New York City Ninja Academy — Local services in New York

I just finished taking the 7:30p “Adult” class. I think I was the only proper adult in the room apart from the instructor, but that was fine. The other three students were high school students. We started mostly on time and I got a brief run down of the rules. We did 10 laps as a warm-up; the area is roughly the size of a basketball court if I had to give you a mental model of the size of the space. After the jog we did a brief period of stretching then went into the Ninja training.

Within 1.5 hour, I was pretty able to sample most of the exercises; at least the ones I was capable of doing.  There wasn't any rigid structure and programming, and I got to hop in and out of the different obstacle courses. A lot of the exercises require a decent amount of upper body strength. If you aren't used to swing and hanging off things, then your grip strength will definitely be challenged. They also have a balanced based obstacle course if that is more your forte. They rotate parts of the obstacle course on the weekly basis, so there are always new challenges to try.

The instructor, Sebastian, was wonderful and very encouraging. My only regret is that I wish they had things like this when I was younger. I had so much fun, and I'm happy something like exist. They also had so much fun.

There is another location in Gowanus called Brooklyn Ninja Academy. Which might be more convenient for any Brooklynites. This one is a bit tough to get to if you're taking the train because it's all the way on 12 Avenue and 55th street, but the closest train is located on 59th and 8th Avenue.

Some recommendations that, I felt, could have the experience even better:

Provide locker rooms to change. The only place to change in privacy is the one unisex bathroom, which was clean, by the way.

A vending machine with drinks or water cooler would be great since this is a gym.

A courtesy email reminder sent out 24–72 hours before class is always a nice touch.

Overall, I would highly recommend trying this out. They make it look...

The physical challenge, and the learning experience were fun, and pretty much all the people there were great.

I found coach Darion was great at explaining how to overcome an obstacle, or progress through being able to overcome it. And, he had some of the best jokes (maybe, aside from some trainee comments which may better remain non-public).

There was also another coach that seemed great, but I didn't catch his name.

We were 8 trainees in a group, and the coach divided us into a younger group which had more experience, and some of the more novice, and less inclined to test the limits of our joints, and tendons. We did several tries on various obstacles, or short series of obstacles, progressing to harder ones as we got some ability to complete the previous ones.

In the session I was able to improve on jumping from a trampoline to catch a bar, swinging from one bar to another, and going up a salmon ladder enough to overcome a basic obstacle from being unable to do almost any of it. There were also a few other obstacles I got better understanding of, and technique on, such as a quarter pipe, walking on lily pads, a spider tunnel, and using rings to go sideways...

Where to begin... The facility itself is jam-packed with endless ways to ninja. The obstacles are creative and classic - many from the show itself! Because they have varying levels/ages of athletes walking through the door the entire gym is modular to seemingly no end. They do a wonderful job of tailoring things to ensure that success is constantly at each athlete's fingertips...but just enough out of reach to always keep things exciting. As if by magic, the owner has found a talented/kind group of coaches and staff. Their management of the kiddos during classes is an astonishing mix of teaching through encouragement, support and persistence. They never let a kid get discouraged - in fact, making sure every kid walks out of class with their head held high seems to be the priority. Speaking of which, my 8 year old got to the top of a 12 foot warped wall. Sure, she's athletic and wishes she could live at ninja, but it was through the staff's coaching and encouragement that kept her persisting. Thanks a ton, everyone! We'll keep coming as long as you'll have us. Cheers,...