Backyard battler
His surgeon told him to give up his sporting ambition after spinal surgery knocked the fitness out of him. But Andrew McDonald fought back, and now undergoes a gruelling training regime of rocklimbing, crossfit and gymnastics — and a demanding backyard ob
Five years ago Andrew McDonald was living an unhealthy lifestyle in Sydney — he was unfit, smoked cigarettes, had a sedentary job and suffered from niggling back issues. But a two-week holiday in Tasmania was the start of a major life overhaul for the 33-year-old from Oakdowns, who is now fitter than he’s ever been — and is aiming to become one of the world’s greatest ninja warriors.
McDonald will compete against some of the nation’s best ninja warriors at the Australian Ninja Games in South Australia next weekend, and again at the Ninja Challenge League finals in Western Australia on November 2-3.
If he finishes strongly at these events, he could qualify to compete at the World Championships in the US in February. He also hopes to secure a place on the fourth season of TV series Australian Ninja Warrior, which is expected to air next year.
McDonald, who works full-time as a builder, is so determined to succeed that he has constructed an elaborate ninja warrior obstacle course in the backyard of the home he shares with his partner and her two children.
And what is even more remarkable is that McDonald was confined to bed rest only a few months ago, after undergoing major back surgery. But he says despite his surgeon encouraging him to retire from the sport he loves, there’s no way he’s giving it up.
McDonald was inspired to start training after watching the first series of Australian Ninja Warrior on TV about three years ago. But he says it was actually a holiday in Tasmania two years prior to that which paved the way for some major life changes.
“I was meant to only come here for a two-week holiday,’’ McDonald recalls with a grin.
“But on the second day I sent my boss an email stating that when I come back to Sydney that’s going to be it. I went back and grabbed my stuff and I’ve been living here ever since.’’
He has since met his partner, given up cigarettes, and discovered a level of fitness he never imagined was possible. He also changed careers and became a builder, a job which not only keeps him physically active, but also enabled him to build his very own ninja warrior course.
“Back in Sydney I used to smoke cigarettes,’’ he explains. “There was no real fitness — until I moved to Tassie and started exploring the big walks. And after watching season one [of Australian Ninja Warrior] I was inspired to start a different type of fitness journey.’’
McDonald decided to train hard and enter a local ninja warrior competition, which he won. That led him to compete in the amateur league interstate, where he placed in the top 10.
His enthusiasm for the sport never waned, but his dodgy back made training and competing increasingly difficult. So in January this year he underwent spinal surgery to correct two compressed discs.
“It was just bed rest for probably about two weeks and then really light walking, maybe 100m,’’ McDonald says of his recovery. “Then it went from 100m to 200m and from there, every week, it was just adding that extra hundred metres on with constant physio.’’
His surgeon suggested he reconsider his chosen sport. “I went to the surgeon and said ‘look, I want to get this surgery done so I can get back and be ready for season four’,’’ McDonald says.
“He looked at me funny and I said ‘what?’. And he said ‘I think you should put something like that behind you now’. But I couldn’t do that. I’ve always wanted to be fit and healthy and once I started it was something I couldn’t get enough of — getting active and fit and getting outdoors.’’
Despite the initial setback of having surgery, McDonald says he’s now fitter than ever. “I’m a lot stronger now since spinal surgery,’’ he says. “It is unbelievable — I have not had one problem. I feel like I can come back 10 times stronger. I can do things now I couldn’t do before.’’
As part of his recovery he started gymnastics training with Hobart Gymnastics Academy. “I’m starting to learn a lot of different forms — the horizontal bar, trampolines, rings — stuff my body probably wouldn’t allow me to do before.
The gymnastics helps with aerial awareness. I’m working on doing backflips on the trampolines so I know where my body is.’’
Physical fitness is just one piece of the jigsaw when it comes to being a ninja warrior. Flexibility, balance, grip strength, endurance and technique are also important things to master.
McDonald says one of his biggest strengths is evident on obstacles that require him to use his body as momentum to swing and release off one object in mid-air and jump onto another object — a move known as a “lache”.
His weakness is his balance on obstacles like slacklines. McDonald’s backyard ninja course began as a single pull-up bar but has continued to grow.
“My missus always looks out the back yard to make sure I haven’t made it any bigger,’’ he jokes. “It just evolved and kept growing and growing. There are lot more — harder — obstacles out there that needed to be trained on.’’
The structure features hanging holds, a peg board, gymnastic rings, a floating bridge, a slackline, a cliffhanger (a series of narrow ledges which are only long enough to support the fingertips), and a salmon ladder (which has a single movable rung), among other obstacles.
As well as training in his backyard, McDonald goes rockclimbing on Mondays and to crossfit on Tuesdays. Wednesday is typically a rest day, then he returns to crossfit on Thursdays followed by gymnastics on Fridays. On Saturday friends usually come and train with him in his backyard before a rest day on Sunday.
It’s hardly surprising that his nickname at work is “Ninja”. McDonald’s ultimate goals are to compete in the world championships at a professional level and, of course, to appear on that TV show.
He has applied to audition for the next series, which will be filmed early next year. Now he just has to wait — and train — to find out if he’s been successful.
Follow Andrew McDonald’s journey on Facebook (facebook.com/tassieninjawarrior) and Instagram @tassie_ninja