Lianna’s ninja journey

If you’ve spent any time around me, you’ve heard me talk about ninja. It’s my favorite form of exercise, but at first I found it really scary. My ninja journey shows the power of exercising consistently in a fun environment. 

Obstacle-course training (aka “ninja”) is structured playground time. It involves swinging on bars and rings, balancing on blocks, walking on barrels, and all sorts of other stuff that you may have done as a kid. I first learned about this type of exercise from the TV show American Ninja Warrior, which features some of the best obstacle-course athletes in the world. It looked like fun, so I sought out an obstacle-course gym near me. I nervously booked my first class at Action Athletics.

I was nervous because I didn’t feel prepared to complete the obstacles that the incredible athletes on American Ninja Warrior breezed through. I couldn’t even do a pull-up (I still can’t). In many ways, my fears were founded. During that first class, I couldn’t do anything and I was afraid of everything. I signed up for my second class in the car, because I knew that if I waited until I got home I would quit – and something told me I needed to continue this. 

I’m glad I listened to my gut.

Over the next few classes, I came to love ninja. 

I’ve never met a more welcoming community (aside from the one at Rozzie Fitness!). Two coaches in particular, Zaze at Action Athletics and Paulina at Amplify Fitness, were incredibly encouraging when I started. They capitalized on things I could do, like the monkey bars, and helped me progress to harder obstacles. I had so much fun that ninja became a priority. I did everything in my power not to miss a class. And my consistency paid off. 

During my first ninja competition, I completed obstacles that I couldn’t have dreamed of doing when I started. I did one obstacle (walking on a barrel) for the first time. And I shocked myself by finishing all the obstacles in the tier one course. My success was in large part due to the amazing ninja community, including coaches who have won national competitions and been on the TV show but still invest their time in beginners like me. 

I’ve competed in several ninja events since that first one and have improved a lot. In my first competition, the barrel took me 35 seconds. Two years later, the same obstacle took me 9 seconds. In those two years, I put in a lot of practice specifically on the barrel even though it scared me. And I did a lot of general ninja fear training by forcing myself to attempt scary things. 

The key is not to not be afraid, it’s to be afraid and do it anyway.

Ninja is the first thing in my life that I’ve been remarkably bad at, but enjoyed and stuck with anyway. I’m not selling myself short, you can ask anyone who was there for my early days. I was bad when I started, and I’m not ashamed of that. Because everyone’s bad when they start. I got better because I was consistent, and I was consistent because I had fun.

If you think you don’t like exercise, know that there’s an activity that will do for you what ninja did for me. Maybe it’s working out in a gym. Maybe it’s tennis, or pickleball, or soccer, or trampoline, or rock climbing, or ultimate frisbee, or baseball. There are so many ways to be active. 

So go out there, embrace your inner child, and have some fun!