Here’s how you, too, can train like the Sacramento’s very own American Ninja Warriors

Over the course of the pandemic, José Gomez’s Folsom neighbors got used to a strange sight: Sometimes they would come outside to find Gomez scaling the stony facade of his house.

Gomez, 40, has always been inclined to do “anything that required me to kind of flip, jump,” and tumble, he told The Sacramento Bee. But in recent years, he’s taken the leap from keeping active casually to bodybuilding and now, to the television contest “American Ninja Warrior.”

A first-time competitor appearing on season 13 of the show, Gomez was joined by other Sacramento-area contestants, including veteran ninja warrior and professional rock climber Meagan Martin, 31, who lives in Sacramento. During the semifinal episode earlier this week, Gomez and Martin competed for the chance to head to Las Vegas for a final round of competition.

While Martin didn’t complete the course during the semifinals, she was able to qualify for the finals in Las Vegas. Gomez, who competed in the semis on his birthday, got knocked out, but said participating in his first season of the show was “validation” and helped him believe in himself.

Both Gomez and Martin told The Sacramento Bee the chance to work toward their ninja goals, even amid all of the challenges inherent to living through a global pandemic, was “incredible” and an “honor.” For Sacramentans looking to try out the ninja lifestyle, Gomez and Martin recommended getting into a gym, finding ways to challenge your body and connecting with the ninja community.

Get to a gym

To get a feel for the kind of challenges you’d face on the show, Gomez and Martin recommended heading to one of several local gyms. Though it’s a bit of a hike, Traverse Fitness, in Richmond, is filled with ninja obstacles. The gym was founded by a squad of American Ninja Warrior participants.

“What’s really cool about that gym specifically is lots of times when you go into a ninja gym, the scale isn’t very similar to what you would see on the actual course if you’re competing,” Martin said. “But everything (at Traverse) is pretty big, and it really does give you that simulation of what you would feel if you were actually competing.”

Closer to home, Martin also recommends the Boulder Field. Martin’s fiance is in charge of route-setting at the gym, which features 10,000 square feet of bouldering terrain. Though it’s not a ninja gym specifically, Martin said rock climbing helps a lot with important ninja skills like grip strength.

Gomez suggests trying out The Studio Martial Arts and Fitness in Roseville, which in addition to martial arts classes hosts ninja obstacle course classes. Gomez and some of his fellow ninja friends help out as coaches at The Studio.

Challenge your body

Though climbing your house might be a bit extreme, Gomez suggests challenging your body any way you can, even around your neighborhood. During the pandemic especially, Gomez would make obstacle courses using blue tape in a kind of advanced version of the game every child knows—“the floor is lava.”

“Try to get creative,” Gomez said.

Martin also said rock climbing is a great way to acquire the skills needed for ninja obstacles, and that climbing allows her to focus on ninja-specific training a few months out of the year.

Join the community

Gomez and Martin extolled the benefits of joining a community of ninjas. For Martin, returning year after year to “American Ninja Warrior” has connected her with other women pushing past obstacles. Martin and two other women became the first women to advance to the “American Ninja Warrior” finals in 2014, several years after the show started up in the U.S. Martin also won the first championship for women, which aired earlier this year.

“Each year, I feel like there’s something new that women are doing awesome and it’s just been really cool to share that with each other,” Martin said of the kinship she feels with her fellow female competitors.

Gomez appeared on the show along with two of his training partners, Brian Montagnese and Francisco Barajas, who also made the semifinals. Gomez recommends finding ninjas to follow on Instagram. It’s easy to search using under #ninjawarrior, Gomez said.

This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM.