Kirtland officer sets sights on Ninja Warrior Published Aug. 11, 2016 By Kendahl Johnson Kirtland Public Affairs KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- American Ninja Warrior has become a popular blend of fitness, game show and reality television, and one Kirtland officer wants to be a competitor. 2nd Lt. Eddie Hilburn was introduced to the show a few years ago and started training and applying. “It appealed to me because it’s a show with everyday people. You don’t have to be fulltime athlete,” Hilburn said. “I started training and really enjoyed the challenge and decided to stick with it and see if I could actually make it on the show.” Hilburn is an optical physicist at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Starfire Optical Range. He feel like being on the show would help show people you don’t have be just a scholar or just an athlete, but that you can be both. “People look at someone who is strong in the sciences or who studies a lot and has a technical degree as someone who doesn’t have the time or the desire to do physical activities and that’s not the case,” he said. Hilburn commissioned as an officer in the Air Force in September after a 10-year career as an enlisted service member. He was assigned to Kirtland, which was beneficial for his training as there are several “ninja gyms” in Albuquerque. He trains twice a week in those gyms, working on obstacles similar to what might be found on the show. He also trains does strength training a few times a week and works out at a rock climbing gym to help improve his grip strength. He does general conditioning and cardio fitness for endurance on other days, working out a total of six or seven days a week. “I’m trying to progress from general bodyweight movements, such as pullups, and other strength training movements, to exercises that translate to functional movement on the obstacles,” he said. Hilburn’s favorite obstacle is called the salmon ladder, one of the most iconic and difficult Ninja Warrior obstacles that requires tremendous upper body strength. His most challenging obstacle is the cliffhanger, where you have to traverse a small edge on your fingertips and then bridge a gap without falling. Hilburn competes in local and regional competitions and recently qualified for a national event sponsored by the Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association. He competed against many of the contestants from the show and other big names in the sport. He said he did fairly well, finishing “solidly in the middle of the pack.” At the event, he was approached by producers from a new Netflix competition show called Ultimate Beastmaster and was asked to apply. But his primary goal remains to get selected for Ninja Warrior. “I’ll keep training and applying until they select me,” he said. ““I haven’t seen a physicist on the show, and plan to be the first.”