dominated to score a spot in the show鈥檚 final round. That鈥檚 a feat most men never accomplish, and no woman had ever done before, and it earned her a worldwide following overnight. Below, the 24-year old gymnast shares her expert advice with Erin Beresini on getting Ninja fit.
Focus on your forte, not things you can鈥檛 change. My height can be a disadvantage because where guys might have a bigger wingspan and can reach for something, I have to really jump for it. (She鈥檚 5 feet tall.) But I鈥檓 light and lean鈥擨鈥檓 only 100 pounds鈥攕o I鈥檓 as strong as I can be for my bodyweight.聽
Up your strength-to-weight ratio. Doing bodyweight exercises, agility drills, and balance things, that鈥檚 how you鈥檒l really be able to tell when you鈥檙e as strong as you can be for your bodyweight. Lifting weights and using gym equipment鈥攜ou don鈥檛 really know how efficient that is for your body. Go out there and do things like obstacle courses that are challenging your body. Being able to do 10 reps of something in the gym is great if that鈥檚 your goal, but what can you accomplish now because of that?聽
Our strength training is all bodyweight exercises鈥攑ull-ups, push-ups, squats鈥攂ecause you want to be as light and lean as possible while being strong. (Catanzaro trains with her boyfriend, American Ninja Warrior veteran .) You don鈥檛 want a whole lot of extra weight that you鈥檙e carrying around, even if it is muscle. You don鈥檛 want muscles to make you too heavy so you can鈥檛 hold yourself up long enough.
Do event-specific practice. (Catanzaro and Steffensen work for San Antonio-based , a company focused on building permanent Ninja-like obstacle gyms across the U.S.)聽
When I first came to San Antonio, the facility was a test facility for building obstacles. There would be obstacles up every now and then to test, but we didn鈥檛 really have a gym full of obstacles to train on. We had rings, ropes, and things like that. But this year we had mock Ninja Warrior obstacles鈥攚e had a warped wall, the salmon ladder.
When you get (to the show), the materials aren鈥檛 the same, you don鈥檛 know exactly the sizes or dimensions. Also, there鈥檚 cameras, lights, people, it鈥檚 at night, and you鈥檙e tired. But it definitely helps mentally to say to yourself, “Okay, I鈥檝e done a version of this obstacle before, so I know I can get through that.”
Keep pre-race meals light鈥 I don鈥檛 like to eat too much before competing. It might be five, six hours after I eat that I compete. So I have a salad with some protein in it. Later on, an hour or so before my run, I鈥檒l take a bite of a nutrition bar for a little bit of that natural sugar, and a bit more energy to hold on to.聽
…then cheat a little. After being so strict on your diet and your workouts, and you鈥檝e accomplished something and put your whole self out there, we like to do a cheat night afterwards, whether it鈥檚 pizza or pasta or ice cream. It鈥檚 nice to kind of let yourself go and enjoy it sometimes too.聽
Find your inspiration. Growing up in the gymnastics world, has always been one of my biggest heroes鈥攕he鈥檚 an amazing gymnast, an amazing person, and she鈥檚 done so many great things. She really inspires me, so before I ran the course I watched . The music really gets me pumped up, and watching her inspires me because she鈥檚 definitely a childhood hero of mine.
Earn it. One of the small little phrases that I like is: Earned, not given. It was the background on my phone for a while. It鈥檚 a nice little reminder that nothing should come easy. You put your work in, and you enjoy your journey. You go through whatever you have to go through to get to your goal, and it makes it that much more worth it than if somebody had just handed it to you.