Kansas City American Ninja Warrior fans, who is ready for ANW Season 9? I know I am. American Ninja Warrior is coming to Kansas City on April 24-25, 2017. I have recently been playing around at Apex Climbing Gym in Overland Park, KS in their Ninja Warrior room. This is a great workout and place to work on balance and grip strength. Let me tell you what I have been up to.
In January I applied for American Ninja Warrior by submitting an application (application link). I probably will not be selected for the show, but it was fun training. I have strength, but ninja warriors have a different type of strength. After searching Kansas City for a ninja warrior gym, I came across Apex Climbing Gym in Overland Park, KS. This gym fit my hours and had the training equipment to help me with ninja strength.
Next, I set up a training program. I love to lift weights, so I kept this in my weekly schedule, but I added in Apex training. I changed my weekly schedule to have four weight training days (at Anytime Fitness Lee’s Summit or World Gym Merriam) and four Apex ninja warrior training days.
Weight training days were as follows: quads and glutes, shoulders and abs, hamstrings and glutes, back and abs. I changed my weight training to supersets to speed up my workouts and get my heart rate elevated. I also added in balance, hanging and core exercises into my weight training sessions. Then, 20-30 minutes of cardio after each weight training session.
Apex ninja warrior training was focused on hanging and balance. Usually, I would set up a superset of a hanging exercise and a balance exercise, and then repeat 5 times. I would keep doing different exercises for about 60 minutes. Sometimes I would add in some climbing in the climbing gym or some functional cardio. Examples of supersets are:
Flexed arm hang in cannonball alley/balance on tube
Campus board/ stand on tube and roll across room
Peg board/balance on board on 1 foot
Finger board/ Slackline
So, weight training and Apex ninja warrior training made up the bulk of my training, I also like to do some on my own. Local parks are filled with workout and ninja warrior training apparatuses. We live in Lee’s Summit, where our Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation program has built some outstanding parks and trails. Look at a park and see where you can jump, hang. Balance, push or pull yourself to do a workout. You can have a lot of fun in your own back yard. I have the benefit of having a Lee’s Summit park less than a mile away. One of my favorite workouts is to jog to the park, do a park workout and jog home. This is definitely a great way to start your day. Also, look around your house to see how you can hang or balance. Ninja Warrior training can be fun. Involve your family and kids to see how everyone can improve balance and strength.
