So we have been posting alot of new content on the blog and getting alot of info out their but I want to make sure everyone knows its not all business and hard work you have to have fun as well! So here is a few videos and photos of just for fun Ninja Warrior shenanigans!!
and to show you some of us are not all serious ^0^
Mike Bernardo primal scream! minus the axe :/
William Brown going SPARTA!! on Drew Dreschel's butt.
Andres "the careful" ninja is spotting ;)
James Sclar his beard keeps getting bigger and crazier, and arguably now the most epic beard in Vegas!
A few weeks ago myself, Yen Chen, Eric Cho, Dan Chen, and Chris Yang went on a camping trip to Yosemite at Camp 4 and had some ninja shenanigans at the Swinging Bridge. Its about a 9m video.
So I've been really busy this past week and will be into the next 2 as I continue to construct and build our Ninja Warriors Stage 3 section. Known as the Gauntlet. Its coming along and on schedule. I've put myself through hell working on construction by myself as I resurrect this beast! 19 feet long and 39 feet wide from 10-12'ft high.
Tomorrow I should be finishing up the last bits. Adding a few more pieces of lumber and concreting in 6 posts. I already have all/most of the materials to install and build the Rumbling Dice. I will be working on that and plan on going out Tuesday/Wednesday to make a large purchase for most of the materials I need to build these obstacles. Most of which will range from 12 to 20'ft long and be hanging from the rafters. Here is a few photos and video we released over the past week on our Facebook. If you haven't already like our page and get updates faster!
1,580lbs of concrete for our supporting posts
I think I'll it the sanctuary!
A mans tools for getting through 2ft of hard-pan
Its THIS big!
Starting the day off with a refreshed beginning
Almost their! Raising the left wing.
Angled beams for support of the 16' arms
This video talks about design and how things will be laid out. Not interesting if your not into that.
Cool view of some of the crazy things I did to build this.
A short video about recent progress and a funny challenge to ANW6
Sorry it has been a long time since I last updated on the progress of the training course! Things are moving by so fast. Last week we had our second local competition which I will include a video of that down farther in the post. We began "prettying up" the course and using the black and green koi theme on the Koi ladder through the course. We finished the Half Pipe Attack! and I'm pretty stoked to think(I do think) that this is the first near size replica of the HPA built in a backyard course.
Now we set plans and invites out to our big Invite Open Training Day at the CCNWTC and have begun the construction of our new mega expansion nicknamed The Gauntlet. Alright here we go!!
Half Pipe Attack Construction
So just before our second local competition I was hard at work finishing up the Half Pipe Attack! It took practically the rest of all my plywood and pre-cut lumber. I spent 1 week y myself building this little beast and taking footage/photos of parts of her construction. The weather started getting really hot this week. Here's come photos and clips from her constructions. Blueprints....eeeh maybe. We'll see.
New Legendary Obstacle. The Summers Shuffle.
This wicked upper body unstable crimp obstacle is from the pits of hell. The unknown child of the vertical limit and unstable bridge birthed into a beautiful but ever deadly ninja killer. Inspired by the man, the legendary 3rd stage garage course ninja Shaun Summers! Trust me its a beast, in the video below its not properly installed but will sill kick anyone's ass. In a couple of weeks its home will be set up.
June 29th: Quest for TOTAL Victory 2
Our second local competition at the course went down. This time we had quiet a few more people show up. Including about 5 guys from the local Central Valley Parkour, 4 crossfitters from my gym. CrossFit FTF, 2 skateboarders, and myself. A total of 12. Had a good vibe everyone was excited and a bit nervous.
No one was allowed to touch the course, we had them start fresh and in random order with those who have ran it before as the last to run the course.
We had quite a few slips, some face slams on the quintuple steps and for once on the warped wall saw someone fall face first on it when his feet slipped out from under him. Pretty crazy.
Only 2 made it clean through stage 1. Another would of if he didn't grab a off bounds area of the course. Me? I grazed my foot on the ground coming out of the Half Pipe Attack and didn't know it. Made it up the Warped Wall in one fell swoop and placed the fastest time when they announce I was DQ for touching the ground. Damn! that sucked haha but we had alot of fun. Ended up running out of time and didn't get to do stage 2. Everyone agreed to get ready for the big one coming up late July!
Course Walk-through. Like they do on the show when your brought on.
You wont see me in this video except for the intro. Our GoPro crapped out in the 100 degree heat and cut off right before my run lol nice!
MOAR PAINT!!
I joke that our course(a girl) found make up and started prettying herself up lol
I decided to bust out the 22 sheets of Masonite I have had in reserve for the past 4yrs and put it to good use. Painted it up and gave our 3 large obstacles a make over. The Warped Wall, the Balance Tank, and the Half Pipe Attack. Now the course is taking on an identiy the Koi fish leading you through the course as to where to go next. Man I think were going to need to make some t-shirts now!
The CCNWTC Invite Open Training Day and BBQ
I've been waiting to hold this event for almost a year now and it will fall on the 1yr anniversary of the ninja warrior training course since I started breaking it down from its Mini Mega Skateboard ramp days. I am inviting alot of my CrossFit and Ninja Warrior buddies within a couple states. Were excepting no more than 50 ninjas to come and have fun all day from 8am to sunset training practicing, we"ll have a fun mini competition, and an amazing BBQ!
I am working in full gear and build mode! Building measuring cutting not only to finish our next major expansion The Gauntlet(which I will go over soon) but to build shade out in the acres cause its 100+ degrees outside with no shade and even the best of ninjas aren't going to last long in that weather.
Alot of planning is going into this event to make sure everything goes well and everyone has fun!
The Gauntlet. A Epic Expansion. 07/06/2013
We made a point to focus on stage 1 type obstacles where we first started. The logic was you need to get past the first stage before you get to any of those upper body crazy obstacle. So why build them right off the bat. Start off with the basics and once you have a decent Stage 1 built, then begin on your 2nd and 3rd stage.
Well we finished the majority of our stage 1. Now we begin on really the first expansion we've needed to do. The gauntlet is a massive structure that will house 8 stationary stage 3 obstacles and one central hanging area that will have over 20 interchangeable hanging obstacles inside of it. With recent donations from local competitions, visits, and now donations from the upcoming event we are able to fund this $500+ expansion!
We just made our first purchase and will probably be making another 1 or two back to Home Depot to finish this project. When finished it will be almost 40ft wide an average of 10ft high and 20ft long. It will take up and 800 sqft area of our backyard. Here is a few pics from its recent progress.
So a few days later I put a little paint on to make it stand out and go to install this new little beast for its first test runs and make sure it can stand the abuse.
Things I like about this design so far.
It can be carried and transported, each beam weighs about 12-15lbs(w rungs) so if you want to take it to a friends and strap/screw it down you can.
The rungs are straight forward and simple to construct, therefore easier to replace if broken.
Varied gap distances can be changed in a matter of seconds weather you want to make a 6", 12", 18" or 36" gap! :o
It was about 90+ degrees out when I first test the ICSL. All rungs were set to a 12" gap. An the bar felt about 100 degrees hot on touching it. If you watch the video you see after the my first leap I fail me second this is due to a flaw in the current design.
The 4" spaces inbetween rungs were splitting due to the pressure when swinging, leaping, and landing on the . rung. This was causing the rungs to slip and actually drop about 1-2" and sliding out. Not good! So I've come up with a new modification to add to the design to make it stronger and hopefully should do the trick. I will need to cut all new rungs though :/ Thank God they are all fairly easy to make though unlike the Koi Rungs.
So its about two weeks out till Denver, CO has their turn at the ANW5. Normally I wouldn't be able to make this kind of trip but with some help from the people in my life and the CrossFit box I work out of, they are helping raise money for my trip and I do not want to disappoint! So Denver has a different elevation, a bit higher than where I'm use to coming from Central California. How is the best way to train and pre-pair my body for that elevation? Here it is...
At higher elevation there is less pressure. Less pressure to force the oxygen into your lungs and system so the build up of acid in your muscles will be quicker. You will feel more tired and wont be able to perform as long as your use too. Plus the course takes about 1 to 2 minutes to complete. So I'm going to give you a few tips here on how to help charge your system for the course.
Condition:
There are many great ways to do conditioning. CrossFit being one of them, but I'm not here to tote for CrossFit. The best way to get your body conditioned, in a short amount of time is to help reduce the speed at which the acid begins to build by doing Interval Training.
Running or rowing: 1 minute on, 1 minute off. For 6 to 10 rounds. Give your MAX effort for that 1 minute and then rest 1 minute. If you can do this well without getting tired to much (or without seeing a decrease in your average round) decrease your rest time by 10-15 seconds.
For more specific training I suggest going TABATA. This type of training can be applied to pullups, bar holds, box jumps, and any other type of movement you can perform on the course. *TABATA is a very specific format of working out. 20s of max effort work, followed by 10s of rest, do 8 rounds of that one movement and then move to the next. Usually you see TABATA is grouped with 4 movements*
Here is a workout I called "TABATA Bing" that you can try. Post your total # of reps in the comments: Rowing (count total meters) Pullups(kipping allowed) Back Squats at 95lbs Deadlift Hold w/ Fat Bar at 155lbs (count only seconds held. after bar drops do not pick it back up till your next set)
This type of conditioning will help train your body for that 1-2 minutes of running the course. Keeping your muscles from tiring too soon, cramping up, and keeping your heart rate down. PLUS drink lots of water!!
Eating:
We all know diet is a huge part of how we perform! I just wanted to let you on to a recent scientific study found about Spinach. It is more of super food than we actually knew, no its not all the iron in it! An also Creatine is a big part of buffering your system to prevent muscle fatigue.
Researches have found that eating a minimum of 3 cups(or about 300g) a day for 3 days can increase your cells ability to take in oxygen by 3-5% which is massive in such a short period of time! Translated it will allow you to take in less oxygen for the same results and you will become not as tired as quickly during physical activity.
Creatine Monohydrate, one of the most research supplements out there and proven. What it can do for you will increase that amount of times you can give your max effort. More explosive jumps, longer grip hold, and so on.
Take 5 grams twice a day. Morning and night or 30 minutes before a workout and with a post workout shake. If you keep this up your system should have a larger amount of stored creatine needed to help give you an extra edge.
How does Canam Productions for American Ninja Warrior choose submission?
I know I wondered this when I thought I put out a killer video for this season 5 of ANW. I talked to one of the casting agents at Canam and asked, "Why was my video not chosen? Was there something wrong or didn't include? Is there something I should be marketing myself more towards?" and this is the response I got.
Paraphrasing here: "Jason we looked through every single video and for your region there was alot. Somewhere around 2000 and yours was up there among the best we picked. You had a really good video so we picked it among others and then we gave it to the producer. The producer looks over the videos and tells us which ones he wants. I'm sorry" I asked if they knew what kind of things he looks for. I just got a blank answer and saying that they don't really know.
So I was sorta shocked to hear that my video was held very high, felt honored to but didn't get picked. But as was said its a two step process. The main casting agents(Canam) do simply that cast out for potential contestants for the show. However it is not their decision who gets on, it is fully up to the Producer and whatever personality or skills hes looking for to qualify those top 100+ invites to the show.
Honestly I should have already known this seeing its exactly how it works in the walk on spots. They film around and the producers picks who he would like out of the line.
After I talked about this I asked if there was any possibly way I could get an invite to Denver? I was told it would be a really hard region to get an invite in but I did have a good video. Its just the producer rejected my video once what will keep him from doing it again? So they put my video in at the pot of videos for the Denver region. From what I was just told today Canam is finishing their call backs next week. I'll hang on tight and see if it all comes through. If not?
Its alright, I'm going to go for a walk on too so lets see how this all plays out!
Train hard my friends and if your not already from that region or high of elevation start conditioning and acclimating yourself to that environment. PS: Elevation masks wont help. They will simply allow you to burn more calories because your taking in less oxygen. You need to increase oxygen intake not decrease it!
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We made a point to focus on stage 1 type obstacles where we first started. The logic was you need to get past the first stage before you get to any of those upper body crazy obstacle. So why build them right off the bat. Start off with the basics and once you have a decent Stage 1 built, then begin on your 2nd and 3rd stage.
So a few days later I put a little paint on to make it stand out and go to install this new little beast for its first test runs and make sure it can stand the abuse.
So I was sorta shocked to hear that my video was held very high, felt honored to but didn't get picked. But as was said its a two step process. The main casting agents(Canam) do simply that cast out for potential contestants for the show. However it is not their decision who gets on, it is fully up to the Producer and whatever personality or skills hes looking for to qualify those top 100+ invites to the show.