Latest / The GOA Speakers Podcast / American Ninja Warrior’s “Ageless Wonder” Travis Rosen on Faith, Adversity, and Overcoming Obstacles :: Ep 1 GOA Speakers Podcast

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American Ninja Warrior’s “Ageless Wonder” Travis Rosen on Faith, Adversity, and Overcoming Obstacles :: Ep 1 GOA Speakers Podcast · The GOA Speakers Podcast

0:02
Unknown: The geoa speakers podcast begins now. All right,
0:07
welcome to the Goa speakers podcast. We're glad you're
0:09
joining us today. I have with me Greg Oliver, founder and
0:14
president of geoa speakers, and today we are privileged to have
0:18
Travis Rosen. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook,
0:23
Google, business profile. As you're looking for us and
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wanting more episodes, you can find us just about everywhere.
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Well, Travis, thank you so much for being here. I'm really
0:33
looking forward to talking with you. This is the first time I've
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gotten to meet you in person. I've seen your name for years,
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but yeah,
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there's been lots of correspondences back and forth,
0:41
lots of emails, but yeah, first time face to face, this is a
0:44
good time flooding your inbox with DocuSign. Yes, but hey,
0:48
that's a good problem. Yeah, yeah.
0:51
Well, just to give our listeners a little snapshot of who you
0:55
are, if you're a fan of American Ninja Warrior, you're very
0:59
familiar, but I know that you're very well rounded. So apart from
1:04
just claiming to be on American Israeli or you're also careful
1:08
to say you're a dad, you're a family man, and then, of course,
1:12
a speaker with us, and you have just an extensive history of
1:17
just being active, I think that's a huge part of your life
1:19
is a healthy lifestyle. And, you know, there's kind of the simile
1:25
of the obstacles that you overcame on American Ninja
1:28
Warrior, and then your message, your keynotes, often incorporate
1:31
that mindset of overcoming obstacles in life. So could you
1:34
tell us a little bit about what that looks like, that, that
1:38
message that you care so deeply about, of overcoming obstacles,
1:41
and how you portray that and kind of weave it into literally
1:45
overcoming obstacles.
1:46
Yeah, it's a really cool situation that I had being a
1:50
competitor for 10 years on American Ninja work because I
1:53
was running this literal obstacle course. But while not
1:57
many people get to do that, personally, everyone's life is
2:01
full of obstacles, full of challenges, full of adversity.
2:04
And so what I did out on the course, and how I learned to
2:08
approach it, to prepare for it, to deal with it in the moment
2:11
and even afterwards, I can help others in their own lives with
2:16
whatever those other challenges are that they face. Because
2:19
again, we all go through challenges. We all go through a
2:22
lot of difficulties and setbacks. And what I what I
2:26
really love to do as well, is, yeah, I was active. I was a
2:30
competitive gymnast growing up. Was an all American at the
2:34
University of Iowa, but my my faith, that really plays a huge
2:39
role in, well, everything that I do, but really was the reason I
2:45
got into American Ninja Warrior. I was actually about eight or
2:49
nine years retired from competitive gymnast or
2:52
gymnastics after college, and the first season of American
2:56
Ninja Warrior was was coming on, and I saw this, and I'd really
3:00
been a couch potato for literally about eight years, and
3:04
I had just started getting back into shape. Our second child had
3:07
been born, and this new show came on, and I was like, well,
3:12
that's kind of cool, but, you know, I'm way too old for
3:15
something like this, but I really felt compelled to start
3:18
training for it and to go for it. And Travis, what year was
3:22
that? That was 2010 it was actually it was 2009 when the
3:28
first season. It was December of 2009 when the first season
3:31
aired,
3:32
and then you were on season two, correct?
3:35
Yeah, yeah. So I started training, not even knowing that
3:37
they'd have a second season. And of course, this, this was based
3:41
off of the original Japanese version called, it's called
3:44
Sasuke in Japan, and they brought it to America. And I
3:48
didn't know if it was going to be just a one time thing,
3:50
because it was on a little obscure video game cable
3:55
channel. It was they, they kind of catered to the video game
3:58
crowd and but they also showed these reruns and even current
4:03
versions of the Japanese show. And I just, I was hooked. I was
4:08
like, There's something about this. What's going on. And I was
4:10
joking around before we started this podcast that I was
4:13
wondering, Am I having an early midlife crisis? But literally
4:17
felt like the Lord was leading me into that. And so my wife and
4:21
I, we talked about it, we prayed about it, you know, we got some,
4:24
some advice and counsel from others, and we're like, well,
4:26
let's, let's go for it. And sure enough, they had a second
4:29
season. So I put in an application, had to record a
4:33
video, and I did a bunch of pretty crazy stuff that people
4:36
at the local gymnastics gym are like, what's he doing? You know,
4:39
hanging on the rafters and, you know, do all these things, but,
4:43
uh, got on and did really well, and it turned into a 10 year
4:46
career.
4:47
Yeah, so you were on season? Was it two through 11? Yes, that
4:51
right, yeah, wow. That's amazing. And, like, towards the
4:55
end they were like, how old were you on? Like, season 11?
5:00
I think it was, I was just before. It was just before my
5:03
45th birthday, I believe so. Yeah, I was 44 but pretty much
5:07
throughout the entirety of my career, I was on average, 15 to
5:11
20 years older than the other top competitors, but yet I was
5:15
kind of still in the mix almost every season,
5:18
and did on season two. Did NBC pick it up at that point. Was
5:21
not
5:21
NBC did not get involved until season it was season three. So
5:27
the finals have been in Las Vegas, right ever since season
5:31
four. And before that, the finals were actually in Japan.
5:35
Oh, you do the different rounds here in the US. And then they
5:39
would take the top guys to go to Japan and run the actual course,
5:45
actual competition with the Japanese competitors there. That
5:48
was the finals, which, in my opinion, was a little more cool
5:50
than going to Las Vegas. But true. But yeah, that was up
5:55
through season three. And what was your What was your original
5:58
question? When did NBC get involved? Right, right? Yeah. So
6:02
in season three, when we did the Japan episode, NBC picked that
6:08
up. So they showed just the Japan version. That was their
6:12
first foray into it, and it was really met with a good
6:16
reception. And so they started, I think for one or two seasons,
6:20
they kind of did a little it was an odd mix with the cable
6:24
network that the small video game network. So some episodes
6:28
were on NBC, some were on it was called g4 on g4 and then NBC
6:33
finally took maybe season five or season six. Took it all,
6:37
okay, yeah, and like, by the end, they were calling you the
6:40
ageless wonder, I think, isn't that right?
6:42
Yeah, they had a couple different nicknames, ageless
6:46
wonder. They started calling me Mr. Consistency. Even though one
6:49
of my other longtime ninja friends was the original Mr.
6:53
Consistency, they used to call him that. But yeah, ageless
6:56
wonder. Yeah, because I guess again, even at my age, I was
7:00
able to do a lot of things that well, other people my age were
7:03
not doing, but I actually still might hold a few records. So
7:08
that's amazing.
7:08
Yeah. So what was, what was your training like for for that,
7:13
it was very diverse and very intense. Obviously, with the
7:18
gymnastics background, I really leaned on that heavily. The way
7:22
this obstacle course competition works, you need so much upper
7:25
body strength, so I really leaned on a lot of my gymnastics
7:29
background. You know, I do so many different body weight
7:34
exercises, whether it's, you know, your traditional pull ups
7:37
or rope climbs, but then all these different agility and
7:41
cardio conditioning exercises. So, you know, I do heel sprints
7:47
at an area where there's jagged rocks and all this stuff to
7:50
really work on my footwork and get those precise foot
7:54
placement. You've kind of really that motor memory in my in my
7:58
head. But then, you know, I do sprints, I do long distance
8:01
running, rock climbing, so many things, because you never knew
8:05
exactly what you'd face on the course, and so you had to be
8:09
prepared. Because the way the show worked, you didn't get to
8:12
practice. You show up to the competition, you get to see it,
8:16
but then you do it for the first time in competition. And also,
8:20
when I started, this is before you had ninja gyms, because
8:23
you've got ninja gyms now, this is before there were
8:26
they like a spin off from the show. They were creating from
8:29
the show, yeah, just
8:30
like you've got their gymnastics facilities, there are ninja
8:33
facilities. But then you also didn't have people with crazy
8:38
ninja obstacles in their backyard, which, right, a lot of
8:40
people have that nowadays, too. So for for us early competitors,
8:45
you kind of just had to be as ready as possible, because you
8:48
knew when you competed you're going to be seeing something for
8:52
the first time and attempting it for the first time. So yeah,
8:55
that'd be really well rounded.
8:56
So do you have any of the obstacles in your backyard or
9:01
like a salmon ladder somewhere.
9:03
Strange practice on strangely enough, I never did. I don't
9:07
think our HOA would have allowed it, and honestly, my wife would
9:12
not have allowed it. So she's always the voice of reason in
9:16
our relationship. And so, yeah, I actually never had anything in
9:21
our backyard, I did, I did put some things up in our garage,
9:24
just some little things to help with finger strength and grip
9:28
strength and pull ups and, you know, that kind of thing. But
9:32
left the real crazy stuff for other people to create.
9:37
What was the timing like, as far as like between, between seasons
9:41
and your initial season when you were training, how long did that
9:44
actually go before you're, like, truly competing and on air?
9:48
Well, for the very first, like, when I first was like, Okay, I
9:52
saw the first season and I started training for it. It was
9:55
a good probably eight months until the actual competition
9:59
rolled around. Around, but each year, there's really not a lot
10:03
that goes into the competitive process. Now the show has also
10:06
changed over the last four or five years, since since I
10:08
retired. But how it was you would have typically about eight
10:16
to 10 months, depending on where you lived in the US, because
10:19
they would have regional competition. So maybe the West
10:22
Coast would go first, and then, you know, a couple weeks later
10:25
you'd have a Midwest location. And so depending on where you
10:28
were, it was eight to 10 months between competitions, between
10:32
seasons and but there were several different rounds. So
10:36
you'd start off with a qualifying round. If you get
10:40
past that. You know, when you finish in the top however many
10:43
you go to what they would call a city finals round. Then, if you
10:46
were in the top of that, then you would go to the Vegas finals
10:50
that everybody would then meet up at.
10:52
So how many? Remind me, once you get to Vegas, how many people
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are you up against? Usually around 100
10:59
give or take. It was never always the exact same, sometimes
11:03
maybe a little under, sometimes a little over.
11:05
So, yeah, yeah. But it's been dwindled from like the was, the
11:09
regional far more people, yeah.
11:11
So again, well, the first several seasons before they
11:15
started the whole Las Vegas finals, the whole qualifying
11:19
process was held in Venice Beach, California. So like from
11:24
seasons one to three, was all in Venice Beach. So you had about
11:29
450 competitors, part of that, and then you'd get down to about
11:34
the 100 for the Las Vegas finals. When they went to the
11:37
regional format, I would say at every region you'd have a couple
11:42
100 probably, and then you'd have to be in the top 30 in the
11:47
first round, top 15 in the second round. And actually,
11:53
sometimes it was even more than that, because if you cleared,
11:56
they'd also let you go on so
11:59
up against quite a lot of people throughout the whole process.
12:02
Yes, yes, wow. Well, I'd love to hear a little more about the
12:08
message that you share when you talk about overcoming obstacles.
12:11
Like, is there something that's kind of like the pinnacle that
12:15
was one of the hardest obstacles for you on American Ninja
12:18
Warrior? And then is there also something that you speak to in
12:21
your personal life, that was perhaps one of the hardest and,
12:25
yeah, how do you how do you kind of use those, or how do you see
12:28
the Lord using that
12:29
as a message
12:30
for you? Yeah, well, first, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt
12:34
that this was something the Lord was having me do, even though I
12:37
was so much older than everybody else, I felt like there was so
12:41
much confirmation, whether that was from leaders in my life,
12:45
just various various things. I was like, Okay, I know I'm
12:48
supposed to be doing this. So you know when you're when you're
12:51
doing what you know the Lord has put in front of you, even when
12:56
you have those difficulties, it can really help you press
13:01
through and be persistent and continue on, because the
13:06
temptation to throw in the towel and quit is so overwhelming at
13:09
times, especially depending just how big of a challenge you have
13:13
faced. And so knowing that was always a huge help, having
13:19
people in my life that I was walking it out with, you know,
13:21
my wife was always number one right there, but I had, you
13:25
know, other really close friends and pastors and just other
13:28
people that, you know, walk out life with that were kind of a
13:32
team to help me, you know, walk out all the different
13:36
challenges. So if I face something really hard, I knew I
13:39
wasn't going alone. There's no, no lone ranger. You know, I'm
13:44
not, not flying solo. I'm always doing everything with a team of
13:47
people.
13:48
And what else? What else? Yes, yeah, just your message to
13:54
people when you kind of fuse, like the what you learned on the
13:58
course and then in your personal life, like just that mentality
14:02
of overcoming obstacles and having perseverance.
14:04
Yeah, well, so again, a lot of times when, when there is
14:08
adversity and challenges in life, especially if you're a
14:12
believer, if you're a Christian, be like, Well, Well Lord, why
14:15
did this happen? Why did you allow this to happen? You know,
14:18
especially if it's something that I believed I was supposed
14:21
to be doing, like all this ninja warrior stuff, you'd think,
14:24
Okay, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. That must
14:27
mean I'm gonna win, or I'm going to have incredible success. And
14:31
you know, while I did have my share of success, I also, I
14:35
think, I think I still have the record for the worst injury in
14:39
the history of the show. So it was in the 10th season, and I
14:45
was actually considering retiring after that season. I'm
14:48
like, okay, season 10, this is kind of a good number to go out,
14:51
yeah. But I wound up crashing coming off of an obstacle in the
14:57
Vegas finals, like in the middle of the competition. And
14:59
basically. I had my foot twisted around 180 degrees the wrong way
15:03
and broke it in three places. And I was very confused with
15:09
that. I was like, Lord, I did not see it going that way. Here.
15:13
I was thinking, I might retire if I do well enough. And
15:17
instead, I was in the hospital having surgery in in Las Vegas.
15:20
So, you know, in those moments, you have to really go forward in
15:25
faith and trust. And you know, for me, I was having to give it
15:30
all to the Lord, and I was like, Okay, I don't understand what
15:33
happened here. This doesn't make sense, but it didn't take you by
15:37
surprise. So I'm going to trust you and just believe that you
15:41
knew this was going to happen, that somehow your purposes are
15:45
going to be accomplished through this. And so you know whether
15:49
it's a huge challenge like that, or just smaller ones, just
15:52
continuing to give it to the Lord and trust Him that He knows
15:55
what's best, and even if it's a seemingly horrible situation,
15:59
know that he truly can make it into a good situation, you know.
16:04
And even with my foot, with the gymnastics background, and even
16:09
all the years on ninja, have had a lot of injuries, but nothing
16:12
compared to that injury. I mean, talk about pain, the challenge
16:18
coming back. I mean, nothing had been as difficult. But even in
16:23
the midst of that, the way that it inspired people, it really
16:28
helped encourage people to, whether that's go through their
16:31
own injuries or fight back, because there was a lot of fear
16:35
too, once I once I came back, you know, am I gonna get hurt
16:40
again? You know, is my foot truly strong enough, and so I
16:45
was really able to help so many people. I even had a message
16:50
that was sent to me through my website. There was a husband and
16:53
wife that they were so taken with my story that she named
16:56
their child after me. So I was like, what an honor. Yeah, yeah.
17:01
So it's like, okay, the foot injury was really bad, really
17:05
hard, but it clearly impacted a lot of people. So Lord you know,
17:10
have your way, yeah. And even, even just coming back from that
17:13
injury really was a miracle, because when it happened, the
17:18
the doctor who did surgery, was thinking I might not ever even
17:22
jog again. I mean, it was that bad of an injury. And, you know,
17:27
less than a year later, I was back out on the course
17:29
competing, and then I was able to retire on my own accord.
17:32
Yeah, that's nice, yeah, it was just a sign and wonder, yeah,
17:36
Travis, what when you go out and speak, what is the when you get
17:41
up on a stage, what is it that you like or want to try to
17:44
communicate to the audience that you're speaking to? What I
17:49
really like is there's so many things that I can speak to. So
17:55
it kind of depending on the crowd. I can kind of cater it.
17:59
So whether I'm talking to a youth group or even a corporate
18:02
event, I can kind of tweak it to where I can I can speak on
18:07
different things, but what I like speaking on the most, or
18:11
really trying to convey the most, is you can really set the
18:15
bar high. And even though it seems impossible, you can
18:20
actually go for it. You know, again, when I was 35 and felt
18:25
led to go for this obscure obstacle course game show, the
18:30
first reaction was, No, I can't do that. And I think that's how
18:33
a lot of people react, that there's something, oh, I can't
18:36
do that. Well, well, why not? And depending on what it is, I
18:39
mean, there might be some legitimate reasons why you
18:41
shouldn't try whatever it is, but a lot of people so quickly
18:46
given to that belief in that way of thinking that, well, I just
18:50
can't do this because X, Y or Z, whatever the excuse or reasons
18:54
are. And so I love to show people that, well, you can, even
18:58
if you are outside the box a bit, you know, at my age, I
19:01
would say I was outside the box of what you'd think was an ideal
19:06
ninja age, you know. So you know that you can really believe for
19:11
big things and go for it. I really love to convey the
19:16
importance of prayer that was always, I mean, it is a huge
19:19
part of my life, but especially when I was a competitor, leading
19:22
up to competitions, I would, once a week, I'd get out, get
19:25
away, I'd pray over every aspect of the competition months ahead
19:30
of time, so that when I got there, it helped me just have a
19:33
sense of peace and just knowing this has all been covered in so
19:38
much prayer, not just by myself, but others as well, that It kind
19:41
of helped me really just focus on what I needed to do, because
19:44
I knew everything had been touched on, basically, and
19:49
prayer just became so second nature that, you know, even in
19:53
the middle of a course, I mean, before the competition, I'd pray
19:56
in the middle of the competition, I'd pray
19:58
afterwards. I. Pray. And there's even one of my favorite
20:02
competitive moments was, it was in a city finals round. I think
20:05
it was in the eighth season. It was, it was being held in
20:10
Atlanta, Georgia. And there was a new obstacle that season that
20:16
they had never had before. And by the time it was my turn to
20:19
go, no one had completed it yet. It was the second to last
20:23
obstacle, and this is since it was a city finals course. It was
20:26
a longer, extended course, more difficult, and nobody had had
20:31
conquered this yet. And again, I had never been able to practice
20:36
it. It was brand new, and I was in the middle of this obstacle,
20:40
and I tried it three times, like I got stuck in the middle of it
20:43
and and I don't know if you know what it's like to, you know, try
20:47
pull ups or push ups, and you get to a point where you're
20:50
maxing out and you just can't do any more. That's what it felt
20:53
like. It felt like I tried it the first time, I tried it the
20:57
second time, I tried it the third time, and it was a pull up
21:00
type requirement to get through this middle of the obstacle. And
21:06
I looked down at the water because, you know, the water's
21:08
right there, and it's always a very intimidating things.
21:10
Battling fear and intimidation was a huge thing with with this
21:14
competition as well. But I looked down and in the moment, I
21:17
prayed. You know, a lot of people, I don't know if in the
21:20
middle of a high stake competition like that, they
21:23
would pray. But it became such a part of my life that I looked
21:27
down at the water I prayed, I'm like, Lord, I don't know what to
21:30
do. And in that moment, a different technique just popped
21:35
in my head that I hadn't thought of I hadn't tried. And so I did
21:38
it. I was able to not only get through that obstacle, but then
21:41
have enough strength. Because, again, I was, I was gassing out.
21:44
I mean, I literally thought I was about to drop. I had enough
21:47
strength to motor through, and I was the first one to clear that
21:51
entire course. Out of, I think only four people did it. But
21:54
pretty amazing. That's awesome. That's great. And then, of
21:58
course, the overcoming adversity, you know, that's
22:00
that's a huge component, because whether you're talking about
22:04
that injury that I mentioned to my ankle, or just when things
22:07
don't work out, you know, for this, for this competition,
22:10
unless you win, which there's only been a small handful of
22:15
people to ever do that and win, means that, you know, go through
22:18
the entirety of all The stages, you know, climb the massive rope
22:22
climb, hit the buzzer within the allotted time. There's not many
22:25
people who have done that. So unless you've done that, you
22:28
basically fall short of your goal. And I worked really hard
22:32
all year to try to get through the entire competition, entire
22:37
course, not necessarily win, per se, but, you know, get all the
22:41
way up, hit that buzzer, say, I did it, I accomplished it. And
22:45
so if you fell short, it was pretty heartbreaking, because
22:48
you trained so hard. So, you know, just knowing how to learn
22:52
from those, instead of looking at those as failures, they're
22:54
learning lessons, you know. So, yeah, helping people know how to
22:58
deal with adversity, that's a big thing too.
23:00
Yeah. Did you ever get a chance while you were on the show?
23:05
Like, to show that lifestyle to some of your the people you were
23:09
up against, like, were people seeing you, pray and stuff were,
23:12
yeah, private,
23:13
oh no, no. It was actually really cool. So when we started,
23:17
even at the very outset, we kind of, my wife and I, we had this
23:21
perspective that, hey, this is going to be a mission field,
23:24
yeah. So, yeah, it's this crazy obstacle course competition.
23:28
I've got to be really in shape for it, but we're going to look
23:32
at it as a mission field. And so from the very get go, I was
23:36
always trying to find ways to share my faith with people and
23:41
with this competition, as hard as it is and difficult as it is,
23:46
injuries happen a lot. So from day number one, there were
23:50
people getting hurt. And I mean, so many people want to share
23:54
their faith, and they feel like they don't know how, but prayer
23:58
is such an easy open door to share your faith, because
24:01
there'd be people, people, you know, hurting their elbow or
24:04
whatever, and I'd go up and like, hey, saw you, you know,
24:07
hurt your elbow. I'm a Christian. Can I pray for you? I
24:10
believe that Jesus heals, you know, can, can I? Can I pray for
24:13
you? And so many of those people really were touched and impacted
24:18
by that, and a lot of them were not Christians by any stretch of
24:21
the imagination, but they were really impacted by that. And you
24:25
know, when somebody's really hurt, almost never will they
24:28
say, No, I don't want prayer. Yeah. So it's a great open door.
24:33
And I even had one moment. This was probably in my fourth or
24:37
fifth season. You know, this is a competition, but it's also a
24:40
TV show. So there's lots of sitting around. You're waiting
24:43
at the course. And so we were just hanging around, waiting and
24:47
waiting and waiting. And there was one guy and we were talking,
24:50
I don't remember how we even got on the topic, but he's like, you
24:53
know, you might not remember this, but in our first season,
24:56
you prayed for my in whatever it was, his arm or. Elbow or
25:00
something. And he's like in all that we've been through during
25:04
this, you know, number of years we've done this together, all
25:06
the incredible moments that was the most dear to my heart, that
25:11
was the most touching, impactful thing for me. And he wasn't even
25:16
a Christian, but yet, me doing that really, really impacted
25:20
him. And so
25:21
somebody who cares, especially that you're up against, I'm sure
25:24
it's, like, kind of disorienting. Like, Oh, you, you
25:26
care about me, yeah? You know, yeah.
25:28
And so, you know, there was tons of those individual moments. And
25:31
the funny thing is, there were several times that I did pray
25:33
for people, they did get better, and then they wound up beating
25:37
me. So that's just one of those things. I'm like, Okay, God, you
25:41
you knew upside down Kingdom world, right? So. But then there
25:45
were also pre competition prayers that several seasons
25:49
into this was just, I guess maybe get a little more
25:52
comfortable, a little more confident. And a couple other
25:56
believers that I met, we would start praying before the
25:58
competition, and we just kind of make an announcement, like, Hey,
26:01
we're going to do a pre comp prayer. Anyone wants to get in
26:04
on it? You know, come on. And we started with just a small group,
26:09
but by the time my probably last three seasons at the finals, we
26:14
would have over 50% of the competitors a part of it. And so
26:19
that was really incredible, because I knew that a lot of
26:21
them were not Christians, they weren't believers, but yet, they
26:25
were interested. They wanted to get in on this. You know, they
26:28
want to be like, hey, what's what's going on? And I haven't
26:31
had one season several, several guys seek me out to ask me to
26:34
pray for them, because it made them feel so much more at peace.
26:38
And so, yeah, so it was pretty crazy. There was even in the in
26:43
the regional competitions that one, we didn't have as much of a
26:48
group of Christians, so I just kind of have to, like, be really
26:51
bold. And I'd just stand up on something, be like, hey, gonna
26:55
do pre comp prayer. Come on over if you want to be a part of it.
26:57
And and again, we'd get a lot of a lot of lot of interest. In one
27:01
season, there was a film crew. They were filming some sort of
27:04
documentary, and to this day, I still don't even know what it
27:07
was for, but I don't remember what I was praying. But the
27:11
director was so impacted by what I prayed, like he came up to me
27:16
afterwards, tears in his eyes and just thanking me. And I was
27:19
like, wow, I guess, I guess the Lord was really moving in the
27:22
midst of that. So had lots of moments like that. Just really,
27:25
really good ways to share my faith and be a good witness.
27:29
Yeah, in in any of your interviews that you did on air,
27:34
were there any opportunities to kind of share your faith, or,
27:37
yeah,
27:38
yeah, I would try to find any opportunity I could. But a lot
27:43
of times those interviews, not much gets to the On Air portion.
27:48
So almost everything, the miracle of editing, yeah, almost
27:52
everything that dealt with my faith would get edited out. But
27:56
even with that, I was like, well, the crew that was part of
28:00
that they got to hear what I had to say. So maybe seeds were
28:04
being sown in their life and and even I had an interview post,
28:11
post run on the competition, the one that was saying where I
28:15
prayed in the middle of the obstacle afterwards, like, if
28:18
you do well, they will interview you with a sideline host and and
28:23
she asked me, she said, you know, you you looked stuck,
28:27
whatever, however she put it, you know, you looked stuck on
28:29
that obstacle. You know. How did you make it through? And without
28:32
skipping a beat, I said, I prayed. And she kind of had a
28:36
deer in the headlights moment, and she just kind of looked at
28:39
me, and it shocked her so much they had to do another take
28:43
because she couldn't, she didn't respond. And so I did. I
28:47
responded the same way. She was more ready. And they did
28:49
actually show that. Oh, they did on air. So I was actually
28:52
pretty, pretty happy for that. But yeah, I even, I'd pray for
28:56
people in the production crew. And yeah, it was, it was
28:59
great surprise. She didn't say something like, well, back after
29:03
this and cut to commercial Exactly. That would be funny. So
29:09
I hear that you are working on a book. Is that, right?
29:13
Yes, the long awaited, the long awaited NINJA book. It's, it's
29:17
quite the the work. Yeah, it's taken, oh, it's taken some time.
29:22
But, you know, some things that take a while, they're going to
29:25
be They're even better, you know? So, yeah, I'm working on a
29:28
book, hoping to have that done sometime this summer, early
29:34
fall, hopefully. So I started a very serious writing project
29:40
when I was still a competitor, but it hit some obstacles, and I
29:46
just kind of shelved it for a while, and really felt like got
29:50
to do this, got to finish this. So even though I'm, you know,
29:54
five to six years post competition, feel like it's
29:59
still. Something I have to do, because there's so many
30:01
different things that I've experienced and things that the
30:04
Lord has brought me through, that I think can really still
30:07
help people, whether they're a competitive athlete or not. I
30:10
mean just principles that can really help other people.
30:13
So, yeah, you have a title yet for the book I'm not telling.
30:19
Oh, come on, everything.
30:22
Greg Oliver taught me on the ninja course,
30:26
yeah, right, that would sell a million.
30:28
Yeah, that would sell, I'm sure. So how many tell tell us how
30:32
many pull ups you can do today, today?
30:35
Yeah, oh, gosh, I don't want to talk about well, so Okay, here's
30:39
the deal. Here's the deal. So talk about adversity, you know?
30:43
Okay, ageless wonder. They may have called me that, but time
30:46
still catches up to everybody. Yeah. So earlier this year, we
30:50
moved, and my parents are moving in with us. It's really cool.
30:54
And in the process of moving, you lift stuff, right? Well,
31:00
week or two after moving, I realized, Oh, my biceps just
31:03
really bothered me, but I didn't really pay much attention to it.
31:07
And over the summer, we kept getting things delivered and
31:11
heavy things, and every time I'd lift something heavy, it just
31:14
didn't feel right. So finally, went to the doctor, and I found
31:18
out that I partially tore my biceps tendon from lifting
31:21
boxes. In fact, I do think it was actually a piano. I think it
31:25
was the piano. I don't know for sure. I never had a moment where
31:28
something popped right, but, uh, we had our piano delivered, but
31:32
then we had to move it to another location. And so I think
31:35
that's what did it.
31:36
Well, a piano is better than a box that's bad, or a bicep,
31:42
a headline say, I'm gonna say the piano. Okay, yes, the piano.
31:45
Let's go with that. But I will say I started to get back into
31:49
pull ups now. I mean, I had to do some physical therapy and
31:52
rehab and stuff. Yeah, I haven't actually done a max set. I could
31:56
probably do 20. But I will say when, when I was at my peak
32:00
after my foot injury, you know, I had to do, or I had time to
32:04
do, so much upper body strength. When my foot was healing, I hit
32:08
like, 52 No, no. 52 that would be nice. 4242 Wow. Like
32:14
consecutive pull ups, yeah, not, you know, I'm gonna wait a while
32:18
and shake out and just 42 consecutive pull ups. That's the
32:21
most I ever did.
32:22
So yeah, I about two years ago, I tore my rotator cuff to tear,
32:27
and then a bicep 10, and I had to have both of those repaired
32:31
at the same time. Yeah, and prior to that, my I think I 19,
32:36
maybe pull ups. So I'm a few years older than you are, so
32:40
just sorry I don't have a claim to fame, but I did give birth to
32:43
a child.
32:45
She wins physical success. That's a big success, so do not
32:55
sell yourself short. Well.
32:58
Thank you so much. It's been so great to have you on here and
33:01
just get a snapshot of behind the scenes. Is there anything
33:05
else that you want to share before we go, or
33:09
places people can find you while they're
33:11
waiting for the book?
33:13
Yeah, but I do have a website, Travis rosen.com I do have all
33:17
the social medias, but not a big social media person. I was
33:22
having this conversation before we started the podcast that I
33:26
felt like the Lord called me into the ninja competition. The
33:30
Ninja Show not necessarily be this online personality, so I've
33:35
always struggled with that. And in the peak I think of the
33:40
show's popularity, it was easy to get wrapped up in a lot of
33:46
that. Yeah, and I discovered that I was really focusing on it
33:51
way too much and way more than I wanted. So I'd be on family
33:54
vacations or doing this or doing that, and, oh, gotta get the
33:57
selfie. Got to get the picture for the post. And I guess I got
34:01
to a point where I was like, I'm just tired of it. It's raining.
34:05
So I really do not do much at all on social media right now.
34:08
So never know. Maybe I'll hire somebody to do that someday,
34:11
yeah, but, um, yeah. I mean, I think the only other thing is
34:14
just what I love to try to help people understand, especially
34:18
when I'm speaking to youth crowds, but anybody just really
34:24
know that you have an ability to impact people. You don't have to
34:29
be a celebrity athlete, you don't have to be on a TV show.
34:32
You don't have to be, you know, some famous musician or
34:36
whatever, wherever you are, whatever age and stage of life
34:39
you're in or at you can impact other people. Yeah, you know,
34:45
you have something to give. And because I think it's easy to be
34:48
like, Oh, well, look at that person. You know, they've got
34:50
such an influence. But who am I? But you know, doesn't matter who
34:54
you are. You have something to offer. And so I really like to
34:58
help people understand. And that, you know, you might not
35:02
get a child named after you, but you know, you can still really
35:06
help. You can really help, you know, somebody just maybe have a
35:11
good day, you know, like, Oh, that was a really encouraging
35:14
thing. Or, when you prayed for me, that was so nice, you know,
35:18
so yeah,
35:19
thank you so much that, yeah, that's such a good
35:21
encouragement. Thank you guys for joining us for another
35:24
episode. We hope you enjoyed it, and we look forward to the next
35:28
day. You.