MSI Press Blog

  Ninja work requires strength, especially upper body strength. That is obvious to any who watch Ninja Warrior games, and I concentrated on upper body strength at every session with my trainer. But there is something else. When I began my ninja training, my bone tests showed mild osteoporosis, not atypical for my age. After a couple of years of strength training as part of my "ninja training, my bone density tested normal. The strength training added to the density of my leg and upper body bones. Walking took care of the spine. I used to think that walking was boring, and that walking was simple. You just put one step in front of the other over and over again, and soon you are striding along, losing weight and gaining health. Then, I learned about High-Intensity Interval Training , varying speed over time. My cup of tea. I could mis things up on an outdoor walk and distract myself from boredom by playing with the controls on the treadmill at the gym: fast, slow, almost-running, st

The human ability to err comes through in American Ninja Warrior that I have watched. No missteps or a fixed error result in a run to glory. One simple misstep, and even the greatest warrior can fall from glory. Last night, Isaac Caldierno, one of only two ninjas to finish Stage Four at Mount Midoriyama, fell on one of the early obstacles in the Indiana city competition. Had he lost his touch? No. Had his muscles atrophied? No. Did his strategic thinking skills fail to keep up with the ever-evolving courses? No. Had he miscalculated the obstacle? No. Did he feel sick, confused, or distracted? No. He simply took a misstep—as we all do from time to time throughout life, sometimes metaphorically, sometimes literally. In other words, he is human. When Kacy Catanzaro made her way through tall poles rising from water, situated farther apart from each other than Casey could possibly reach, she did a quick calculation and jumped, managing to grab and hang on to the next pole. The c

Given the need to attend a wedding in Elk Grove, the lucky contiguity to my son, Shawn, and his family who live in Elk Grove, and the opportunity for lunch with a former assistant Hatem, who now lives in Roseville, my husband, Carl, I, and my youngest son, CB, packed up the car on Friday afternoon for a weekend adventure three hours from where we live. The Studio, a martial arts center in Roseville three hours from our home in San Juan Bautista is the closest gym that offers ninja training -- both for kids (which turned out to be fortunate for short little me) and for adults. The Studio had scheduled the next iteration of the adult class for Saturday, July 28, absolutely perfect timing. I could get there Friday night, get a full night of sleep to be fresh for the ninja training, then have lunch with Hatem, race back to the hotel for a change of clothes, and finish the day at the wedding, with a planned breakfast the next morning our grandchildren and daughter-in-law. Tight ti

Today, I began my yoga classes. I dropped in to the gym's Flow Yoga class. Earlier, when I consulted with my trainer, Brittany, she suggested that, of the classes that the gym offered, yoga would be the most beneficial for me in my seeking to develop the skills needed for coping successfully with the ninja obstacles. I quickly saw how well she had identified my weaknesses, the most significant of them being balance. The yoga instructor was patient with me as I topped over again and again. Stand on one foot? No, I don't think so. Not yet, anyway. My ability to handle positions, like the downward dog pose above, surprised me, pleasantly so. All the work on core with Brittany for the past six months really had prepared me for poses requiring core development. Planks? Not a problem. Contort legs and arms? Not a problem -- for six months, I have also been working on flexibility. However, balancing on one foot ended up with both feet on the floor or real tipping over. Than

Pacific Edge Gym Teaching Room In accordance with my planned approach to developing ninja capabilities, two weeks ago I enrolled in a rock climbing class. One of the things I had learned from watching the stories of competitors on American Ninja Warriors included seeing how many of them were either rock climbers or spent time at rock-climbing gyms. Good climbing depends on feet, not arms. In fact, with feet properly placed, one can hang by one arm for a very long time and feel little strain. Shoes should fit snugly and have bottoms that create friction in order to use feet more effectively. The "climber's triange" -- toes and ball of foot -- indicates where a climber should place his ore her weight when climbing. (After scaling the wall in the gym three times, my toes were really sore! I gave them a nice bubbling session in my foot massager afterward.) I thought I would have to build arm and shoulder strength. I never thought I would have to build toe

One of the things I thought about only cursorily when I entered on this quest was what the cost would be. Sure, I figured there would be some cost for training and for gym membership, but with obstacles around the neighborhood and at home, I figured a lot of training could actually be obtained for free, just through the course of living. To some extnet, the free-from-living training expecttion has panned out. Running into stores from parking lots. Jumping up and down curbs. Flying across car hoods and landing at the door to my  misaligned-elbow-from-lifting-a-sectional-sofa-with-one-hand physiotherpist (he was looking out the window once and saw that -- said I was his only patient who arrived at his door that way). The basics, though, the very necessary things where I need advice and access to equipment that speeds up the building up of specific muscles and specific ninja techniques (not available at our local gym, so travel to distant gyms is required), undeerstanding what my

 Yesterday, a newly adopted feral cat hid himself under our very large, 7-section sofa. I pushed the sofa out a bit to reach him and found that by doing so I had trapped his paw under one of the heavy bars that held the sections together in the back of the sofa. Concerned for his safety, I instinctively reached out with my left had, lifted up the end of the sofa (about three sections) and pulled the cat out with my right hand. My goodness, I thought, after letting the sofa back down, I have become quite strong from my training over the past seven months. Quickly, though, the reality set in. It as not my muscles alone that lifted the sofa. It was adrenaline pouring into the muscles, making them stronger. Very quickly, my wrist began to throb. Oh, oh! I made it through the night, sleeping though the pain -- I can do that. In the morning, the pain made it clear that I needed to confess to the doctor my foolishness at thinking I might be superwoman. I wrapped an ace bandage around

(graphic by Casey Johnson, She's a Beast) I love the output of "She's a Beast" website and newsletters. Perhaps the best to date is a recent discussion of how to build a home gym. Everything they say about how to build a gym in " How to Set Up a Home Tinygym ," I have found to be right on. I realized early on when I was doing my ninja training that got derailed by covid shutdowns and family tragedy (and discovered reality) that I would need an at-home gym for a number of reasons: No gym was close by so going in several times a day was out of the question, but at home any time I go past the pull up bar, I can make some pullup attempts. When I am listening to the evening news I can grab some weights and work out while watching. On days when I had full work requirements that would not let me off for any amount of time, I had the gym at home where I could work out. (Disclosure: Much of my work is at-home, so I have an advantage there.) When the gym closed for co

Just wanted to share two important pieces of information: (1) My trainer wrote a book about training while pregnant. (2) I changed my diary from ninja warrior to ninja training -- you have to be in training before you can be a warrior! For posts about my trainers's book, click HERE .

My first day of freedom was January 1, 2018. I had retired from the Defense Language Institute, where, as provost, I served as the senior civilian leader for 2000 foreign language teachers. That was the last of many career positions associated with overseeing foreign language programs: Foreign Service Institute, NASA, American Global Studies Institute, American Councils for International Education, Federal Language Training Laboratory...in short, if a niece of nephew or Uncle Sam had studied a foreign language, chances are I had had something to do with that program of study at some point in time. Leaving a high stress job, where I had gained a few more pounds than typically come with the aging process and had let my muscles, once finely shaped by another form of Uncle Sam's influence on me -- the US Army, where I served as enlisted and officer for almost eight years (counting a few years of reserve duty), atrophy. I just did not have time for much physical activity in a job th

So, it is not a pretty picture, and also, it was bound to happen, I guess. A rotator cuff injury -- from weed-wahcking, not from fitness training. My fitness trainer is very careful to make sure I don't overstress my rotator cuffs, knowing that a torn rotator cuff could end all my ninja hopes and plans. But that weed-whacking... So, what have I learned? Still learning, actually. 1. I cannot force the use of my arm and expet it to get better. No powering through, So, pull-ups are out for a while. I wonder if the strength I have built up (not very impressive yet, honestly speaking) will return. Well, I will the answer to that question in time -- and will share. 2. I should not "grin and bear it" because analgesics not only help with pain, they also help with inflammation, which is very important for healing. 3. I do NOT want surgery; that is the scariest part because it may really put me out of commission. So, I need to help the rotator cuff heal naturally. 4

The long slog through five years of preparing to be able to take on a set of ninja obstacles can get discouraging. Little improvements are not exciting. Moreover, little improvements are rarely seen. It is like climbing a mountain. You climb and climb or hike and hike, and the top still seems pretty far away. But, if you stop and look down, you can often rejuvenate your enthusiasm not because the top of the mountain is close but because the bottom of the mountain is now visibly farther away. Small progress...great injection of motivation. So, too, this week I passed a goal I did not even know I had. After all, who has a goal that the bottom of the mountain will be X amount of distance away? It was a goal that became a goal only after it was achieved. As I was going my homework--and adding repetitions to it--I realized that I had surpassed the number of push-ups, sit-ups, and planks that I was able to do when I was in the Army years ago. Yes, finally, something!! And to mark th

As I was traveling to St, Louis from San Jose today, an elderly man and his wife sat in the row next to me. We got talking when we noticed that I was watching Angel Has Fallen, a great movie but lots of violent action. Somehow, the conversation passed on to the time he spent in the British Army and the time I spent in the American Army. He commented, "Looks are deceptive. I thought I was sitting beside an old lady in a cardigan. Figured you were a writer (I am -- and I was doing some on the plane as I watched the movie, so that did not take a big guess), working on some leisurely writings in retirement (well, I am retured, technically, since I get a pension, but nothing else about my life is "retired." Yeah, I suppose a dress and cardigan (the picture is not me -- I do not have one of me from the plane -- but is fairly approximate) might be deceptive. At the end of the flight, being short, I had trrouble reaching my luggage in those big cabinets on the bid plan

  Confidence Dogs will perform silly little tricks to earn affection from their masters. Cats will never stoop to that level. So, while my childhood cocker spaniel would happily present his paw for me, Shelly would roll her eyes at what an idiot I was for even asking for it. We're not all born with an innate sense of confidence and self-worth. So, think like a cat, and don't do things that are beneath you. You're better than that. Just because someone tells you to dance doesn't mean you should bust out the Macarena.   There's no reason to kiss up to your boss, praising his genius for every pointless idea he suggests. Unless you're a ninja at brown-nosing, it'll be obvious what you're doing. It won't make you look good, either. You'll just seem like someone who lacks the confidence to say what he really believes. Think in the same terms for your relationships. If your girlfriend blames you for something that went wrong, that doesn't me

Tonight, husband Carl brought home three large bags of groceries and needed help bringing them up the stairs to our second-floor living space. I reached for all three. "Be careful," he said, pointing to one bag. "It is very heavy." I lifted it. "No, it's not," I told him. "Yes, it is," he insisted. Well, actually, no, it was not. It would have been a year ago, but not now. I easily carried all three bags together, two in one hand, and the supposedly heavy bag in the ohter, up our 17 stairs, held all in one hand to open the door, and then lifted them all easily onto the counter which is almost chest-high for me. If I needed an assessment, there I had it. Of course, though, I want something a little more formal albeit informal, meaning my own assessment. Beginning from this point, though, I think I will pull my trainer into helping me develop a formal assessment. She says that I have made significant progress, both vi