I found myself staring at the nations toughest obstacle course. The Philadelphia round of American Ninja Warrior testing was about to begin. Pre-race anxiety was flowing through my body like never before. “What the hell did I even get myself into here?” I think the photo I have here really brings to life the thoughts I had racing through my head quite well.
Truth be told though, I have never been surrounded by so many amazing people in my life. The athleticism I was surrounded by was unlike anything I have ever seen since I can’t even remember when. I showed up to test run the course, and I can tell you, the course IS as hard as it looks on TV (and quite arguably a lot harder). I would have LOVED to take footage for you all about , but I have learned that the TV world is EXTREMELY particular about what can / cannot happen during these sorts of shoots. I was not allowed to take a ton of photos. SORRY!
Today, I am going to walk you through the awesome parts of my experience, the off putting things I encountered at the event, and decisions I have made to run through the course that lies ahead in all areas of my life.
Ninjas, let’s get this party started.
The Awesome
I met some of the most supportive men of my life. Upon arrival, I realized I was 1 of about 7 women. Out of the group of 50, that meant the remaining 43 participants were male. As intimidated as us ladies all were, the guys really cheered us on to tackle the obstacles in front of us. There were a lot of high fives and a lot of sweaty hugs. Our group of ladies were challenged in ways we couldn’t even imagine, and standing on the stage to perform (THOUGH IT WAS FRIGGIN’ NERVE RACKING!) was incredible. Everyone cheers you on! It made us all feel like queens of the stage! I would willing show up to this event again just to be surrounded by that level of positive energy. It is second to none!
The Off Putting
Beef number 1. I found the television crew, cameras at every corner that you turn, and the hustle and bustle of the filming itself was a tad bit too much for me to swallow. I am not cut out for TV shows, I realized that when I stood on stage. Youtube is much more fun for me, and I will keep it as such. With there being 50 people around, long lines at the obstacles formed and I found myself unable to test a number of them. In fact I was only on 2, and this happened at the very end of the day (mind you it was 91 degrees outside with like 75% humidity. Filming began at 4:30 p.m. and ended around 8:15 p.m. LONG ASS DAY). With it being at the end of the day, myself and a few others found ourselves in a situation where we were unable to snag solid camera time. Blarg! My apologies to yinz all! That did NOT go according to my plan at all! Boo hiss!
The second beef I had with the TV peeps was that they had specifically told us at the course to NOT test certain obstacles because they were reserved for certain types of people. <—-read this again. I understand that the course is challenging and certain people probably have better grip strength and pulling strength for certain obstacles, but-for-the-love-of-God-give-us-strong-people-a-chance!
I don’t particularly think it is fair to deny someone the right to test certain things because you don’t appear to have the skill. That being said, this is the television world and the TV business has certain objectives to sell their stuff. I get it. I do. I just find that kind of annoying, especially since one of their very own competitors probably faced the same kind of broo-haha, and guess what? She completed the course.
The Course That Lies Ahead
If any of you ninjas do get selected for this course, I am telling you from personal experience that this years course is the toughest course I have seen yet. IT. IS. HARD! I wish you all the best of luck though, and I cannot wait to see this thing on television for those that do make the final round in Vegas.
As for me, I have decided to keep running my own course. I have been putting out a lot of confusing memos lately on my social mediums. My apologies to all of yinz. My life is all sorts of wild lately. Attending this event made me realize that what lies ahead for me is something truly unique, truly cutting edge, and something truly amazing that is unlike anything the world has ever seen. The best advice I have ever received in my life came from one of the ninja dudes that I spoke with at American Ninja Warrior. We had chatted up a storm about what I do for a living, and the obstacles surrounding the very situations I have on my hands. I will never forget this man’s words.
“Don’t think ABOUT the obstacles. Think THROUGH them. “
I’ve decided to keep running my race, and finish the thing too. My South Side hub shall be opening up in a few weeks into June for private and semi private training. I am also taking on more online coaching clients at this time. Stay tuned for all this and more! Monday I am launching the very kettlebell and body weight training program that I completed that got me through the incredibly demanding X-Man race in Toronto, Canada in solid time. Trust me, you DON’T want to miss out on this. Details soon to come!
Remember, don’t think about the obstacles. Think THROUGH them. Stay the course and finish the race on the road that lies ahead.
Press on!
