Ninja Warrior success relies on a mixed bag of skills, and there’s no single sporting background that guarantees victory — but ask competitors and armchair experts which sport gives you the edge, and they’ll inevitably tell you it’s rock climbing.

The only two men to finish the entire American Ninja Warrior course (Isaac Caldiero and Geoff Britten) are rock climbers, and the climbers on Australian Ninja Warrior agree it delivers a huge advantage.

“When you’re running the Ninja course it’s mostly upper-body and grip-strength and core stability and throwing your body around in the air — climbing employs all that stuff every time,” Alex Matthews, a rescue firefighter and avid climber, tells Coach.

Andrea Hah, an exercise physiologist with a reputation as a powerful rock climber, says the pursuit naturally develops “upper body strength and the ability to swing around and throw your body”, skills key to Ninja Warrior.

“Obviously training on Ninja Warrior obstacle courses is the ideal training [for Ninja Warrior],” she laughs. “But I think climbing is really good.”

She says her climbing experience is what helped the nail the tricky obstacle in the first round of heats, particularly the pipe climber.

“We had to grip our way along the pipes without our feet on them — that’s a very climbing-specific manoeuvre,” she tells Coach.

“It’s a sport very different to others.”

Source
COACH
nine.com.au

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