Road to American Ninja Warrior - Day 54

in americanninjawarrior •  7 years ago 

@frank.crispo - 2.jpg

Day 54

With my first competition only a few days away, it was a super weird time in my Wednesday night Ninja Class... only 3 of us showed up, with the others presumably tapering off this week. We didn't do anything particularly strenuous, and worked more on flexibility and mobility, which actually highlighted a metric tonne of issues that I wasn't aware of.

Tried to do some single leg squats on an upside bosu ball.... nope, super super shakey.
Single leg pistol squats - hell no
Walk on a slack line - worst in class
Work on the spinning log - even worser in class (I realise that's not a word, but things are dire here!)
Handstands - what the? No.
Hanging from a hang board - also terrible.
Dead hang - better, but still not good.

We did one hanging upper body obstacle which I absolutely killed in... the others struggled but I breeze'd through like it ain't a thing, so that was a relief... basically it looks like I'm upper body strong, but not particularly mobile or flexible... which is not great for a ninja.



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The course on Saturday will have 8 to 12 obstacles, with a minimum of 3 upper body, 3 lower body and at least one balance obstacle. The accumulated fatigue will be brutal.

I can guess that the ring hopper will be upper body, the spinning log will be balance, the Warped Wall will be lower body and there will be a climbing all component but I'm not sure what that comes under. Very curious about the lower body obstacles because the gym doesn't have a lot... they're building like crazy at the moment though.

Very interesting times! Need to spend the next couple of days just balancing on junk...



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Today's exercises

Two hours of light Ninja play.

Injuries & sore spots

Pretty alright going into this.... left knee a bit dodge from the attempted pistol squats, but it was fine by bed.

Goals for January February

  • 20 minutes of stretching every day (inspired by @polebird)
  • At least 2 classes of acroyoga (inspired by @karensuestudios)
  • Hit the top of the 14' 6" wall with both hands (December's was 14")
  • One armed pull up
  • One handed pushup (challenged by @dolladu)
  • 8 foot peg board (challenged by @skiesandsports)
  • 15 minutes of meditation and visualization every day (challenged by @just2random)

Upcoming Events

  • Ninja competition (UNAA) in Portland - 4th Feb
  • American Ninja Warrior Experience in Phoenix - 10th Feb
  • American Ninja Warrior Experience in San Diego - 3rd March

Images provided by Google Image Search of 'Australian Ninja Warrior'.


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steemaroo divider and ninja upgoats drawn by the incredible @ryivhnn


Australian Ninja Warrior | Australian Ninja Games

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HAHAHAH you are going to spend the next few days balancing on stuff??? like what kind of stuff?? what about planning your outfit and your award acceptance speech???

He's a ninja. He'll balance on some shadows with a volcano erupting in the background.

I mean... you're not wrong.

I knew it!

He obviously needs to urgently revisit his priorities if his outfit and acceptance speech are not at the top of the list.

Hahahaha, you guys.... I did actually assign my partner the task of coming up with 'a look' for me if I got on TV... and she hasn't come up with anything yet... beardy hipster was never what I was aiming for, I just forgot to shave.

Have you ever seen MXC (most extreme elimination challenge)? I feel like there's a deep well of inspiration to draw from there.

MXC

MXC (most extreme elimination challenge)?

I have! I saw this show waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before I ever discovered Ninja Warrior... and even though it was ridiculous... I still always wanted to give it a good. When else might I ever be smacked by a giant rotating plastic hand?

Hahahaha, on all the things! Pillows, bowling pins, toasters, paper, oranges... it got messy, but it's the price you pay for good balance.

Ah, I'm a boy... we don't plan these things, we just wing it. I just wore whatever was clean.

LOL :D how'd it go!? looking forward to a post!!!

Nice! You can keep those pistol squats. They're killer :O

Ugh.... I couldn't even do one... I wasn't even close... but it is something I do need to work on, every good ninja needs fast strong legs of ace!

Never skip legs day :D Mostly because you'll just look like a chicken. I really admire what you're doing. Following along with avid attention :)

Dude you are gonna be on ninja warrior? That's sick, I have a slackline, hit me up and mob to Corvallis if you ever want to practice, good luck on Saturday man!

Thanks man! I'm trying to get on Ninja Warrior... I've got less than a 1% chance, but who wouldn't want a dodgy foreigner who moved across the world to compete?

Thanks dude, I've got a slackline, but if you're ever in Cornelius come check out my ninja shed.

"Light Ninja play" made me lol! Not sure if it sounds more like an hard rock band name or a sex thing.

It's a sex thing, it's how we charge up for battle.

You are so amazing!!! >:D< @aussieninja

Hahaha, thank you so much, my friend! I'm surrounded by such amazing athletes it inspires you to train harder.

All the best for 4th feb challenge. My best wishes are with you. @aussieninja cheers

Thank you so much my friend @kamchore! Your best wishes helped a lot!

Handstands are rough. Require a lot of connection with your legs that you don't naturally develop.

Yeah, I really struggle with them.. but like anything, if you put in the time you can become better. It's hard to know if it's something worth spending time on... but my shoulders have always been weak, so I really do think I should spend time on them. Hey, thanks for coming along and commenting, I really appreciate other fitness dudes dropping by.

And for balance I really liked walking on a big atlas ball from one point to another. Takes a lot of coordination and balance. My gym does it time to time with an 80 lb and 60 lb ball.

We need a fitness place for us all to hang out!

That's a great idea... I've got my own home gym, but a big atlas ball shouldn't be too expensive...

right how expensive can a big ass ball of cement be

Definitely we are few here from what I can tell. The balance and body control and that leg mind communication are definitely worth it. Probly not something to master with one armed handstands and all that but is something I feel you should be able to do to conquer what ever obstacle comes across you.

Wow, you're gonna compete on Ninja warrior! So f-ing awesome! Good luck man, definitely work on the flexibility and mobility as well, some of the obstacles are brutal indeed! You must be getting super stoked 🤙🏽

I'm definitely going to try! No one has heard if they're accepted onto Ninja Warrior yet... but at this point I'm as good a chance as anyone.

Good luck bro! Sorry I haven't been around lately, I've had a few things that came up I had to take care of...

Hey dude! That's okay man... stuff will always come up... I hope you're doing alright! Stuff will come and stuff will go but hopefully we'll always be here when you need.

More mobility and flexibility training then :D I'm the opposite, was awesome at mobility and flexibility but strength pffft lol no.

Do you still go hard in the leadup to the event? I've never trained for an event before, I'm just guessing you would from watching my older two training for comps over the last couple of years. They go pretty hard!

goatsig

So much more mobility and flexibility... it's a huge area of weakness which I wasn't super aware of...

This comp wasn't so important to me... I mean, it kinda was because everyone I know was there, but it's also not really because I'm actually way more excited for the Phoenix & San Diego events... so took a couple of days off but otherwise training as normal.

Perfect, we need one in our cult of Rayloth the Three-Headed god.

Man reading this post makes my muscles hurt already so huge respect for you keeping up the regime and passion for your Ninja Warrior journey!! All the best for your competition today / tomorrow - do let us know how you went! #teamaustralia

@aussieninja wow! I feel like I had a workout after imagining your training 👏🏼 Love the dedication! Best wishes friend 😊

Awesome! Good luck.