Precerpt from Grandma Ninja's Training Diary: Bones, Pride, and Proton Pumps
I used to think bone loss was something that happened to other people — the ones who didn’t train, who sat too long, who gave up on movement. Then one day my dentist looked at an X‑ray and said, “You’ve lost a tooth because the bone dissolved.”
That got my attention.
Turns out my bones weren’t just aging; they were reacting to my medication. Omeprazole — the little pill that keeps my reflux quiet — was quietly stealing calcium from my skeleton. The irony was rich: I could eat without pain, but my bones were paying the price.
I started out with the standard dose: 40 mg twice a day. For months, it worked beautifully for my stomach and apparently terribly for my jaw. When the dentist finally connected the dots, my GI doctor cut it down to 20 mg once a day — a maintenance dose. I added discipline, timing, and gravity to the mix: no food after sundown, no lying flat after meals, and plenty of calisthenics early in the day (a good time to get over any bed behavior before sundown and accountability hits).
Now my reflux is under control, and my bone density has nudged upward again. Not a miracle — just persistence.
Most women my age have osteoporosis. I’m still holding the line at osteopenia. That’s not luck; that’s training. I haul spend time in the gym and in my home gym, lift heavey weights (train between 80 and 100 pounds on all the upper body machines), push even heavier weights (can handle over 300 pounds but stay around 200 for the same of my knees), and treat every movement as a conversation with my skeleton: Stay with me. Don’t give up.
It’s strange to think of bones as living tissue, but they are — responsive, moody, and capable of recovery. They notice when you stop challenging them. They notice when you start again. They notice when you take a drug that changes their chemistry. And they notice when you refuse to surrender.
So I train not just for muscle, but for bone. I train because I want to keep my teeth, my posture, and my independence. I train because I’ve seen what happens when you don’t.
The Grandma Ninja moral? Bones are stubborn, but they respect effort. Give them weight, give them motion, give them reason — and they’ll remember how to hold you up.
Grandma’s Ninja Training Diary is the inspiring true story of a septuagenarian grandmother who dared to dream big—by training for American Ninja Warrior. Teaming up with her coach and trainer, she embarks on a three-year journey to build strength, resilience, flexibility, balance, and endurance—starting from scratch.
While COVID and two disabled adult children moving home permanently put a kibosh on those American Ninja Warrior plans, she continued to train -- a little more modestly but regularly -- and maintain the ninja strength and flexibility she had developed prior to these changes in life circumstances.
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; her coach 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 insights into 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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