What does it take to be a true badass? Overcoming adversity, pushing limits, and turning life’s obstacles into opportunities. In this episode, Jennifer Cassetta sits down with Sandy Zimmerman, the inspiring American Ninja Warrior and TEDx speaker. As the first mom in the show’s history to finish the course and hit the buzzer, Sandy shares her journey of grit, resilience, and strength—from growing up in the foster care system to becoming a National Judo Champion. They discuss the power of mindset, martial arts, and the life lessons Sandy learned from her early days as a judo athlete to her present-day accomplishments. If you want to know what it truly takes to become unstoppable, this episode is packed with valuable insights on perseverance, empowerment, and finding strength in every setback.
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From Welfare To Warrior With American Ninja Warrior Sandy Zimmerman
Before we jump into our amazing guest, I wanted to tell you some quick swag that I made up. For those of you watching on YouTube, you can see my Art of Badassery T-shirt. I am wearing this for the first time on the show because I’m literally in Montauk the day after my very first Art of Badassery retreat ended. I cannot wait to share with you all about it because it was one of the best things I’ve ever done truly.
The retreat ended with ten women going, “I love you.” All these women didn’t even know each other three days before that. It was connection, health, well-being, and fun. It filled my cup so much and I can’t wait to do it again. If you are not on my newsletter list, please make sure that you get on it so you know exactly when I start to plan the next one. You can get these T-shirts on the website under the shop button at JenniferCassetta.com.
Let’s dig into our amazing guest. Her name is Sandy Zimmerman. Sandy is a mother of three, an inspirational speaker, author of Get Out of the Car, nine-time competitor on NBC’s hit show, American Ninja Warrior, and became the first mom in the show’s history to finish the course and hit the buzzer. Sandy’s a TEDx Speaker. She’s a National Judo Champion. There’s so much more that Sandy’s going to share with us. First and foremost, welcome Sandy to the show.
Thank you so much. I’m excited to be on. Before we jump in though, I need a little details about that retreat. I am in. It’s so old.
I didn’t even tell you what we did. We did mindset work, martial arts, and meditation. We did a walking meditation on the beach. I can’t even begin.
Is this an overnight retreat?
Three nights in Montauk, New York. Magical place in Montauk where I grew up going. There’s sentimental value. I got to show all these women in Montauk. Some of them for the first time. It was special. Hopefully, you can come next time.
You can just find it on your website and there’s a retreat section there?
Not yet, but it’s under the blog section as of now and on social media. I’ve been posting it on Instagram all over the place. Sandy is an American Ninja Warrior. Do you understand the significance of this? I am a martial artist. She is an actual Ninja Warrior. Sandy, please I want to know exactly what you’re up to.
By the way, Sandy and I just met only weeks ago in Spokane, Washington at a Women’s Council Realtors event where we were both speaking. Sandy spoke and gave her story just a little bit. I said, “Can you come on this show and share more of the origin story?” I think she’s just so cool. She’s so strong and powerful. I just know it couldn’t have been an easy road to get to where you’re at. Is it?
I’ve noticed in my own life that any of the great amazing things are pretty much always a long hard and tough road. I’ve also noticed that it is always worth it. Ninja Warrior is in the same regard in that. When I first started, it was a random chance that my son had seen it on TV and said, “What’s that?” I was so drawn to it and it seemed so crazy at the time. I was about 38 years old or 39 years old, and I saw these people flying around obstacles over water. I felt this whole of like, “Sandy, that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. That’s where you’re supposed to be.” I thought that’s crazy.
Sorry, Sandy, I didn’t realize. How old are you now? Can I ask that?
I am in my late 40s. I know these biceps don’t look like it, do they?
They do not. We’re the same age. There’s no way I thought that. Especially doing what you’re doing. There’s no way. I thought you were in tops 38. I kid you not. That’s incredible. You’re going to have to take us 40-ish years back and give me and the readers an idea of how all this got started.
Sandy’s Origin Story
When I think back on where it originated, I immediately always go back to my Sensei growing up. I started Judo, I was five. By age six, I was in my first tournament. We all quickly discovered that it was something first, I was naturally good at. If anyone knows anything about Judo, you are trying to take your opponent. Throw them on their back and the flatter you throw them and the more forced you throw them, the better. The more points you get. If that’s not enough, then you do submission. You do armbars and choke.
In some crazy way, it parallels my life. I grew up born on welfare and spent time in the foster care system. I was already in real-life learning to fall down and pick myself back up. I get knocked down and have to pick myself back up. When I started Judo, it just seemed like, “This is just how life is, isn’t it?” That’s what I’d been doing already. It came naturally. Though, the turning point for me is how many times people and words have so much power in our lives in what we allow in and what we surround ourselves with.
People and words have so much power in our lives if we allow them and surround yourself with them.
By some miracle, I’ve done Judo and at age twelve, I had qualified for the National Judo Championship. It was a miracle in itself to have this poor kid who has grown up this way be able to qualify for the National Judo championship. The miracle in this too was that happened to be the year that it was being hosted in my home town like a 33 drive. It was in Tacoma. We were living in Spanaway. It still costs money, though. The first thing my Sensei did was he took us around to different businesses. At that time in my life, I was still a very shy, quiet, guarded little girl. I would go with Sensei to these businesses.
Who happens to be a Judo Champion.
Not yet, but I did make it to nationals at that point. He took me around to different businesses. He would just brag about me and I can’t even begin to tell you. Sitting back in the shadows and listening to someone speaks so highly of you, gush about what I’ve been able to do and my potential. I never had that at home. I never experienced that. Sitting there, listening to him and saying, “We’ve got to make sure we get this little girl in the nationals.”
I could always tell when a business gave a big sponsorship because we had a guy with me. We’d go out to the car and he’d be hugging me and picking me up. He was a big guy swinging me around. I can always tell when they gave a big sponsorship to get me to nationals. We ended up getting enough money to go to Nationals and for me to compete.
That morning, my dad dropped me off at the Tacoma Dome. I’m not sure what he had to do. My parents were in survival mode. I would guess he was probably working. Trying to make money. Trying to get enough money to feed all of us kids. My mom was in the same boat. I’m at nationals by myself, which when I think about that. I was like, “I can’t even imagine sending one of my kids to a national championship of any sort and dropping them off and like, “Have a good day. See you later. Peace out.”
I’m there by myself. Sensei is there, though, but he’s got a lot of stuff going on. Not just worried about me. Somehow, I had made it through all the rounds and had made it to the finals. Everyone is going, “Who’s this? Who in the world is this” Everyone else has been to the circus. Traveling all over the country competing. A lot of them were surrounded by trainers, all kinds of people, experts and coaches. Here I am, I had a gee and a belt. Occasionally, my Sensei shows up.
I got into the championship and I could tell that it was much different than any of the other matches that I had to that point. She had a game plan and strategy. I had three moves. Bruce Lee would love me because he said, “Do a few moves well instead of a whole bunch poorly.” That’s basically my game plan. I had three throws. They were either going to work or they weren’t going to work and so far, they’ve gotten me the national championship. They got me to the actual championship of nationals.
Do a few moves well instead of a whole bunch poorly.
I love that as a metaphor for life. You don’t have to do everything. You don’t have to learn everything. Have a few good moves, your secret weapons. As I talked about in the book in Chapter one of The Art of Badassery. Maybe that could relate to other areas of our lives as well. Do a few things well.
I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes, we get overwhelmed thinking that we need to do multiple things and do them the best. If there’s two or three things that you can excel at, I would take that rather than twenty things that you’re kind of okay at. Any day. Honestly, in my life, that has helped me excel because I look back at and I look at my own kids. They’re good at a lot of things and it’s hard for them to decide like, “What do I want to do with my life?”
I was like, “I’m good at one thing. I’m going to excel at that.” As a kid growing up, I was like, “I’m good at sports.” I’m pouring everything I have into that one cup because that’s the one thing I have. I ended up excelling at it. Here I am at the National Judo Championship in the championship for the crown. I’ve got my three moves. This girl comes in and you could tell her my three moves. She’d been coached and she would block.
I’m right-handed, very dominant and I would go in for right hand moves. She grabbed me in a left-hand grip, which doesn’t allow you to look right hand moves. I was like, “That’s all I got. I’m just going to keep trying.” I kept fighting. At one point, somehow, her head went into my stomach. It knocked the wind out of me. I remember hunching over where you’re in this panic if you cannot get that breath. You feel like you’re going to die and that’s why I was.
I finally took this big gasp. I’ve got tears in my eyes, but I will tell you I knew how I mastered the art of getting knocked down and getting back up both on the map and in life. This would have been a death sentence for most people but I got up. I thought you just kept fighting. There’s still a fight in me. We got back into it and I somehow managed to throw her and then I ended up pinning her. I ended up winning the National Judo Championship. Everyone, including myself, was shocked.
People are like, “Who the heck is that?” My other memory from that day is they had us up on the podium. I’m standing next to the second and third place finishers. I have my massive first place trophy. It’s one of the few things for my childhood that I’ve been able to solve. It is still downstairs in our weight room. I have this massive first place trophy and I’m standing up there. I remember I had such mixed emotions about it all.
On one hand, I was like, “I’m so proud of myself.” I can’t believe I’m the National Judo Champion. I’m standing in first place with my massive trophy. I was so stinking proud of myself. There was another part of me that was sad because I didn’t have anyone to celebrate with. I’m watching the second and third place finishers and they’re surrounded. I could see their family and their friends picture after picture. I remember it struck me like, “They look so proud of them.”
They looked so proud and that hurt because I thought there’s no one there. I don’t even have a picture from that day. I do have one for the next week back at the dojo since they asked me to bring my trophy. We did end up getting a picture together and one with the trophy. Those moments in our life that change everything. I got down on that podium and Sensei was there. I go over to him and he’s beaming. He does his big bear hug on me. He grabs me and he looks me in the eye. When someone looks you in the eye and they’re like looking into your soul type of thing. He’s looking into my eyes with such joy and pride. He’s like, “Sandy, you could go to the Olympics.”
Planting that seed at such a young age is such a gift.
Did he know? Not. I don’t think he knew that was going to have such an impact. That’s why you never know when you are going to give or receive these life-changing moments.
Life-Changing Moments
Life affirming. Affirmations. I talk about this so much, the power of our words. Both outwardly and the words we use to ourselves. Your Sensei’s words changed your entire life.
It did. Initially, it didn’t. I was embarrassed to the point where you get so embarrassing and you can feel your cheeks get flushed and warm. I remember feeling like that and it being so confusing. Not understanding why I am so embarrassed. Thinking, “Why did he say that to me? Why did he say I could go to the Olympics?”
Here is the incredible thing. It might get planted, but it might take a while to take root. It got planted but it did not take root. I remember several days would go by but it kept playing in my head. Here’s where you have to be so careful about what you allow to play in there or be aware of it and get the junk out and let the good stuff grow. There, it just kept replying. “Sandy, you could go to the Olympics.” After a while, I remember there was a moment where I thought, “Maybe Sensei is right. Is it possible that Sensei could be right?” What I have been through and what I’m going through does not matter. We can all dream big dreams.
One of the things that I remember from Tony Robbins saying is, “The quality of your life depends on the quality of the questions you ask yourself.” You asked yourself a powerful question in those moments, can Sensei be right? Is this a possibility for me? Versus what many of us do. It’s like, “Forget it. There’s no hope. That’s not even an option. I’m not worthy of it.” Whatever the negative thought is but a good question, a good quality question can change the direction of your mindset. Therefore, then your habits, your actions, your personality and then your destiny.
I love that. At age twelve, I didn’t think of that. As an adult, what some amazing that just hit me when you set that is that but now we can intentionally ask ourselves great questions. I may be lucky. Maybe I got lucky and I asked myself a good question at twelve because I obviously did not know Tony Robbins. I did not know any of those good questions. At age twelve, did I know any of that? No. Maybe God was watching over me that got that intuition. It was somehow like, “Sandy, you’re meant for more. I want you to hear this.”
That was the big message in that too from Sensei was like, “You were meant for more.” I had the bar so low. I was trying to survive and I thought, “Girls like me don’t dream these kinds of dreams. We want to get through the day and not get hit or get through the day and not go to bed hungry.” There’s no way we dream a dream of going to the Olympics.
That belief from Sensei started to change that. It’s so interesting that you say. The idea of me asking myself a good question started to help shape that. I’ll tell you what, I ran with it. I look at my life and I go, “Since that moment I have dreamed the Impossible.” Things that people would say, “Sandy, that can never be done.” When I hear that, it makes me laugh now because I think, “I’ve heard that before, but let me just show you it is.” Everything.
I sit there and I think, “I struggled in school. I ended up graduating with honors.” That’s crazy. People say that’s impossible. You are a struggling reader. How in the world are you going to graduate with honors? I don’t know. I did it. I worked hard. I probably worked ten times harder than everybody else. I had teachers that were willing to help me. I’d go, “I’m not understanding this in the text reading. Can we have a conversation?” We’d have a conversation and be like, “It makes sense now.” I also had people that would help.
You asked for help. You acknowledge it and people help you. There’s a lot of things that you were doing and you cared about. You had intention around what you were doing. A lot of kids just don’t because they don’t have any guidance or hopes or dreams or goals for themselves.
I do think that was a big part of it.
You had a North star vision. You were going to the Olympics in some version of your life. That was one dream of yours that you were holding.
Here’s the sad but happy ending part of that. What was so exciting after nationals that year is they were for the first time going to introduce it as an Olympic sport in 1992. Since they were like, “Let’s do it. You are crushing it. You just won nationals. You could be the first group of people that get to do it as an Olympic sport.” That’s what we started to do. We spent a couple years.
He designed workouts for me to do outside of Judo practice, agility, strength, and sprints. Very powerful stuff that for Judo. It’s a lot like ninja. Super intense for 100% for a short amount of time. Very intense. We started doing that. We started training and then at the end of my 8th grade year and this is just my crazy childhood. It was two weeks before the end of my 8th grade year. My dad said, “In two weeks, we’re moving. Pack your stuff up. Each of you can have a little corner of the trailer.” He said, “Your mom’s not coming with us.”
No discussion. No explanation. Two weeks later, we all piled into our Jimmy 4×4 into the driveway with our little trailer. We’re sitting in there. At that time, still left in the house was me, my older brother and my younger brother. He’s about to start the car and said, “We’re going to take a vote. Do you want to go somewhere where there’s four seasons or somewhere where it’s warm all the time?” At that moment, I didn’t know exactly what we were voting on. In hindsight, now we know what we were doing.
We lived in the Spanaway area. What we were voting on was when he started that car, where we were going to head South to Arizona, where it’s warm all the time or we were going to head East across Washington State towards Spokane where there’s four seasons. We’re sitting in the car and he asked this question. My older brother, Rich, answered first. He loved the sun. He’s just like, “I want to go somewhere where it’s sunny all the time.”
I answered next and I thought, “I like four seasons. I would love for us to experience that.” In Spanaway, it’s mostly rain or you get a little bit of sun. I said, “Those four seasons would be cool.” It comes down to the deciding vote to my little brother who’s nine at the time on where we’re going to head. We’re all just waiting. What’s Jimmy going to vote? This is the deciding vote. Finally, he voted and he said, “Four seasons.”
Dad starts to go back to the driveway and we head East across Washington State towards Spokane. Immediately at that time, we’re sleeping in the car. We had no idea where we would end up. Dad would get a loaf of white bread and bologna. That’s what we ate for days and Dad tried to get someone to sell them a place to live but he had no money.
We hit Cheney first, which is before Spokane. No one wants to sell anything. Goes to Spokane and we spent a few days there. No one wants to sell him anything in Spokane and I remember him getting frustrated. He said, “Fine. No one’s going to sell me anything here in Spokane. We’ll head up North Canada. I bet you someone in Canada will sell me something.” We start heading North towards the Canadian border.
Along that route, there are small towns all along the way. He’s still like, “I might as well try.” He would stop in all these small towns and sleep on the side of the road in the car. We did get one night and I distinctly remember it. We came across a place called Blue Slide. It’s like a very rustic resort of sorts. It had a few little wood cabins along.
Dad asked the guy one night, “Would it be okay if we just parked the car here and slept?” I think the guy felt sorry for us and so he gave us the cabin closest to the road for one night. It was such a memory because at that time, I took the longest warm shower I’ve ever taken in my life. I got to sleep in a real bed and then we got up the next morning and we continued North towards Canada.
At this point, are you like, “I just left Sensei back behind. I can no longer train for the Olympics.” What’s going through your head about that?
At that time, it hadn’t hit me yet. It was such a crazy childhood that when you’re in the midst of it, it seems normal. Now, when I look back, I’m like, “That was insane. That was so crazy.” I can’t imagine having my child about to go to the Olympics and then go, “Let’s go live in our car for a while and try to find a place to live elsewhere.” It’s crazy. At the time when you’re living in crazy, it doesn’t seem crazy.
When you’re living in crazy, it doesn’t seem crazy.
Did you ever figure out why your dad had made that decision or had you guys made the decision? Why he decided to leave.
He never explained it and this was also my family. You brush everything under the rug. He used to always say like, “You don’t let the right hand know what the left hand is doing,” which honestly meant he had no plan. He was on the no plan-plan and that’s what we were at. That’s where we were headed. He’d worked in that area and he was like, “I want a fresh start.” He used to be in the military, so he moved around a lot. He’s like, “Let’s get up and move. We stayed here too long.” He got that itching and we were all just at his mercy.
My mom at that time was finally at a point where she was like, “I’m tired of this crazy.” For the first time in her life, she was working and she had her first paycheck. She was like, “I’m not going to go along with this.” She ended up staying. That’s a whole story in itself if you want to touch on it later. Anyway, we’re heading up North to Canada and we get to a place where there’s someone so desperate to sell their double wide trailer that they end up selling it to dad with no money down.
We end up in this little town called Ione, Washington. I will tell you, as an 8th grader being pulled from your school and your friends. I was so mad. I was so angry and then we got to this little town that’s a cultural shop to go from. Very diverse and has so many people in this little town. I was just like, “Where are all the people? There’s nobody here.” I spent that summer trying to look for kids my age and getting plugged into things.
I will say in hindsight, another game changer for me was we got to Selkirk High School. That’s where it hit me like, “My judo dreams are over.” There’s no dojo. There was not another dojo within 100 miles of this little town in the middle of nowhere. That, to me, is when it hit me. I was like that dream of going to the Olympics literally died when dad made that decision to just get up and go move.
Especially when we ended up in a little town with no club. There’s no way dad could pay to drive me to try to do lessons even twice a week or whatever it is. I learned to fight and survive so much that I thought there’s got to be something else that I can pour into. I met the basketball coach up at Selkirk and his wife. They became my new Sensei.
You’ve been so blessed to have these mentors in her life. I hope that we can all look back and point those people out, the people that have changed the direction of our lives, our beliefs, and our thoughts about ourselves. That young, I can’t think of a whole lot, but I can think of people later in life. You’ve been blessed now twice as a child with this. That’s great.
Even more so than that, honestly. That was another moment. I remember my freshman year at Selkirk and I was still like dealing with the anger of this new place and getting used to it. I remember him pulling me aside one day and he’s like, “Sandy, if you work hard, you could earn a scholarship to play basketball at the division one level.”
I remember thinking, “I don’t even know what division level one means but it sounds good, Coach.” Eventually, I learned what that meant and I worked hard. I went from pouring myself into Judo and having Sensei to pouring myself into basketball and having Coach Kane and also his wife. She was such an incredible example. Seeing their loving relationship, too. I thought, “Is that what it looks like, a healthy loving marriage?” It wasn’t even just basketball that impacted. It was like all of it. What does it look to like to invest in another human being? It was all of it and I think, “I’ve spent my life like paying it forward. How can I be a Sensei? How can I be a Coach Kane for other people? It just gets me.
That’s black belt in badassery right there, folks. This is why I have Sandy in the show because this is what we do. When we get to that black belt level, it’s about time to give back and to step up and be a leader in the world. Make the world a better place. Otherwise, what are we all doing here? Incredible. Did you ever make it to the Olympics now? You went to college.
I never did. That dream died. I did pour myself into basketball and Coach Kane was right, if I worked hard I could earn a full rights scholarship and I did at Gonzaga. That was my ticket out of poverty and a rough life. I thought, “I can now go get a great education. I can play basketball at the highest level that you can play.” That changed the trajectory of my life. He helped me get good at basketball. You think of these moments that change everything and that, for me, was a big one and then trying to decide like, what do I major in and what do I do now? At that time, I wanted to continue what Sensei and Coach Kane did for me. I thought, “How do I do that?” I became a teacher and a coach.
It makes perfect sense.
Sandy’s Calling
I spent many years doing that. It was amazing and wonderful. I think that whole idea of having an impact on lives, hit me a couple years ago that I felt in my gut. I felt a calling like, “You had many incredible years teaching, Sandy. You have impacted so many lives coaching. Now I have something bigger for you and I have a way that I want you to impact even more lives.” That’s scary. I felt the calling to leave that career and it was wonderful years and successful years.
I got inducted into the National Teacher Hall of Fame and I got coach of the year. It was like, “You want me to leave that?” It was comfortable to be honest with you at that point. As soon as I threw out the word comfortable, I knew it was time to leave. I knew that calling was right and I needed to make this leap. It was a huge leap of faith and belief in myself that this was the next thing. I could even impact more lives if I became an inspirational speaker to share my story to millions and authored a book. I laugh at it because here again, in my life, I feel like I’ve been called to do the impossible.
Let’s take a shy quiet timid little girl and let’s put her on a stage in front of thousands. Let’s take a little girl who struggled in school as a hard time with reading and let’s call her to write a book. I feel like up there in heaven, there’s got to be a table. God’s sitting up there and all these angels are laughing like, “Let’s do this with this girl named Sandy.” They all just think it sounds impossible and yes, let’s do it.
Let me just ask you, though. You say when you have a calling, because we throw that around a lot. “A hit of intuition.” “I got a calling.” What does that sound like for you? How did that come to you specifically?
Here’s the crazy thing. I think it’s a blur. A mixture of probably like gut, intuition, God, and the universe. Whatever that is for people. For me, honestly, this started way back in college. It was my freshman year at Gonzaga. I’m walking up the back stairs. We just finished a preseason conditioning workout. I’m walking up the back stairs out of the Martin Center. I reached that top step. I can just remember it like yesterday.
I go to step to that top one and I hear this quiet voice in my head of, “Sandy, share your story.” I immediately was like, “Hell no.” I had this whole conversation like, “No way.” I remember thinking, “My story is sad. It’s painful.” I honestly thought people would judge me and people would run and not want to be around if they knew my story. For over many years, a day would pass, a week, a month would pass and every once in a while, I hear this calm voice in my head like, “Sandy, share your story.” I would immediately shut it down for years because I started that. What strikes me about the voice is it was never pushy or judgy or condemning me in any way. It was like this quiet patient voice of like, “Sandy, when you’re ready share your story.”
American Ninja Warrior
I love that so much. I want everyone reading to remember that intuition, Universe, source or God. Again, whatever you believe in. It does. It speaks to us, whether it be actual words and sentences like you had. I don’t have instances that I can point to like that but I had feelings. It could be through feelings, words or visuals. You could see yourself doing things and that’s more what I had. I saw myself speaking on stages way before I had a voice for it to come from me. A reminder that intuition and source speak to us in many different ways. That’s so beautiful. Did the book come first before American Ninja Warrior? Where did the American Ninja Warrior fit into that?
Here’s where saying yes to crazy things even though you don’t understand quite why and you don’t know how it’s going to turn out. That’s how American Ninja Warrior was. I felt this calling again like, “That’s where you’re supposed to be, Sandy.” I tried to honestly forget about it because I thought, “That’s crazy. I don’t want to do that.”
How old were you at that time?
Around 38 or 39 was when I started. Crazy in so many ways. I couldn’t shake it, though. If something calls you, now I feel like what’s the worst-case scenario? Let’s go for it and see what happens because I feel so drawn to that. I tried not to because I thought it seemed so crazy. Plus, honestly, it was scary. That was another impossible. It was like, “You have this fear of failure and looking stupid in front of people. Let’s go have you do a show called American Ninja Warrior where the failure rate is 100%.”
I jumped in and what was so crazy is when you jump in and you do hard things. You’re going to have growth. That’s what was happening. It wasn’t my intention. I literally thought, “I’m going to go inspire my students. Maybe to be more active. Let me go try this show.” What happened is it started to change me from the inside. It changed me from the outside a little bit. I’ve got some great abs and biceps now.
Yes, she does. You need to tune into YouTube.
What it started to do is change me inside. It was just such an incredible journey of growth. About two years in, I heard that voice again. I’m downstairs in our weight room working out and I heard that voice again, “Sandy, share your story.” It was the first time in many years where I paused for a second to consider it. I heard the second part which was, “Sandy, it has a happy ending.” I immediately sat on that bench and tears filled my eyes. Out loud, I remember repeating myself, “Sandy, it does have a happy ending.”
It was at that moment that I knew I had to share my story. This is my next calling. This is what I’m supposed to do. This voice has been preparing me for many years patiently. Now I know at that moment I’ve got to get on stage. I’ve got to share my story. Later on is when the book came. That was when I had this feeling that I could even impact more lives if I would put it in a book. I thought that too because I thought, “I can barely read. Why would I need to write a book?”
That whole journey to writing that book but it’s a book I can read. That was what it was meant to be. Had I been a great reader, it probably would have been above everybody’s reading level that it needed to be at. I thought, “I need a book I can read.” I wanted short stories with pictures so people can visualize it because that was my problem. I read things and couldn’t visualize them. It is a book that is a standalone story for each chapter that has a lesson.
I do think words impact and words change lives. I do 100% know without a doubt, this book is going to change lives. I think everyone who reads it is going to have at least one chapter that they’re going to go, “That’s my a-ha moment. That’s my hinge moment. That’s one of the moments in my life that’s going to change everything.” If you share it with a friend, it’s going to do the same. They’re going to have at least one chapter that does that.
What’s the book’s name? Again, I know we mentioned it in the beginning.
Get Out of the Car. When you read it, you’ll understand the meaning behind that.
Sandy, thank you so much for sharing all of your stories here on the show. I’m inspired by you. I can’t wait to read the book. When can we see you again on American Ninja Warrior?
We just finished filming the latest season and last I heard, it is going to air again in June. That’ll be a new episode in June if people want to tune in. If people are dying to see my abs and biceps, you can YouTube me and watch some of my runs.
I watched a little video of her. It’s amazing to watch. Again, if you never heard of American Ninja Warrior, I’d be surprised if you’re reading that you haven’t heard of it yet. It’s a cool competition show where you’re going to see Sandy going across monkey bars, falling into water and pits. What do you call those? What would you call a competition like that?
We’re basically doing obstacles over huge pools of water, swinging from things, and running across things. You have to mention that the buzzers at the end are a pretty big deal. We like to try to get some of those buzzers on the course and finish it, which is rare. When I hit the buzzer, I was only the 13th woman in the history of the show. The show’s been on for 13 years and only 13 women had hit the buzzer. I happened to be the 13th. Guess the age of all the twelve women before me.
I’m sure younger.
Young twenties. It was a big deal. It was a big deal to be in my 40s and hit my first buzzer and be a mom. I’m excited for people to see because here’s the thing with that. You see someone do something like that and after that, they had more applications for women applying for the show than ever. If you tune in, you’re going to see some more records broken by women and moms. I’m excited about that.
That is so cool. That’s an effect in lots of areas of life. It’s like, you become the first and then you’re just the first but there’s going to be so many more after you because people are seeing you and saying, “Why not me? Why not me, too? If she can do it, I can too.”
That’s a good question, Jen, right there. Why not me? If not me, then who?
Rapid Fire
Why not me, folks? That’s a perfect way to wrap up this episode. Let’s in fact name it that. Before we go, I have four rapid fire questions that I like to ask all my guests. Are you ready?
I’m going to do it. Here we go.
With speed. What was your favorite food as a child?
My mom’s fried rice.
If you could have a drink with anyone, alive or dead. Who would it be? What would be in your class?
I’m going to talk to Sensei again
I knew you were going to say that.
Why did you ask me that, Jen? You’re making me cry again.
What are two going to have together?
We’re going to have a chocolate shake. I think that guy likes to drink chocolate shakes.
I know this is silly but I’m like in my head it’s like Mr. Miyagi. I was picturing you having like green tea or saki.
He’s a big deal. He probably likes chocolate shakes.
Never mind. Third is well, do you have a favorite self-help book? Besides your own.
Honestly, because I’m a struggling reader, Jen, that’s a hard question. I’m going to say I have shows that I listened to that I love and that have changed me. Dr. Rob Bell has one. That is a mindset one that I love. I’ve been on his show but powerful stuff.
Good. We could switch to show for you. We got that. Last but not least, what’s your favorite hype song? What keeps you going or gets you going?
I’m going to say High Hopes.
What is that? I don’t know that.
It is my theme song.
Who’s it by?
It is by I think is it by Macklemore and then someone else sings with them. It’s about how powerful hope is. I think back on my life and how that was why I kept trying and getting up again is because that little bit of hope is so we need.
Sandy, you’re going to make me cry now. Thank you so much. Again, the martial arts metaphor is all throughout the Art of Badassery. That’s what I based my entire framework and body of work on. To see it reflected back in your story as well makes it even so much more powerful for me. Thank you again for being here and sharing your story with us and with the world. I’m going to tune in and I can’t wait to see what happens in June when you hopefully hit that buzzer again. Where can we find you and follow you, Sandy?
Probably the easiest would be is to go to SandyZimmerman.co.
Perfect. She’s on Instagram, too, at?
Thanks again. Everyone, thank you for reading. Please rate the show. Leave us a review and find us on Instagram. Tell us how you liked this episode and what you learned from it and what great questions you’re going to start asking yourself from now on. Thanks, again. Bye.
Important Links
- JenniferCassetta.com
- Sandy Zimmerman
- Get Out of the Car
- The Art of Badassery – Amazon
- @Sandy_Zimmerman-Ninja -Instagram
About Sandy Zimmerman
Sandy is a mother of 3, an inspirational speaker, author of ‘Get Out of the Car’, 9-time competitor on NBC’s hit show American Ninja Warrior and became the 1st mom in the show’s history to finish the course and hit the buzzer.
Sandy is a 2-time FINA World Champion, 2-time UNAA World Champion, and World Cup Champion. She has appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show, CNN Entertainment, E! News, The Huffington Post, and Women’s Health.
In 2022 Sandy was inducted into the National Teacher Hall of Fame. She is a TEDX speaker, national judo champion and played basketball at Gonzaga University. Sandy continues to coach basketball today with the Warriors and travels the country speaking and sharing her story.
