DMACC student Cade Perkins will compete on national television on the show American Ninja Warrior. American Ninja Warrior is a competition where challengers take on various obstacle courses in an attempt to finish the course the fastest.
Perkins first heard of the show American Ninja Warrior when he was about six years old. He immediately fell in love with the show and decided he wanted to compete one day. “I wanted to try it way back then, and I got my parents actually to set up an obstacle course for me,” Perkins said. “I kept watching it since then and kept wanting to do it.”
With his homemade obstacle course and commercial gyms built for obstacle training, Perkins was able to train throughout his younger years before competing on the big stage. His favorite place to train is Emerge Academy in Grimes, Iowa. Before the gyms and homemade obstacle courses, Perkins would train himself on his farm by doing pull ups on trees, running, jumping, and bouncing off the farm fences. He was able to gain strength and endurance by lifting and bailing hay. All his training led up to the qualifying round where he competed against competitors of all ages, and eventually made the show.
The first episode in which Perkins appears was filmed in Los Angeles over DMACC’s spring break week. “It was a lot of fun but it was exhausting because they ended up running at like 3 AM which is 5 AM here so I was a little tired.” Perkins said. The episode will appear on television June 5.