Travis Edwards stars in Australian Ninja Warrior

He was one of a diverse range of competitors who lined up for their shot at taking the Ninja crown on the highly challenging Ninja Island obstacle course, built on Cockatoo Island in Sydney.

The Mountains-raised Ninja competitor attended Blaxland High School, but now lives in Penrith. The show debuted on Sunday, attracting 1.6 million viewers, and Edwards features in the fourth episode to air on July 16.

While he was tight-lipped about how far through the series he progresses, Edwards said he was already in training to try his luck at a potential second series.

He hopes his knowledge of some of the obstacles will be an advantage to progression in a second series.

“Some [obstacles] are trickier than others. Others aren’t hard at all,” he said. 

Filmed late last year, the 25-year-old gymnastics coach said he did no training for the first series whatsoever. “I didn’t even go into the gym. Absolutely nothing. The less I do the better I become.”

Although he did admit “my strength and fitness have always been pretty good.”

As the obstacles get more challenging, they take progressively longer to complete.

Edwards was taking on obstacles three to five minutes in duration, and said he found the forearm endurance a real challenge.

“My forearm endurance got me. I got a bit crampy. I found that the toughest and my cardio was not that good,” he said. 

“One of the best parts of the experience was how well everyone got along with each other. There was a similar headspace and mindset, no-one was cocky. They were there for themselves and pushing everybody.”

A gymnastics coach for 10 years, Edwards first took up gymnastics at age three, but a knee injury at 15 after qualifying for a national squad, stopped him in his tracks. He says coaching is a safer option for him these days and he can “live it through the gymnasts.”

“After seeing the American [Ninja Warrior] shows I thought this was perfect for my body type. I’ve been waiting for it to come to Australia,” Edwards said. “It was a really good experience and I’m keen to go for it again.”

Australian Ninja Warrior airs on the Nine Network three nights a week.