The Heart of a Ninja; Stretch Your Boundaries

By Chris Warnky

Do you love the show American Ninja Warrior? Would you like to feel more excitement and fun in your life? If so, this is the book for you.

Author Chris Warnky developed a ninja heart by training as a ninja warrior starting when he was 58 years old. He describes how he “won” as a ninja without even being invited to compete on the show. Find out how he won and how he accomplished his goals. Enjoy the ride as you walk along with him on his stimulating three-year journey, and see how you also can win through ninja training even by just taking baby steps.

This book is about our hearts, minds, and bodies. Chris shares:
•We are not excluded from stimulating and fun activities because of our age
•Insights into the ninja warrior experience
•12 key traits of ninjas and how they can help you in your life
•Tips from the behind-the-scenes lives of 14 ninja warriors

You will learn how to better take on and beat the obstacles that you face in your life. Chris engages you with stimulating questions relative to ninja warrior experiences and insights. He includes personal stories from 11 guys who competed on American Ninja Warrior at age 50 or older, and three women ninjas who competed at age 40 or older, including Jon Stewart, Michael Moore, John Loobey, Joyce Shahboz, and Selena Laniel.

Enjoy the stimulating ninja path that Chris is experiencing and see how you, too, can gain from a similar experience and love your life even more.

Chris Warnky is the father of American Ninja Warrior favorite Michelle Warnky. He has competed in many competitions including the American Ninja Warrior 2017 Cleveland City Qualifier and several National Ninja League qualifiers. Chris is a Movement Lab Ohio Ninja Lite instructor. He is an executive and life coach and a certified coach, speaker, and trainer with the John Maxwell Team, and is active in the International Coach Federation. He lives in Westerville, Ohio. This is the first of a series of books he plans to write about the ninja warrior experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Warnky
• Release date: Dec 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9780999333112

Chris Warnky

Chris Warnky is the father of American Ninja Warrior favorite Michelle Warnky. He has competed in many competitions including the American Ninja Warrior 2017 Cleveland City Qualifier and several National Ninja League qualifiers. Chris is a Movement Lab Ohio Ninja Lite instructor. He is an executive and life coach and a certified coach, speaker, and trainer with the John Maxwell Team, and is active in the International Coach Federation. He lives in Westerville, Ohio.

Book preview

Preface

I wrote The Heart of a Ninja to entertain you, encourage you, and challenge you to take your life and health up to another level, enabling you to live a longer, healthier, happier life.

I hope through my experience, stories, and example you will be encouraged to make some positive personal changes that will transform not only your life but the lives of those you love and interact with.

I have a dream that thousands of people will start to physically move and play again, which will change their worlds. They will live longer and more happily, be more engaged with life, have more friends, realize more dreams, experience more joy and more celebration of life, have bigger smiles, and receive a lot more hugs and high fives. I hope you will be one of those people who make a very active and positive improvement in your lifestyle.

Introduction

Challenges and Obstacles

I was committed to learn how to write this year, and to write two books. I have written the two books, and one of them will even be published this year. I sit here with tissues, cough drops, and hot peppermint tea close by, in our guest room where the eastern sun peers through the window across my face in the early morning. It feels so good, like being on the beach in Florida, especially in contrast to the past 25 days since I came down with a bad cold, on December 23rd, just before Christmas. I had partially recovered from this cold over a two-week period, but it came back in full force almost a week ago. Life can be hard.

Life provides us with plenty of challenges and obstacles that we have to deal with. What a fitting way to start this book, which is all about how to face and beat obstacles – on a ninja course and in life.

I Won the Heart of a Ninja

Over the past three years I have developed the heart of a ninja. I feel even younger than I did back at age 57. I have won in the way that I have lived my life, investing significantly in ninja activities: moving, playing, gaining strength and balance, and learning and growing as a person. I am excited about taking you along as I retrace my past three years. It has been such a great ride, creating an even better future for me. I am fully convinced that you can experience the same.

American Ninja Warrior® Boldly Walked In

I hope you learn some valuable lessons from the experiences and insights that I share. American Ninja Warrior boldly walked into our lives, sat down, and made itself very comfortable right in the middle of our living room. I hope you will enjoy this ride as much as I have.

Initial Thoughts for the Book

There is so much I would love to share that I feel could be fun, interesting, and helpful for so many. This book is the start of that sharing.

When I first sat down to outline this book and see what I could or would like to include, I came up with a fantastic outline with many great stories and points. But I soon realized it was too much, so I divided the content into three books. This is the first book.

Then when I began writing I realized it was still too much, so several chapters that were in the original outline will show up in a future book, including chapters called The Benefits I Have Gained from My Training, New Friends Everywhere, Key Lessons Learned, and Injuries and How to Help Prevent Them.

This has been such a fantastic ride, which makes it hard to cut out so much of the fun I have experienced. Pulling content is the right thing to do to provide you with a shorter, more manageable and enjoyable read. You will learn about my additional experiences in future books.

Keep the fun in it, so I want to do it next month too.

– Ninja John Loobey

For Whom Is This Book Intended?

The Heart of a Ninja was written for those who love American Ninja Warrior and are avid ninja fans, and for those who are curious about the behind-the-scenes activities of ninjas.

It will be a fun read for my fellow ninjas, as they will get to read about their similar hearts, minds, and ninja experiences as reflected by another ninja. Many of you ninjas will be able to relate to almost everything written in these pages.

It is also for those who know that they need more movement and play in their lives, for both their mental and physical health. I am hoping I can help you over that hump or roadblock that might be standing in your way. If I can do this, you can do it. It is extra interesting for those 40 and above, as I wrote it from the perspective of now being 60 years young.

Movement

You will relate to The Heart of a Ninja if you have sat on the couch in front of the TV and watched one or more episodes of American Ninja Warrior. It is especially for those of you who have said, either in your mind or maybe even out loud, I could do that! or even, Wow, I could never do anything like that! I will share many insights about my training experience that you will find interesting and stimulating.

The May 2017 AARP Bulletin stated that between 18 and 39 percent of people age 50 and over engage in no physical activity. Based on my experience, these numbers seem low. I believe we need to work hard to reduce these numbers. Movement is a critical aspect of our health. As we continue to focus on improving our health, we should keep in mind the following warning from the Mayo Clinic: Sitting is the new smoking. If we truly want to live long and healthy lives, we should find ways to incorporate much more movement into our lives in ways that are fun and doable.

You will be amazed at the potential that exists within you right at this very moment.

– Ninja Shanon Paglieri

There are many activities that provide movement for those 40 and above. My ninja experience is just one of them. They include walking, swimming, pickleball, climbing, and so many other options.

Move your body. Expand your mind. Stretch your potential. is the mantra of a movement program developed by friend and fellow ninja Shanon Paglieri. Her program focuses on movement of the body in coordination with the mind. She refers to the body-brain connection. She states that when we sit too much it impacts our balance, stability, memory, and mental clarity. Her challenge to clients is, Move it and keep it. This program is especially helpful for those who feel that engagement as a ninja is a little too much for their first step.

Play

Stuart Brown, the founder of the National Institute for Play, studied what he called the play histories of some 6,000 individuals and concluded that play has the power to significantly improve everything from personal health to relationships to education to organizations’ ability to innovate. Play, he said in Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism, leads to brain plasticity, adaptability, and creativity.

To me, play is when we get creative or set up a game-like environment in which we strive to win at something. It might be trying to beat our prior best performance, such as a better or faster completion of some activity or event. Such play includes the tension of potential success or failure and the thrill of pushing ourselves as far as we can, like when we were growing up running as hard as we could, zigging and zagging to tag someone in a game of tag, or maybe doing our best to avoid being tagged. It is a fun yet safe environment, for winning or losing, in which losing does not have a negative impact on our lives. Play can be a very fun and healthy aspect of the life of an adult. We don’t have to play all the time; we do have responsibilities. But we sure can gain benefit from some play in our lives. I share a lot more about playing throughout The Heart of a Ninja.

You have to start with the mental part of it and understanding you’re not as old as you think you are.

– Ninja Michael Moore

Dipping Your Toe In

How close have you come to dipping your toe in the ninja warrior waters? Have you tried a ninja obstacle or a full course run rather than just cheering on those fantastic competitors from the sideline or from your couch? I hope my story and this book will inspire you to give it a try, even if you are 60 or older.

When you do, I guarantee you will come away with more fun, enjoyment, encouragement, strength, balance, personal growth, and friends than you can possibly imagine. Yes, I will also reveal that you might come away with some aches, pains, maybe a few injuries, and some disappointments, but you won’t want to trade them for the world for the positive impacts ninja play can have on your life.

For You, the Reader

I hope to provide:

A fun ride as you read, and a lot of enjoyment

A great human interest story, as I take you along with me on my three-year journey so that you can see, hear, feel, and touch it

Encouragement and hope for more fun and better health

A model or example

Practical ideas to consider

The Structure of The Heart of a Ninja

This book is divided into three key sections. The first section focuses on my personal experiences as a ninja. The second section, The Heart and Mind of a Ninja, is divided into three chapters that cover 12 traits of the ninja heart and mind. In the third section you will read some fabulous insights from 11 men and three women ninjas who competed on American Ninja Warrior. These ninjas are all over the age of 40! A fourth section provides reference information to allow you to further explore the topics I present.

Some Photography

I included a lot of photos to hopefully make the story more interesting and to share my love of photography.

Thought-Provoking Questions

Because I am an executive and life coach, this book might be a little different from some books you have read. Coaching is all about engaging the mind of the client by asking great thought-provoking questions that help them move forward, and I include thought-provoking questions throughout The Heart of a Ninja. As I share my stories and make key points, I also sprinkle in a question or two to help you better see how the point might apply to your life. At the end of each chapter I provide a few questions for you to ponder, evaluate, and reflect on.

To Make This Book Even More Helpful

To make this book extra helpful, I would like to share a tip that I learned about three years ago from the president of the John Maxwell Team (a group of coaches, public speakers, and trainers), Paul Martinelli. Paul encouraged us to take our learning to a new level by clearly establishing a purpose, or purposes, for reading a book. Now when I read a book, I usually define my goals for reading by writing those goals on one of the first few pages of the book, such as the title page. By doing this I establish a mindset that helps me draw even more value from the book. It better enables me to subconsciously look for things that meet my purpose, and it helps me intentionally grow in ways I would like to grow.

You can have any number of goals for reading this book. They might include some of the following:

Just enjoying reading someone else’s journey along a challenging path

Learning more about the American Ninja Warrior show

Finding out how people prepare for competing on the show

Figuring out whether or not you would like to try a little of the ninja experience

I typically list three or four goals in the fronts of my books. I encourage you to give it a try by writing down your goals for The Heart of a Ninja. Even one will get you started with the process. With your next book you can use a blank space near the front of the book as I usually do.

Once I have completed reading a book, I return to the goals and evaluate how well I achieved them. Some of that credit, or blame, falls on me (the reader) and some of it falls on the author. It is always a good feeling when I assess and meet my goals, and I often meet them.

When reading a fiction book you probably don’t need goals other than to pass the time and enjoy the story. I hope this suggestion is helpful not only with this book, but with other books you read with objectives or goals in mind.

To learn more about Paul Martinelli and the John Maxwell Team, see the links below. Paul is a great guy and the John Maxwell Team is a fantastic team of people who strive to add value to everyone they touch, helping others grow and expand their potential.

Paul Martinelli: http://www.paulmartinelli.net

John Maxwell Team: http://johnmaxwellteam.com

Bitten and Hooked

I am convinced that many of you will be bitten in the process of reading this book. You will get hooked and want more. The next thing you know, you will be laughing more with new and exciting friends. You will look in the mirror one of these days and notice that you look a lot different. It might be because of your increased strength, your stronger core, how you carry yourself differently, your improved balance, or your greater confidence in who you are. It might be due to what you can now do and who you are becoming, intentionally. This is such a powerful experience that I hope you get hooked!

Enjoyment and Motivation

My hope is that you really enjoy this reading experience and that you come away with a tremendous amount of motivation to get up and go do whatever it is that comes to your heart and mind. Enjoy the ride as I take you along with me, sharing my experience of training as a ninja warrior, even at age 60 and beyond.

Free Offers

If you would like to receive any of the following free gifts, please request them at [e-mail].

Short video greeting from me with a bonus ninja training experience story

Bonus story about my 2017 National Ninja League announcing experience

Coaching Life Assessment Wheel for your use

Well Done Life® Way S.M.A.R.T. Goal Development form

List of my favorite and most influential books

Dive Right In

Let’s dive into the Chris Warnky (an average Joe) ninja experience and see how it can encourage and inspire you to take even better care of you, your life, and your future.

Section 1

The Ninja Journey

Chapter 1

What Is American Ninja Warrior?

American Ninja Warrior, or ANW – what is it? Is it a turtle event of some kind? Is it a fighting game? Is it dangerous? Is it another one of those computer games? Those would have been my questions not that long ago.

Just six years ago, I had never heard of American Ninja Warrior. If it had come up in a conversation I probably wouldn’t even have paid attention. But Sasuke, which is the original version of ninja warrior, was a big deal in Japan and had been for years, and American Ninja Warrior had already made a pretty big splash in the USA on the G4 television network.

I was introduced to American Ninja Warrior by my daughter, Michelle, and my wife, Carolyn, in 2012, during season four of American Ninja Warrior (ANW 4).

Ninja Warrior Has Taken Over

Today, in many ways, ninja warrior has taken over much of my life. I made that point in a Toastmasters meeting, sharing how some families get