This isn't just an obstacle course.  This isn't just an endurance race.  American Ninja Warrior is a grueling 4-stage obstacle course that tests every aspect of an athlete.  It weeds out the competition quickly, and few make it to the third stage.   But it's an athlete's drive and determination that keeps contestants coming back.  And Tennessee athletes are no different.

Travis Rosen wanted to shed the baby fat. You know, the pounds he put on while his wife was pregnant.

So he started training for a half-marathon. That provided a base to get back into weight training. Which resurrected the former college gymnast's athletic strength.

And that set the stage for what has become a prolific career as an obstacle course competitor.

For the past seven years, the Franklin father of three has been training to claim the ever-elusive title of American Ninja Warrior.

For Travis Rosen, this is his Holy Grail.  He has competed on the reality show 4 times and is coming back for his 5th appearance.

It's a title that in the previous six seasons of NBC's popular television competition has never been awarded because no person, man or woman, has ever completed the final stage in the championship course.

At 40 years old, Rosen may be easily dismissed by the uninitiated. However, the dark-haired, thick-armed local is actually a four-time finalist who — along with a handful of others with Nashville-area ties — is back on Season 7 to do what's never been done before.

It's “knowing something is within your grasp but not quite being able to obtain it” that he says keeps him coming back year after year. “I have been so close so many times.”

But in this competition, close doesn't cut it.

Nashville ninja warriors train at their Lebanon obstacle course

Not only coming back, but coming back hard.  Coming back determined to be the first to move on to the 4th Stage and claim his million dollar prize.

For those who have never watched before, here's how it works. More than 700 athletes from across the country converge in cities across the country for the regional qualifiers.

Among them you will find stuntmen, wrestlers, rock climbers, gymnasts, military men and women. Some are professional athletes (former Tennessee Titans defensive back Jordan Babineaux competed in 2013), others former Olympians. All are incredible all-around athletes.

They tackle a series of challenging obstacle courses that test endurance, balance and upper body and grip strength, and those who successfully complete the finals course in their region move on to the national finals in Las Vegas, where they face a four-stage course modeled after the famed Mount Midoriyama course in Japan.

These are well-honed athletes whose main mission in life is to train and then train again.  Travis Rosen is not the only competitor who has his eye on the prize.

No one ever has completed stage four.

Which perhaps is what keeps millions of us watching. We want to know who will be the first.

Could it be former Vanderbilt pole vaulter Meagan Martin? The 25-year-old, who now lives in Boulder, Colo., certainly has established herself as a competitor. When her Kansas City qualifier aired a few weeks ago, she became the first woman to complete this year's qualifying course.

Meagan Martin is a professional rock climber, and former pole vaulter.  To say she's a beast is an understatement.  She is a force to be reckoned with.

Her job does position her for success. After leaving Vanderbilt as one of its top all-time pole vaulters, she took up professional rock climbing. Now she spends her days developing the arm and finger grip strength needed to maneuver metal rings and grab bungees.

Hailing from Lake Mary, Florida, Martin established herself at Vanderbilt not only as a pole vaulter, but perhaps THE pole vaulter.  In 2012, she became the No. 1 all-time leader when she cleared the bar at 3.95m at the SEC Indoor Championships.

To find out who else makes up “Team Nash”, go to The Tennessean to read the rest of the story.  And then watch “American Ninja Warrior” to see if this is the year someone takes the prize!

Photo: Fernando Leon/NBC