Ninja Warrior - Training on the Beach in Santa Monica, California

About a month ago, G4 TV held an "Americanized" Ninja Warrior competition down in Santa Monica, California which they were going to open to the public. They built a small obstacle course with replicas of five of the exact obstacles competitors face in Japan. The obstacles they built were:

#1 = The Sextuple Steps
#2 = The Pipe Slider
#3 = The Cliff-Hanger
#4 = The Jumping Spider
#5 = The Warped Wall

As soon as I heard about the event, I just knew I had to go, despite the fact that I live 700 miles away in Salt Lake City, Utah. The travel distance didn't matter to me. I wanted to compete on that obstacle course, so I made the trip and was there early that Saturday morning waiting in line to compete. While waiting, I was able to meet several other Ninja Warrior "super" fans (as they should be called), which was very, very cool.

Upon signing up to run the course, G4 employees donned me with what seemed like full body armor. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest with this.... all competitors were REQUIRED to wear/use a helmet, a mouthpiece, a full spinal back brace, elbow pads, and knee pads. It really inhibited my ability to move. Nevertheless, when it was my turn to run the course, I felt confident that I'd be able to conquer it.

The first four obstacles of the course.... Simple. And, again, I'm not just saying that. I blew past all four of them without any trouble whatsoever. G4 gave all competitors a full minute to conquer the course. I was at the fifth and final obstacle (the Warped Wall) with 31 seconds to spare. I was on a roll.

However, that 17-foot Warped Wall got the best of me. I tried a total of six times to run and jump up it, and nearly every time my fingers just graced the top of the ledge, but wasn't enough of a grip to hang onto. I ended up running out of time.

A sad story, but not one that I'm going to let get me down. I'm looking at this experience as a blessing in disguise, in that I was able to test my abilities on perfect replicas of Ninja Warrior obstacles. My experience in Santa Monica proved to me that (for the most part), I've got the course down. But now that I know the Warped Wall is a particularly challenging obstacle for me, from this point on, I'm going to focus on training for it.

Most people don't know this, but Makoto Nagano (arguably the greatest Ninja Warrior of all time) failed on the Warped Wall on his first two attempts at Ninja Warrior, but from this third attempt on.... he's never again failed the Warped Wall. After training his body for that particular obstacle, he's always gotten past it.

That's going to be me. I may have failed in California, but that failure is going to be my stepping stone towards a success in Japan. When I come up against the Warped Wall again, this time in Japan.... It won't stand a chance.

If you're interested in watching the event on G4 TV, they'll be broadcasting it, along with new Ninja Warrior episodes, on June 21st. So, be sure to watch that.

This YouTube Video is comprised of training clips from Santa Monica. After the G4 Ninja Warrior event was over, I went with a couple of other competitors to train at a "muscle park" further down the beach.

All in all, the whole trip was an amazing experience. I don't regret going for an instant.

-- Jake Hilton (NixSeraph)

Category:

Sports

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• freerunning
• santa
• monica
• california

[dunn4040]

Is that equipment that you were using on the beach always set up like that?

[NixSeraph]

It's already there.

[ultimask8er]

It was nice meeting you my Ninja! Good luck!

[NixSeraph]

Thanks! I enjoyed meeting you and the other guys, too!

[elfondo]

Thanks for the advice but there is no where i could do pull ups :(

[NixSeraph]

You could always buy a pull-up bar at any of your local sports stores. Pull-up bars are excellent for training your upper-body strength! They're usually cheap to buy and easy to install--right into any doorframe. Just a thought.

[Aasinp]

Hey man I'm really rooting for you here. I hope you get to achieve your dream in Japan.

[david1513]

dam thats one strong ass dude, if i tryed that the meat wagon would have to come and get me,

[ItsSalim509]

Restart the video and press one repeatley

[armadyllcrown]

i used to climb at school like the 1 rope only hand thingy and no1 got at the top except my XD

[THEKenMayhem]

What band is this?

[organicdarrin]

So.....when little kids do that stuff, its called a playground......when adults do it, it's called ninja warrior training!?

[lvdjn]

wish they had this sort of equipment in germany and for free.

so great this thing!!

[apt981]

If you win, then this "training" is good, and if u fail, then it's a wast of time to train like that .

[supermarioluigiclub]

I COULD TOTALLY DO THE BAR JUMPING

[TheWupperdo]

Awesome story. I wish they had equipment like that around where I live, that looks fun as hell =)