How an American Ninja Warrior Trains

Rock-climber Meaghan Martin had an epic run on the qualifying course of American Ninja Warriors in Kansas City, Missouri.

By Jackelyn Ho

Meagan Martin — the third woman ever to complete the American Ninja Warrior qualifying course — has told us how she eats (and what she dreams about) while she prepares for competition. Now, Martin breaks down the rest of what it takes to be an American Ninja Warrior, from physical training to dealing with pre-competition nerves to handling the pressure of being one of the first women to tackle a male-dominated course.

Spright: You were on American Ninja Warrior, you rock climb, and you’ve done pole vaulting. How would you describe yourself now?

Meagan: Well, I’m a professional rock climber and that’s what I ultimately go by, but I clearly like to dabble in many sports. I personally enjoy being active and healthy, but typical gym workouts usually aren’t for me. I prefer to have fun and not pump iron in the gym, which some people think is fun but for me, it’s not.

Spright: What kind of workouts do you do now that you find fun?

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Meagan: I climb all the time, like 5-6 days a week. I just started doing the Orange Theory Fitness workouts, which I actually think is fun.

Spright: Does ANW have a headquarters gym that you can train at?

Meagan: No. There are some state of the art gyms that have a lot of the obstacles but the only thing available to me here are a couple of parkour gyms. They don’t really have the same kind of specific obstacles, but we just kind of make things up and have bars to hang around on.

Spright: For something like ANW, what kind of movements do you feel like are most helpful for the course?

Meagan: Having upper body strength and upper body coordination is helpful. A lot of the balance stuff is also really good to try and help replicate the obstacles. Luckily for me, I did gymnastics for a long time so the balance stuff is pretty helpful. My sister and I had a fence that was a couple of inches wide growing up around our house, and we would walk all the way around it.

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Rock climbing is really helpful because I use my entire body. In rock climbing, balance, coordination, and overall strength can be important.

Spright: I know that you’re climbing and working out all the time. Come competition day, is it still a difficult run for you? Are you still tired? Is it hard, or does it feel relatively easy?

Meagan: No, I definitely feel tired during competition. It’s also a lot in terms of getting your mind right for competition. There’s a lot more stress than you have in practice because you obviously want to do well and move on to the next round. You just hope that everything you’ve done prior to train your body is enough to handle it. I know after every round of competition I feel pretty tired.

Spright: Well you make it look so easy!

Meagan: Thanks! Well, there are certain things on the ANW course that are easier for me than other things. For example, in the Kansas City qualifiers, there were those rings that I wasn’t worried about at all. When I got to them, I felt very relaxed and even when I had a weird swing going, there wasn’t a second when I thought I was going to fall.

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Spright: Which do you think was the hardest? All time most difficult one?

Meagan: You know, I wasn’t a fan of the curtain slider in Vegas last year. It wasn’t necessarily hard, it was just weird. You could easily slip off of it. I think the jumping spider is pretty hard but it’s one that if you know the movement and if you know how to jump on a trampoline, it isn’t as hard as it seems. When you’re grabbing things or swinging to things, or even if you’re running up the warped wall, you kind of know that you’re going to be able to do it.

Spright: Do you feel like it’s more beneficial to go earlier or later? You get to watch people, right?

Meagan: Yeah, you get to watch other people. I think going right in the middle is the best. The way they air it, doesn’t mean that’s how people actually ran it. I think going in the middle is kind of perfect. Going first is kind of a disadvantage because you can’t see people go and going later just sucks because you’re waiting so much longer.

Spright: How much of the other runs do you get to see?

Meagan: You can watch as many people as you want to watch. At a certain point, I just stop watching because the more I watch the more nervous I get. I watch a good chunk of people and very specific people. If there’s going to be a girl then I want to see how she does on an obstacle, or if there’s a smaller guy that’s my height.

Spright: So you did the competition in Kansas City. What happens next?

Meagan: Next is the city finals, which they haven’t aired yet. Then after the city finals, you can make it to Vegas, which is the finals.

Spright: Do you feel like life has been different for you since you’ve been on the show?

Meagan: Yeah, a little bit. People in the climbing community already know who I am, but now random people stop me on the street, in a store, or at the airport. They watch the show and think it’s awesome. Today, a kid came up and said, “We’ve been watching all summer!” It’s so cute. All the kids I currently coach are just so obsessed with the show. After the Vegas finals aired last year, they were like, “Are you going on again? When are you going on again?” Every 2 weeks, they would ask me if I was going to be on American Ninja Warrior again. There was no way I could not have done it again because they would have been so devastated. It’s pretty cool, though.

Spright: As you’re getting ready for the competition, what is going through your head? What do you feel? What are the sights and sounds?

Meagan: Days before, I’m usually nervous. When I get there, I feel a little better. Then 30 minutes before I have to go, I’m really nervous again. I know with climbing when I get out there and turn around and look at the problem I have to climb, I feel so much better. With ANW, once I get past the first obstacle, I feel a lot better. Then I’m just trying to do my best and just have fun.

Spright: When they’re announcing everything, they make it a really big deal when you come on. They’ll say things like, “Oh, Meagan Martin is the first girl to the jumping spider,” or “She’s the first girl to climb the warped wall at the finals” — do you feel like that’s a bigger pressure on you to represent women?

Meagan: Oh, yeah. This year I felt so much more pressure. I was significantly more nervous prior to my qualifying run. So nervous, in fact, that I had to call my mother when I got there and I was totally crying. I told her, “I’m so scared!” and I was freaking out. And then she told me, “Meagan, it’s just an adult obstacle course. Relax.” And then I felt so much better. I mean, you always want to do well, but that’s a part of competition and it’s a good lesson to learn. When you have success in competition, it’s the best feeling ever.

Spright: Well, it’s also a huge weight lifted off your shoulders.

Meagan: Seriously. When I finished the course this year, I felt like I was dreaming. I didn’t even know what happened. I feel like it happened so quickly. I was so excited!

Spright: If you had a quote or life mantra that you want to share with people when it comes to competition, what would it be?

Meagan: Just to always try your best and make sure you’re having fun. I feel like everyone in a competition wants to win and I don’t think it’s good to focus on winning because you can’t really control that part. You can only control what you, yourself, are doing. Winning forces you to compare yourself to other people and I think that getting into that mindset of comparing is detrimental to your performance. Just focus on trying your best, giving it your all, and having a good time. You usually perform better and don’t get sucked into the negativity of competition.

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Images courtesy of American Ninja Warrior and Meagan Martin’s Instagram