Maintaining a healthy fitness routine is absolutely essential when it comes to living a healthy life. But if you are anything like me, the idea of stair steppers or treadmill sprints can seem absolutely daunting and downright grueling. In this episode of Project Best Life we learned that there are other ways to get necessary exercise, but in ways that can actually be enjoyable!
The team at Build a Machine Fitness takes exercise to a whole new level by implementing techniques that aren’t necessarily commonplace in the world of fitness. This gym features obstacle course racing like ninja warrior and also parkour training.
Coach Liz Goss explains this sport as a full body workout, without even realizing you’re working out,
“When people hear that we’re a gym, they typically assume it’s a traditional gym, but our primary offerings are ninja warrior and parkour. Typically we always start off with saying, ‘Have you seen the show American Ninja Warrior?’ That’s our easiest segue into explaining what we do. For those that aren’t familiar with that we explain it as obstacles- a lot of swinging obstacles, balance obstacles, and agility obstacles.”
Coach Goss wouldn’t describe herself as a typical athlete, but when she found ninja training, all bets were off. This sport became a passion that would follow her into all stages of life and ultimately something she would teach to her entire family,
“ This is just a unique sport where you are getting that full body workout, and you’re having a lot of fun. I liken it to going to an adult playground. We have a great training crew, which was a big thing that pulled me in unlike a lot of other competitive sports where it can get a bit cutthroat. It is highly competitive, but it is more of a community than anything.”
Coach Chris McCooey is a lifelong athlete that came to ninja as a way to break up the monotony of his everyday workouts. After aging out of competitive high school and college sports, the most accessible competitions were those centered around running- something McCooey isn’t over the moon about. Finding running courses broken up by obstacles was something he found much more appealing, and ultimately where his love for ninja blossomed. Here Coach McCooey has not only found an intense passion, but also a sense of community that makes every hard competition worth it!
“The community is absolutely phenomenal, we get to go and see all of our friends at every competition and at training. For me, it was really a come for the competition and stay for the community kinda thing, and that really keeps me coming back.”
Apart from the physical strength this sport can give you, it also trains the mental muscles too. Ninja, along with parkour, practice tactical and problem solving training in order to beat the obstacles set before you.
“There’s a huge mental component. It’s learning how to fall and learning how to pick yourself back up- those are also huge life skills. So when we’re working with kids and even with adults, we need reminders that you don’t get everything the first time, there’s gonna be frustrations. You have to work on things. There’s some skills that I spent three years before I was able to unlock and there’s skills that I’m still working on unlocking, and I’ve been doing this almost five years now. That mental aspect and those life skills that we can teach are a huge component of what we do within our sport,” shares Coach Goss.
While competition plays an important role in this sport, it is ultimately testing your own self’s strength and facing your own fears of the unknown set before you,
“You’re always kind of testing yourself against the obstacle and you’re always gonna come up against the unknown. With ninja you’re always trying to find the strength that you need for just whatever it’s gonna be. We get to build confidence not because somebody’s telling us we can do it, but because we can actually do the things that we’re trying to do. We also get to face a lot of fears in having unknown and new challenges,” states Coach McCooey.
The team at Build a Machine Fitness is challenging people to think about fitness in a new light. With ninja training, you not only care for your physical health, but also equip your mind to take on the obstacles of everyday life. Build a Machine Fitness offers the support and community you need to take on a new fitness feat that might just change your life in ways you didn’t think were possible.
To learn more about Build a Machine Fitness or to schedule a class, visit https://bamfninja.com
This series is sponsored by Project Best Life. Buffalo Rising and Project Best Life have teamed up to produce a series on wellness inspiration and advice to direct readers to the people, places, and experiences in Buffalo and beyond that will help them fulfill their health, nutrition, and wellness goals. For more information on how you can live your best life, subscribe to the Project Best Life newsletter.
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