Trainer’s Appearance On American Ninja Warrior TV Show Is A Rewarding, Illuminating Experience
On June 12, American Ninja Warrior season 9 will air on NBC. I had the huge honor of being selected, one of 600 out of 75,000 applicants, to compete on the show.
Something that was an incredible experience for my family and me. They even flew a camera crew up to do a full featurette on me in Antioch.
What’s unique about this competition is the incredible amount of grip strength necessary to make your way through the obstacles. For me it was a little harder because the “bigger” guys are usually 170 pounds max compared to my 225+ pounds.
So I had the odds stacked against me to be successful. I had to have great grip strength to even have a chance. It’s something I earned during my NFL days from having to hold heavy weights to get stronger and powerful enough to compete at that level.
Appearance on American Ninja Warrior
In American Ninja Warrior, if you don’t have the strength to hold on when going through the challenging portions you’ll fall into the water and you’re out. End of story. In order to have a chance, you literally have to be able to “hang in there.”
Follow our Twitter account @sportstarsmag for live tweets from Anthony during the American Ninja Warrior season premiere Monday, June 12 at 8 p.m. on NBC
I want you to think about how much this concept ties into your life and workouts. Most likely you have a very specific goal for your training. Maybe it’s gaining muscle, strength, power, quickness, or stamina. You have a reason every day to pick up those weights and put in work, but if your grip is weak, and you can’t hold heavier weight, then you can’t excel. In reverse, the more weight you can carry and move around with during your workouts, the better you can get physically.
When you can hang onto heavier weight you can “hang” in the weight room. If you can hang in the weight room you can “hang” in the game. If you can hang in the game then you can “hang” in life and chase even the craziest goals like getting onto American Ninja Warrior.
Goals and dreams don’t happen fast or easily in life though.
Just like in the weight room the “weight” of life can be heavy, but you can’t lose your grip. You have to hang in there on your training program when you’re at a plateau. Hang in there when you have to stick to your diet. Lastly, hang in there after a tough loss. When you do you’ll be in the rare air of success in your life.
What’s great is that the weight room can teach you these amazing life lessons because it tests both your physical and mental limits. So if you can excel in there you can excel in life.
To give yourself the best chances of “hanging in there” during your workouts, and, in turn, your life.
Here are four things you can do:
1. Have a crystal-clear deep-seated reason to go to work out every day, and make sure it’s locked in your head for when the workout hits the hard point and you have to push through to get better.
2. Don’t take it easy. Choose weights and exercises to test your limits so you can continually level up and make it easier and easier to “hang in there” as the workouts get harder, because they will. As they should.
3. Work specifically on your grip strength so you can hold heavier weight to get stronger over time.
4. Don’t drop the weight! In other words, do not quit. The only difference between winning and losing is whether you stay the course or quit like everyone else does.
Take these steps into account next time you’re training.
In life and in the weight room you have to literally and figuratively “hang in there” to succeed.
If you want to see whether I “hung in there” or not on American Ninja Warrior, make sure to tune in June 12 on NBC.
Anthony Trucks is an IYCA-certified trainer and owner of Trucks Training. He covers weight training for SportStars.
POWERED BY TRUCKS
By Anthony Trucks