Facility Review: Ninja U

Facility Name: Ninja U
Location: Cedar Falls, Iowa
Facility Type: Ninja gym

Back in the early summer I went to a shopping center and saw a sign from a distance. "Ninja U Coming Soon." I thought OMG IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?! Turns out it is what I thought it was: a ninja gym. In Cedar Falls, Iowa. My town. Considering the nearest ninja gym was two hours away in Des Moines, I basically felt like I'd won the lottery. "I will go right after I do my Beast," I thought to myself. Then my collarbone started acting up and required a few months of TLC. I took advantage of a punchcard sale on Black Friday, but hadn't been able to actually get in and work out until today. The stars aligned and my collarbone healed, I walked in with no real idea of what to expect from myself.

Ninja U is basically a playground for adults. A slightly sadistic playground, but that's what us OCR fiends are into nowadays. On the main rigging there were three lanes separated by level of difficulty. My first stop was the Beginner Lane, which was mostly balance and agility. There were these fun vertical poles to traverse that basically made me feel like a much-taller Kacy Catanzaro in the Dallas City Finals. I also was able to practice my rope climb in this lane, which I was delighted about (I have no other opportunity to practice rope climb). There was also a small agility lane next to this one with more balance elements and some angled steps.

After I'd done the Beginner Lane a few times I felt ready to take on the Intermediate Lane, or at least a few elements of it. The swinging monkey bars were simple enough, as were the rings. I had more difficulty on the floating monkey bars, although it was certainly fun to try (I did manage to make ONE transfer, but that was probably more luck than skill). I had employee Thomas show me the technique for the floating boards, which the guys on American Ninja Warrior make look way easier than it is. I was able to use Thomas' technique to transfer from one board to another. At this point I felt very middle-aged and like I should purchase better shoes.

The Advanced Lane was practically empty, because those with the skill for the Advanced Lane would be able to throw themselves eight feet through the air between the different obstacle elements with no difficulty whatsoever. Thomas showed me a big lache between swinging frames and at some point in all this amazing display he revealed that he is only 17 years old, which made me feel much better about assuming that it was only my advanced age that prevented me from going all Drew Dreschel on this stuff. Yeah, that must be it. *ahem*

Ninja U of course also has a set of four warped walls. I was able to get up the 8' and 10' walls no problem. This was also a great opportunity to practice my Spartan wall climb technique - once I got hands on the top, I could walk my legs up and hook the ankle, or I could wrestle my ribcage up there. I did not attempt the 12' or 14.5' walls, because my aforementioned advanced age requires caution and buildup. Another section of the gym had a bouldering/rock wall, which I attempted and am terrible at. This will be great practice for Olympus, though, so I will keep working at it. There is a spider climb area, and that didn't go well for me today, but will be fun to keep trying!

A smaller rig with more grip elements let me practice angled monkey bars on the tilting ladders which, thankfully, don't tilt so much that I couldn't complete this obstacle. There were all different kinds of grips (round, straight, swinging, handles, balls) that I could not do to save my life. There was also a sprint ramp that times you, which I did not do today, but may do in the future if my shins feel perfectly healthy and I've had a lot of caffeine. The kids area looked really cute and my toddler would absolutely love it, so I will have to bring him sometime.

I was very impressed with Ninja U. The gym is spotless and padded and I was the only one in there (naturally, since I went at 11:45 AM on a Tuesday, like GET A JOB, LADY) so I got plenty of attention and instruction from Thomas. There are lots of different types of obstacles to practice on, and I think people of all skill levels could find a bunch of stuff to try out here. Things also seem to be rotated in and out on a regular basis so new obstacles and grips are coming all the time.

Things to keep in mind before you visit a ninja gym:
1) You may not be able to do a big long workout. My hands got sweaty and were essentially useless for periods of time. I will bring a bit of liquid chalk with me next time and see if that helps (regular powdered chalk is far too messy and should be avoided). Also the skin on my hands feels beat up, but I'm a tenderloin.
2) If your shoes aren't grippy, some things will be tougher. Not impossible, but tougher than they have to be. Don't wear your old tennies, basically.
3) Ask for help! Take advantage of having the gym to yourself and get some personalized tips. Many obstacles are all about technique. The more techniques you know, even for obstacles you can't necessarily do yet, the greater your arsenal for being able to complete obstacles in OCRs.
4) Warm up properly. Lots of obstacle training is deceptively plyometric, and you don't want to find out halfway through your hamstring tear that you were not properly warmed up before attempting the warped wall.
5) Test things out. If you see that something swings and you can reach it before you get to it, swing it and see how it goes before you get on and try to swing 160 pounds of your body weight on it. If there's a tilting ladder, tilt it before you're hanging on it to see how far it goes. Train smarter, essentially.

Overall I give Ninja U an A and I plan to keep coming on Tuesday early afternoons. Thomas will have his work cut out for him.