It’s that time of year again where myself and tens of thousands of other hopefuls apply and are now awaiting word from American Ninja Warrior. In theory the west coast competition happens in mid March which means you’re hoping for a call sometime in February. If March comes around and you haven’t heard anything it pretty much means start training for next year unless you want to be a walk on (which unfortunately means camping out in Venice Beach for a week and a half which most people, myself included, aren’t going to do).
Although 50,000 applicants for 600 spots means the odds are forever not in our favor, most ninjas keep prepared just in case. So I’ve been doing my usual training program the last couple months which has been unstructured, sporadic and intuitive in hopes of keeping a mild baseline of ninja-fit. I’m not nearly where I was last year because life has pushed my priorities elsewhere but I’m still doing ok grand scheme.
In general I still train the same ways and keep as much variety as I can. As a goid example the last week has seen 3 “workouts”…
Mild Ninja training:
Rock Climbing/Basketball Shootaround
Gym: 5 circuits of increasing weight for about 10 reps:
Straight Arm DB Flys
Bridging DB Triceps Extension
Walking Lunge
Hanging Side Crunch & Skin The Cat
I just bought a razor scooter to incorporate as well and can’t wait to play around on that.
I’ll be sure to share if anything good happens on the ANW front!
Kyle Knapp Fitness 
Kyle, these are an inspiration to me. A student here told me about a simple yoga routine for after running. Are you familiar with this? I need something like that. He said it totally changed his injury history. Love you, Paul
Hey Paul- thanks so much. I’m familiar with the concept but probably wouldn’t know of the precise one they are using. Anything that stretches out the muscles you use for running (hip flexors, quads and calves) would likely help you however. I look around to see what I can find or I might just make my own, which is an intriguing thought… 🙂