Ninja Warrior Course

America is as fascinated with the concept of the ninja as they are with the samurai, cowboy, and other iconic figures. This is especially evident in the popularity of the show American Ninja Warrior, based off a Japanese show called Ninja Warrior. We love cheering on American ninjas on the big screen, and we even do our part to help them train with our Grand Rapids ninja warrior course. But ninjas predate America by a good couple of centuries at least. Here is a quick overview of the history of the ninja.

What makes a ninja?

In feudal Japan, a ninja was an agent of stealth who specialized in unorthodox versions of warfare, including espionage, infiltration, assassination, and sabotage. This is in stark contrast to the honorable samurai, who represented the bureaucracy of the time. The beginning of the ninja could have started anywhere from the 12th to 15th centuries, but they really gained prominence in the Sengoku period of Japan, which was the golden age of the ninja.

Most of what is known about ninja is based on myth and folklore—what else do you expect from a group of shadowy assassins? Actual historical accounts are very scarce.

Who were the ninja?

While the samurai were made up of Japanese nobles and honorable men, ninja were recruited from the dregs of society. Lower class workers and rejected samurai were recruited to fight outside the strict code of decorum samurai were subject to. They would be employed as arsonists, raiders, spies, and terrorists, and used guerrilla tactics otherwise not common for the time.

Iga and Koga Ninja

During the early 15th century, the Iga and Koga family ninja clans gained prominence, and the golden age of the ninja began. Ninjas in the clans weren’t just hired from the lower classes, but trained since childhood in the art of the ninja. They were hired by the Japanese ruling class for decades to carry out nefarious plots and orders. Each ninja would master a wide array of weapons and skills. Some common weapons used included kunai, shuriken, katana, dagger, kusarigama, and more. They would also often carry climbing tools to effectively and stealthily navigate different terrain.

Ninja Legend

Many supernatural and legendary abilities have been ascribed to the ninja over the centuries. Some old legends attribute powers of flight, shape shifting, and invisibility to them. Others give them control over the five classical elements. Even the noble kite has been said to be used as a servant of the ninja.

Their Fall

Eventually, in 1581, emperor Oda Nobunaga invaded Iga and Koga provinces and annihilated the ninja clans. However, survivors would continue to serve Japanese rulers, and were even commissioned into a secret police eventually.

Hopefully this fills you in on some of the history of the ninja. Make sure to bring your kids by our Grand Rapids ninja warrior course at our trampoline park, and get them started on their own ninja training today. Feel free to give us a call if you have any questions about our location or attractions. We look forward to seeing you!

The sensational American Ninja Warrior show kicked off a public fascination with difficult feats of physical strength and ability. The challenges that contestants face are not easy and often extremely taxing, as they make their way through the various levels. While it’s fun to watch, trying a ninja course can be a whole different story. The thing is, though, that ninja courses can teach you so much more than just physical feats. You will gain strength from training and practicing, but the additional benefits you get from practicing your own version of American Ninja Warrior are substantial. Consider the following skills that you’ll gain from practicing with ninja courses, like the ones at Rebounderz of Newport News, and keep training for even greater gains.

Balance

Many different challenges on a ninja course require the participant to have excellent balance, and maintain that balance at speed. Balance is a learned skill. While having a good inner ear can help, it’s not the only way to improve your balance. Practice truly can make all the difference, and working on uneven surfaces, such as trampolines, can also help. With a variety of challenges to test your balance at Rebounderz of Newport News, give it a try.

Coordination

Much like balance, coordination is actually a learned skill. It’s learned through regular practice. Ninja courses require you to use your whole body in unique ways, and in order to do so, you have to have some level of coordination. Coordination can mean anything from eye-hand coordination to full-body coordination. For Ninja Warrior Courses, you need to have full-body coordination. This involves practicing how your arms and legs move independently in relation to your body. Practicing going at slow speeds can help to train your body how it needs to work together.

Agility

Agility, akin to nimbleness, is the ability to move quickly through obstacles. This is also something that is trained through practice. You have to both strengthen muscles and work to improve how your body moves when it’s told to. Repetition is the key to improved agility, and ninja courses can help you work on specific areas of improvement.

Patience

When you are learning how to do ninja courses and many of the different obstacles that you may face, it’s important to be patient with yourself. It can take a lot of time to master a specific obstacle. In addition to having patience with yourself, it’s important to learn when to be patient moving through an obstacle. Certain obstacles require very precise timing, and knowing how to be patient and wait for the right moment can be key.

Fortitude

By definition, fortitude is mental resiliency to tough tasks. It’s important to work towards improved fortitude when training for ninja courses, because many of the obstacles can be exceptionally physically taxing and draining. Having the mental fortitude to power through pain and other tough situations on a Ninja Warrior Course will help you in all aspects of life.

Turn to Rebounderz of Newport News for ninja course practice and play! Call us with any questions or come by and try out the course for yourself!

You want your kids to have a great birthday. You want their friends to have a lot of fun, and you’d probably like their parents to be happy with the experience. But, you don’t want a house full of sugared-up, hyper kids with no focus or organized activities.

You may also want the activities planned for your child’s birthday to have some educational value. Of course, in order to sneak that in, any learning will have to be imperceptible to the kids. If they think you are trying to get them to learn something, you may end up with a mutiny on your hands.

Our 200-foot long Ninja Warrior Course has something for every kid and every level of ability. And, believe it or not, it offers a learning experiences unlike anything else. Your kids and their friends will never expect a thing!

Memory

When children take on a new challenge, like an obstacle course, they naturally want to improve their performance. They want to get better and go faster. To accomplish those goals, they have to learn to remember what they did last time around, and understand what worked and what didn’t. Practicing these skills during play time help kids function better in the real world where they make, and need to learn from mistakes, every day.

There are no crutches on the course. No lists, no written down sequence of steps to follow to ensure success, and no one standing over their shoulder to remember everything for them. They’ve got to learn on their own in order to get better. And, trust us, beating their friends in a race to the end is a great motivator. They’ll learn pretty darn quickly.

Discipline and Decision Making

Winning requires discipline. This is something that your grade school and middle school age kids will learn during their Rebounderz birthday. Kids younger than that are probably going to be more focused on just getting their motor skills working and completing individual obstacles.

You know that the older your children get, the more competitive they become. They’ve got those motor-skills down. They know how to remember each step in the course so that they can improve, and their fine motor skills are pretty well formed.

When competition becomes the focus of your child’s Ninja Warrior birthday party, they’ll be practicing their ability to self-discipline. And they’ll be doing it all on their own. How great is that?

Decision making is a big part of self-discipline. Children learn to make choices like, “‘Do I want to win at all costs, or do I want to play fairly?’ and ‘What do I want more, to win or to get the first piece of birthday cake?’”

Coordination, Strength and Agility

While your child is having the best birthday ever at Rebounderz, they’ll also be building bilateral coordination, practicing their motor-planning skills, learning how to process and manage a ton of sensory input, and strengthening their muscles!

Each part of the course requires that kids engage a different set of muscles and a different set of skills. They may need to climb, walk, run, jump, balance, spin and swing. Each of these activities helps improve their coordination, strength and agility. Gross motor skills and visual perception are all improved through these activities. While we may not think about these things as a type of learning, they are. In fact, they are a very important types of learning, and they require practice and concentrated effort. An obstacle course, like our Ninja Warrior Course, encourages both practice and effort.

Fine motor skills are also strengthened on an obstacle course. Gross motor play actually contributes a lot to fine motor skills. Grabbing and holding, taking thoughtful, deliberate steps and coordinating concurrent movements, all of which are required on our course, help to develop fine motor skills.

Make it a Sensory Play Day

The entire Rebounderz Trampoline Arena experience makes for one big day filled with sensory play. Whether you’ve got little ones or teenagers, they’ll have a fantastic time here. And the fact that they are learning new, important skills the whole time will just remain our little secret.

We think Rebounderz in Grand Rapids is the perfect place for birthday parties. If you want to learn more, give us a call or come in and meet with one of our party planners. We’ll do all of the heavy lifting for your little one’s big day, so you can relax and enjoy the day with them. See you soon!

With so many unique obstacles on ninja courses, it’s hard to cover all the different variations of what you may see on the show American Ninja Warrior, and what you may experience when you come test out your own skills on the ninja warrior course at Rebounderz of Rohnert Park. When you come test yourself on the Rebounderz ninja course, we want you to know what you might encounter and how best to tackle each possible obstacle along the way! Previously on the blog, we’ve gone over general obstacles you might see and also some upper body obstacles that are incredibly difficult. Today, we’ve got a bunch of obstacles that involve the use of your legs and exceptional balance skills for you to check out!

Warped Wall

The warped wall is a common challenge that can be found on both American Ninja Warrior and at several Rebounderz locations. This wall is one that extends up and in a concave manner away from you. You have to get a good running start and use momentum to get you up the wall to where to can grasp the edge and pull yourself up. This is often a challenge because gravity is working hard against you. Not only does it make it hard to reach the top edge due to the concave nature of the wall, but once you get up to the edge, it’s all upper body strength to finish the obstacle.

Running Steps

This common obstacle often starts of each segment of American Ninja Warrior and can be found at Rebounderz of Rohnert Park! This obstacle is comprised of four angled panels that are decently sized. They are angled at just over a 45 degree angle and coated with a sand-like texture. The trick to this obstacle is to keep moving. It may be tempting to take your time, but if you keep moving, you won’t risk sliding off, which could very well happen due to the angle. In order to accomplish this obstacle, you have to be willing to make some rather large leaps in just one stride from basically a standing position. This obstacle looks easy, but it may take a bit of practice to truly master.

Slack Ladder

If you’ve ever tried slacklining, you’re a step ahead on the slack ladder. This obstacle is designed to look like a horizontal ladder, however, it’s not that easy to get across. Because the ladder is made of a webbing material and has extra give, it’s actually a very difficult balance challenge. Taking your time and utilizing your balance skills and stabilizer muscles in your legs is key to not being flung from this obstacle. There are a couple different techniques in order to get across. Individuals can attempt to put one foot on each side of the ladder and evenly slide each foot along. Another approach is to simply stride across the slates and hope you can make the large distances. The catch is that you can’t use your hands to touch the slack ladder or else it doesn’t count.

Balance Bridge

This is another obstacle that often seems overly simple. In fact, if you can do a balance beam, odds are you can conquer this balance bridge. The catch is that the balance bridge moves, where a balance beam does not. Many ninja warriors rush through this obstacle and are eliminated from the competition because they were overconfident. The balance bridge is made of two separate beams that tilt at angles forward and backward with your weight, a bit like a teeter totter. If you take your time through the obstacle, you’re more likely to have success than if you rush.

Cargo Net

The cargo net is an American Ninja Warrior staple that can be found on many different courses. Often, a competitor will have to use a mini trampoline to catapult onto the cargo net. This cargo net then hangs downward and you have to make your way under it in order to make it to the completion platform. One quick tip is to lead with your legs and let your upper body follow to get through the cargo net.

Here at Rebounderz of Rohnert Park, we love to see kids and adults alike tackle the ninja warrior courses we have onsite. Come visit us and play to your heart’s content! Call today for more information, or come stop by and have some fun!

Whether you watch American Ninja Warrior on TV or you like to push yourself to do more difficult physical challenges, you probably love the idea of trying out some of the ninja course obstacles for yourself. Here at Rebounderz of Rohnert Park, we have a state-of-the-art ninja warrior course that anyone can try out! With a variety of obstacles and varying levels of difficulty, you can come see what you’re really made of. If you’re not an American Ninja Warrior afficianado, and maybe just an occasional watcher, you may not know all the different obstacles by heart. In fact, you may not even know their names. Previously on the blog we covered the salmon ladder, the pole grasper, and cannonball alley, but keep reading to learn a few more obstacles and ways you can tackle and train on them.

Floating Walls

The floating walls seen on American Ninja Warrior have caused tons of trouble for many competitors in the early stages of the competition. They are literally exactly what they sound like: four floating walls that competitors have to traverse. These walls face the starting point and are spaced a couple of feet apart. Individuals have to hang on the sides and work their way across. Really get your feet involved to find success on this obstacle.

Vertical Limit

One competitor, Joe Moravsky, claims that vertical limit is one of the hardest obstacles on the show and for good reason. Competitors must traverse a tiny, two inch ledge using just their grip strength. Pieces of the ledge are set apart so that you have to make reaches and sometimes jumps in order to finish. Rock climbing techniques and grip strength are absolutely essential in order to complete this difficult obstacle.

Globe Grasps

Another obstacle commonly found on the ninja course that requires similar strength to vertical limit and rock climbing techniques is the globe grasps. Competitors hang from these palm-sized balls much like you would the monkey bars, and make your way across. There is typically a change in vertical direction as well, making it that much harder. While this obstacle may seem deceptively easy, it takes a lot of upper body and grip strength to accomplish.

Ring Toss

While the name makes it sound like a carnival game, the ring toss is an exceptionally tricky obstacle. It’s necessary to have a wide arm span in order to find this a little bit easier. Competitors have to use two large rings to traverse a set of pegs that first go up and then down. Once again, the motion is a bit like the monkey bars, but you have to hang onto the large rings in order to finish the obstacle.

Here at Rebounderz of Rohnert Park, whether you’re looking for a training opportunity or just want to have some fun, our ninja warrior course is something that should not be missed. Contact us today for more information, or come on by and give it a try for yourself! And as always, come to Rebounderz for maximum fun and maximum safety!

When you watch American Ninja Warrior on TV, you may be wondering what all the different obstacles are and where they came from. In fact, if you come into Rebounderz Rohnert Park, you probably want to know exactly what an obstacle is called in order to be able to articulate your experience with someone else. You don’t want to be go up to your friend or your child and say, “I messed up that one hanging thingy,” or, “I probably need to try that massive stair stepper bit.” Not only are those sentences difficult to understand what is being talked about, but they’re also just plain silly. Here at Rebounderz Rohnert Park, when you come try our ninja courses, we want you to know what you’re trying out and maybe a few techniques on how to get through various, unique obstacles.

Salmon Ladder

The salmon ladder is one of the toughest obstacles in American Ninja Warrior, because it uses solely upper body strength. (Who are we kidding, almost all of the obstacles use solely upper body strength). During the salmon ladder, you hold onto a bar and use momentum to jump the bar up rung by rung. The goal is to climb the ladder in this manner and can include anywhere from four to eight jumps in order to make it to the top. In order to even attempt this obstacle, really work on both bicep and tricep strength.

Pole Grasper

A rather difficult obstacle, especially if you’re on the shorter side, the pole grasper occurs in stage three of American Ninja Warrior. This is where several poles are set up a bit like fire escape poles and you have to hang on one, then transition to the next and so on. During the obstacle, the distance between the poles gets further and further, up to roughly five feet. There are a couple of techniques. Some ninjas do it a bit like a monkey where you have a foot and a hand on each pole at a time. For smaller individuals, you have to jump to make the farther distances.

Cannonball Alley

Cannonball alley has taken out many competitors in American Ninja Warrior to the point where many people weren’t sure how possible it actually was. This obstacle is made up of three balls that hang from wires. Each ball gets progressively bigger and the last one is about the size of a bowling ball. Competitors hang from each and have to maneuver from one to another without losing their grip and falling. The shape of the grips and the size increase makes it exceptionally difficult to maneuver this obstacle later in the course.

These are just a few of the many, many obstacles that competitors of American Ninja Warrior have seen on the courses throughout the many seasons of the competition. If you’re not daunted by a challenge and you want to tackle the same type of training that competitors go through for the show, come by our ninja course at Rebounderz of Rohnert Park today!