American Ninja Warriorseason 17 saw The Godfather of the series, long-time competitor David Campbell, crush the qualifiers once again, and in a chat with Screen Rant, he shared what goes into his training. David, who became involved withAmerican Ninja Warriorin its first season, has become one of the show’s most impressive competitors throughout the series' run. As one of the older ninjas competing on the series at this point, he’s one of the most thorough, capable challengers viewers get the opportunity to see. Nicknamed The Godfather, David’s serious about ninja, with a genuine love for the sport.
Discussing hisimpact onAmerican Ninja Warriordoesn’t come without some life updates for David, who has a young son that’s impacted his training schedule in new ways. As a stay-at-home dad, the Santa Cruz, Californian has been able to fashion his own ninja course to train in the comfort of his own space. Bringing his skills as a sound and lighting design tech into his ninja training, David’s realisticAmerican Ninja Warriorlevel course has other ninjas flocking to train with him. The fourth most decorated competitor on the show,David shared some of his secrets with Screen Rant.
Screen Rant: You have been a consistent contestant and finalist since the very beginning on American Ninja Warrior. What strategies and routines have you really implemented to keep that going over the years?
David: I try to never really let it go in the off-season. I try to keep training year-round. I was the first person to really take training for this show seriously and I built a whole elaborate replica of the entire finals course in my brother’s backyard. It’s really taken over my life to some degree. I spent a lot of my time doing it and I try to keep consistent. Now I’m competing against kids that started training at seven years old when I was around the same time that I just started training for the show at 29 years old. I’m at a pretty big disadvantage now but I do my best to try to stay competitive.
Screen Rant: It works out for you. That’s always good. Obviously this season is a little bit different because you’re a dad now. As a dad and as a dedicated athlete, how did you manage to balance training with a young kid?
David: I try to be really efficient with my time. When I put him down for a nap, I’ll hit the salt bike. I got a pull-up bar so I just try to get on it every free chance I get. If I make it a priority, it’s enough.
Screen Rant: It’s worked out. At this point, you probably don’t have as much of a schedule. Do you keep any kind of training hours when he’s sleeping or is it really just a matter of when you get a minute you’re able to train?
David: When I get a minute. I’m a stay-at-home dad so on my wife’s days off, I can actually get a good training day in. Over this last year, with our baby being so young, I was definitely training a lot less. It’s really made it apparent how big a part of my general athletic conditioning has been just being a motivator. When I stop training for the main show, it feels very different the way my body feels day-to-day. It’s nice to be getting back into really training hard for the show.
The Godfather David Campbell Offers Advice To Ninjas Starting Out
He Shared His Best Tips To Training
David, who’s been competing since the first season ofAmerican Ninja Warriorand has gone on to qualify for 15 out of 17 season’s second stage, has been training for years to become the athlete he is today. While he started out with Ninja a lot later in life than some, he has an incredible perspective on how to get into the sport and keep things going when training gets tough. As one of the best to ever compete onAmerican Ninja Warrior,David’s advice has helped many of the competitors who have come into the sport after him.
Screen Rant: As a veteran with Ninja Warrior and Ninja in general, what advice do you offer to up-and-coming ninjas? I know you mentioned people started training for the show when they were kids and you were approaching 30. How have you found the relationship between yourself and the younger competitors?
David: I’m always surprised to find out how much they actually followed my career and look up to me and stuff like that because there are so many better people now. Better people being these young 18-19-year-olds. I thought they would be more focused on them, but they really do still pay attention to us veterans, as you call them. My advice to people coming into the show is to do a lot of cardio, like sprints and stuff like that, and pull-ups. Those are probably my two most important exercises. They’re sprints and pull-ups.
Other than that, try not to be too focused on results. Try to just do better than you were yesterday, every single day. The show is becoming a lot more about beating the other person with these head-to-head races that they’re having now. I guess in the Olympics, it’s become a very versus-type sport. Traditionally, Ninja Warrior has always been you versus the course. It doesn’t matter how good or bad the next person does think it’s still important to keep that mentality going forward, just from a mental health aspect. It’s never good to measure yourself too much by somebody else. Just always try to do your personal best. Find a ninja gym and a good coach and start as soon as you’re able to.
Screen Rant: In terms of this run that everyone’s going to see tonight, I’m always curious, especially someone who’s been doing it for a long time, when you’re going through a course like that, are you thinking from obstacle to obstacle or are you just going so fast that there’s no thought?
David: The way I approach the course is I think a lot about every single obstacle. I attempt to have two or three game plans. I’ll have a best-case scenario that I see the obstacle going. Then I try to look for places where I might have some difficulty because we don’t know exactly how it’s going to be. We can’t touch it. I’m trying to imagine how it’s going to be. I imagine best-case scenario and then I’m imagining different ways it could go. I try to just really drill that into my head and be totally prepared for it. Then right before I run, I just completely clear my head.
I’ll think about some music or anything. I just attempt to get into the zone and let my body do what I’ve mentally programmed it to do. That usually goes pretty well. Of course, I’m thinking about what I’m doing as I’m doing it, but it’s a remembering what I plan to do and just following through on it. When you are having to second-guess yourself and make really critical thinking moves on the course, it can slow you down and introduce a possibility of making mistakes. I try to avoid that.
Screen Rant: I can see that tripping someone up. Looking ahead, what kind of goals do you have within the ninja community on and off the course? Do you plan to keep competing?
David: I really enjoy it. I’m going to keep competing as long as I can, as long as it makes sense for me. It’s become a big part of my identity at this point. It’s hard to imagine not doing it. I’ve always had opening a gym in the back of my mind. I don’t know if I’ll ever actually do that, but I have my course. People come to my course and train. I do personal training and coaching and stuff like that. I enjoy doing that a lot. I have lots of friends that I train with. I treat it mostly as a hobby. It’s a big part of my life. I’m going to try to keep doing as well as I can do. I always have very lofty goals for myself that may or may not be realistic. I’m going to try to make it into finals. I’d hope to think I have a shot at winning. I’m going to train with that goal in mind, at least.
