The Bergstrom family is one of the most famous American Ninja Warrior families around the world. Caleb Bergstrom took to the course in American Ninja Warrior season 17, episode 4, with his son watching for the first time.
He hit the buzzer, but it’s not always the case where you get through every single obstacle. In fact, there was a slip at one point in the qualifying run, and we chatted about keeping your mind focused on the task at hand, and then learning from mistakes afterward.
Following his latest appearance on NBC's hit show, GeekSided caught up with Bergstrom, who reflected on what it meant to have his son watching him take on the course, shared his training for American Ninja Warrior, and more
GeekSided: Congratulations on another buzzer. How does that feel?
Caleb Bergstrom: Another buzzer is great. I definitely love training this, and I love doing the sport, so I’m excited to go out there and do those obstacles. It just feels really good.
GS: This year you have your son watching you for the first time. How did that feel?
CB: I would say there’s a little bit of pressure, because now I know my son’s watching me. But at the same time, there’s just so much joy. I love going out there and being able to show him what it looks like to persevere and to keep trying.
GS: Yes, a lot of this is perseverance, because you don’t always have a good day. What’s your message to yourself when you have bad days?
CB: I think when I have bad days, I tell myself that it can be motivation to keep working hard and to keep training hard, but another thing is, I’m being watched whether I succeed or if I fail, so I get to be an example to the people who are watching me, whether it’s my son or even the people I train with.
GS: Ninja Warrior has changed a little over the years, as you compete more against other athletes rather than just yourself. Has your mindset changed with this change, or do you still keep the focus on doing better than yourself in the past?
CB: I’m very competitive, and I’m also good friends with a lot of people I compete against. I think the way to win is to focus on the obstacles and to clear them as fast as you can whenever you’re on the course. You are sometimes going up against other people, but the way you can beat them is to do the obstacles faster, so I don’t think my mindset has changed. If anything, I like to be friends more with the people I can be against.
GS: And it’s a family affair for you, not just with your wife but also your siblings. Is there some friendly competition going on there?
CB: Yeah, it’s a family affair. At this point, I would say there’s plenty of friendly competition, but also, we work together. We strategize together, and we make sure we are all supported as we go out there and hit the course.
GS: I love that. It’s such a good example to show the newer competitors in American Ninja Warrior. It’s a solo sport, but also a team one.
CB: Yeah, it seems like a solo sport when you go up there, but then you realize how much support is going into one person on the course and just how necessary it is to be able to step up there and do things the first try. It’s necessary to have that support system.
GS: What’s your training regime like to make sure you hit the buzzer the first time?
CB: So, whenever we train, we think about how much we have to hang whenever we do obstacles. Most of the obstacles, you’re up in the air, you do have to do a lot of pull-ups when you’re doing it. So, as we do our training, we focus on doing a lot of pull-ups and dead hanging, and then we do our agility work to make sure our feet go exactly where we want them to be. We do that about five times a week.
GS: And you never know which obstacle you’ll face until you get to the starting block. How do you prep your mind for going out there?
CB: [There are a] few things I do. I make sure I focus on what really matters, and that’s my family. They’re there supporting me, and my son is there watching me. And just the fact that I get to be grateful to go out there and do some obstacles and moves.
Then I do some basic warm-ups. I do juggling, I’ll do some hand-eye coordination warm-up, and I just go out there and make sure I have a clear mind to have a great time.
GS: There was one obstacle in the qualifiers that you slipped on. What was going through your mind at that point?
CB: At that point, I think the main thing was ‘Okay, let’s fix this quick. Let’s not worry about it. Let’s just keep moving forward.’ I usually do that if I make mistakes. I take accountability, and I just move forward, and I keep working hard. That’s been helpful for me, whether it was last season or this season.
GS: How do you get your mind straight, though. You’ve only got a few seconds to clear it.
CB: I don’t focus on the result. I don’t focus on winning. I’m in the moment, purely, and I know the way to win is to do individual obstacles, not to focus on the buzzer or the end of the course. So, whenever I’m on the obstacle, I’m fully in that mode. I’m just doing the thing, and if there are any mistakes, I fix them as quickly as I can.
GS: Then afterward, do you look back and assess, so you can prevent the same mistake happening?
CB: Yes, I have a process for damage assessment and course assessment. So, after I run the course, I write down all the things I did well, the things I need to improve on, and then, I make a game plan for improving on them. I just go on and move on to the next thing.
GS: You can prep for obstacles you’ve seen before, but what about ones you haven’t?
CB: That’s actually my favorite thing in Ninja Warrior, trying something new for the first time. I think there’s so much beauty and purity to trying something that you’ve never felt before, and then maybe getting it. So, in that sense, I’m always excited to do it.
In another sense, I’ll practice the movement just with my hands. We have one warm-up bar we get to go on, and I’ll just pretend I’m doing the actual obstacle that I see, even if I don’t get to try the feel of it. I’ll visualize it constantly and tell myself I can do it.
GS: Now you’re in between the qualifiers and the semis. What’s going on in your head? What’s the training like?
CB: In between rounds, we’ll do plenty of endurance training, a lot of hanging to make sure we can handle the longer distance of obstacles that we have coming up, before we do speed. For semi-finals, you've got to make sure you’re in good shape, so consistently working on my cardio, my running, and once again, my dead hanging is a big part of doing a semi-finals course.
The main thing I’m about whenever I’m training is I’m all about positive self-talk, so I say good things about myself all the time to make sure that I feel ready to step up there on the platform and go do a course.
GS: Do you have any favorite obstacle?
CB: My favorite obstacle is the Mega Wall. This year, I didn’t have full success on that obstacle, but that doesn’t change anything. It’s still my favorite obstacle. I love going out there. I love the moment of like ‘is it gonna happen?’ and just pushing up there and seeing if it works.
GS: That’s a great example to others when they don’t make it. Next time, you can push it.
CB: Yeah, exactly.
American Ninja Warrior airs on Mondays at 8/7c on NBC.