ANW Winner Vance Walker

hey Vance how are you I'm good how are you I'm good now for those who sit at home like we did on Monday and and watch American Ninja Warrior and say well I could do that it's not that hard I've never said that it's it's just hang on to a couple of obstacles and slide around it it just avoid the water it's not that hard how hard is it it is much harder than it looks these guys on the show have been training this professionally I I've been doing it for N9 years now so it's become a professional sport not just guys that have have nine to five jobs they're going to train after work it's it's athletes that have been doing this their entire lives and the off schools look easier because we have gotten so much better over the years but I don't think a normal person could do more than maybe three off schools on the show now now I know you built a course in your own backyard is it still there and are you still adding things to it because they do change things or evolve them to on the show for the competition because they know people are growing and making their own stuff yeah well I have a bunch of off schools at my parents house up in Atlanta I uh I live down in Tampa right now but every time I'm over there I build even more off schools all my tools are still there because I live in a tiny apartment now so anytime I'm in town I'm always building stuff I built Wing nuts and off school where you go side to side and that's over my pool right now and I have a bunch of stuff in the basement I have a bunch of stuff in the backyard so I'm building as much stuff as I possibly can to train how much time do you have to dedicate to training to to compete in this and and win this yeah well I've made this my entire life it's not like I'm going to school anymore I don't have a job besides ninja I've made this my entire life so I'm probably working out maybe four or five hours a day and then I'm also studying other people's runs studying other competitions and also traveling basically every other weekend to a different competition around the country so I'm doing a lot more than just the training itself but probably with training four or five hours a day now you said you live in an apartment now so do you find yourself like parkouring off your own walls because you're just thinking about the obstacles all the time I think if the rent was so high I probably would I'm not to pay security deposit if something goes wrong' be bad no if if you're six foot 210 pounds you're you're probably too big to do this aren't you yeah so a lot of guys that are around six feet there's a couple that do really well I know jod ail he's gotten to stage two a couple times and he's insanely strong but the people that are that tall also have to carry that weight with them so they have the reach Advantage but they also it's it's a game of endurance and it's a game of how long can you hold yourself up so those guys usually don't do nearly as well I think the 58 to 59 range is probably the sweet spot so I'm a little bit under that but also the guys that are a little bit over that can still do well but yeah it's all strength to weight ratio so the more you weigh the harder it is to hold yourself up and you saw that with Kai on stage four this year 180 lb and he got to around 60t in the time limit and then the last 20 yeah were so much harder just because he had to pull that weight the entire way up yeah even using his legs you could see he was it was such such a tug just to keep moving now you compete with and train with and against your friends too so how Bittersweet is that for you and them because you want them to do well but obviously you still want to win because this is like you said your life and your focus yeah well it is really sad because both of the last Seasons I went up on stage four against some people that I've trained with I know in season 15 I went against Daniel gil on stage four and we both ended up making it in time and I beat him out for the million dollars and we trained together in Houston for season 14 because right after season 13 my gym shut down here in Atlanta so I moved in with my grandparents there and I trained with Daniel For That season and it was amazing he went before me so being able to watch him accomplish that was amazing and luckily this season I went against Caleb burstrom who I moved down to Florida two train with he owns the gym that I train at down in Tampa so I trained with him for a year and a half for the for these last two seasons and seeing him also accomplished that was was amazing luckily this time around I did it first so I wasn't stealing the title away from somebody else but yeah I'm I'm very lucky that the two people that I did beat were people that I was so close to so there's no bad blood between any of us so it's definitely really cool to be able to do that with people you've trained with and speaking of him he's like aspirational and inspirational he is such like a cool person to show that there are no social norms in this because he is very spiritual he's very much a family man but he's also very competitive and watching you guys cheer for each other and even the shock on both your faces waiting for that final time announcement you could see it was exciting and like stomach churning at the same time and he's got it's uh has he had his youngest is or no his babies due soon right a couple of months uh he was actually born a couple months ago okay so this this aired right because would prerecorded he's been been here for a little bit gotcha so so how soon after the show airs does the money show up in your bank account um that is the question it all depends on it all depends on what you do we sign a bunch of contracts saying we have to do a bunch of stuff so the second I'm finished with all that I should get it but we'll see now does everybody who's there have to sign kind of um a gag order so to speak so to not let the cat out of the bag who wins because you had some family support and obviously so did the other competitors too so people know the end result long before we the public do yeah yeah there are a bunch of ndas and if you break them there is a hefty check that you have to write so we are not willing to take that risk good call now you're you're only 19 you've you've got I mean really a few more years of of of prime physical condition how much longer do you want to do this before you say you know what that's behind me now I want to move on I want to get a whatever job and and get a family and all that at what point are you going to say that i' I've I've had enough being the American Ninja Warrior that is the question I know there's been four winners in the show's history and I'm two of them the other two were both in their 30s when they won so I could hopefully go on for another 20 years if I'm capable of it but yeah it all depends on if the show stays around that long which I'm very much hoping it does because even if I'm too old to compete even if I'm too injured to compete I still want to be part of the show in other ways whether that's behind the scenes with a camera whether that's holding up the interview signs whether that's building the off schles or commentating or hosting I want to be a part of this as long as I can be so I would definitely love to compete but also this sport is becoming professional athletes and that's why you're seeing so many of the teens do really well because they don't have the responsibilities of a job and having to provide for a family so I'm also pretty lucky and that I won early on so now I have the money to where I don't have to work so I could I could train hopefully as long as I possibly can now would you like see something like this turn into like an Olympic style sport because like you said it's becoming internationally more popular and and just followed and it is such a regimen that you have to commit to do you think it's something that they could add to that or would you love to see that in the future yeah there's been a lot of speculation that they could possibly be in the 2028 games um I would love to see it there could be a bunch of different possibilities whether it's the four stages like in Vegas that could be an insane Olympic sport or they could have the races like they've had in the semi-finals in stage two this last few years but they could also have specific obstacles like the highest warped wall that you could possibly get could easily be its own sport they could have the super salmon ladder and have a certain amount of rungs in the fastest time on that one's gold there could be so many different possibilities it's going to be very interesting to see if they actually do that but if they bring the Super S ladder I'm definitely coming for the gold absolutely if if you're younger and and want to start um and compete down the road first what age do you think is ideal to start training and then second what do you start doing first what what what what part of your body do you work on and what do you do that's a good question so I started when I was 10 years old but a bunch of people are starting way earlier than that now I know there's a little kid in Tampa he was seven when he started training and he has like two million followers down there and he is just insanely good so it'll be very interesting to see when he's old enough to be on the show can he keep that because when you start training a little bit later your body is more developed and you don't change too much like I've grown maybe two three inches since I was 13 so I have like mostly similar body to back then so it'll be very interesting to see if those super young guys can pulled that up long enough to still be that good one that on the show so I think starting when I was 10 was very good for me because by the time I was 13 I started getting the hang of it and then that that's kind of when I was already fully grown that's when I was a little bit more developed and I I already started getting my base at that point and I could just really grow from there what's more important upper body or lower body to this it's mostly an upper body sport but even the upper body obstacles are your full body when you're even doing something like the pegboard where it's fully locked off you're holding your arms at 90 degrees but your knees and your hips are doing all the Motions to be able to propel you to the next thing so it's a lot more core too like people think upper body and lower body obstacles but every single off school on the show is pretty much every part of your body so it's it's a full body workout no matter what you're doing now here's a question if you got ever approached to do something like Dancing with the Stars because it is it's all about balance core strength and whatnot is that something you or other competitors you would say could totally do that we've seen some professional athletes do very well on that show over the years because they're so balanced in their physique and their training yeah I know Daniel would do amazing at that show he's I think he used to be a dancer so he would do pretty well me my hips are not very flexible so I don't know how good I would do but they also have those professional trainers so if I'm on it that would be that would definitely be interesting to watch that's all I'll say when when the competition's complete you've got some time off do you do you let yourself go for a couple of days or do you just start working right away oh yeah there's leading into Vegas probably around three months where the diet and training is as strict as it can possibly be and the second you get home from Vegas I always go to the store I get Donuts I get cake I get mac and cheese I just throw every single thing that I can possibly fit into the grocery cart take that home and within the next like two three days eat every single thing now after this year's was one of the things you grabbed pizza because that was one killer of an obstacle for people to get through it was the undoing of many of your competitors that looked like no joke to like assess and get through that pizza obstacle yeah I think that obst schol scared me so much that it turned me off to Pizza for a little bit actually one of the things that I avoided well it's been great talking to you Vance and we can't wait to see if if we're looking for it we're cheering you on my friend yeah well thank you guys so much for having me thank you be blessed be safe out there thanks man thank you you too