Precerpt from Grandma's Ninja Training Diary: Things Ma Taught Me (and why they still make my body run like a well‑oiled machine 70 years later)
Ma didn’t teach “chores.” She taught body mechanics, discipline, and a way of moving through the world that has kept me strong, coordinated, and fast well into my seventies. Every lesson was physical, practical, and—without her ever saying the word—athletic.
Here’s the Grandma Ninja version of what she passed down.
🧽 1. “If you want the floor clean, wash it on your hands and knees.”
I still do, even though I own a mop. The Army reinforced it later with a toothbrush for tile.
This is not just cleaning. It’s:
deep hip flexion
shoulder stability
wrist mobility
core engagement
controlled weight shifting
It’s basically a full-body mobility circuit disguised as housekeeping. No gym needed.
🧹 2. “Sweep the floor every day, and after every meal.”
I have a vacuum and a robot. I still sweep after every meal.
Sweeping is rotational training. It’s:
oblique activation
spinal rotation
balance
grip strength
rhythmic endurance
It keeps your gait smooth and your torso supple. It’s why I still move like someone who can pivot fast.
🛏️ 3. “Make your bed as soon as you get up. You’re not awake if your bed is asleep.”
That’s coordination, sequencing, and posture.
Bed-making is:
bending
reaching
pulling
smoothing
tightening corners
It’s a morning mobility routine that wakes the body as much as the mind. It sets the tone: I start the day by completing something.
🏃♀️ 4. “If you feel threatened, don’t think twice: run—and run fast.”
This one saved my life more than once.
Running is:
explosive power
fast-twitch muscle preservation
cardiovascular conditioning
spatial awareness
Ma didn’t teach fear. She taught response. That’s why, decades later, I could sprint a couple miles through Kabul at age 60, in full protective gear, keeping up with three much-younger and taller Army officers who could not afford to look back or slow down. (Well, after 20-25 minutes, I did lag some steps behind, but still in visual range, arriving with them just at the point of curfew). "Run," they had said. Run I did, just like Ma taught me!
👚 5. “Fold your laundry as soon as you take it down.”
I use a dryer now, but the laundry still gets folded immediately and put away.
Folding is:
fine motor control
shoulder mobility
repetitive precision
posture training
It keeps the hands nimble and the shoulders loose. It’s why I still have good grip strength and dexterity.
🏡 6. “Keep the house guest-clean. Family deserves to live in a clean house.”
This is the philosophy that shaped everything.
Guest-clean means:
daily movement
daily bending, lifting, carrying
daily scanning for what needs doing
daily micro-adjustments in posture and balance
It’s not about perfection. It’s about constant low-level physical engagement—the exact thing modern fitness science says preserves mobility, gait speed, and independence.
⭐ Why all of this still works 70 years later
Every one of Ma’s rules is a functional movement pattern:
kneeling
squatting
rotating
reaching
gripping
balancing
pacing
sprinting
These movements keep joints lubricated, fascia supple, muscles active, and reflexes sharp. They prevent the stiffness that comes from modern sedentary life. They preserve gait speed—one of the strongest predictors of longevity. They maintain proprioception, the body’s sense of where it is in space.
Ma didn’t know the science. She just knew the life.
And the life kept the body young.
I’m Grandma Ninja because Ma trained me that way—without ever calling it training. She taught me that a clean house is a moving house, and a moving house keeps its people strong.
Her lessons weren’t chores. They were a blueprint for lifelong physical competence.
⭐ A recent reminder of what Ma built into me
I was recently in the ER to check out possible broken ribs (yes—broken). When I hopped up onto the gurney, the nurse looked at me and said, “You are unusually agile. You must be in good shape.”
That was before we knew the ribs were broken.
I told her the truth: I do work out—but only half of that workout happens in the gym. The other half is housework.
Ma’s housework. Ma’s movement patterns. Ma’s training.
Still paying off.
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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