'American Ninja Warrior': Jessie Graff finishes race despite not being on an obstacle in 4 months amid pandemic
Hollywood stuntwoman and 'American Ninja Warrior' Jessie Graff recently underwent stem cell treatment and to even attempt to return for a full-fledged season is a brave move. In an email interview with MEA Worldwide (MEAWW), she did mention though that once the injuries have healed, they stop impacting her. But the real challenge was the pandemic-induced quarantine phase, which kept her from indulging in a full-blown workout regime at a gymnasium. She did her outdoor workouts but pointed out that she never had the chance to be on an obstacle or swing from a bar. In a nutshell, she was coming in unprepared for Season 12 of the competition series but even then, she shined.
Dressed in her 'Wonder Woman 1984' inspired dress, Jessie took risks while on the obstacle course, which featured the shrinking steps, lunatic ledges, the beehive, spinning bridge, Ferris wheels and the warped wall. She tried to get it over with quickly, but insufficient training caught up with her on a few occasions when she almost lost her grip or couldn't reach the landing area. However, despite the hiccups, Jessie was able to arrive at the warped wall and hit the buzzer for the fifth time.
"I’ve only done controlled strength training to safely rebuild, and this will literally be my first test. I’m pretty nervous, but excited for a chance to prove that I can overcome everything and bounce back," she shared with us. Jessie finished 9th on the leaderboard; she finished the race in 3:58, while RJ Roman completed it in 1:10.
It appears all the intense arm and leg days worked out in her favor. "I did all of my training at home or outdoors in quarantine. I did about an hour of HRV training every day, alternating energy systems, and 1-2 hours of injury prevention/rehab, and 2-4 hours of strength training," she had informed and added that there's a cyclic workout regime that she follows, which helps her push her limits and recover well.
"I like pushing to my limits, so I follow a 3 day cycle of push day, pull day, leg day. So after an intense pull day, all of those pull muscles have a full 48 hours to recover (during push day and leg day) to recover," Jessie had added.
Catch all the new episodes of 'American Ninja Warrior' on NBC every Monday at 8/7c. For more information, check your local listings.