FanPost

How American Ninja Warrior changed my life

Brandon Hickman/NBC

Editor's Note: Luis Perez is an American Ninja Warrior rookie on Season 8. He ran the course at the Los Angeles Qualifiers, but did not move on to the City Finals. However, he shared with us his powerful reason for becoming a Ninja.

My name is Luis Perez. I’m 34 years old from East Los Angeles, California and I’ve been married for seven years.

About five years ago I was diagnosed with Alcoholic Liver Disease and I was also very overweight. My doctor advised me to stop drinking alcohol, start eating healthier, and start exercising. After two years of listening to my doctors advice I lost over 60 pounds and I was living life to the fullest. My wife and I even went on a second honeymoon.

Unfortunately, a few months later on January 4th, 2015 my life changed forever. My dad passed away, and I fell into a depression and I gained over 30 pounds. I was set to repeat my past until one day I tuned into an episode of American Ninja Warrior.

One of the competitors on the episode was Arnold Hernandez. I couldn’t believe how similar our stories were. The only difference was that he used his pain to motivate himself to do better. I decided to follow in his footsteps so I contacted him and began training at his home made ninja course.

It was around that time that I knew I wanted try out for American Ninja Warrior season 8. I’ve now lost seventy pounds since my diagnosis and I haven’t looked back since.

I went out on the 4th obstacle, the Ring Toss. I made the mental mistake of over looking the obstacle and was thinking about the I beam which was the obstacle taking out all the top Ninjas.

I actually got the attention of some of them when they saw how much heart and dedication I had by not giving up when I got stuck on the 8 inch peg. They came up to me afterwards and said, "Good job! You were up there for like two minutes!"

The experience was amazing. From seeing all these super athletes on tv the year before to actually being in the top 30 section with them... For awhile that is, I got bumped out of the top 30 around 3 in the morning but producers let me stay there for the remainder of the night and soak in all the experience.

I will definitely apply next season! In fact, I have already started working on my submission video.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of American Ninja Warrior Nation's writers or editors, or of NBC.

Trending Discussions