The G4 cable channel is airing all of the previous Ninja Warrior tournaments this weekend. The episodes will air all day today, Saturday and Sunday. Then on Sunday evening at 5:30 pm ET, "American Ninja Challenge 4" will air. That hour-long special will cover the latest competition among G4's viewers to get a chance to compete in the main Ninja Warrior (Sasuke, in the original Japanese) tournament. Then the channel will premiere the 22nd tournament of Ninja Warrior/Sasuke in the U.S. The tournament will be broken up into five half-hour episodes. A recap episode will follow later that night.

I wrote about Ninja Warrior a few weeks ago. It's a demanding obstacle course that requires a great deal of agility, body control and upper-body bodyweight strength. Many of the 100 contestants are primarily there for entertainment purposes but the top competitors are incredibly fit athletes. In previous tournaments, elite athletes from around the world have competed too, including Olympic medalists from the U.S. in gymnastics and wrestling. Gold-medal gymnast Paul Hamm was among the most well-known of these competitors.

The recent hit, "Wipeout", is largely inspired by Ninja Warrior but it's missing some of the key elements of Ninja Warrior. In Ninja Warrior, if you fall off an obstacle, you are out of the tournament. The live crowd gives the competition a better atmosphere. And there is a growing history and tradition with Ninja Warrior, as well as a worldwide fanbase, including the U.S., the UK and Latin America as well as Japan and East Asia.

For some examples of the toughest obstacles, run an Internet search for "ninja warrior salmon ladder", "ninja warrior body prop", "ninja warrior devil steps" and so on. Or just watch the episodes this weekend.

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By the way, I ran 5.15 miles on National Running Day a couple weeks ago. I hope everyone else was able to do something to help improve their fitness.