Jesse Labreck, Allyssa Beird, and Tyler Gillett give their best training advice

American Ninja Warrior is an inspiration to many and for many different reasons. The Ninjas have inspired others to share their struggles, donate kidneys, or find hope in a dark time. They’ve brought smiles to people’s faces and kickstarted many people’s journeys to fitness.

One of the most tangible effects of watching American Ninja Warrior is its ability to inspire you to get up and move. The many gyms and competitions around the country are a testament to that. One of the most common questions the Ninjas receive revolves around training advice.

We asked three Ninjas to give us their best advice for Ninja training. The answers were surprising. There were no mentions of workout programs or specific exercises. For these Ninjas, it all came down to the mental game.

Read on for training advice from Jesse Labreck, Allyssa Beird, and Tyler Gillett. The three Ninjas are all seasoned veterans of the show and previous National Finalists. Together, they’ve given us three incredibly important training reminders.

Jesse Labreck: Be confident.

“Training advice. Being confident while you’re training. Because, I have it all the time where I’ll try something the first or second time and I won’t even be close, and then Ethan (Swanson) or Chris (DiGangi) will give me a pep talk, and I’ll get it so easily. It was just my confidence. It was me telling myself that I didn’t think I could do it, and then I was able to do it. And it’s frustrating, but it’s just you have to learn it over time. It’s just being confident in all of your moves with your training, because Ninja Warrior is intimidating and scary.

Allyssa Beird: Keep it simple.

“Keep it simple. I had my best season after two injuries and all I had done was basically PT exercises. I felt my strongest and most in shape stepping up on the course after just focusing on like, toe raises. It was a nice realization that you don’t have to go hard in the gym every day to feel your best. You can play on obstacles, but the real work comes in in the conditioning.”

Tyler Gillett: Have fun. None of it matters if you’re not motivated.

“I think the biggest training advice for me that I’ve took upon myself most recently is have fun with it. People will give you training advice up and down about how to get better and how to get stronger, and that’s great, but if you don’t feel motivated, it’s not going to matter. And so training that mental piece is, I think, one of the most important things and to do that is find a way to have fun with it.

That’s why I started Ninja is because I thought it was super cool, and I happened to get a nice workout out of it. So it’s this kind of best of both world thing. And so every time you go to the gym, instead of just reminding yourself of what reps you got to do, or what specific obstacles you have to train, just every once in a while, just go and just don’t have a plan of exactly what we want to do, except for have fun. Because I think that’ll reignite that passion to continue to get healthy and train and all that kind of stuff.”