Former NFL player Chris Kluwe steps on to the Ninja Warrior field

Chris Kluwe has been a Seattle Seahawk, an Oakland Raider, and a Minnesota Viking. But one thing he's never been? An American Ninja Warrior. The former NFL player ran the course in Los Angeles. Before he took on the obstacles, we talked to him about handling the nerves, which obstacle he's worried about, and why he's taking on this challenge in the first place.

Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Nikki Lee: What's your biggest fear?

"Failing on the first obstacle. That would be pretty embarrassing. I think it's going to probably be pretty similar to (football) games. That initial run out onto the field with a bit of nerves. Once you get into it, it's focusing on the obstacles and everything else just kind of fades away."

Nikki Lee: What obstacle are you looking forward to the most?

"Um, I don't know that I'm really looking forward to any of them.

Nikki Lee: You've got to be excited for some of them!

"Not really! I'm excited to try them. I feel fairly confident on all of them. Except for the Cliffhanger, because on that one I'm going to have to support a lot of lower body mass that's not going to be working for me. So, proportionally, my arm strength, as a punter, might not be where it needs to be. But, we'll find out.

Nikki Lee: So why'd you decide to try out for American Ninja Warrior?

"My kids love the show. I've been watching the show since the original one, Sasuke. So they were watching it last season, and we were sitting in bed watching it, and they're like 'Daddy, why don't you go on American Ninja Warrior? You play sports.' And I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, yeah.' Oh wait a minute, I'm not really doing anything. I should go on American Ninja Warrior. So then I was like, 'Alright, I'll start training for it.' And yeah, it's been about 8 months of training."

Nikki Lee: Have you gone to any of the veteran Ninjas for advice?

"I've talked to a couple at the gym that I train at. Firestorm Free Running. It's in Santa Ana. It's basically just, train on the obstacles before hand so you know that they feel like, and then just do your best. Because there's really no way to train for the obstacles other than doing the obstacles. So yeah, we'll see how I do."

Did you catch Chris' run on the premier of American Ninja Warrior Season 8? What went right? What went wrong? Tell us in the comments.