You may not see Grant McCartney dance his way through the "American Ninja Warrior" course this year.
The Knoxville native, who now lives in Hawaii,is known for his dance moves and nickname Island Ninja on the NBC obstacle course competitionshow.
But a letter from a fan has made him rethink his strategy when he competes on "Ninja Warrior" for the fifth time.
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McCartney said he received a letter from a 4-year-old fan who couldn't wait to see him on the show but told him to not waste time dancing on the course.
"And I thought 'That's so funny. That's exactly what I need to do. I need to focus on not being an entertainer or anything like that. When I'm in competition mode, I need to compete and do my best,'" said McCartney."So I will focus up a bit more on that, on the course, not really wasting time 'cause it comes down to seconds sometimes..."
McCartney will compete in "American Ninja Warrior's" Cincinnati qualifying round, which will air at 8 p.m. Monday, July 8, on NBC.
This year marks the first time McCartney hasn't participated in the Los Angeles qualifying round. Due to a forearm tendon injury, he went to the Cincinnati qualifiers because they taped later in the year.
'...I want to do better'
"American Ninja Warrior" has three rounds: qualifying, city finals and national finals, which are held in Las Vegas. Its grand prize is $1 million.
For the past two years, McCartney missed out on the national finals. Last year, he missed the mark by one spot when he finished 16th overall at the L.A. finals.
"...I want to do better," said McCartney."I want to train harder and practice more, and so I'm feeling probably the most fit I've ever been, and you could easily make a mistake, and it'd be all over, so you never know."
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McCartney traveled to Houston a few months before the show premiered to train. "American Ninja Warrior's" courses have grueling obstacles that require strength and endurance, and that's where he put his focus.
McCartney said he employed specific obstacle training, endurance-based workouts and CrossFit. He also ran a marathon last year without any planning beforehand.
"I just thought 'I wonder if I can.' I didn't train for it. I didn't practice. I just had a week off and thought 'I'm going to try to mentally run a marathon' and see if I could, so luckily it went well," he said.
"I know that's pretty dumb for someone who doesn't normally do workouts, but we got to keep it in mind that I train for other things, so I'm in shape, and I actually ended up running it in three hours and 38 minutes, which is ... three minutes off the qualifying forthe Boston Marathon ..."
McCartney said the marathon and CrossFit help with his mental endurance on "Ninja Warrior" while the obstacle training helps him the most physically, so he can link the obstacles together and figure out his strengths and weaknesses.
'Ninja Warrior' in Germany
While he'straining for a win on "American Ninja Warrior," McCartney won "Ninja Warrior Germany's" celebrity edition last year.
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Every obstacle McCartney completed during the competition earned money for charity, and he raised the maximum amount of 250,000 euros.
McCartney's also spreading his knowledge and ninja skills to more kids this year. He will continue to do speaking engagements and will be at Ninja Fest, a week-long summer camp, in Crossville, Tenn.
He's writing a children's book
In addition to his time as a ninja, McCartney is writing a children's book.
He said it wasn't something he ever expected to do, and he was inspired to after reading books with his sister's children.
McCartney's book is called "Everyone Knows Flamingos Like to Party," and it's about the main character, who's a bear,trying to throw a party and asking his friends for advice about it.
The story has a deeper meaning to McCartney and was inspired by his Christian faith.
"So the book's just simple, just reminding us that we have to invite people, and the bigger reason why I got to deciding to do the book at all was just a reminder that even in my faith, if I don't tell people about my faith in Christ, I never really invited them ... I throw a party. I think everyone's invited .... but not unless you tell them ...," he said.
The characters are based on people he knows including his grandmother who loved flamingos.
"This book represents her more than just the children's book in the way that she was the one who invited everyone out to be together. She was the one who invited our family to go vacation together. She was the one invited us to her house every other weekend. She was the one always inviting and creating an environment for my family to be together," said McCartney.
"If she didn't do that, i wouldn't have spend as much time with her, as much time with my family, and as I've gotten older, I've realized that's very important that someone invite people. Someone's got to create the environment and invite people to that environment, so that we can spend time together and love on each other, and I want my niece and nephew to know that and enjoy that idea ..."
