October 16, 2025 • 49 mins
#184 - What does it take to conquer the American Ninja Warrior course? For Colton Skuster, the journey began as a 10-year-old jumping over exercise balls in his basement, dreaming of someday tackling those iconic obstacles himself.
At just 20 years old, Colton has already competed in three seasons of American Ninja Warrior, reaching the National Finals in Las Vegas and proving himself against competitors twice his age. His path wasn't straightforward – from training in a monkey costume to building his own backyard obstacle course during COVID lockdowns, Colton's determination never wavered.
During our conversation, Colton pulls back the curtain on what really happens behind the scenes at ANW. We discuss the intense application process where personality matters as much as athletic ability, the nerve-wracking experience of stepping onto the starting platform surrounded by cameras and crowds, and the surreal moment when producers reveal obstacle courses competitors have never seen before. You'll discover how competitors train for challenges they can't predict and the split-second decisions that determine success or failure on national television.
Beyond the competition itself, Colton shares profound insights about finding purpose after achieving a lifelong goal. "You reach one goal, you're satisfied, it's amazing, you celebrate," he explains, "and then you think – how can I take this further?" This wisdom has led him to mentor younger athletes, speak at high schools, and even caddy at Pebble Beach alongside celebrities like Michael Phelps.
Whether you're a fan of American Ninja Warrior or simply someone searching for motivation to pursue your own challenges, Colton's story demonstrates how passion, friendship, and resilience can transform dreams into reality at any age. Listen now, and discover how the journey matters more than the destination.
Be sure and give Colton a follow on Instagram @cwskuster.
Subscribe, leave a review, and follow @journeywithjakepodcast on Instagram to join our community of adventure seekers finding inspiration in extraordinary stories.
Want to be a guest on Journey with Jake? Send me a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/journeywithjake
Visit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind. Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.
Visit geneticinsights.co and use the code "DISCOVER25" to enjoy a sweet 25% off your first purchase.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on Journey with Jake, I'm joined by Colton
Schuster, a competitor onAmerican Ninja Warrior.
We dive into what it takes tostep onto that iconic course,
the intense training behind thescenes and the values that drive
him beyond the competition.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
(00:21):
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will feature adifferent guest or guests, as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
(00:43):
their way.
My goal is to take each of us ona journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination, as it is about
the journey.
(01:12):
Welcome back to Journey withJake.
Before we dive in, just a quickreminder make sure you're
following me on Instagram atjourneywithjakepodcast,
subscribing on YouTube andleaving a rating and review
wherever you listen.
It's one of the best ways youcan support the show and help
others find these stories.
Now today's guest is ColtonSchuster, a competitor on
American Ninja Warrior.
(01:32):
It takes more than strength andagility to step onto that
course.
You've got to have personality,confidence and a drive that
sets you apart, and Coltonbrings all of that.
We'll hear about his training,his time on the show and what
really matters to him beyond theobstacles.
And if you enjoy thisconversation, you'll also want
to check out episode 146 withSpartan competitor Kelton
(01:54):
Shelley, another athlete whoknows what it takes to put it
all on the line.
Let's get into it with ColtonSchuster.
I'm excited today I've gotColton Schuster joining me.
Colton, welcome to Journey withJake.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Thank you, Jake.
I'm excited to be here, man.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, this is awesome .
Colton, I found out he's just ayoung guy, 20-year-old guy.
You've done American NinjaWarrior a few times.
That's what we're going to talkabout.
We're going to dive into thatexperience.
Before we roll into that, tellme a little bit about Colton,
kind of where you're from, whereyou grew up, that sort of thing
.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I'm from originally.
I was born in Chicago, illinois, Moved to Salt Lake City when I
was about five and I've beenhere ever since and I'm 20 now.
I've been here for 15, almost16 years.
I love it here.
I'm a full-time student at theUniversity of Utah right now
Avid skier hiker.
You know paddle boarding, cliffcliff jumping, all the outdoor
(02:48):
stuff that we have here in utah.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It's a great place to call home and I'm thankful to
be here and family wise.
You an only kid.
Do you have any siblings?
What's kind of the familysituation like?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
yeah, so I have one younger brother.
We definitely have differenthobbies.
I mean, he's a huge skier.
I like to ski, but I'm not likesuper, super into it.
He's really into like the cliffjumping scene.
He can do some crazy stuff.
He just started his freshmanyear at Utah this year.
So now we're both here.
I'm in my junior year Onlysibling.
I got Mom, dad both live hereas well.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And what are you studying at the University of
Utah?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So it's a special major.
Basically I would describe itas like economics and data
science kind of mixed into one.
It's interesting stuff.
I'm doing like a financeemphasis with it too.
So a lot of numbers, a lot of alot of theory, a lot of problem
solving.
It's a whole lot of a whole lotof craziness, just bang, but
it's, it's, it's interestingstuff.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So do you feel it kind of fits who you are?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I used to, but now it's getting harder, and so now
it's getting harder.
So now it's getting to thepoint where I'm like, well, it's
a little bit more than what Ithought I was getting into, but
I've made it this far.
Now I can't really turn back,so we're just going to stick it
out.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So let's go back a little bit to American Ninja
Warrior, because you've been onAmerican Ninja Warrior a few
times, a few seasons.
Yeah, great show.
I love the show.
I've actually.
I had the opportunity to sit inthe audience in Vegas one time.
Are you serious?
Yeah, so that was interesting.
So so I've been a fan ofAmerican Ninja Warrior for a
long time.
I haven't watched all theseasons, I'll be honest.
I haven't watched everything.
There's a lot going on with it.
(04:15):
I look at these competitors and, first of all, it's just, it's
amazing, the stuff you're goingthrough, what you're going
through, what you're puttingyour body through.
It's not only strength, butit's agility, it's all kinds of
stuff and it's speed too.
You're going up against a clock.
You got all kinds of thingshappening.
Take me back to when you firstknew about American Ninja
Warrior, because you're only 20.
You've been on three seasons.
(04:36):
How old were you when you firstheard of it and when did you
realize, hey, I want to do this,want to do this, I'll give you
a little bit of a rundown.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So, uh, let's say I want to say I was, you know, I w
.
I've always been a huge fan ofthe show, ever since I was
probably 10 years old.
I mean, the show's been going,for this is going to be the 18th
year we film it, so I mean it'sbeen going for 18 years.
I've been around for 20.
So I've been a fan of the showforever and I always used to
just be one of those things,like you know, didn't know how
to work a TV.
(05:03):
So when my parents had the TVchannel, it was on on the TV.
I would watch it and be likewait, that's so cool.
You know, I was one of thosekids.
I was always building likecourses in my basement, like
jumping over the exercise ballsand like climbing around the
furniture and just like randomstuff.
And Wipeout too.
I'm sure you've seen TV showWipeout.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Love Wipeout.
Yeah, out too.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I'm sure you've seen tv show wipe out, love wipe out,
yeah that was the one I wasreally, really into when I was a
kid.
I was definitely more into thatthan I was a and w.
Well, when I started taking itseriously when I was 14, the guy
named carson voyles.
He's like a really really good,like og ninja, super dominant,
like seasons 3 through 11.
He's got a crazy resume,national finalist like seven or
(05:43):
eight times, made it top threemultiple seasons.
He started his own gym about 45minutes north of where I live
and then quickly after that heopened one that was like 15
minutes from me, and so I saw iton the news.
They did like a news featurethere and I was like wait, this
is actually insane, I couldactually go and train for this.
(06:04):
So I just started going thereonce a week.
Parents signed me up forclasses and I just became like
absolutely obsessed with it.
I was I loved baseball growingup.
All I wanted to do was likebaseball.
And then I like wanted to go tothis gym and train.
That's all I wanted to do.
And so I hit it like reallyhard.
I was training, you know, once,and then once I turned 15, I
was allowed to go to the opengyms so I would have my class
(06:26):
once a week.
And then quickly I kind of grewout of that and I just started
going to the open gyms Me and mybuddy John Mack, another A&W
competitor, met him when I wasabout 15.
And we both realized that we hadthe same goals and so we just
started just the two of us justtraining three times a week in
that gym for two, three hours ata time, just going, going
(06:46):
running courses, getting better,fine-tuning our skills.
And then COVID happened when Iwas gosh feels like forever ago,
even though it wasn't I waswhat?
16?
I was probably still 15 when ithappened.
I wasn't too far into this.
The gyms closed and there wasno way of training.
So I built this rig in mybackyard to train on.
(07:08):
That was like inspired fromYouTube videos I saw.
So I just threw it together youthink 15, 16 year old,
designing a obstacle course inthe backyard.
I actually did like concrete,wooden posts, everything.
My parents were like as long asyou pay for it, you can do
whatever you want in thebackyard.
That's what I did.
It was super basic course, butit gave me everything I needed.
(07:31):
The salmon ladder where you goup at the bar, had a grip line
where you go across had a bunchof different holds.
Then I started building evencrazier obstacles that I would
hang from and swing and fly fromone side to the other.
There's this like one video ofme been posted on, like all
those failed channels before.
I'm like swinging from thefirst bar and it like snaps and
(07:53):
I just like go flying across therig like straight to the back
of my head.
That was, that was scary.
But yeah, I guess, and then gotthe call when I was 17 to
compete on the TV show.
I think they just really likedyou know, my energy, the fact
that I was just this normal kidto a certain extent who just
(08:14):
fell in love with the show andyeah, we've just been going at
it ever since.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
So when you were 14, 15, is that kind of when you
said, hey, I want to be on theshow.
I mean, did you kind of makethat decision?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Exactly, exactly.
And the crazy thing, too, isthe show up until I want to say,
when I was 14, whenever,whenever you was 2019, that was
when I was 14, 2019 up until2019, the show was always you
have to be 21 and over tocompete.
So I didn't know that it wasgoing to be an opportunity this
soon and 2019, they lowered itto 19.
(08:44):
It was the age to compete andso I was like, okay, wait, I'm
going to get to do this sooner.
And then in 2021, they loweredit to 16 or 15, 15 or 16, one of
the two.
And then I was like, as soon asI saw that season I didn't even
know I could have applied thatyear I saw that season, I was
like, wait, I could like applynow.
(09:04):
And so I did at 17 and I got on.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, what's the whole application process like?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The main component of it is the video.
For sure, that's kind of likehow they primarily judge you.
It's a three minute video.
They give you like a little bitof a like template to follow,
but really it's just like whoyou are showcasing yourself.
Of course you gotta like proveto them you're good enough to do
the obstacles, but everyone whoapplies is probably good enough
to a certain extent.
(09:31):
So they don't really want tosee that and you just have to
showcase your personality, whyyou would be good for tv.
What's special about you?
And yeah, I kind of just madelike a.
Really it had like a wholereally homemade vibe to it
because I filmed it on whateveriphone was around when I was,
you know, four years ago.
I just like had it and I likefilmed myself and talked about
(09:52):
my daily life and kind of likebrought along with me for some
of it.
And I think I think the reasonthat they liked it is just I I
had so much energy, I was likeso excited to have that
opportunity to make it and andthey just love that.
Like I said, I'm just some likenormal kid, like there's
nothing special about me, andthey were like that's pretty
sweet.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
But you brought energy.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Did you showcase a little bit of the obstacles then
?
Because you said ever.
I mean, they really want toknow who you are.
Personality wise yeah, butthey've got to know that you can
you know yeah, yeah, butthey've got to know that you can
.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
You know, oh, 100 percent.
And I mean, back then even Iwas like posting stuff on
Instagram of me doing obstaclesand stuff.
You know I put like a littletraining montage in there.
But you know, they see, you dothree obstacles that they put on
the show.
They're like OK, he, he knowswhat he's doing, yeah, ok then
it's just personality wise.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
They want exactly exact personalities.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
They get thousands of people apply for the show every
year, most of which are overlyqualified to be on this show,
and it just comes down to whoyou are.
That's like the big thing thatyou got to hit on.
And then the rest of theapplication process is it's like
25 questions, just freeresponse questions.
You type up a paragraph or twofor each.
(11:03):
I don't think they use that asmuch as the video though.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
They want to see how you look on camera.
Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, this is.
It's just interesting to me howthis, how this all works.
Yeah, and I would imagine, yeah, there's got to be, like you
said, thousands of peopleapplying.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So oh yeah, oh yeah to set yourself apart.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
It's got to be a little tricky and it's something
you said.
I like how you said you're justa normal guy, you're just, you
know.
Yeah, who you like I've got.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
I'm sure I've got some like random hobbies, like I
don't know what I was.
I can't remember what I wasinto when I was 16, but I mean I
I was like a competitiverubik's cube, solver, you know
really good baseball player andthat kind of utah stuff.
I was pretty honestly, I waskind of a better skier back then
than I am now.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Just all sorts of stuff I think I saw you juggling
at one point too.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh yeah, yeah, I've done like I was like in a
juggling.
I was doing like backflips andlike juggling, just like random
stupid talents that you'd belike.
Where the heck did that kidlearn that?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
How does it then work , Do they?
Okay?
They said you made it to theshow Is it regional stuff that
you get filmed Like?
How does the whole thing work?
And tell me kind of about thatfirst season you were on?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
When you get selected to compete, they tell you a
couple months before, and thenwhen you get the call to compete
, they tell you when the filmingdays are.
They fly you out, usually twodays before you compete, and so
you fly out and it's a, and thenthe next day it's just like a
chill day.
You don't do anything exceptthey will pull you for like
interviews, so stuff like this.
(12:28):
You know just a huge fancycamera in front of my face and
like b-roll shots where you knowyou're just like pose up on a
stage with like a green screenand that's.
You know you sit on like thelittle spinny table.
You see all like the shots wherethat's like just yeah, okay,
and that's what you're up therejust like spinning around,
you're up there flexing and allthat yeah yeah, they just spin
(12:49):
you around, kind of do all thatstuff the day before and then
the next day you get on a bus atlike 5 pm and you go to the set
and they don't start filming ituntil 9 pm.
They start filming when the sungoes down.
So they give us like awalkthrough of the course at
like seven and the we don't knowwhat the course is, by the way
(13:11):
Like this is yeah, that's likethe huge thing.
We have no idea.
So they don't reveal the courseuntil we get to set the day of
and obviously they have.
They have like a demo crew andthey'll have a couple people
like demo each obstacle so wecan see how it works.
But obviously at that point toolate to go and train for that
obstacle.
(13:31):
Like we're there now.
So we understand how it worksand we understand, like you know
, like we see we watch people doit before anyone goes.
So we're well aware of how itworks.
Do you get a?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
practice run at all or no?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
no, no wow, okay no practice runs, but from all of
us at this point we kind of knowthe format of the show.
They tend to put similar, theytend to, they tend to test
specific abilities in certainpositions.
So, for example, the firstobstacle is always, you know,
pretty easy, usually just uh,the easy agility obstacle run
(14:05):
across steps, run and grab thisand get to a dismount platform,
super straightforward.
Second obstacle is always upperbody, but it's like easy upper
body, swing from this, grab thisdismount, swing from this,
slide along this dismount,really really easy.
And then obstacle three isalways a balance obstacle, but
(14:28):
at the gym we call it sketchybalance just because the show is
all about having you run fastacross random moving objects.
You think balance.
You're like oh, you walk acrosslike a tight rope or walk
across a balance beam.
Their version of balance islike okay, here's five balls
that are hanging from wires andthey spin, now get to the other
(14:48):
side.
So that's always three.
And then four is upper body.
Five is always upper body.
Five's like the crux, though.
Five is like this is thehardest obstacle, for sure
that's where the most peoplefall.
Six is always the warped wall,which is that wall you run up.
Curved wall, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, yep, and that's just.
That's just the first round, sothe first round's always six
obstacles qualifying course.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, tell me about your first experience, oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
So first, year and where was it was in la.
Did they fly to la?
Where'd you go?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
first season, qualifying, was filmed as in san
antonio, texas oh san Okay.
Really random, really randomspot.
They filmed it in some dome inTexas.
I competed in a literal monkeycostume.
It was kind of just like a betI made with my friends.
I was like wait, do you thinkthis is funny?
And they were like yeah, and soI did that.
I, looking back, it was reallydumb, but I, you know, I did it
(15:43):
whatever.
And I like trained in thisthing.
I took it seriously, like I waslegitimately going to.
I thought I was going to finishthat course because even though
I was 17, I was good when I was17.
I can't lie like I was.
I was good.
Then I ran some really hardcourses in the gym in that
costume and I was like peopleare gonna see me, they're gonna
be like who is this goofball?
(16:03):
And then I'm gonna finish thecourse and everyone's gonna lose
their minds, whatever.
It would have been really coolif that actually happened.
That did not happen.
So I got second obstacle.
It was the very, very last partof it.
Basically you swing, think oflike you're grabbing a board
like this, and you swing off theboard and almost think like you
grab like the top of a wall,the top of the wall with your
(16:25):
hands and your feet are on thewall and then you have to like
shimmy across the wall to thelike dismount platform.
I didn't realize that this walllike moved.
So when I got to the end of thewall, it like started tipping
and I was like, oh well, it'sjust gonna like lock into place,
right, it's like this entirewall, there's no way.
It just like spins all the wayaround, and that's exactly what
(16:49):
it did.
So I got to the end and it wastilting.
I was like, okay, it'll stop,it'll stop, wait.
Okay, this is getting hard,this is.
And then it just dumps me rightin the water, yeah, and if you
watch the video, it's it's.
It's hard to watch becauseyou're like, dude, just jump off
.
But that's what was goingthrough my head.
I was like it's going to stop.
There's no way it tilts thisfar.
And I guess it was crazybecause I hadn't seen that wall
(17:12):
move that way on anybody theentire night.
I've never seen it flip thatway.
When you go to it, it likedrops a little and locks in, but
then when you get to the top ofit, I'd never seen it move this
way.
Way, I guess it's just becauseI just put all my weight on the
end and I was like one of theheavier guys, but I'd see people
like fly onto that thing andjust like maybe hang in there
(17:32):
and then jump off.
So it was weird.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
And so that's it, then you're done, you're out.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
That's it.
I mean we all, we all thoughtit was like an obstacle
malfunction.
At first they stopped filmingfor like 30 minutes cause they
were, they didn't, they didn'teven know it could do that.
So they went over and likelooked at it and everything.
And then the executive guy cameover and he was like, yeah, I
mean, like nothing happened,like that's just how the
obstacle worked.
Sorry that your plan didn't goas you thought it would, and
(17:58):
that was that.
I mean I.
I couldn't really argue it.
I mean I, it was my.
I should have clarified more inthe rules how it worked and I
should have just jumped offearlier.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Honestly, so tell me even before that you're in a
(18:44):
monkey suit, which I kind ofwant to see.
That just because of that.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
But what's it like getting up there to that
starting line, like what's kindof going through your mind the
first time you know you got thelights on.
It's made for TV, so they got,you know, the cameras.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
What was that like?
Oh yeah, well, I mean I couldsay it's nerve wracking.
Of course that's anunderstatement.
So all the competitors are inlike a holding tent before you
go, compete and they call you up.
They call you up like when it'syou know three people until you
go, and you go, hang out andyou see the course on TV.
They're like on deck and theperson who's going after they're
standing literally just rightbehind the course.
You're right there.
(19:23):
In fact, you can like peekaround like the banner on the
pack of the course and likewatch the person.
Before you go You're juststanding right there and as soon
as that person falls, there'ssomeone who's standing at the
start of the course.
The whole time they call youover.
You know, they look you fromhead to toe, make sure your
outfit's fine, whatever, andthey walk you over to the start
platform.
They point to someone in thedistance.
(19:48):
There's a dude in the distance.
He's like the challengeproduction guy.
He's got a clipboard.
He's in charge of like runningthe obstacles, making sure that
everything's going smooth.
You just watch him and he putshis hand up, just starts come on
up, come on up.
You walk up the stairs andthere you are.
You're just like on thestarting platform.
You look around.
I mean there's cameras flying,there's cameras on cranes,
there's cameras five feet fromyour face.
(20:09):
The whole crowd is just likeall on the side screaming and
you're just oh my gosh.
And you're just like looking.
Most of these courses are likeon a straight line too, so
you're just like lookingstraight down the line.
So I mean it's super exciting.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, exciting.
Do you think the moment was toobig for you at the time?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
No, I don't think it was nerves at all.
In fact, I think as soon as Igot through that first obstacle,
I wasn't even nervous.
I was so excited to be there.
And then, second obstacle, itwasn't even like a skill issue.
I wouldn't even say it was amental issue either.
I think it was just a dumbmistake.
I felt great.
I really did, and everyonewho's there knows that too.
(20:52):
I was confident they saw theaftermath of everything.
It was just an unfortunate wayto go out.
I mean, that's all I think.
That was confident, that theysaw the aftermath.
It was just an unfortunate wayto go out.
I mean, that's all I really cansay about it.
It happened and it wasunfortunate.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
but you know.
So that was season 14 and thenyou weren't on 15.
Did you apply for 15?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
So 15 and 16 actually filmed at the exact same time.
They shot them back to back.
Actually filmed at the exactsame time.
They shot them back to back.
Super weird, I know.
So when you applied, youthought you were applying for 15
.
And then, when they called you,they said you were on the show.
(21:32):
They didn't tell you whatseason though.
So some people like the reallyyou know famous guys, big names
they got to compete on both.
But I would say, good, 50% ofeveryone they called were just
selected for one or the otherand we didn't have a preference.
They just said, okay, you're on15, not on 16, or you're on 16,
not on 15.
For me, I was the 16 case.
So they were like, yeah, you'refilming at the same time as 15,
(21:52):
but you're going to be on TV ayear later.
And I was like, okay, likethat's kind of sad, but I'm just
grateful to have a second shot,like I'm not complaining.
I competed exactly a year afterI fell, but it didn't come out.
Until what was that?
15, 16 months later.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Oh wow, Interesting.
And San Antonio again, or didyou go somewhere else for season
16?
Antonio again, or did you gosomewhere else?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
for season 16?
So 16 was Los Angeles for thequalifying round and then
semifinals.
This is where they broughthead-to-head racing into the
real show.
So semifinals was a racingcourse.
They built it right behind thequalifying course in LA, so I
was qualifying and then Iqualified there.
Semifinals was the night afteryou have to beat your opponent
(22:40):
to move on, and so I beat myopponent there, and then the
national finals were filmed inLas Vegas three weeks later.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Okay, and it sounds like you.
You went to Vegas then.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Okay, cool, so season 16,.
Much better result then.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Oh, much better, Much better result.
This is where I lived up to mypotential Season 16.
Vegas this is how the show wasfor 16 years.
They actually just changed itfor 17.
We'll touch on that in a second, but it's always been lost.
In Vegas finals four stages.
The fourth stage is an 80-foottower and just has a rope
(23:16):
hanging from it.
You have to climb the tower in30 seconds to win and you have
to clear each stage before it inorder to get there.
So you finish, you move on.
I think how many people werecompeting?
I want to say like 70, 75 peoplemake it to the finals every
year.
They go into the first stage.
First stage is difficult.
They want most people out afterthe first stage.
(23:36):
I think we had 22 people finishthe first stage of the 70
finalists.
So you know that's not a crazypercentage at all.
I did finish the first stage,which was super cool, because
stage one of the national finalsis like if you finish that
course, that like proves thatyou're like legit.
That's kind of like when youget a stage one buzzer in Vegas,
(23:58):
it's like okay, yeah, thisguy's, this guy knows what he's
doing.
And then stage two, which isanother iconic, just like upper
body endurance course, littletechnique.
They changed it to racing again.
Mixed feelings about that, butit is what it is.
So not only do you have tofinish a stage two style course,
(24:18):
which is harder than stage onetypically they have three to 10
people finish stage two out ofhowever many make it from stage
one.
You have to beat your opponent.
So you know, let's say, youguys both fall on obstacle five.
Whoever made it there fastermoves on to stage three.
If you guys both finish,whoever did it faster moves on
(24:42):
to stage three, and that was mycircumstance.
We both finished the course,but I was racing one of, like
the greatest of all time, danielGill.
He won the whole show in 2020.
So, going into it, I was like,dang, this is a, this is a tough
race, but I you know it wasstage two, I just want to finish
it.
I was like, uh, you know, stagetwo, finishing stage two is
(25:05):
even more impressive thanfinishing one, and I did.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I finished the course , but he did it faster, so he
got to move on and I didn't,unfortunately, yeah, so a lot of
that's just kind of luck of thedraw, like who you get matched
up against.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah yeah, I mean, it's like a seeding thing too.
The crazy thing, I was actuallya higher seed than Daniel going
into stage two.
I finished the first stagefaster than him.
But you know, it is kind ofluck at the same time.
You know Daniel Gill, probablylike top three most talented
(25:38):
guys competing that year.
He's the one who happens toland right on me in terms of you
know, the bracket seating orwhatever.
And then you know you've gotguys who should.
There were guys who, like skillwise, probably wouldn't have
even finished stage two buttheir opponent fell early so
they moved on.
It's the nature of the show butyeah, it was kind of difficult
being there and being like dang.
I really just like finishedthat course.
(25:58):
Any other year I'd get to go tostage three.
Stage three is just like thisstage of all stages.
If you step on the stage threestar platform, you're good,
you're good.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I'm just amazed, because here you are, you're
competing, you know, at 17, 18years old, 19 years old, with
you know, with people who'vebeen competing for years, and no
intimidation at all, I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I think my confidence definitely grew after season 16
, but I also kind of knew mysemifinals run.
Take back to Los Angeles, whereI just had to race one guy to
get to Vegas.
I had like the third fastesttime there or something, even
considering the race, like I wonthe race, but I also just went
like super, super fast.
I looked at like how that timestacked up against all these
(26:44):
guys that I've been watchingsince I was like younger and
it's just like hit me.
I was like dang, like I'mactually like at these guys
level, like I hadn't really hada time to prove it, and then
like right there, it hit me andI was like, yeah, I'm like, I'm
like up there, so it's prettysweet and how much of the whole
training process comes into playwith that, because obviously
you got to be preparing for this.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
You can't just, oh yeah, I mean you may just be a
naturally good athlete, that'sone thing, but yeah, you're
preparing for this.
You're going to a gym that'sgot court, you know obstacles,
and oh yeah, oh yeah so, like Imentioned earlier, john mack,
he's another pretty big name onthe show.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
He's like my best friend.
We've been training since I was15, 16 years old.
He and I are super lucky.
I, I, I sell the story and Iget like goosebumps telling it
because it's just like.
This is the definition of likedreams and hard work.
Like you can like achievewhatever you want.
Carson, the owner of the ninjawarehouse, is the gym chain.
(27:44):
When I started training at, hehired john to be his second guy
or whatever.
Like john is like carson'ssidekick.
Carson owns the gym but johnlike manages it, and john's only
four years older than me.
So what is he?
He's like 24 now, but when wewere getting into it he was my
age, you know, he was 19, 20years old.
He got keys to the gym andcarson said yeah, you can train
(28:07):
whenever you want, you can bringColton with you.
And so we had access to pristineequipment that Carson had built
to mimic his years on the showand we, just three times a week,
would design courses that youwould see on TV and we just ran
them over and over and over andover and over, just continuously
, and then, when we were tootired to run courses anymore.
(28:29):
We'd go burn out on oneobstacle until we couldn't do
one obstacle anymore and thenwe'd go do pull-ups until we
couldn't do pull-ups anymore.
Literally just like working ourway from super technical stuff,
less technical all the way downto the basics of how long can
we pull up on this bar until wecan't pull up anymore.
We trained so hard it's noteven funny and we both loved it.
(28:52):
We loved it so much because wesaw each other getting better.
I was always nipping at hisheels.
He was always a little bitbetter than me, always, and I
didn't like that.
So I was always gosh I have.
We would run a course threetimes and he'd be like, oh, I'm
going to run it a fourth timeCause I feel good.
I'd feel absolutely beat.
But I was like if I ever wantto catch up to him, I have to do
(29:14):
this fourth time.
There was no other way.
So that was definitely a hugemotivator.
That like got me to where I amtoday was having him just like
one upping me constantly and mejust being like dang, dang, like
I need to, I need to get to hislevel, like I gotta catch up.
So that was great and he was.
He was he's like the besttraining partner you could ever
ask for.
He was always like working meup.
(29:35):
He knew he was better than me,but he never acted like it at
all.
It was like we were trainingtwo of us together.
I would be completely destroyedand I'd be like, yeah, I'm
gonna run this a fourth time.
And probably in the back of themind he was like, yeah, there's
no way to be running thisfourth time.
And he'd be like, yeah, bro, gofor it, let's do it.
He'd be cheering me on thewhole time, like punching me
through, guiding me everything.
(29:56):
So I'm like if it wasn't forthat friendship, I I wouldn't be
where I am today at all zero oh, oh, that's huge.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
That's huge Having that motivation, that support.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, and like we're, we're training for season 18
films in three weeks actually.
So we're in training seasonright now, the two of us once
again.
We'll both be back on.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
How did it?
You said season 17,.
They changed something up.
What was the difference?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, yeah, so season 17, the one that just came out
this summer qualifying same sixobstacles semifinals went back
to how it was prior to seasons15 and 16.
I mentioned that season 16, theyear I went to Vegas the
(30:40):
semifinals was racing.
They took the racing away forthe semifinals in 17 and just
made it an extended course.
So this is how the semifinalswere from A&W 1 through 14.
It was six obstacles, just likequalifying.
Six obstacles the wall when youclimb over the wall, you climb
down the other side and there'sfour more on the backside.
So same first, six obstacles,just four new ones tacked onto
(31:02):
it.
That was super fun.
I made it through qualifying andthen I fell in semi-finals
actually, but I made it farenough, fast enough, to be in
the top 15 of my episode.
So I got to move on to thefinals anyways.
And then this year, instead ofthe four stages that we were so
used to having in Las Vegas,it's just a mega head to head
(31:24):
showdown.
Las Vegas, it's just a megahead to head showdown.
So it starts with everyone getsthrown into groups of four.
Are you familiar with like theWorld Cup format at all?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
A little bit.
Yeah, groups, group play.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Group stage.
Yep, so it's group stage.
Everyone races, everyone in thegroup.
So you have three races yourace everyone in the group and
then the top two from that groupmove on to the final 16 bracket
, which is just uh, you thinkmarch madness bracket, single
elimination bracket head to head, you win, you move on, you lose
(31:56):
, you go home until there's oneperson left.
Super, super different switchfrom the previous seasons,
because now it's all about speed, like yeah, you got to be able
to do the obstacles, but beforeit was like you finish, you're
fine.
Now it's like these are allfinalists, like these are the
best 50 competitors on the show.
(32:16):
They're going to be flying.
Can you catch them?
So it was.
It's crazy.
Super fun, though super and.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I think that's the big thing.
I think I can tell from yourjust how animated you are, that
you enjoy it Obviously.
If you didn't enjoy it, I don'tknow where the motivation just
wouldn't be there.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, I mean, it's been life-changing for me.
This is the best thing I'veever had with my life.
I don't know how to describethat.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
If you can describe it a little bit like what kind
of things have you noticed?
Has it done for you, just inlife in general?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's connected me with so
many people.
It's.
It's not even funny.
I mean I'm in college now andeveryone's hitting on like, oh,
you've got to network, you gotto go to this networking event,
you got to go listen to thisspeaker and go talk to him after
, and I'm like my networking isI compete in these competitions
where you've got hundreds ofpeople flying in from all over
the country.
I could go to 45 of the 50 USstates tomorrow and find a place
(33:18):
to stay, based on how manypeople I know from this sport
alone.
I mean this just everyone comesto these competitions with a
common goal of we love thissport, we love what it stands
for, we love the training, welove how it works.
It's just so easy to talk toeveryone and I mean we have that
common goal.
You meet someone on set, youmeet someone in a competition,
you start talking to them, youknow quickly the conversation
(33:41):
moves beyond just Ninja Warriorand you get to know them on like
a more personal level and thenbang, that's like a new friend
that you're gonna have for therest of your life and I just
think that's crazy.
I mean I just went to barbadoslast week with some friends most
of them, like only two of themwere from utah, and we had like
a big group there from all overthe place, like florida, new y,
(34:04):
massachusetts, you know, otherside of the country, and we're
just in Barbados for acompetition for a week.
Where else do you get to dothat?
You just don't.
I can't lie.
I mean, yeah, if you're likeprofessional athlete maybe, but
it's, it's special, it's reallyspecial.
I can't lie.
You know there's been.
There's been a new gym thatstarted since called impact.
They actually opened in 2022,my first year on the show.
(34:27):
I trained there a lot as well.
I used I worked there for awhile too.
It's just hard to juggle work,school, training, everything
right now.
That's a whole nother communityI have.
I mean there's guys that trainthere now.
I mean I can name two of themoff the top of my head two kids
howie and drew.
When I first started likegetting a ninja, they didn't
even know what Ninja is, andthen they got into it.
(34:50):
Howie got into it when he was 13, 14, same age as me.
He's 16 now and he's likenipping at our heels.
He's so good.
I've seen him go from terrible.
He had that same mindset as me,where he was like I'm young but
I want to get so good at this.
And he just got so good and,you know, drew to like he had
(35:12):
his backyard course too.
He was training on how hetrains all the time.
In fact, like I see myself inthese kids and it's like really
cool to see them and where I waslike working their way up to
hopefully getting on the show aswell, so that's brought a whole
new perspective to it beinglike a mentor to younger guys.
I still feel like I am the guylooking up to John and Carson
(35:33):
now you're.
You're becoming the old guywhich, oh yeah, I know it's true
at 20 years old.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
I didn't even think I'd be competing at this age,
when I was 14, you know, becauseit wasn't a thing when you're
working with some of theseyounger guys and you see these
younger guys coming up and theykind of have a dream to be on
the show, what do you kind ofyou know, what's kind of some
advice you'd give them if theywant to be on the show.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
First, and it's like the unfortunate truth is that
sometimes it's just out of yourcontrol in terms of, you know,
getting on the show.
Like these younger guys are oldenough to apply now and they
haven't had, you know, the sameluck I did with getting on the
show, even though they'rethey're more than deserving of
having a shot.
It's just hard because you know, at the end of the day, it's a
tv show, it's a casting process.
(36:14):
You could be the most talentedninja on the planet and they may
not want you on the show.
So I just tell them, you know,like, train hard, be ready if
you get the chance.
But the nice thing about thesport is there's so many other
competitions you can do.
Like, people don't know it, butthis sport is like exploding.
There's leagues, there's, youknow, world finals for like
(36:36):
three different leagues everysingle year.
You know there's just so manycompetitions you can get
involved in and there's just somuch stuff you can do with it.
And I'm like, dude, keep doingthese comps, keep keep working
hard.
Like if the show comes, theshow comes.
I know that's what we're allaiming for.
But all you can do is be ready.
And you know, I also tell themlike yeah, they want personality
(36:57):
, they want somethinginteresting about you, so maybe
go explore some new hobby, goput you know some some more
effort elsewhere, kind of be theguy who comes back with some
gimmick and I mean I've had somany gimmicks my last couple
years.
I'm just like go find somethingelse that you like really love,
that's unique.
And then next year when youfilm your video, you can be like
(37:17):
not only am I like top tierninja warrior athlete, but I've
got all this too.
Like you should talk about this, because that's what they want
to hear.
Everyone could say, yeah, I'm aninja warrior athlete, but I
don't know.
Like I've seen guys be like ohyeah, the past year I've got my
pilot's license, I'm flyingplanes now, or I'm a
professional skydiver or juststuff like that.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
It's just like dang, this guy's interesting More than
just the straight up athletecompeting on the course, Cause I
know you more than just thestraight up athlete competing on
the course, Because I know, youknow and I've watched the show
they do.
They like to tell a story.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yeah, they love to tell a story and that's what I
say.
Like everyone's unique.
You have a story to yourself,like you just have to.
There's definitely a method forhow you can put that story into
a video to make them see howmuch you truly care about it,
and I think that's somethingwith me, why I've had good
success with it too, is in myvideos I just talk about what I
love and I mean they can see itshines right through.
(38:10):
Like this past year I joined afraternity at the University of
Utah and that's beenlife-changing for me and they
just like love, that idea.
So that if you watch the showthis year, that's like all they
talk about and it's really funny.
But it's just like a greatgroup of guys and we do so much
for we work for we actually arelike the main financial backing
(38:30):
of the rape recovery center ofsalt lake city and we've raised
over a hundred thousand dollarstowards sexual soul every year
for the past five years.
You know that's huge.
I worked as a caddy at pebblebeach golf course this last
summer, so you know, it's justI'm just always finding
something and I think they likethat.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
So oh, that's, that's fantastic.
It does and it does.
It makes you well rounded in alot more ways than just working
out and being healthy and youknow that type of thing and I
think you know people, they wantto hear a story, they want to,
they want to know that for sure.
So, looking back for you,looking back this whole journey,
what does it mean to youpersonally?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
I guess, if trying to sum it all up into like main
takeaways yeah, I mean, this isa dream I've had since I was
just a little kid and I set mymind to it and I got it done and
it's amazing, as I think thisis like the big one and this is
what I tell the kids, to thekids at the gym.
I tell them this too, asamazing as it is to work this
hard and get on the TV show andyou'd be like, yeah, I did all
this.
You know your time comes, youcompete.
(39:36):
It's just as amazing as youthink it is Hitting a buzzer.
All the fireworks go off, youget to talk to, like the
commentators that you've beenseeing for forever.
I think especially the youngerguys think that it's just going
to be some, like you know,revolutionary life moment where
it's like, yeah, I do that,that's all I need in life, blah,
blah, blah.
I think what really resonatedwith me after season 16, when I
(39:59):
first did it, was that yes, theshow's incredible, but you got
to go further with it.
This isn't just like a be-all,end-all.
Yes, it's given us some of aplatform to build off of, but
that's why, I mean, I gotinvolved in golf caddying, like
using the, using the skills I'vegot through my training, you
(40:20):
know, talking to people.
I'm using those skills to gotalk with people in golf.
Using the training, thetraining mindset that I got
through this sport to go tryother sports.
You know, I'm doing like a halfmarathon in two weeks.
I'm doing a different fitnesscompetition in December.
Like a half marathon in twoweeks.
I'm doing a different fitnesscompetition in December.
It's like using the blessingthat we have of being able to do
this stuff, pushing that intoother areas of life.
(40:44):
I mean I'm doing I've done likespeaking events at high schools
too, and there's just so muchmore you can do with it and how
much you can take it so muchfurther than just the TV show.
And I think that's like the bigthing that I've really gotten
from it is that you know Iworked so hard with this one end
goal and I reached that goaland now it's just opened so many
gateways to like so many otherplaces I can take it.
(41:05):
And I think that's the biglesson from it is that there's
never an end to just like keepchasing goals.
You know you reach one, you'resatisfied, it's amazing, you
celebrate and then you thinkokay, what can I do, what can I,
how can I take this further?
Speaker 1 (41:21):
You know, such great life lessons.
So I appreciate, I appreciateyou sharing that Cause.
I'm sitting here thinking, yeah, what can I do more with you
know?
Journey with Jake.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah, there you go, Same same stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
You don't just you know.
I don't just release an episodeand I'm done.
There's more stuff I want to do.
So I appreciate hearing thatfrom you and you're just a young
guy at 20 having that knowledgethat, hey, it's not, this isn't
just the end, all be all.
You know.
Yeah, I was on the show.
I did really well.
There's more to it than that.
I think that's important.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Exactly, yeah, and I mean it goes both ways too.
I mean even I tell the kids I'mlike, okay, so maybe you don't
get the chance to compete on theshow.
Yeah, you've worked so hard forit.
But how are you gonna bounceback from that?
Are you just gonna say, oh yeah, I worked years for this.
It never worked out?
I'm done Like, no, you're notbro.
You've learned so much justfrom the training.
(42:09):
You've gotten so strong, bothphysically and mentally, being
able to push through thesecourses and stick with like this
routine to get ready for this.
You can take that in any areaof life you want and you can
have multiple sides of lifegoing at the same time.
Like I mean, I'm doing so manydifferent things right now.
It's like how do you even keeptrack of them?
(42:30):
You know the skills you developjust from training for it.
That's enough alone.
Like I'm grateful, even if Inever got the chance to be on
the show, I'll forever begrateful from what I've learned
just with my time training forit and the people I've met.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
yeah, outside of the show speaking of that, outside
of you know ninja competitions.
What's the next adventurechallenge you're excited about?
Speaker 2 (42:52):
gosh I'm kind of like right in the middle right now,
I can't lie.
So last year, second year ofcollege, I applied for this job
I kind of mentioned earlier as acaddy at Pebble Beach, which I
didn't think I would get.
That's like a pretty hard jobto get.
I mean, pebble Beach, if youknow, is one of the most famous
golf courses in the world.
(43:13):
So I really focused on golf fora year and just got really good
at that, along with my ninjastuff.
And obviously I'm a collegestudent so I can't just move
there.
So I did it for four monthsthis summer.
I was out there May, june, julyand half of August.
I actually just got back threeweeks ago.
I did that and it was supersweet.
I would stay out there longerif I could, but I've got school
(43:34):
to do.
Obviously it's a nice thingabout that job is, once you get
hired, if you work three or fourtimes every year, you can keep
it and you don't lose employmentthere.
I'll always have that in myback pocket and I'll make trips
there every single year to keepthat job, because it's a really
nice job to have.
It's incredible, I don't knowcaddied for.
I don't know if you know UrbanMeyer, legendary college
(43:56):
football coach.
I caddied for him on one of mylast days out there.
It was insane.
I met Michael Phelps, grantHorvat, golf influencer guy I
mean it's Pebble Beach, so manycelebrities there.
The winner of the Bachelor wasthere.
I like talked to him and I likedidn't know who he was.
I, I don't know I guess I sawthese like girls run over to him
(44:18):
and they were like losing theirmind and I was like who the
heck is that?
And then I overheard someone belike who is the bachelor winner
?
I looked him up I was like, oh,I guess that was him.
I didn't know that he was therefor like a week.
But for now, I think right nowI'm just focusing on college.
I mean, of course I'm traininghard.
The new season films super soonAfter we film that.
(44:41):
It's a weird time.
I'm going to have to kind oflook at what I'm going to be up
to next.
I'm sure I'll find something.
But I kind of mentioned earlierit's a competition called High
Rocks Racing.
That's what I'm doing inDecember.
I'm flying out to californiafor it.
It's kind of like a crossfitcompetition.
It's like running and inbetween each run section you
have to do like a differentworkout and it's like a race.
(45:03):
And I'm doing it with one of mygood friends.
From that I actually metthrough ninja.
She's like, yeah, I'm trainingfor this race and you need a
partner, you want to do it withme.
And I was like like, yeah,let's do it.
Yeah, we're training for thatand who knows, we'll see, we'll
see what else pops up.
I'm always looking for stuff.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
I'm always applying for random stuff, just seeing
what happens you know, well,this has been for me, has been
enjoyable, just because I'm, youknow, as someone who's watched
the show and been a fan of theshow.
It's kind of fun to see someinner workings of it and, plus,
just to see kind of what you'vedone.
And I mean, obviously I'll belooking at a lot of your videos
and stuff now and be like, hey,let's see what Colton was up to.
So I think it's fantastic.
(45:41):
I do want to end my show.
I like to ask this question foreverybody, because it's
adventure type podcast.
What you did was superadventurous, but for you, what
does adventure mean to you?
Oh, but for you.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
What does adventure mean to you?
Oh, what does adventure mean tome?
I mean, I think it just.
It really just comes down towhat do you love and then just
like going all in on it.
I know I'm like surface leveladventures, like, oh yeah,
adventure, go run around in themountains, unknown, no plan
whatever.
But I mean the most adventurousthings in my life have just
(46:12):
been like I love, I love doingNinja Warrior, I love, you know,
I love golf and stuff.
And then just seeing where youcan take it Cause there's so
many plays, you can takeeverything, like golf turned
from golf team for two yearsgolf captain took it to caddying
and that was super adventurous.
Ninja Warrior, I mean I don'treally have to talk anymore on
(46:33):
that, but super adventurous.
But all just stems from passion.
Really, you have a passion andyou just keep going at it.
Naturally things will happen ifyou just keep chasing that
passion colton, this has beenawesome.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Thank you so much for coming on journey with jake
yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Thank you, jake.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
I appreciate it, man, this is great wow, what an
awesome conversation with coltonSchuster.
Colton, thank you so much forsharing your journey with us.
At only 20 years old, you'vealready taught me a lot about
drive, courage and what it meansto put yourself out there.
I really appreciate the lessonsand inspiration you brought to
this episode.
Be sure to give Colton a followon Instagram at CWSchuster and
(47:12):
cheer him on as he continues totackle challenges both on and
off the American Ninja Warriorcourse.
And to all of you listening,thank you for tuning in to
Journey with Jake each and everyweek.
I can't say it enough Doingthis show truly means the world
to me.
Having these conversations,hearing these stories and
knowing you're out therelistening and sharing in the
(47:34):
adventure is something I nevertake for granted.
Don't forget it's October,which means we're rolling out
two episodes a week.
In just a few days from now,you'll hear from Jack Smith, the
original pioneer ofskateboarding across America.
Jack is truly the OG and it's afantastic conversation you
won't want to miss.
Until then, just remember it'snot always about the destination
(47:57):
as it is about the journey.
Take care, everybody.
Today on Journey with Jake, I'm joined by Colton
Schuster, a competitor onAmerican Ninja Warrior.
We dive into what it takes tostep onto that iconic course,
the intense training behind thescenes and the values that drive
him beyond the competition.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
(00:21):
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will feature adifferent guest or guests, as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
(00:43):
their way.
My goal is to take each of us ona journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination, as it is about
the journey.
(01:12):
Welcome back to Journey withJake.
Before we dive in, just a quickreminder make sure you're
following me on Instagram atjourneywithjakepodcast,
subscribing on YouTube andleaving a rating and review
wherever you listen.
It's one of the best ways youcan support the show and help
others find these stories.
Now today's guest is ColtonSchuster, a competitor on
American Ninja Warrior.
(01:32):
It takes more than strength andagility to step onto that
course.
You've got to have personality,confidence and a drive that
sets you apart, and Coltonbrings all of that.
We'll hear about his training,his time on the show and what
really matters to him beyond theobstacles.
And if you enjoy thisconversation, you'll also want
to check out episode 146 withSpartan competitor Kelton
(01:54):
Shelley, another athlete whoknows what it takes to put it
all on the line.
Let's get into it with ColtonSchuster.
I'm excited today I've gotColton Schuster joining me.
Colton, welcome to Journey withJake.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Thank you, Jake.
I'm excited to be here, man.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, this is awesome .
Colton, I found out he's just ayoung guy, 20-year-old guy.
You've done American NinjaWarrior a few times.
That's what we're going to talkabout.
We're going to dive into thatexperience.
Before we roll into that, tellme a little bit about Colton,
kind of where you're from, whereyou grew up, that sort of thing
.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I'm from originally.
I was born in Chicago, illinois, Moved to Salt Lake City when I
was about five and I've beenhere ever since and I'm 20 now.
I've been here for 15, almost16 years.
I love it here.
I'm a full-time student at theUniversity of Utah right now
Avid skier hiker.
You know paddle boarding, cliffcliff jumping, all the outdoor
(02:48):
stuff that we have here in utah.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It's a great place to call home and I'm thankful to
be here and family wise.
You an only kid.
Do you have any siblings?
What's kind of the familysituation like?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
yeah, so I have one younger brother.
We definitely have differenthobbies.
I mean, he's a huge skier.
I like to ski, but I'm not likesuper, super into it.
He's really into like the cliffjumping scene.
He can do some crazy stuff.
He just started his freshmanyear at Utah this year.
So now we're both here.
I'm in my junior year Onlysibling.
I got Mom, dad both live hereas well.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And what are you studying at the University of
Utah?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So it's a special major.
Basically I would describe itas like economics and data
science kind of mixed into one.
It's interesting stuff.
I'm doing like a financeemphasis with it too.
So a lot of numbers, a lot of alot of theory, a lot of problem
solving.
It's a whole lot of a whole lotof craziness, just bang, but
it's, it's, it's interestingstuff.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So do you feel it kind of fits who you are?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I used to, but now it's getting harder, and so now
it's getting harder.
So now it's getting to thepoint where I'm like, well, it's
a little bit more than what Ithought I was getting into, but
I've made it this far.
Now I can't really turn back,so we're just going to stick it
out.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So let's go back a little bit to American Ninja
Warrior, because you've been onAmerican Ninja Warrior a few
times, a few seasons.
Yeah, great show.
I love the show.
I've actually.
I had the opportunity to sit inthe audience in Vegas one time.
Are you serious?
Yeah, so that was interesting.
So so I've been a fan ofAmerican Ninja Warrior for a
long time.
I haven't watched all theseasons, I'll be honest.
I haven't watched everything.
There's a lot going on with it.
(04:15):
I look at these competitors and, first of all, it's just, it's
amazing, the stuff you're goingthrough, what you're going
through, what you're puttingyour body through.
It's not only strength, butit's agility, it's all kinds of
stuff and it's speed too.
You're going up against a clock.
You got all kinds of thingshappening.
Take me back to when you firstknew about American Ninja
Warrior, because you're only 20.
You've been on three seasons.
(04:36):
How old were you when you firstheard of it and when did you
realize, hey, I want to do this,want to do this, I'll give you
a little bit of a rundown.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So, uh, let's say I want to say I was, you know, I w
.
I've always been a huge fan ofthe show, ever since I was
probably 10 years old.
I mean, the show's been going,for this is going to be the 18th
year we film it, so I mean it'sbeen going for 18 years.
I've been around for 20.
So I've been a fan of the showforever and I always used to
just be one of those things,like you know, didn't know how
to work a TV.
(05:03):
So when my parents had the TVchannel, it was on on the TV.
I would watch it and be likewait, that's so cool.
You know, I was one of thosekids.
I was always building likecourses in my basement, like
jumping over the exercise ballsand like climbing around the
furniture and just like randomstuff.
And Wipeout too.
I'm sure you've seen TV showWipeout.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Love Wipeout.
Yeah, out too.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I'm sure you've seen tv show wipe out, love wipe out,
yeah that was the one I wasreally, really into when I was a
kid.
I was definitely more into thatthan I was a and w.
Well, when I started taking itseriously when I was 14, the guy
named carson voyles.
He's like a really really good,like og ninja, super dominant,
like seasons 3 through 11.
He's got a crazy resume,national finalist like seven or
(05:43):
eight times, made it top threemultiple seasons.
He started his own gym about 45minutes north of where I live
and then quickly after that heopened one that was like 15
minutes from me, and so I saw iton the news.
They did like a news featurethere and I was like wait, this
is actually insane, I couldactually go and train for this.
(06:04):
So I just started going thereonce a week.
Parents signed me up forclasses and I just became like
absolutely obsessed with it.
I was I loved baseball growingup.
All I wanted to do was likebaseball.
And then I like wanted to go tothis gym and train.
That's all I wanted to do.
And so I hit it like reallyhard.
I was training, you know, once,and then once I turned 15, I
was allowed to go to the opengyms so I would have my class
(06:26):
once a week.
And then quickly I kind of grewout of that and I just started
going to the open gyms Me and mybuddy John Mack, another A&W
competitor, met him when I wasabout 15.
And we both realized that we hadthe same goals and so we just
started just the two of us justtraining three times a week in
that gym for two, three hours ata time, just going, going
(06:46):
running courses, getting better,fine-tuning our skills.
And then COVID happened when Iwas gosh feels like forever ago,
even though it wasn't I waswhat?
16?
I was probably still 15 when ithappened.
I wasn't too far into this.
The gyms closed and there wasno way of training.
So I built this rig in mybackyard to train on.
(07:08):
That was like inspired fromYouTube videos I saw.
So I just threw it together youthink 15, 16 year old,
designing a obstacle course inthe backyard.
I actually did like concrete,wooden posts, everything.
My parents were like as long asyou pay for it, you can do
whatever you want in thebackyard.
That's what I did.
It was super basic course, butit gave me everything I needed.
(07:31):
The salmon ladder where you goup at the bar, had a grip line
where you go across had a bunchof different holds.
Then I started building evencrazier obstacles that I would
hang from and swing and fly fromone side to the other.
There's this like one video ofme been posted on, like all
those failed channels before.
I'm like swinging from thefirst bar and it like snaps and
(07:53):
I just like go flying across therig like straight to the back
of my head.
That was, that was scary.
But yeah, I guess, and then gotthe call when I was 17 to
compete on the TV show.
I think they just really likedyou know, my energy, the fact
that I was just this normal kidto a certain extent who just
(08:14):
fell in love with the show andyeah, we've just been going at
it ever since.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
So when you were 14, 15, is that kind of when you
said, hey, I want to be on theshow.
I mean, did you kind of makethat decision?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Exactly, exactly.
And the crazy thing, too, isthe show up until I want to say,
when I was 14, whenever,whenever you was 2019, that was
when I was 14, 2019 up until2019, the show was always you
have to be 21 and over tocompete.
So I didn't know that it wasgoing to be an opportunity this
soon and 2019, they lowered itto 19.
(08:44):
It was the age to compete andso I was like, okay, wait, I'm
going to get to do this sooner.
And then in 2021, they loweredit to 16 or 15, 15 or 16, one of
the two.
And then I was like, as soon asI saw that season I didn't even
know I could have applied thatyear I saw that season, I was
like, wait, I could like applynow.
(09:04):
And so I did at 17 and I got on.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, what's the whole application process like?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The main component of it is the video.
For sure, that's kind of likehow they primarily judge you.
It's a three minute video.
They give you like a little bitof a like template to follow,
but really it's just like whoyou are showcasing yourself.
Of course you gotta like proveto them you're good enough to do
the obstacles, but everyone whoapplies is probably good enough
to a certain extent.
(09:31):
So they don't really want tosee that and you just have to
showcase your personality, whyyou would be good for tv.
What's special about you?
And yeah, I kind of just madelike a.
Really it had like a wholereally homemade vibe to it
because I filmed it on whateveriphone was around when I was,
you know, four years ago.
I just like had it and I likefilmed myself and talked about
(09:52):
my daily life and kind of likebrought along with me for some
of it.
And I think I think the reasonthat they liked it is just I I
had so much energy, I was likeso excited to have that
opportunity to make it and andthey just love that.
Like I said, I'm just some likenormal kid, like there's
nothing special about me, andthey were like that's pretty
sweet.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
But you brought energy.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Did you showcase a little bit of the obstacles then
?
Because you said ever.
I mean, they really want toknow who you are.
Personality wise yeah, butthey've got to know that you can
you know yeah, yeah, butthey've got to know that you can
.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
You know, oh, 100 percent.
And I mean, back then even Iwas like posting stuff on
Instagram of me doing obstaclesand stuff.
You know I put like a littletraining montage in there.
But you know, they see, you dothree obstacles that they put on
the show.
They're like OK, he, he knowswhat he's doing, yeah, ok then
it's just personality wise.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
They want exactly exact personalities.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
They get thousands of people apply for the show every
year, most of which are overlyqualified to be on this show,
and it just comes down to whoyou are.
That's like the big thing thatyou got to hit on.
And then the rest of theapplication process is it's like
25 questions, just freeresponse questions.
You type up a paragraph or twofor each.
(11:03):
I don't think they use that asmuch as the video though.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
They want to see how you look on camera.
Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, this is.
It's just interesting to me howthis, how this all works.
Yeah, and I would imagine, yeah, there's got to be, like you
said, thousands of peopleapplying.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So oh yeah, oh yeah to set yourself apart.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
It's got to be a little tricky and it's something
you said.
I like how you said you're justa normal guy, you're just, you
know.
Yeah, who you like I've got.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
I'm sure I've got some like random hobbies, like I
don't know what I was.
I can't remember what I wasinto when I was 16, but I mean I
I was like a competitiverubik's cube, solver, you know
really good baseball player andthat kind of utah stuff.
I was pretty honestly, I waskind of a better skier back then
than I am now.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Just all sorts of stuff I think I saw you juggling
at one point too.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh yeah, yeah, I've done like I was like in a
juggling.
I was doing like backflips andlike juggling, just like random
stupid talents that you'd belike.
Where the heck did that kidlearn that?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
How does it then work , Do they?
Okay?
They said you made it to theshow Is it regional stuff that
you get filmed Like?
How does the whole thing work?
And tell me kind of about thatfirst season you were on?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
When you get selected to compete, they tell you a
couple months before, and thenwhen you get the call to compete
, they tell you when the filmingdays are.
They fly you out, usually twodays before you compete, and so
you fly out and it's a, and thenthe next day it's just like a
chill day.
You don't do anything exceptthey will pull you for like
interviews, so stuff like this.
(12:28):
You know just a huge fancycamera in front of my face and
like b-roll shots where you knowyou're just like pose up on a
stage with like a green screenand that's.
You know you sit on like thelittle spinny table.
You see all like the shots wherethat's like just yeah, okay,
and that's what you're up therejust like spinning around,
you're up there flexing and allthat yeah yeah, they just spin
(12:49):
you around, kind of do all thatstuff the day before and then
the next day you get on a bus atlike 5 pm and you go to the set
and they don't start filming ituntil 9 pm.
They start filming when the sungoes down.
So they give us like awalkthrough of the course at
like seven and the we don't knowwhat the course is, by the way
(13:11):
Like this is yeah, that's likethe huge thing.
We have no idea.
So they don't reveal the courseuntil we get to set the day of
and obviously they have.
They have like a demo crew andthey'll have a couple people
like demo each obstacle so wecan see how it works.
But obviously at that point toolate to go and train for that
obstacle.
(13:31):
Like we're there now.
So we understand how it worksand we understand, like you know
, like we see we watch people doit before anyone goes.
So we're well aware of how itworks.
Do you get a?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
practice run at all or no?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
no, no wow, okay no practice runs, but from all of
us at this point we kind of knowthe format of the show.
They tend to put similar, theytend to, they tend to test
specific abilities in certainpositions.
So, for example, the firstobstacle is always, you know,
pretty easy, usually just uh,the easy agility obstacle run
(14:05):
across steps, run and grab thisand get to a dismount platform,
super straightforward.
Second obstacle is always upperbody, but it's like easy upper
body, swing from this, grab thisdismount, swing from this,
slide along this dismount,really really easy.
And then obstacle three isalways a balance obstacle, but
(14:28):
at the gym we call it sketchybalance just because the show is
all about having you run fastacross random moving objects.
You think balance.
You're like oh, you walk acrosslike a tight rope or walk
across a balance beam.
Their version of balance islike okay, here's five balls
that are hanging from wires andthey spin, now get to the other
(14:48):
side.
So that's always three.
And then four is upper body.
Five is always upper body.
Five's like the crux, though.
Five is like this is thehardest obstacle, for sure
that's where the most peoplefall.
Six is always the warped wall,which is that wall you run up.
Curved wall, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, yep, and that's just.
That's just the first round, sothe first round's always six
obstacles qualifying course.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, tell me about your first experience, oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
So first, year and where was it was in la.
Did they fly to la?
Where'd you go?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
first season, qualifying, was filmed as in san
antonio, texas oh san Okay.
Really random, really randomspot.
They filmed it in some dome inTexas.
I competed in a literal monkeycostume.
It was kind of just like a betI made with my friends.
I was like wait, do you thinkthis is funny?
And they were like yeah, and soI did that.
I, looking back, it was reallydumb, but I, you know, I did it
(15:43):
whatever.
And I like trained in thisthing.
I took it seriously, like I waslegitimately going to.
I thought I was going to finishthat course because even though
I was 17, I was good when I was17.
I can't lie like I was.
I was good.
Then I ran some really hardcourses in the gym in that
costume and I was like peopleare gonna see me, they're gonna
be like who is this goofball?
(16:03):
And then I'm gonna finish thecourse and everyone's gonna lose
their minds, whatever.
It would have been really coolif that actually happened.
That did not happen.
So I got second obstacle.
It was the very, very last partof it.
Basically you swing, think oflike you're grabbing a board
like this, and you swing off theboard and almost think like you
grab like the top of a wall,the top of the wall with your
(16:25):
hands and your feet are on thewall and then you have to like
shimmy across the wall to thelike dismount platform.
I didn't realize that this walllike moved.
So when I got to the end of thewall, it like started tipping
and I was like, oh well, it'sjust gonna like lock into place,
right, it's like this entirewall, there's no way.
It just like spins all the wayaround, and that's exactly what
(16:49):
it did.
So I got to the end and it wastilting.
I was like, okay, it'll stop,it'll stop, wait.
Okay, this is getting hard,this is.
And then it just dumps me rightin the water, yeah, and if you
watch the video, it's it's.
It's hard to watch becauseyou're like, dude, just jump off
.
But that's what was goingthrough my head.
I was like it's going to stop.
There's no way it tilts thisfar.
And I guess it was crazybecause I hadn't seen that wall
(17:12):
move that way on anybody theentire night.
I've never seen it flip thatway.
When you go to it, it likedrops a little and locks in, but
then when you get to the top ofit, I'd never seen it move this
way.
Way, I guess it's just becauseI just put all my weight on the
end and I was like one of theheavier guys, but I'd see people
like fly onto that thing andjust like maybe hang in there
(17:32):
and then jump off.
So it was weird.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
And so that's it, then you're done, you're out.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
That's it.
I mean we all, we all thoughtit was like an obstacle
malfunction.
At first they stopped filmingfor like 30 minutes cause they
were, they didn't, they didn'teven know it could do that.
So they went over and likelooked at it and everything.
And then the executive guy cameover and he was like, yeah, I
mean, like nothing happened,like that's just how the
obstacle worked.
Sorry that your plan didn't goas you thought it would, and
(17:58):
that was that.
I mean I.
I couldn't really argue it.
I mean I, it was my.
I should have clarified more inthe rules how it worked and I
should have just jumped offearlier.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Honestly, so tell me even before that you're in a
(18:44):
monkey suit, which I kind ofwant to see.
That just because of that.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
But what's it like getting up there to that
starting line, like what's kindof going through your mind the
first time you know you got thelights on.
It's made for TV, so they got,you know, the cameras.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
What was that like?
Oh yeah, well, I mean I couldsay it's nerve wracking.
Of course that's anunderstatement.
So all the competitors are inlike a holding tent before you
go, compete and they call you up.
They call you up like when it'syou know three people until you
go, and you go, hang out andyou see the course on TV.
They're like on deck and theperson who's going after they're
standing literally just rightbehind the course.
You're right there.
(19:23):
In fact, you can like peekaround like the banner on the
pack of the course and likewatch the person.
Before you go You're juststanding right there and as soon
as that person falls, there'ssomeone who's standing at the
start of the course.
The whole time they call youover.
You know, they look you fromhead to toe, make sure your
outfit's fine, whatever, andthey walk you over to the start
platform.
They point to someone in thedistance.
(19:48):
There's a dude in the distance.
He's like the challengeproduction guy.
He's got a clipboard.
He's in charge of like runningthe obstacles, making sure that
everything's going smooth.
You just watch him and he putshis hand up, just starts come on
up, come on up.
You walk up the stairs andthere you are.
You're just like on thestarting platform.
You look around.
I mean there's cameras flying,there's cameras on cranes,
there's cameras five feet fromyour face.
(20:09):
The whole crowd is just likeall on the side screaming and
you're just oh my gosh.
And you're just like looking.
Most of these courses are likeon a straight line too, so
you're just like lookingstraight down the line.
So I mean it's super exciting.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, exciting.
Do you think the moment was toobig for you at the time?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
No, I don't think it was nerves at all.
In fact, I think as soon as Igot through that first obstacle,
I wasn't even nervous.
I was so excited to be there.
And then, second obstacle, itwasn't even like a skill issue.
I wouldn't even say it was amental issue either.
I think it was just a dumbmistake.
I felt great.
I really did, and everyonewho's there knows that too.
(20:52):
I was confident they saw theaftermath of everything.
It was just an unfortunate wayto go out.
I mean, that's all I think.
That was confident, that theysaw the aftermath.
It was just an unfortunate wayto go out.
I mean, that's all I really cansay about it.
It happened and it wasunfortunate.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
but you know.
So that was season 14 and thenyou weren't on 15.
Did you apply for 15?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
So 15 and 16 actually filmed at the exact same time.
They shot them back to back.
Actually filmed at the exactsame time.
They shot them back to back.
Super weird, I know.
So when you applied, youthought you were applying for 15
.
And then, when they called you,they said you were on the show.
(21:32):
They didn't tell you whatseason though.
So some people like the reallyyou know famous guys, big names
they got to compete on both.
But I would say, good, 50% ofeveryone they called were just
selected for one or the otherand we didn't have a preference.
They just said, okay, you're on15, not on 16, or you're on 16,
not on 15.
For me, I was the 16 case.
So they were like, yeah, you'refilming at the same time as 15,
(21:52):
but you're going to be on TV ayear later.
And I was like, okay, likethat's kind of sad, but I'm just
grateful to have a second shot,like I'm not complaining.
I competed exactly a year afterI fell, but it didn't come out.
Until what was that?
15, 16 months later.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Oh wow, Interesting.
And San Antonio again, or didyou go somewhere else for season
16?
Antonio again, or did you gosomewhere else?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
for season 16?
So 16 was Los Angeles for thequalifying round and then
semifinals.
This is where they broughthead-to-head racing into the
real show.
So semifinals was a racingcourse.
They built it right behind thequalifying course in LA, so I
was qualifying and then Iqualified there.
Semifinals was the night afteryou have to beat your opponent
(22:40):
to move on, and so I beat myopponent there, and then the
national finals were filmed inLas Vegas three weeks later.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Okay, and it sounds like you.
You went to Vegas then.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Okay, cool, so season 16,.
Much better result then.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Oh, much better, Much better result.
This is where I lived up to mypotential Season 16.
Vegas this is how the show wasfor 16 years.
They actually just changed itfor 17.
We'll touch on that in a second, but it's always been lost.
In Vegas finals four stages.
The fourth stage is an 80-foottower and just has a rope
(23:16):
hanging from it.
You have to climb the tower in30 seconds to win and you have
to clear each stage before it inorder to get there.
So you finish, you move on.
I think how many people werecompeting?
I want to say like 70, 75 peoplemake it to the finals every
year.
They go into the first stage.
First stage is difficult.
They want most people out afterthe first stage.
(23:36):
I think we had 22 people finishthe first stage of the 70
finalists.
So you know that's not a crazypercentage at all.
I did finish the first stage,which was super cool, because
stage one of the national finalsis like if you finish that
course, that like proves thatyou're like legit.
That's kind of like when youget a stage one buzzer in Vegas,
(23:58):
it's like okay, yeah, thisguy's, this guy knows what he's
doing.
And then stage two, which isanother iconic, just like upper
body endurance course, littletechnique.
They changed it to racing again.
Mixed feelings about that, butit is what it is.
So not only do you have tofinish a stage two style course,
(24:18):
which is harder than stage onetypically they have three to 10
people finish stage two out ofhowever many make it from stage
one.
You have to beat your opponent.
So you know, let's say, youguys both fall on obstacle five.
Whoever made it there fastermoves on to stage three.
If you guys both finish,whoever did it faster moves on
(24:42):
to stage three, and that was mycircumstance.
We both finished the course,but I was racing one of, like
the greatest of all time, danielGill.
He won the whole show in 2020.
So, going into it, I was like,dang, this is a, this is a tough
race, but I you know it wasstage two, I just want to finish
it.
I was like, uh, you know, stagetwo, finishing stage two is
(25:05):
even more impressive thanfinishing one, and I did.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I finished the course , but he did it faster, so he
got to move on and I didn't,unfortunately, yeah, so a lot of
that's just kind of luck of thedraw, like who you get matched
up against.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah yeah, I mean, it's like a seeding thing too.
The crazy thing, I was actuallya higher seed than Daniel going
into stage two.
I finished the first stagefaster than him.
But you know, it is kind ofluck at the same time.
You know Daniel Gill, probablylike top three most talented
(25:38):
guys competing that year.
He's the one who happens toland right on me in terms of you
know, the bracket seating orwhatever.
And then you know you've gotguys who should.
There were guys who, like skillwise, probably wouldn't have
even finished stage two buttheir opponent fell early so
they moved on.
It's the nature of the show butyeah, it was kind of difficult
being there and being like dang.
I really just like finishedthat course.
(25:58):
Any other year I'd get to go tostage three.
Stage three is just like thisstage of all stages.
If you step on the stage threestar platform, you're good,
you're good.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I'm just amazed, because here you are, you're
competing, you know, at 17, 18years old, 19 years old, with
you know, with people who'vebeen competing for years, and no
intimidation at all, I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I think my confidence definitely grew after season 16
, but I also kind of knew mysemifinals run.
Take back to Los Angeles, whereI just had to race one guy to
get to Vegas.
I had like the third fastesttime there or something, even
considering the race, like I wonthe race, but I also just went
like super, super fast.
I looked at like how that timestacked up against all these
(26:44):
guys that I've been watchingsince I was like younger and
it's just like hit me.
I was like dang, like I'mactually like at these guys
level, like I hadn't really hada time to prove it, and then
like right there, it hit me andI was like, yeah, I'm like, I'm
like up there, so it's prettysweet and how much of the whole
training process comes into playwith that, because obviously
you got to be preparing for this.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
You can't just, oh yeah, I mean you may just be a
naturally good athlete, that'sone thing, but yeah, you're
preparing for this.
You're going to a gym that'sgot court, you know obstacles,
and oh yeah, oh yeah so, like Imentioned earlier, john mack,
he's another pretty big name onthe show.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
He's like my best friend.
We've been training since I was15, 16 years old.
He and I are super lucky.
I, I, I sell the story and Iget like goosebumps telling it
because it's just like.
This is the definition of likedreams and hard work.
Like you can like achievewhatever you want.
Carson, the owner of the ninjawarehouse, is the gym chain.
(27:44):
When I started training at, hehired john to be his second guy
or whatever.
Like john is like carson'ssidekick.
Carson owns the gym but johnlike manages it, and john's only
four years older than me.
So what is he?
He's like 24 now, but when wewere getting into it he was my
age, you know, he was 19, 20years old.
He got keys to the gym andcarson said yeah, you can train
(28:07):
whenever you want, you can bringColton with you.
And so we had access to pristineequipment that Carson had built
to mimic his years on the showand we, just three times a week,
would design courses that youwould see on TV and we just ran
them over and over and over andover and over, just continuously
, and then, when we were tootired to run courses anymore.
(28:29):
We'd go burn out on oneobstacle until we couldn't do
one obstacle anymore and thenwe'd go do pull-ups until we
couldn't do pull-ups anymore.
Literally just like working ourway from super technical stuff,
less technical all the way downto the basics of how long can
we pull up on this bar until wecan't pull up anymore.
We trained so hard it's noteven funny and we both loved it.
(28:52):
We loved it so much because wesaw each other getting better.
I was always nipping at hisheels.
He was always a little bitbetter than me, always, and I
didn't like that.
So I was always gosh I have.
We would run a course threetimes and he'd be like, oh, I'm
going to run it a fourth timeCause I feel good.
I'd feel absolutely beat.
But I was like if I ever wantto catch up to him, I have to do
(29:14):
this fourth time.
There was no other way.
So that was definitely a hugemotivator.
That like got me to where I amtoday was having him just like
one upping me constantly and mejust being like dang, dang, like
I need to, I need to get to hislevel, like I gotta catch up.
So that was great and he was.
He was he's like the besttraining partner you could ever
ask for.
He was always like working meup.
(29:35):
He knew he was better than me,but he never acted like it at
all.
It was like we were trainingtwo of us together.
I would be completely destroyedand I'd be like, yeah, I'm
gonna run this a fourth time.
And probably in the back of themind he was like, yeah, there's
no way to be running thisfourth time.
And he'd be like, yeah, bro, gofor it, let's do it.
He'd be cheering me on thewhole time, like punching me
through, guiding me everything.
(29:56):
So I'm like if it wasn't forthat friendship, I I wouldn't be
where I am today at all zero oh, oh, that's huge.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
That's huge Having that motivation, that support.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, and like we're, we're training for season 18
films in three weeks actually.
So we're in training seasonright now, the two of us once
again.
We'll both be back on.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
How did it?
You said season 17,.
They changed something up.
What was the difference?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, yeah, so season 17, the one that just came out
this summer qualifying same sixobstacles semifinals went back
to how it was prior to seasons15 and 16.
I mentioned that season 16, theyear I went to Vegas the
(30:40):
semifinals was racing.
They took the racing away forthe semifinals in 17 and just
made it an extended course.
So this is how the semifinalswere from A&W 1 through 14.
It was six obstacles, just likequalifying.
Six obstacles the wall when youclimb over the wall, you climb
down the other side and there'sfour more on the backside.
So same first, six obstacles,just four new ones tacked onto
(31:02):
it.
That was super fun.
I made it through qualifying andthen I fell in semi-finals
actually, but I made it farenough, fast enough, to be in
the top 15 of my episode.
So I got to move on to thefinals anyways.
And then this year, instead ofthe four stages that we were so
used to having in Las Vegas,it's just a mega head to head
(31:24):
showdown.
Las Vegas, it's just a megahead to head showdown.
So it starts with everyone getsthrown into groups of four.
Are you familiar with like theWorld Cup format at all?
Speaker 1 (31:33):
A little bit.
Yeah, groups, group play.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Group stage.
Yep, so it's group stage.
Everyone races, everyone in thegroup.
So you have three races yourace everyone in the group and
then the top two from that groupmove on to the final 16 bracket
, which is just uh, you thinkmarch madness bracket, single
elimination bracket head to head, you win, you move on, you lose
(31:56):
, you go home until there's oneperson left.
Super, super different switchfrom the previous seasons,
because now it's all about speed, like yeah, you got to be able
to do the obstacles, but beforeit was like you finish, you're
fine.
Now it's like these are allfinalists, like these are the
best 50 competitors on the show.
(32:16):
They're going to be flying.
Can you catch them?
So it was.
It's crazy.
Super fun, though super and.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
I think that's the big thing.
I think I can tell from yourjust how animated you are, that
you enjoy it Obviously.
If you didn't enjoy it, I don'tknow where the motivation just
wouldn't be there.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, I mean, it's been life-changing for me.
This is the best thing I'veever had with my life.
I don't know how to describethat.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
If you can describe it a little bit like what kind
of things have you noticed?
Has it done for you, just inlife in general?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's connected me with so
many people.
It's.
It's not even funny.
I mean I'm in college now andeveryone's hitting on like, oh,
you've got to network, you gotto go to this networking event,
you got to go listen to thisspeaker and go talk to him after
, and I'm like my networking isI compete in these competitions
where you've got hundreds ofpeople flying in from all over
the country.
I could go to 45 of the 50 USstates tomorrow and find a place
(33:18):
to stay, based on how manypeople I know from this sport
alone.
I mean this just everyone comesto these competitions with a
common goal of we love thissport, we love what it stands
for, we love the training, welove how it works.
It's just so easy to talk toeveryone and I mean we have that
common goal.
You meet someone on set, youmeet someone in a competition,
you start talking to them, youknow quickly the conversation
(33:41):
moves beyond just Ninja Warriorand you get to know them on like
a more personal level and thenbang, that's like a new friend
that you're gonna have for therest of your life and I just
think that's crazy.
I mean I just went to barbadoslast week with some friends most
of them, like only two of themwere from utah, and we had like
a big group there from all overthe place, like florida, new y,
(34:04):
massachusetts, you know, otherside of the country, and we're
just in Barbados for acompetition for a week.
Where else do you get to dothat?
You just don't.
I can't lie.
I mean, yeah, if you're likeprofessional athlete maybe, but
it's, it's special, it's reallyspecial.
I can't lie.
You know there's been.
There's been a new gym thatstarted since called impact.
They actually opened in 2022,my first year on the show.
(34:27):
I trained there a lot as well.
I used I worked there for awhile too.
It's just hard to juggle work,school, training, everything
right now.
That's a whole nother communityI have.
I mean there's guys that trainthere now.
I mean I can name two of themoff the top of my head two kids
howie and drew.
When I first started likegetting a ninja, they didn't
even know what Ninja is, andthen they got into it.
(34:50):
Howie got into it when he was 13, 14, same age as me.
He's 16 now and he's likenipping at our heels.
He's so good.
I've seen him go from terrible.
He had that same mindset as me,where he was like I'm young but
I want to get so good at this.
And he just got so good and,you know, drew to like he had
(35:12):
his backyard course too.
He was training on how hetrains all the time.
In fact, like I see myself inthese kids and it's like really
cool to see them and where I waslike working their way up to
hopefully getting on the show aswell, so that's brought a whole
new perspective to it beinglike a mentor to younger guys.
I still feel like I am the guylooking up to John and Carson
(35:33):
now you're.
You're becoming the old guywhich, oh yeah, I know it's true
at 20 years old.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
I didn't even think I'd be competing at this age,
when I was 14, you know, becauseit wasn't a thing when you're
working with some of theseyounger guys and you see these
younger guys coming up and theykind of have a dream to be on
the show, what do you kind ofyou know, what's kind of some
advice you'd give them if theywant to be on the show.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
First, and it's like the unfortunate truth is that
sometimes it's just out of yourcontrol in terms of, you know,
getting on the show.
Like these younger guys are oldenough to apply now and they
haven't had, you know, the sameluck I did with getting on the
show, even though they'rethey're more than deserving of
having a shot.
It's just hard because you know, at the end of the day, it's a
tv show, it's a casting process.
(36:14):
You could be the most talentedninja on the planet and they may
not want you on the show.
So I just tell them, you know,like, train hard, be ready if
you get the chance.
But the nice thing about thesport is there's so many other
competitions you can do.
Like, people don't know it, butthis sport is like exploding.
There's leagues, there's, youknow, world finals for like
(36:36):
three different leagues everysingle year.
You know there's just so manycompetitions you can get
involved in and there's just somuch stuff you can do with it.
And I'm like, dude, keep doingthese comps, keep keep working
hard.
Like if the show comes, theshow comes.
I know that's what we're allaiming for.
But all you can do is be ready.
And you know, I also tell themlike yeah, they want personality
(36:57):
, they want somethinginteresting about you, so maybe
go explore some new hobby, goput you know some some more
effort elsewhere, kind of be theguy who comes back with some
gimmick and I mean I've had somany gimmicks my last couple
years.
I'm just like go find somethingelse that you like really love,
that's unique.
And then next year when youfilm your video, you can be like
(37:17):
not only am I like top tierninja warrior athlete, but I've
got all this too.
Like you should talk about this, because that's what they want
to hear.
Everyone could say, yeah, I'm aninja warrior athlete, but I
don't know.
Like I've seen guys be like ohyeah, the past year I've got my
pilot's license, I'm flyingplanes now, or I'm a
professional skydiver or juststuff like that.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
It's just like dang, this guy's interesting More than
just the straight up athletecompeting on the course, Cause I
know you more than just thestraight up athlete competing on
the course, Because I know, youknow and I've watched the show
they do.
They like to tell a story.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yeah, they love to tell a story and that's what I
say.
Like everyone's unique.
You have a story to yourself,like you just have to.
There's definitely a method forhow you can put that story into
a video to make them see howmuch you truly care about it,
and I think that's somethingwith me, why I've had good
success with it too, is in myvideos I just talk about what I
love and I mean they can see itshines right through.
(38:10):
Like this past year I joined afraternity at the University of
Utah and that's beenlife-changing for me and they
just like love, that idea.
So that if you watch the showthis year, that's like all they
talk about and it's really funny.
But it's just like a greatgroup of guys and we do so much
for we work for we actually arelike the main financial backing
(38:30):
of the rape recovery center ofsalt lake city and we've raised
over a hundred thousand dollarstowards sexual soul every year
for the past five years.
You know that's huge.
I worked as a caddy at pebblebeach golf course this last
summer, so you know, it's justI'm just always finding
something and I think they likethat.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
So oh, that's, that's fantastic.
It does and it does.
It makes you well rounded in alot more ways than just working
out and being healthy and youknow that type of thing and I
think you know people, they wantto hear a story, they want to,
they want to know that for sure.
So, looking back for you,looking back this whole journey,
what does it mean to youpersonally?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
I guess, if trying to sum it all up into like main
takeaways yeah, I mean, this isa dream I've had since I was
just a little kid and I set mymind to it and I got it done and
it's amazing, as I think thisis like the big one and this is
what I tell the kids, to thekids at the gym.
I tell them this too, asamazing as it is to work this
hard and get on the TV show andyou'd be like, yeah, I did all
this.
You know your time comes, youcompete.
(39:36):
It's just as amazing as youthink it is Hitting a buzzer.
All the fireworks go off, youget to talk to, like the
commentators that you've beenseeing for forever.
I think especially the youngerguys think that it's just going
to be some, like you know,revolutionary life moment where
it's like, yeah, I do that,that's all I need in life, blah,
blah, blah.
I think what really resonatedwith me after season 16, when I
(39:59):
first did it, was that yes, theshow's incredible, but you got
to go further with it.
This isn't just like a be-all,end-all.
Yes, it's given us some of aplatform to build off of, but
that's why, I mean, I gotinvolved in golf caddying, like
using the, using the skills I'vegot through my training, you
(40:20):
know, talking to people.
I'm using those skills to gotalk with people in golf.
Using the training, thetraining mindset that I got
through this sport to go tryother sports.
You know, I'm doing like a halfmarathon in two weeks.
I'm doing a different fitnesscompetition in December.
Like a half marathon in twoweeks.
I'm doing a different fitnesscompetition in December.
It's like using the blessingthat we have of being able to do
this stuff, pushing that intoother areas of life.
(40:44):
I mean I'm doing I've done likespeaking events at high schools
too, and there's just so muchmore you can do with it and how
much you can take it so muchfurther than just the TV show.
And I think that's like the bigthing that I've really gotten
from it is that you know Iworked so hard with this one end
goal and I reached that goaland now it's just opened so many
gateways to like so many otherplaces I can take it.
(41:05):
And I think that's the biglesson from it is that there's
never an end to just like keepchasing goals.
You know you reach one, you'resatisfied, it's amazing, you
celebrate and then you thinkokay, what can I do, what can I,
how can I take this further?
Speaker 1 (41:21):
You know, such great life lessons.
So I appreciate, I appreciateyou sharing that Cause.
I'm sitting here thinking, yeah, what can I do more with you
know?
Journey with Jake.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah, there you go, Same same stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
You don't just you know.
I don't just release an episodeand I'm done.
There's more stuff I want to do.
So I appreciate hearing thatfrom you and you're just a young
guy at 20 having that knowledgethat, hey, it's not, this isn't
just the end, all be all.
You know.
Yeah, I was on the show.
I did really well.
There's more to it than that.
I think that's important.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Exactly, yeah, and I mean it goes both ways too.
I mean even I tell the kids I'mlike, okay, so maybe you don't
get the chance to compete on theshow.
Yeah, you've worked so hard forit.
But how are you gonna bounceback from that?
Are you just gonna say, oh yeah, I worked years for this.
It never worked out?
I'm done Like, no, you're notbro.
You've learned so much justfrom the training.
(42:09):
You've gotten so strong, bothphysically and mentally, being
able to push through thesecourses and stick with like this
routine to get ready for this.
You can take that in any areaof life you want and you can
have multiple sides of lifegoing at the same time.
Like I mean, I'm doing so manydifferent things right now.
It's like how do you even keeptrack of them?
(42:30):
You know the skills you developjust from training for it.
That's enough alone.
Like I'm grateful, even if Inever got the chance to be on
the show, I'll forever begrateful from what I've learned
just with my time training forit and the people I've met.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
yeah, outside of the show speaking of that, outside
of you know ninja competitions.
What's the next adventurechallenge you're excited about?
Speaker 2 (42:52):
gosh I'm kind of like right in the middle right now,
I can't lie.
So last year, second year ofcollege, I applied for this job
I kind of mentioned earlier as acaddy at Pebble Beach, which I
didn't think I would get.
That's like a pretty hard jobto get.
I mean, pebble Beach, if youknow, is one of the most famous
golf courses in the world.
(43:13):
So I really focused on golf fora year and just got really good
at that, along with my ninjastuff.
And obviously I'm a collegestudent so I can't just move
there.
So I did it for four monthsthis summer.
I was out there May, june, julyand half of August.
I actually just got back threeweeks ago.
I did that and it was supersweet.
I would stay out there longerif I could, but I've got school
(43:34):
to do.
Obviously it's a nice thingabout that job is, once you get
hired, if you work three or fourtimes every year, you can keep
it and you don't lose employmentthere.
I'll always have that in myback pocket and I'll make trips
there every single year to keepthat job, because it's a really
nice job to have.
It's incredible, I don't knowcaddied for.
I don't know if you know UrbanMeyer, legendary college
(43:56):
football coach.
I caddied for him on one of mylast days out there.
It was insane.
I met Michael Phelps, grantHorvat, golf influencer guy I
mean it's Pebble Beach, so manycelebrities there.
The winner of the Bachelor wasthere.
I like talked to him and I likedidn't know who he was.
I, I don't know I guess I sawthese like girls run over to him
(44:18):
and they were like losing theirmind and I was like who the
heck is that?
And then I overheard someone belike who is the bachelor winner
?
I looked him up I was like, oh,I guess that was him.
I didn't know that he was therefor like a week.
But for now, I think right nowI'm just focusing on college.
I mean, of course I'm traininghard.
The new season films super soonAfter we film that.
(44:41):
It's a weird time.
I'm going to have to kind oflook at what I'm going to be up
to next.
I'm sure I'll find something.
But I kind of mentioned earlierit's a competition called High
Rocks Racing.
That's what I'm doing inDecember.
I'm flying out to californiafor it.
It's kind of like a crossfitcompetition.
It's like running and inbetween each run section you
have to do like a differentworkout and it's like a race.
(45:03):
And I'm doing it with one of mygood friends.
From that I actually metthrough ninja.
She's like, yeah, I'm trainingfor this race and you need a
partner, you want to do it withme.
And I was like like, yeah,let's do it.
Yeah, we're training for thatand who knows, we'll see, we'll
see what else pops up.
I'm always looking for stuff.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
I'm always applying for random stuff, just seeing
what happens you know, well,this has been for me, has been
enjoyable, just because I'm, youknow, as someone who's watched
the show and been a fan of theshow.
It's kind of fun to see someinner workings of it and, plus,
just to see kind of what you'vedone.
And I mean, obviously I'll belooking at a lot of your videos
and stuff now and be like, hey,let's see what Colton was up to.
So I think it's fantastic.
(45:41):
I do want to end my show.
I like to ask this question foreverybody, because it's
adventure type podcast.
What you did was superadventurous, but for you, what
does adventure mean to you?
Oh, but for you.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
What does adventure mean to you?
Oh, what does adventure mean tome?
I mean, I think it just.
It really just comes down towhat do you love and then just
like going all in on it.
I know I'm like surface leveladventures, like, oh yeah,
adventure, go run around in themountains, unknown, no plan
whatever.
But I mean the most adventurousthings in my life have just
(46:12):
been like I love, I love doingNinja Warrior, I love, you know,
I love golf and stuff.
And then just seeing where youcan take it Cause there's so
many plays, you can takeeverything, like golf turned
from golf team for two yearsgolf captain took it to caddying
and that was super adventurous.
Ninja Warrior, I mean I don'treally have to talk anymore on
(46:33):
that, but super adventurous.
But all just stems from passion.
Really, you have a passion andyou just keep going at it.
Naturally things will happen ifyou just keep chasing that
passion colton, this has beenawesome.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Thank you so much for coming on journey with jake
yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Thank you, jake.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
I appreciate it, man, this is great wow, what an
awesome conversation with coltonSchuster.
Colton, thank you so much forsharing your journey with us.
At only 20 years old, you'vealready taught me a lot about
drive, courage and what it meansto put yourself out there.
I really appreciate the lessonsand inspiration you brought to
this episode.
Be sure to give Colton a followon Instagram at CWSchuster and
(47:12):
cheer him on as he continues totackle challenges both on and
off the American Ninja Warriorcourse.
And to all of you listening,thank you for tuning in to
Journey with Jake each and everyweek.
I can't say it enough Doingthis show truly means the world
to me.
Having these conversations,hearing these stories and
knowing you're out therelistening and sharing in the
(47:34):
adventure is something I nevertake for granted.
Don't forget it's October,which means we're rolling out
two episodes a week.
In just a few days from now,you'll hear from Jack Smith, the
original pioneer ofskateboarding across America.
Jack is truly the OG and it's afantastic conversation you
won't want to miss.
Until then, just remember it'snot always about the destination
(47:57):
as it is about the journey.
Take care, everybody.
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