earlier, building the muscle groups around, like it's basically building a body of armor around you for when you compete. And then I have to know when to say no on things. You know what? I did just spend eight hours in a car, and this course looks fun. And I want to play with all my friends, but I think I need to say no right now unless I'm dedicated to spending the next forty five minutes to warm up. So you learn. Sometimes the hard way.   [00:34:45] That rotator sounds bad. Not for arms up like that. That's a no. There are a lot of activities that would be limited with that. So I want to get into your kind of the pinnacle of the American ninja where as where as well as the Spartan Games. So for people who are listening that maybe haven't seen the show or been living in a cave somewhere. American Ninja Warrior is this multiple obstacle course. How would you define it if someone was like, I've never heard about what it do? What is that? Whatever you want.   [00:35:17] For American, each word and the one thing I'd say, it's a family friendly show, that is stories of people who are not only overcoming obstacles in their life, but they have an opportunity to do it on a global platform to overcome obstacles, literally physically in person as people cheer them on. And that's what it is. A who we all debate about. This is an injustice for it. Yes, I do believe it is a sport, but it's also also this blend of it's something that you can turn on and, you know, you never have to worry about it with your family. And I've appreciated that as more. But there's these feats of physical strength that you can tell.   [00:36:01] You see it in my eyes when I compete like my knuckles are white. And I'm holding on with everything I have. And you feel it. I think you feel it as the audience member where you're like, oh, just hold on.   [00:36:12] Oh, you can oh, you can do this.   [00:36:15] And then they make it through. And that's like everybody's chairman of the Libyans are with you. And you know that as an athlete, you know that you're part of something that's so much bigger than stepping onto a TV show. And that's such a core responsibility. I think I just took it long there. But when people ask you to talk about it and nerd out a little bit because I love it so much.   [00:36:34] Absolutely. And from that, your family, you're kind of ninja warrior family spilled over into the Spartan Games, right? You were on a team of people that was formerly ninja's.   [00:36:44] Yes, we were Team Ninja for the Spartans show competed for two seasons. It was such a cool experience and I will say things like Spartan or I haven't competed on Titan games. But those are actually more up my alley. I love brute strength, mud, grit. Not that you don't have great ninja. But it's definitely different with Spartan or something like a Titan games. It was more suitable to my comfort zone. Believe it or not, too. Yes. I want to have six people stand on my shoulders and a tilted wall.   [00:37:19] So it's fantastic. It really actually does. I loved it.   [00:37:24] Yeah. It's it's I think it defines a personality type. For sure. You know, and it's it is uniquely different hormones. Like it's the same thing right there. UPS, of course is another very, very different Rehov.   [00:37:34] So different. Yeah. Spartan it was brutal. We were just exhausted. And I think people saw that in our last race. We actually competed back to back nights and got home at seven a.m. and had to be back on set at four p.m. after we competed night after night and then compete again. And yeah, it's we were tired.   [00:37:58] Yeah. It's an indoor as it looks like an endurance game. You know, Ninja Warrior feels like there's a lot of technicalities that can go wrong and and your your run early. But the Spartans, it seems to just leave it all out there on the course, as they say. I'm wondering if so, let's Kleman to you had kind of this now very famous moment in you finished. You know, you became this this titleholder for how far you went up until that point. Can you kind of describe the run? Is it Oklahoma City that that run happened in?   [00:38:30] Oklahoma City in 2019 for American Ninja Warrior.   [00:38:35] It was my fifth year competing in the show officially and I was excited, but I'd also say I was probably the most relax I had ever been. I was really, really intense there before from Minneapolis and my training to the point that maybe overly intense. So going into this year, I thought, you know, I'm just going to really. Soak this in news in God's hands. But on the prelims night had actually fallen and saved myself by like two pinky fingers or I mean something ridiculous. And I didn't realize I could he'll hook my leg up to pull myself up up on the diving boards. But then what happened? Actually, the next night and finals going into it on the same obstacle, the diving boards, I tripped and I face planted. And with the diving boards are is there pieces of steel that are covered for traction, traction, not padding. And what that caused was a brain injury. So we didn't know it at the time. And I don't remember most of my run. I've tried to get parts and pieces of it and I got to experience it with the rest of the world. So I didn't see it before it aired. No one had video of it. The producers, you know, they don't share film with us. We don't get to see our runs or how they edited it.   [00:39:57] So watching it was really emotional. I watched it first in public. There was a watch party and I tried to actually not really watch it. And then immediately after I was in Virginia, I went to my hotel room and I watched it.   [00:40:10] I just cried because, as I said, I had spent the last oh, it was four or five months as an outpatient at a brain trauma hospital in about 20 hours a week of rehab, doing speech and cognitive physical PTO t. I ended up having a psychologist or a therapist and then vision. So pretty much almost everything that they had in the unit was a part of my life. And so those emotions were just felt so strongly because not only did I go to the E.R. that night from set, but I went to the E.R.. That's. Oh, Thursday, I had a friend come and check on me because I don't even remember driving home for no Oklahoma City, one of my friends found someone else to drive. Me and my kids got us home. I was another person we had been training with. And there was this terror van and the leg. The last thing I remember is being on stage for the starting line. And then I was standing in my kitchen in Lincoln, Nebraska. So it was so surreal and confusing. And I finally got to see why I had been so miserable, so to speak, for so many months and. Then just started to talk about it because I didn't realize how many people are actually affected by being in by brain injuries, but the number two, it also forced me to stop in such a real way and think about how fast I was going in every area of my life. And I can say right now, I think it's actually a gift. I had a brain injury because I didn't prioritize self care. You asked me about that. How how were you a single mom? I was training 40 hours a week, working for an hour as weak as parenting, you know, 40 hours a week. I, I did. I was living in a constant state of survival mode. And I think it was such mercy and grace that God's like, I love you too much to let you keep living like this. So it's it's such a gift for me today to slow down and make sure. I continue to build in arrests and slowing down and say no to something so I can allow for other yesses in my life.   [00:42:28] And I think that sometimes as simple or maybe even trite as it sounds, slowing down can require more discipline. You know, for someone who is prolifically moving through life, young parents, people who just are constantly juggling things, actually taking space and holding still and really continuing thought through, thinking about things like self care can be much more nerve wrenching, you know, than running a marathon because it's, you know, motion stays in motion is constant and things like that.   [00:43:01] But when you stop and you question can be a daunting place, even if you're doing well, you know perfectly well with all of these wonderful titles and this incredible career to sit and actually really question yourself and re identify and revisit those conversations. Is it can be a lot, you know, to handle brain injuries. I just spoke off the record. I do have a colleague and friend who suffered from one. And I think you mentioned in a prior interview that I read of yours that it's incredibly painful because it's not seen on the outside frequently that the individual looks incredibly normal. But the suffering on the inside and the therapy is particularly with my colleague and friend. She post and recovery from the actual therapies themselves sometimes would take her a day and a half, you know, just to kind of reorient it was a very painful recovery process. It wasn't just laying in bed, taking time, getting well. You know, all of that was amazing. Has have you incorporated that kind of dialog and conversation into your public speaking now? Do you think it will change how you go on to relate to your audiences and what you do?   [00:44:17] It absolutely has impacted it in a great way were a lot of people. They want to know how can I survive something traumatic? There's a lot more to my story.   [00:44:29] People want to dig deeper. It's probably on some interview somewhere. But I had a history of trauma from the time I was like five years until adulthood of different things that happened from rape, assault, abuse. And so that brain injury. It really literally forced me to sit still in the very first day I ever had and sit still, which I can't tell you the time I remember doing it before, that I legitimately can't tell you what I told you. I rested before that I screamed and it was so scary. And the next day I went into the hospital and told them, I think I'm on the verge of an emotional breakdown. But I said it in such a casual way they didn't know what to do. And I was like, listen, I'm not vulnerable. I'm an athlete. I'm trying to tell you I need help. And I will absolutely advocate for that in such a real way to not burn both candlesticks, you know, from both ends, I guess. Success is success. But if you can't have peace in your life, it's really all for naught. Kind of is what I believe. And I echo with what your friend said. For me, my vision was the hardest hit. I hit on the right side of my face. It affected some of my nerves and my eyes didn't communicate with each other. So it forced me to not be on my phone. I couldn't even answer an email. I couldn't look at technology. I physically couldn't handle the scroll of a screen. I had to reach out and ask for help. Being away from my technology. Yes, away from my emails. Gifts in it. It really restructured my entire life. And I know I still do have effects. I talk about it a lot less because I get that people say, Oh, you're so strong.   [00:46:13] Can you come back?   [00:46:14] You look amazing. And I just want to be healthy. I can't focus on that. I called the producers before I told anyone else I was going to announce. I said, you know, this is what I'm going to say. I'm so grateful for American injurious. But like, I'm I can't even think about anything beyond recovery right now because I was at the point where I was literally losing my vision. I wasn't having double vision, but my eye therapy was so aggressive I would go home and not be able to see for forty five minutes. And that was Harry. So I, I want to make sure that first and foremost, I'm the most physically healthy mom I can be because I can go out and train like I know to train. Know how to do well. But if I do that and then get hurt again, then. So my health is such a Purdie and I want to advocate for that for all people to build that in behalf phones. It's great. So, um.   [00:47:12] Yeah. And it's honorable. I think that, you know, this is the athletic spirit is celebrated, but sometimes I think just one piece of it celebrated just that moment on top of the mountain. You know, sometimes maybe the training and the climb up. But there's another piece of that.   [00:47:28] You know, there's another there's always growth. And I think that the story of the athlete that has for any reason, injury or not, kind of hit the the moment where they're they're moving on to something else. It's another pivot, you know, that that's equally as as celebratory. The story is, you know, continuing. You're not ceasing to exist because you're not on American Ninja Warrior 20, 21 or whatever. And to that end, I want to ask you, what is your your future? Have you thought about the next one to three years? I know a lot of times in recovery, even a therapist will encourage you to just keep your sights on this one goal. And so if if it isn't out there, I don't want to encourage you to not to have one. But have you thought about, professionally speaking, more any of those types of things for the next one to three years for yourself? What do you see?   [00:48:16] Within the last couple weeks, I've definitely set goals for what the next one to three years look like. I will say before that. That's the number one question I got from everybody when I spoke. What's next? What's next? What's next? And I had to be OK telling everybody. I don't know yet. And that was my answer for awhile. My next thing is to not have a next thing. And I think that's actually what is going to set me up best for what will eventually be a next. And that sounds like a big tongue twister riddle, but it was so important to not have a nexus for a little bit and be OK with that. Well, now. Yes. I want to continue and I will continue to speak and engage with people on a global scale, including Girl Scout partnerships. Empowering youth to be healthy. Goal setting individuals. Writing a book is on the table for me. Has been for a long time. I know God told me that for a while that I just need to be able to focus enough to get something specific. But most immediately, I'm actually applying for a master's degree in biblical studies with Colorado, Christian University. I want to know why not get a brain injury and go back to school? That sounds about right. So that's it. I am going to be focusing on is I'm going to be searching for scholarships to go back to school as a single mom and get a master's degree. I think it will be important for my kids to be a part of that process as well. And then I think it will honestly help me as a TBI survivor. It is going to be challenging. I do still have cognitive challenges, but I think it's going to be healthy to face them. I don't want to live in fear of them or worry or or be scared. I think that I'll continue to need the right people to support me as I try to get a masters degree. And it's going to be exciting. And then I'll have something I'll be launching in the next couple months. I'm partnering with some media teams. So I think ultimately my goal this is going to sound weird is to like a race myself and not have Maggi Thorne be the brand. But something else exists that last beyond me that can pass on as a legacy for other people where it becomes their own thing. And they're not just how I go to your page and it's so inspiring. Yes, I love it and I appreciate it. What can I help other people make their own? And that becomes their legacy within themselves. So that's a goal.   [00:50:44] That's a beautiful thing. I love that. And I love legacy. And I think it's I think as parents, you get to a point where you start to actually think about it. You know, you have this this breath. And I say the second, you know, you come up as a parent. You know, when you the toddlers are sleeping through the night. You have like a year. And you start saying, what am I going to do with my life? And then you immediately become enveloped with, like, what's my legacy? What am I leaving on Earth? There's never, ever an expectation or break for me anyway. And so I. Yours is beautiful. I love that. We're running out of time. But I do want to ask you, Maggi. What do you if if you ran up to someone next tomorrow and safe social distance at a Gardiner Park. And it was a young woman and she said, listen, we have a friend in common.   [00:51:33] And they said, I've got to come talk to you. I've had this wonderful career as a student athlete. I then spent the next decade involved in this area that at the beginning I didn't necessarily have the training for became prolific at. And I was very proud of all of those things. But I'm going to actually pivot now and do this wonderful, you know, obstacle course slash television show and hope for the best. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that individual knowing what you know now?   [00:51:58] I would ask her or him what, number one? Why do you want to do it? What's your purpose behind it? Because the training and commitment for it is so hard. If that is it behind it, it's gonna make it all that more difficult. So I'd really want to know that first and have a compass of Wohlsen here. Here's where you go from there. And being able to make it, it's 24/7 training. And what I mean with that is your rest is training your waters, training your nutrition. The people you surround yourself with is training. It's a full time commitment. It's not something you turn on and off during the day to the point that I stop wearing high heels for a while because it was to impact like my legs couldn't handle it. And again, I'm older. But there's those three things. Why do you want to do it? Letting them know it's a full time commitment and then building a really solid foundations are able to get the experience and have the best experience possible. As if if I think if you go into it and I'll say this for anybody, anything you go into. If your expectation is is just to win, I think you walk away with a loss. You have to walk into it with purpose and passion, because if you don't win, but you still know, you give everything you've got. That's a victory. Absolutely.   [00:53:31] Yeah. A thousand percent, I think with everything in life, two measurements are, you know, first of all, usually not constructed by the person competing in them. So developing your own son's very solid. So loosely, I have no one know your purpose in why training is hard. So you need to know where all of your passion and purpose is coming from and what they are identified. Number two, training is 24/7, 365, encompassing all aspects of your life. Remember that. And number three, build a solid foundation for the best experience possible. And the goal isn't just to win. I love. That's why you're the pro. Good job. Thank you very much.   [00:54:08] I'm so thankful that you spoke with us today. Maggi, we're out of time. But I just wanted to say again, I really appreciate everything that you've you've given us today. And I know that there's a lot of personal narrative tied into your professional story. And I really do appreciate your candor and honesty.   [00:54:23] Thanks, Patricia. I appreciate what you're doing to educate, empower and equip people across the nation and globally.   [00:54:29] Absolutely. For everyone listening, we've been speaking with Maggi Thorne. She's an athlete, motivational speaker. You can find out more regarding everything that she is doing on her Web site. W w w dot. Maggi Thorne, dot com. That's m a g.g i t h o r and e dot com.   [00:54:48] Thank you for giving us your time today and until we speak again next time. Remember to stay healthy, stay safe and honest. But yourself. Slainte.  

ANW Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with American Ninja Warrior champion Drew Drechsel. Drew gives a play-by-play of the incredible season that led him to Mt. Midoriyama. Listen as Drew goes into detail about his training for specific obstacles, the adjustments he made while running the courses and how he felt to finally get his shot at Stage 4 and the million-dollar prize that comes with the title American Ninja Warrior. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

ANW Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Ninja Daniel Gil to talk about his incredible runs at the Oklahoma City and Vegas Finals courses, how he trains to prepare for the show, his journey to getting on ANW, why he prefers not being a part of a team, how he's become so comfortable in front of the cameras and a whole lot more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

This is a talk I gave in the Monte Sano Ward on September 8, 2019.  Content is copyrighted. "Brothers and Sisters, this morning I want to talk to you about the Grace of Jesus Christ.   Now, I only have 5 minutes to do this in and Grace is a subject that I could talk about for hours.  So today I would like to focus on one of the aspects of Grace: enabling power, the strength and assistance, that we receive to do good works and overcome obstacles we otherwise would not be able to do on our own.  In other words, I want to talk about how Grace applies when we start to think, “I can't do it.” “I'll never be good enough.” “Life is too hard.” To do this, I would like to make an analogy.  Years ago, my son decided he wanted to train to be an American Ninja Warrior.  For those of you who don't know, America Ninja Warrior is a TV show where the contestants battle through an obstacle course that requires great athletic skill and ability.  There's a gym in town that does offer Ninja Warrior training to kids so we signed up. He was doing well until he found an obstacle that was difficult to overcome. It's called a Warped Wall and the goal is to run as fast as you can at a curved wall, to the point you run up the wall a little ways and then jump to reach the ledge at the top of the wall where you pull yourself up and over.  My son found that as he tried this obstacle, over and over again, he would run as hard as he could, get to the part where he needed to jump, and then splat face first into the wall and slide back down. This happened again and again, for weeks. How does this apply to us in a spiritual sense?  I think we all have those specific weaknesses that we constantly find ourselves doing our best to overcome and yet splat into a wall time after time again. Dieter F. Uchtdorf in his talk The Gift of Grace talks about the spiritual side of this when he says, “Though we all have weaknesses, we can overcome them. Indeed it is by the grace of God that, if we humble ourselves and have faith, weak things can become strong.23 Throughout our lives, God's grace bestows temporal blessings and spiritual gifts that magnify our abilities and enrich our lives. His grace refines us. His grace helps us become our best selves.”   In short, we are not only SAVED by Grace, we are CHANGED by Grace. Weak things become strong.  You see, while my son had been splatting over and over again he had also been inching up the wall.  His muscles had been developing, his dexterity and agility improving. There is a purpose in our mistakes and our need to rely on the goodness of our Savior's Atonement and Grace.  Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, “The great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we must ‘repay' him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process that, with the Savior's help, leads us along the path to a saintly character”  And this is where Grace enters into our analogy.  After a few weeks of splatting unsuccessfully against the wall, my son's Coach came to me and said, “You know, it might help if he wore different shoes- shoes with more grip on the bottom”.  So at the next training session, he had the shoes. And it made a huge difference! He was able to get up much higher on the wall than he had before!   This is like the Savior's Grace that gives us strength and assistance that we receive to do good works we otherwise would not be able to do.   Brad Wilcox, in his talk His Grace is Sufficient, has said, “The Savior's gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to ‘after' all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during and after the time when we expend our own efforts”. Grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher's touch.”   But HOW do we access Grace like this? This enabling power? Gene R. Cook's conference talk entitled “Receiving Divine Assistance Through the Grace of the Lord” is a wonderful guide to accessing Grace.  He says, “To obtain grace, one does not have to be perfect but he does have to be trying... Then the Lord may allow him to receive that power.  Moroni sums up the doctrine of grace succinctly: “If ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you… (Moro. 10:32–33.)“ Back at the training gym, while the shoes made a BIG difference, my son was still splatting against the wall.  Just splatting higher up and closer to his goal now. Finally the Coach climbed up to the top ledge and laid down across the top and extended his arms down to my son.  My son ran up the wall, jumped and reached for the top while the coach grabbed his hands and lifted him up to the top of the wall. He made it with the help of his coach!  Because my son had a Coach who had personally conquered this obstacle and knew how it worked he was able to guide him over it.  However the Coach also saw the value in building strength and dexterity through failure, the strength and ability my son gained through all those splats. Then after my son had tried his hardest and expended his own best efforts, the Coach was able to help lift him up to overcome that obstacle.   We have a Savior who has conquered the obstacles of this life, who knows the value in the struggles we face, and who gives us His Grace that enables us to climb and then finally overcome our weaknesses.  Do not be discouraged if it feels like you are constantly splatting and not getting any nearer to the top of your obstacle. Russell M. Nelson has said, “We need not be dismayed if our earnest efforts toward perfection now seem so arduous and endless. Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord.” We have a Savior who loves us perfectly and gives us the miraculous gift of His Grace to not only overcome the obstacles in our life, but also to one day return us back to our Father in Heaven."  

ANW Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Ninja Jessie Graff for an emotional conversation about coming back to the Vegas National Finals, how she turned failure into motivation, her key to enjoying her workouts and a whole lot more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

ANW Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Challenge Producer Adam Sheldon to talk about his encyclopedic knowledge of all things ninja, including some secret behind-the-scenes stories and a whole lot more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

ANW Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Ninja Jesse Labreck to talk about the magical night in Cincinnati when viewers saw Michelle Warnky and Labreck become the second and third women to ever finish a City Finals course. They also talk about how Jesse’s athletic youth and teaching background have led her to become a youth ninja coach who’s inspiring the next generation of competitors. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

ANW Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Ninja Dave Cavanagh, who’s often called “The Walk-On King,” to talk about him winning the new “safety pass,” how he got on the show as a walk-on for many years, growing up in a single-parent household, his formative years in a remote school and a whole lot more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

ANW Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Ninja Meagan Martin to talk about her injury and how it affected her season’s early out, her aspirations in front of the camera, how she handles nerves on the course and a whole lot more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Maggi Thorne, a Ninja known for her pink bows and effervescent personality. They talk about Thorne's determination in the Oklahoma City City Finals and the past she’s endured to be here today. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Ninja RJ Roman to talk about how Ninja Warrior has changed his life in a short period of time, how his rough upbringing has turned him into the athlete he is today, and a whole lot more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with Ninja Flip Rodriguez to talk about the dichotomy of being a famous Ninja, why he almost didn’t return to ANW, what it means to him to grab the first safety pass and much more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with ninja Michelle Warnky to talk about her insane Cincinnati Qualifiers run, how her Christian faith affects her life, her perspective on men and women competing together, and a whole lot more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with ninja Najee Richardson to talk about life after gymnastics, the tricky details behind the Mega Wall, the duality of life as a ninja and more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with ninja Lance Pekus to talk about his wife’s fight with multiple sclerosis and how it affects their family, his background in ranching, how he fits ninja training into his busy life and more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with ninja Quest O’Neal to talk about her breakout Season 10 run, where she gets her confidence, what it means to make a name for herself and much more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior Nation Editor Nikki Lee sits down with ninja Roo Yori to talk about a huge surprise he received during the Atlanta Qualifiers, his passion for working with and helping dogs, his early days as a cowboy stuntman and much more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2019

American Ninja Warrior hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila sit down with ninja Abel Gonzalez to talk about his quest to conquer Mt. Midoriyama despite rheumatoid arthritis, growing up quick to adopt his brothers, the moment he realized he was an elite ninja and much more.NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2018

American Ninja Warrior hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila sit down with ninja Austin Gray, who talks about donating his kidney to his high school friend, why he doesn’t like being called a hero, his personal fitness journey to Mt. Midoriyama and much more.NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2018

American Ninja Warrior host Akbar Gbajabiamila sits down with ninja Sean Darling-Hammond, who talks about taking charge of his happiness, living up to his fitness potential through mental training, his vision for his future career and his love of basketball. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2018

Hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila sit down Captain NBC, aka Jamie Rahn, to talk about mental health, recovering from injury, how parkour and Drew Drechsel took him to the next level, setting personal goals besides Mt. Midoriyama and much more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2018

Hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila sit down with one of the strongest women on American Ninja Warrior, Jesse Labreck, to talk about body image, competing without confidence, living a balanced life while aiming for Mt. Midoriyama and much more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2018

Hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila sit down with American Ninja Warrior veteran Ryan Stratis to talk about being bullied in high school, fitness and working out, the reality of competition and maintaining self-worth while aiming for Mt. Midoriyama and much more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2018

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 forwards 12 years. I pictured myself at fifty years old at my daughter’s high school graduation. I was (still) bald, at least 50 pounds heavier than I am now with chronic lower back pain, two bum knees, constant visits to the cardiologist for heart issues, and still battling depression and anxiety. As I sat there watching my daughter walk across the aisle and receive her diploma, my future self thought: “I wish I hadn’t been too afraid to train for American Ninja Warrior when I was 38. My life would be so different right now.” That single mental image was more than enough to compel me to jump into training right on January 1st because my only true fear is regret. IN SHORT:It’s never too late to begin writing chapter 1 of your new “origin story.” LESSON #2. If you set your goals improperly, tremendous success can end up feeling like total failure. For the past fifteen years I’ve been completely obsessed with learning everything I can about the psychology of high performance and the habits that lead to success. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned during this journey is that achieving a goal is meaningless if you set the wrong goal. Your goals are the foundation that your house is built upon. If you build your house on quicksand, it doesn’t matter how strong the walls or the roof is, your house will collapse. It’s imperative that you take the time to clearly define a goal properly before taking a single action towards achieving that goal. I spent weeks painstakingly clarifying my “macro goal” in December of 2017 before taking a single moment to plan my diet, map out my training regimen, or stepping foot in a gym and doing a single pull-up. The conclusion I came to after working through the steps I teach in my Design Yourself program is that “Getting on American Ninja Warrior” is NOT going to be my goal. Wait...what? Bear with me for a second. Let’s assume this is the goal I set: “I will be on season 11 of American Ninja Warrior in 2019.” This goal depends on outside circumstances that I have no control over. I could show up to the gym every morning, lose 25 pounds, drop to 10% body fat, and become an expert at ninja obstacles over the next 12 months. To everyone but me, this would look like tremendous success. But if I’m not chosen as one of the over 40,000 people who submit audition videos every season? I would be a total failure. The problem with this goal is that it’s binary - there are only two possible outcomes. Outcome 1 is I get on the show - Success. Outcome 2 is I don’t get on the show - Failure. I’d rather set myself up for success and build systems around a goal that is completely within my control. Simply put, as long as I put in the work consistently, I will be successful. Therefore, here’s the macro goal I set for 2018: “I will weigh 175 pounds and be in American Ninja Warrior shape by December 31st.” The difference is subtle yet completely changes the systems I build that ensure I follow through and achieve my goal. This is a SMART goal. It’s Specific. My goal is not to “be healthy” or “lose weight” it’s to be in a very specific kind of physical shape. It’s Measureable. I will weigh 175 pounds. Weight is a metric that can be tracked. It’s Actionable. Taking concrete daily actions will lead me closer to success. It’s Relevant. This goal aligns with the work I do in my business. It helps raise awareness of my documentary film GO FAR. And I’m setting a good example for my children. It’s Time-Sensitive. I have a specific deadline of December 31st. My goal has nothing to do whatsoever with being on the show. If I lose 25 pounds, drop five inches off my waist, shed body fat, and develop the strength and coordination to compete on ANW-level obstacles, not being chosen is immaterial. I will have succeeded come December 31st, 2018. IN SHORT:Before you invest a tremendous amount of time, energy, and attention in achieving a difficult goal, make sure you have set the right goal first. LESSON #3. The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. When you’ve just crossed the threshold of 200 pounds for the first time and you max out at (barely) 5 pull-ups, the thought of running one of the most difficult obstacle courses on the planet sounds downright impossible. I already know I have to lose at least 25 pounds to even be in the same conversation as most of the other athletes on the show (I’m 5’ 11” so getting below 170 just ain’t happening). It would also be nice if I could dead hang from a bar for at least 3 minutes and be able to do a minimum of 20 pull-ups by the end of the year. That’s great...but so what? What the hell am I supposed to be doing this morning? Often times people procrastinate and avoid taking action towards their goals because the result is too far away and seems like success will never come. The key to overcoming the procrastination and fear that accompany pursuing difficult goals is to break down a “macro goal” into tiny “micro goals” that seem so simple there’s no reason not to do them. My macro goal was crystal clear on day 1, so now it was time to break that down into an action plan with very doable micro goals. Being in “ANW shape” by December 31st requires that I develop a series of skills including: Rock climbing, Parkour, and Crossfit. And I’ll probably need to train 5-6 days per week. Over the course of the next year, assuming a few recovery weeks and family vacation time, that’s “hitting the gym” over 200 times in the next twelve months. Um….no thank you. Yet despite the massive overwhelm of going to the gym over 200 times this year, by the six month mark I’m over halfway there. Workout stats courtesy of Fitdigits.com Daily activity stats courtesy of Fitbit.com (I use the Fitbit Blaze) I didn’t go to the gym over 100 times in the last  6 months and burn over 1.1 million calories in the last six months by focusing on the end goal, I focused on the single actions steps that would get me to show up once. My first action step on day one was simply “Research gyms near me.” Anyone can do that! Once I found the places that made the most sense, the next step was not to commit to a 12 month membership, it was to “Try a free Crossfit class.” Yup, seems simple enough. My next action step after that was setting my gym clothes out the night before so when I woke up it was one less excuse to not show up. Easy peasy. Once I tried my free class, I immediately discovered that fifteen years of living in front of a keyboard have destroyed my body far worse than I anticipated. My flexibility and mobility were in the toilet. Therefore my next micro goal had nothing to do with losing 25 pounds or doing 20 pull-ups at once. My next micro goal was learning where to put a lacrosse ball and foam roller to loosen up my hip flexors and glutes so I can get into a proper squat. I can do that too! Rinse. Lather. Repeat. This mentality has led to 101 training days in 6 months, losing 14.8 pounds, and dropping 3 inches from my waist. Jan 1st, 2018 200.7 pounds, 38” waist, 24.1% body fat (per Fitbit scale) June 30th, 2018 185.9 pounds, 35” waist, 20.1% body fat (per Fitbit scale) IN SHORT: No matter how difficult the goal you set for yourself, if you break it down to the simplest of actions, as long as you take action consistently, success becomes inevitable. LESSON #4. Failure is the fastest path to success. I wish I had been wearing a GoPro my first night in parkour class (Not familiar with parkour? Here’s a brilliant overview). The camera would have not only captured my complete ineptitude with the most basic of skills, the footage would have also demonstrated that I was a few short years away from easily being mistaken as the dad to any other person in the class...including the instructor. There is quite possibly nowhere further outside my comfort zone on the planet then being surrounded by a bunch of seventeen-year-olds in a parkour class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kvw2BPKjz0 Here’s the “missing” footage from my first parkour class Because parkour is a necessary skill I must develop in order to achieve my macro goal, I know that to have even a slim chance of being considered I must be ready to embrace failure...a lot of it. If I were afraid of failure or “looking stupid,” I simply would have stood in the back corner during open gym time and watched other people who were practicing “The Warped Wall” (the most iconic obstacle of ANW). Then when no one else was watching, I might have attempted it, but only as long as nobody was watching. After all, what if I fell? God forbid I look like an idiot. Screw that. During my first open gym session one of the first things I tried was the warped wall. And I failed. So I tried it again. And I failed again. I then tried another 10-15 more times before I decided to call it a night and find another obstacle I could fail at repeatedly. Guess what I did the following week at open gym? I failed getting up the warped wall another 10+ times. https://youtu.be/TKzN4IEQQ4s My first (failed) attempt at trying the obstacle course at ‘Ninja Beach’ A few weeks later during open gym a couple guys showed up who have been on the show and successfully run the course more than once. Sure I could’ve been super intimidated and stood off to the side as a socially awkward introvert (my default mode). But instead I walked right up to them, introduced myself, and asked if I could “join in” on the practice runs they were concocting around the gym. When the time came to run up the warped wall I approached one of them and asked, “So what’s the trick to getting up the wall?” He asked me to run it, and of course I failed. He began to tweak my form, my steps, and my technique. And I failed a few more times. Then I got up the wall. Eventually on my own I would’ve gotten to the top of the wall, but being willing to publicly embrace failure (a lot) and ask questions shortened my learning curve and got me to the top infinitely faster. Now I have more time to perfect my technique and move onto other obstacles I cannot do yet. IN SHORT: Obstacles are inevitable. You will fail. But failure is only failure if you give up and quit. Be willing to ask questions, learn from your mistakes, embrace failure publicly, and reframe it as a learning experience that gets you one step closer to success. LESSON #5. Focus on the process, not just the results. When undertaking any kind of athletic training, whether you have done it your whole life or you’ve chosen to dust yourself off after living behind a computer for almost twenty years, it’s SO easy to get caught up in the numbers. Especially in sports like Crossfit it’s easy to become obsessed with metrics like max reps, AMRAP’s, EMOM’s, and WOD’s...just to name a few. And the temptation is always there to compare where you are to everyone else in the class: “Hey bro, what’s your deadlift PR?” (Personal Record) The problem with chasing after metrics whether your own or the person next to you is it makes it much harder to focus on the process, and comparing your progress to others only wastes energy you could be spending on yourself. That’s why I believe in “Running Your Own Race." If the only reason you’re going to the gym today is to hopefully lose twenty pounds six months from now, you will be miserable unless you embrace how every single piece of the puzzle fits together. And thinking to yourself, “Why is that person so much better than me?” only leads to self-doubt and frustration. Working with my Crossfit trainer (one of 3 different specialists I’ve enlisted in my pursuit of ANW), we have spent weeks doing super simple exercises with tiny weights, small resistance bands, and a lot of bizarre balance exercises with no weight at all. I pictured my life being nothing but pull-ups, push-ups, squats, deadlifts, and all the other crazy hardcore exercises that come with Crossfit (and there has been some of that). Instead I’ve found myself struggling to lift a 5 pound plate with my body in some bizarre balance configuration while the guy next to me is squatting 300 pounds. To put it simply, instead of working towards doing 20 pull-ups at once no matter what it takes, our goal is making sure I can do ONE pull-up with 100% perfect form and minimal effort before ever doing a second. The “One Thing” I focus on every single time I train is moving my body as efficiently as possible. I don’t care about reaching a certain weight, I don’t care about how fast I do things, and I certainly don’t care about anyone around me going faster or lifting more. All I care about is my form. Once my form suffers, I know it’s time to stop. I would rather do 5 perfect reps than 15 sloppy reps. While this approach requires more patience, this laser-sharp focus on the details will yield much bigger long term gains. When the time comes I do have the strength, balance, and stamina to participate with the pros on a real ninja course, focusing on the tiny details (like where my hand should grab the bar, or how I should place my feet, or the angle my shoulders should be when flying from one bar to the next) will be easier because above all else, the muscle I’m training one rep at a time is my “focus muscle.” IN SHORT: No matter the goal you are trying to achieve, stop focusing on the results you might get someday and instead focus on the process today. LESSON #6. Life is too short to live it without Snickers ice cream pie. When I made the proclamation that I was going to dedicate the entire year to not only losing weight and “getting back in shape” but to training intensely for ANW, I knew the possibility was there to turn this into a truly miserable experience. Just about anyone can lose 25 pounds if they’re willing to deprive themselves for a few months. In fact, the TV series The Biggest Loser is proof-positive that anyone can make radical short-term lifestyle changes and receive tremendous gains. The problem with radical short-term lifestyle change is that it doesn’t stick, and the process sucks every single day. The vast majority of TBL participants, for example, end up gaining back all of their lost weight (with more weight on top of that1). Choosing to train for ANW was not a 12 month decision for me that involved cutting calories and going to to gym as often as possible. Becoming an American Ninja Warrior goes much deeper. Becoming an American Ninja Warrior is a lifestyle. Becoming an American Ninja Warrior is an identity. Yes I am much more careful about what I eat 6 out of 7 days per week. Yes I spend a lot of hours in the gym, and yes I’ve made a lot of personal (and financial) sacrifices to find the time and money to completely change my life over the next 12 months. But I’ve been very clear with myself that every single change I make has to be one I’m willing to stick with for a minimum of 3-5 years. If a specific dietary choice or workout routine is one that involves deprivation and misery, I won’t do it. I don’t care about short term gains, I care about permanent lifestyle change. I’m playing a game of chess, not a game of checkers. Taking a Saturday off to have pizza and ice cream with my kids might mean it will take a little longer to reach my weight and body fat % goals, but I’d rather my kids remember the fun Saturday afternoons when we all had ice cream together, not the Dad who munched on celery and peanut butter at the ice cream store because “He is always training.” I’d rather celebrate a successful Spartan Race binging at a BBQ joint with ribs, biscuits with apple-cinnamon butter, pulled pork on the side, and a giant dessert to chase it all down than not celebrate a short-term milestone because my stats might suffer for a week or two. Yes I’m 100% dedicated to becoming an American Ninja Warrior...but life is too short to live it without Snickers ice cream pie. IN SHORT: Radical lifestyle change is a slow process. Don’t choose behaviors that you’re not willing to stick with for a long time. Life is a game of chess, not a game of checkers. 1 http://www.businessinsider.com/new-show-biggest-loser-winners-regained-weight-big-fat-truth-2017-6 Further Reading & Listening: From ‘Dad Bod’ to...American Ninja Warrior? How to Develop ‘Obstacle Immunity’ | with Spartan Race founder Joe de Sena Finding Your ‘One Thing’ | with Jay Papasan Defining Your Purpose and ‘Living Large’ | with Tony Horton

Hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila sit down with Michelle Warnky, the second woman to conquer the Warped Wall. In this episode, she talks about an early love of rock climbing, her spiritual faith and much more. NBC Entertainment Podcast Network © 2018

Click to Download Audio [Dad•bod] (noun): A male body type that is best described as "softly round." The type of physique a man "earns" when the increasing pressures of work life, married life, and especially fatherhood no longer allow him the time or drive to maintain a hard, toned figure. As a result, what was once a sculpted, chiseled frame digresses into a soft, flabby heaping pile of “I Don't Give A Shit Anymore.” A male who is usually over 30 years old that used to be jacked or in good shape, or an ex-athlete who is now an average Joe Blow with kids. Usually also hairy. Yup. Urban Dictionary1 pretty much nailed it, but they missed one small detail: They didn’t provide a photo. I’ll spare them the research. This was me just 3 months ago, the only day in my life I’ve ever tipped the scale over 200 pounds. And that one single day was more than enough to remind me I’m way closer to forty than thirty, and “getting back into shape” isn’t going to get any easier the longer I put it off. January 1st, 2018: 200.7 pounds, 38” waist, 25.3% body fat It was this very moment when I decided “Tomorrow” is no longer a day of the week on MY calendar. Given I spent ten years of my teens and early twenties obsessively training for a black belt in martial arts (and living in the weight room), and knowing it was only a few years ago that I crushed P90X2 and completed my first Spartan Trifecta, the only question that continually ran through my mind when I saw “200.7” on the scale was: “How the hell did I get here?”   It didn’t take long to do the math. 15 years of 12+ hour days living behind a computer (under constant stress...in the dark) Thousands of afternoon snacks in front of the television watching raw footage or reviewing cuts (because after a hard morning, “I deserved it”) 7 years of sleep deprivation after having two kids (they’re now 8 and 6, so I finally have sleep under control again) Only prioritizing exercise when I was training for events instead of turning it into a lifestyle choice and a regular weekly habit A lifetime of being a workaholic and prioritizing my career ahead of my well being Worst of all...2017 was not kind to me. I frequently refer to it as “The Lost Year.” According to my public profile I crushed it: I edited the pilot, finale, and two additional episodes of the limited TV series Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac & The Notorious B.I.G., I achieved the lifelong dream of becoming a member of the American Cinema Editors (ACE), and I rebranded from ‘Fitness In Post’ and launched ‘Optimize Yourself’ shortly after running a successful 5-day fitness challenge with over 1100 participants on six continents (I still can’t win over Antarctica). I found myself in the fetal position thinking, ‘My family would be better off without me.’ What you won’t learn about me on my IMDB page or Facebook is that I spent half of 2017 battling the second worst case of burnout I’ve ever faced that included months of writer’s block, debilitating social anxiety, and more than one occasion of suicidal depression where I found myself in the fetal position thinking, “My family would be better off without me.” Regular exercise and proper diet were distant memories in 2017. I spent six straight weeks between projects binging seven seasons of Shark Tank with a never-ending bowl of popcorn in one hand and Oreo’s in the other. And my daily fitness goal was attempting a 15 minute walk around the block without stopping to rest from exhaustion. (I failed more than I succeeded.) Listen here to learn more about how I dug myself out of the dark hole of depression by learning how to “rewrite my story.” So then what business does an out of shape television editor with a killer “Dad bod” have thinking he can legitimately compete against some of the top athletes on the planet on the show American Ninja Warrior? If you’re not familiar with the nationwide phenomenon that is ‘ANW,’ below I have provided clips of my two favorite runs of all time from then-rookie and now superstar Kevin Bull, as well as Jessie Graff (both of whom I’m convinced are superhuman).     On paper I clearly have no business training for one of the most competitive sports on the planet that requires ridiculous amounts of skill, strength, balance, coordination, and lightning speed: At 38, I’m “too old” to be running around on obstacle courses As a father of two with a demanding career I don’t have 3 hours a day, 6 days per week to train like a professional athlete I’ve never done a single day of gymnastics in my life (I can’t even do a cartwheel) My only prior knowledge of parkour comes courtesy of Michael Scott and his crew at “The Office” (Parkour!!!) Until a few months ago I had never done any rock climbing...ever At the lowest point of my depression last year, I could barely muster a single pull-up Therefore, the only sane question that comes to mind is…”Why?” My response is simply...“Why not?” It’s About More Than Just the Obstacles Despite the show being in its 6th season at the time, I only first heard of American Ninja Warrior (ANW) a few years ago when a YouTube video went viral of Kacy Catanzaro completing a city finals course...the first woman ever to do so (she is 5’ 0”, by the way). I watched the video thinking, “Wow, that looks kinda cool. Good for her.” And that was it. Not knowing much about the show at the time, I frankly thought it was a fancier version of “Wipeout.” A few months after, my kids starting watching ANW during their summer break. At first I would walk past and watch for one or two minutes, but given I spent the last several years running Spartan Races and Tough Mudders, I quickly became intrigued and soon found myself sitting with them and binge-watching the show for hours at a time. What drew me to ANW was not the physical feats of superhuman strength, balance, and coordination. Sure the obstacles were cool, but what was so compelling were the personal stories and journeys of each of the participants, many of whom were completely “regular” people with normal jobs and families. They weren’t professionals performing for millions of dollars per year. These were people paying their own way to travel and be on that course (some of whom waited in line for weeks) because they had a mission, a larger purpose to fulfill, and people in their lives that needed a little inspiration. Participant Zach Gowen running with one leg Frankly, many of the contestants had no business being there at all. Some of them were too short. Others were too old. One guy had a prosthetic leg, and another guy didn’t have a leg at all! Some participants were former athletes out to prove something, but other contestants were postal workers, farmers, teachers, computer programmers, engineers, maintenance workers, meteorologists, and ER doctors...just to name a few. Perhaps the greatest thing about ANW is that they fully embrace female participation...but the women have to beat the exact same course as the men. Women like Kacy Catanzaro, Jessie Graff, Meagan Martin, Barclay Stockett, caregiver Jesse Labreck, and elementary school teacher Allyssa Beird, are all examples of female participants who have completed insane courses the vast majority of the men couldn't. Name one other sport where women are allowed to compete at the same level with the men. Some of the top female ANW athletes The one constant across every season of the show is that all the participants are real people willing to push themselves outside their comfort zones to achieve something amazing in their lives and bring hope and inspiration to the most important people around them (not to mention the millions of people they inspire around the world). Hmm...the idea of someone faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles who overcame them to achieve their goals. Sound familiar? Tell Me Something Can’t Be Done...I’ll Show You How It Can Be Done By the end of my kids’ summer break ANW had become a full-blown family obsession (It’s now basically the only show we watch together), and on more than one occasion I found myself thinking, “Wouldn’t that be awesome to do? I think I could do that.”  Many would leave it at that and go back to their daily lives (at least the sane people). For me, the phrase “Wouldn’t that be awesome to do?” has a much deeper meaning. It is the word-for-word phrase that I heard over and over for seven straight years while producing and directing the documentary film GO FAR: The Christopher Rush Story about the first quadriplegic with muscular dystrophy to become a licensed scuba diver.  Watch the first quadriplegic with muscular dystrophy become a licensed scuba diver Dedicating seven years of my life to telling Christopher’s story taught me many profound life lessons, but the one lesson that sticks out far above all others is the simplest of concepts: Everyone has a disability. Chris was fond of saying  that “Everyone has a disability.” His disability was neuromuscular - he simply had no physical strength. For others it might be their sight, their hearing, a genetic disease, their financial status, or mental health issues. If you just resign and say you can’t do something because of your disabilities, then you are fundamentally cheating yourself out of the richness that your other abilities will provide for you. - Christopher Rush Every single person who competes on American Ninja Warrior has their own disability. Every. Single. One. While most of the athletes may appear superhuman, the only difference is they have chosen to focus on their abilities, not make excuses because of their disabilities. I can think of hundreds of reasons why I can’t compete, but I have no intention of cheating myself or my family of the richness this opportunity could provide us. Therefore I only need one reason to try...because I can. Welcome to the “Discomfort Zone” If a teenager without the use of his arms or legs has the courage to be weighted down, thrown into the water, and he can fearlessly swim the depths of the Cayman Islands with a smile on his face, I think I can muster the courage to overcome my own disabilities and climb the ‘Warped Wall.’ I  can get over my fear of heights and become a rock climber. I can get over years of “having a bad back” and dive head first into Crossfit. I can get over a lifetime of social anxiety and hang out with a bunch of teenagers to learn Parkour. Most importantly, I can make the commitment to living life outside my comfort zone and accept that failures on a daily basis are just a necessary part of writing my new “origin story.” Gymnastics, rock climbing, and parkour might not be my things (yet). But summoning intense, ninja-like focus to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and achieve a truly meaningful goal that everyone says can’t be done? Yup...that’s tailor made for me.

Samantha Reid is the Owner and CEO of Obstacle Warriors, a gym that is inspired by the hit television show, American Ninja Warrior. Obstacle Warriors is a place for people to challenge themselves on a variety of obstacles in an indoor and climate-controlled environment. Obstacles include the Salmon Ladder, Warped Wall, Quintuple Steps, Body Prop, Spider Jump, Rope Climb and so much more! The gym is staffed with trained professionals that have extensive knowledge and experience with a variety of fitness disciplines in addition to obstacle training. Samantha is an inspiring entrepreneur and accomplishes everything she sets her mind to.  Website: http://obstaclewarriorsdallas.com/ Website: http://www.obstaclewarriorkids.com/ Contact: samantha@obstaclewarriorsdallas.com Topics Discussed:  Samantha's reinvention story from real estate to Obstacle Gym Mogul How Samantha started the first female owned Obstacle Gym  How Samantha started the Gym despite the naysayers  Samantha's philosophies on starting and growing a business  Samantha's advice for entrepreneurs and getting things done  Why Samantha treats a business like a child and why you should too  The power of belief and avoiding negativity  The future of Obstacle Warriors  How Obstacle Warriors can help you achieve your fitness goals  Why YOU need to checkout Obstacle Warriors today!  Subscribe to Podcast: iTunes: http://bit.ly/Pathwaystosuccess Stitcher: http://bit.ly/1MmRW7T Website: http://www.julianplacino.com