Precerpt from Grandma's Ninja Training Diary: The Softener Gambit

 

Yesterday, the water softener tank needed potassium. Four 40-pound bags. The tank’s top sits at my chin—awkward height for a short woman with aging shoulders and a healthy respect for gravity. So, I asked my visiting son, who’s eight inches taller, to help. Chest-level for him. Easy.

We picked up the bags at Ace Hardware. He carried one into the basement. I carried two—one in each hand. Easier to balance 80 pounds split between two hands than carry 40 in one hand and nothing in the other. My son dumped his bag into the tank, then turned to me and said, “Can you go grab the last one?”

Sure.

I trotted off and brought it down. No big deal. But I wonder how many adult children expect their 75-year-old mother to carry 80 pounds of potassium and then go fetch more. I’m not sure he even noticed. 

It wasn’t ninja in the leaping-through-shadows sense. It was ninja in the unquestioned competence sense. The kind that doesn’t announce itself. The kind that just lifts, balances, and moves on.

And it was not a one-off. 

On a visit a year ago, we moved my independently living paraplegic daughter from her apartment back home to live with me for medical reasons. We packed her apartment into the largest U-Haul trailer available, a 40-footer: the heavy furniture for storage went in first, then stuff that she would need for her place in my home. Took up most of that space. Well balanced with the heavy stuff closest to the hitch for good balance. Grandma Ninja carried her share of the "goods" and held up her end on the furniture that required to people to lift, carry down a long hallway and into the outdoors, and load. 

Then, off we went -- until halfway home the truck decided it did not want to pull the weight any longer. AAA arrived, unhitched the trailer in a safe spot on the side of the hill where we had broken down, and took off with the truck. I had taken my daughter home in my car and returned at that point to pick up my son, go off to the U-Haul office, and rent a truck to pull the U-Haul. 

When we parked the U-Haul truck in front of the U-Haul trailer, we realized that our packing system was not the best for this situation. All the heavy stuff was now on top of the hitch which had to be lifted about 18 inches (maybe more) from the ground where it was resting, sloping forward, putting even more weight on the hitch. So, lifting had to happen successfully against momentum downward. 

My son, quite the strong guy from his job in emergency services, could not budge it. Oh, boy!

"Mom," he called over to me where I as placing small branches under the front wheels to prevent the trailer from speeding forward and getting out of control once the hitch was lifted up and not maintaining at-rest inertia on the ground. "I need some help here."

It took the two of us, using all our strength--and three tries--to lift the trailer hitch, move it slightly forward, and drop it down onto the truck hitchie-thing (ball joint?) for pulling. Yes! Done! Mother-son power! Again, unstated assumption of competence. Proof that ninja training is for more than flying around artificial obstacles. It makes possible dispensing with real obstacles as well.

Grandma’s Ninja Training Diary is the inspiring true story of a 70-year-old grandmother who dares to dream big—by training for American Ninja Warrior. Teaming up with coach and trainer Brittany Renz, she embarks on a three-year journey to build strength, resilience, flexibility, balance, and endurance—starting from scratch.

Told in a dynamic mix of diary entries, coaching insights, and behind-the-scenes reflections, this book chronicles the ups and downs of late-in-life athletic training. From gym workouts to rock climbing, yoga to injury recovery, sleep to mindset—every aspect of the transformation is explored with honesty and humor.

Grandma shares what she’s learning; Coach Brittany explains why she’s right—or wrong. Together, they offer a realistic, encouraging look at what it takes to pursue an extraordinary goal at any age.

Part training manual, part motivational memoir, Grandma’s Ninja Training Diary is packed with practical tips for readers over 50 who want to improve their fitness, health, and confidence. You’ll also get insider insights into the world of American Ninja Warrior, strategies for balancing real life with ambitious goals, and hard-won wisdom about success, failure, and the joy of simply showing up.

To read more precerpts from Grandma's Ninja Training Diary, click HERE.

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