I stepped on the scale and cringed when I saw it read 227.  That’s probably close to a hundred pounds more than Ninja Warrior Grand Champion Makoto Nagano, and probably 70 to 80 pounds more than the majority of the top competitors in the inaugural American Ninja Warrior from 2009.  Every additional pound I have is a pound I’ll have to haul around on this obstacle course that rewards relative strength.  So many things to hang on and drag yourself across.  227 lbs is a burden.  Not that I’m not pretty strong in relative terms even in that weight, I can crank out 15 to 20 full pullups in a set yanking that 227 pounds up, but I know I need to drop some weight to increase my chances.  I figure the fastest way to increase my strength and chances by at least 10% is to lose 10% of my body-weight.  I actually figure that it’s somewhat of a non-linear function there, and my stamina and relative strength will go up by more than 10% if I can drop 10% of my weight.  So 10% off my weight means dropping 23 pounds down to 204.  Can I do that in 3 months?  Probably not (that’s the spririt!), but I’m going to at least try.  I think dropping 20-25 pounds has to be one of the core steps of preparation that I will have to commit myself to.