The ninja

Come to think of it, it really is rather incongruous for someone as unathletic as me to be avidly following the television über obstacle show American Ninja Warrior. For those whose interest tend more towards The Legal Wife or Game of Thrones, American Ninja Warrior has contestants go through various stages of an obstacle course, each stage longer and more difficult than the previous one, until one reaches the final stage, the fabled Mount Midoriyama, which the hosts claim is the most difficult, most brutal obstacle course in the world (of course, the two hosts – one of them allegedly an “Olympic legend” – are very prone to exaggeration, which is necessary I guess to hype up the challenge of the course and the excitement of the show).

In the US, the show is already on its sixth season. Here, we’re just on the fourth season, and they have literally brought the mountain to the contestants. In the three previous seasons, the finalists traveled to Japan to face Mount Midoriyama; this time the giant obstacle course was reconstructed in Las Vegas, where 100 finalists – color coded according to the six regions where trials were conducted – are hoping to get to and complete stage four, to reach the top of the mountain and win the prize of half a million dollars.

The obstacles are by no measure easy, requiring not just strength but agility and balance. Imagine running up a curved 14-foot wall (appropriately called the warped wall), grabbing on to the ledge then hoisting yourself up, or traversing the length of a wall by hanging on by your fingertips to a series of really thin wooden strips. Or hang from a bar and bring the bar up a series of steps in the salmon ladder, and cross a “bridge” of four bouncing, spinning balls.

Despite the obvious need for strength and physical prowess, getting through the course is a mental game too, as contestants must figure out the most efficient way to attack the obstacles and how to pace themselves in order to complete the extended courses. The best of them go through seemingly effortlessly, with graceful, fluid movements and laser-sharp focus, some with great flair too and even humor, playing to the crowd.

Difficult as it may be, becoming a ninja warrior is surprisingly democratic. Aside from the expected athletes (a Harlem Globetrotter is among the finalists), parkour and free running practitioners, stuntmen, coaches, trainers and the like, there is also a software engineer, a fisherman, a grandfather (at 53 the oldest competitor), businessmen, teachers, dancers... There is a diabetic and several who have had series injuries and illnesses. So far there hasn’t been a journalist or writer among the contestants, and I don’t imagine there being one anytime soon, although I guess I shouldn’t conclude that all journalists are as unfit as I am. But maybe what we do best is watch from the sidelines and analyze, go through the course in our head... and of course ace it every time!