Ninjutsu Exercises

[Raivu]

**if you thought this was a Narutard thread then you're mistaken**

For those of you who didn't already know, I've spent the last 2 1/2 years transferring from Taekwondo to traditional Ninjutsu. I know there are a few martial artists here, so I wanted to share with you the exercises we do in class. (I take classes at the Bujinkan Dojo. We have a small class of 5, so some of these exercises are hard to do)
I'll only go over the footwork section right now. Join me if you want, it's a good exercise even if you're not interested.

Footwork/Balance/Agility

1) Over and Under - Set up a rope or long pole about 18 - 24 inches off the floor. Starting on one
side of the pole jump up and over it, when you touch down immediately flatten out and scoot
under the pole. You should end up on the same side that you started from. You can also do this
drill with a partner as in leap frog and then go between their legs and repeat.

2) Bob and Weave (aka: The Rocky drill) - Set up a rope or pole at a height comfortable for you to
be able to bob and weave under. Each time coming up with two uppercut punches.

3) The Dice - Place 5 spots on the floor in the pattern you would see on the #5 from a die.
Standing on one leg, hop from spot to spot. This is a great drill for leg conditioning, cardiovascular
work as well as footwork.

4) Dragons Teeth - Another great drill to enhance your footwork. Start by placing a series of sticks on the floor in alternating forward and reverse triangle patterns, each tip touching the next in line. Now start at one end, and use forward and reverse footwork zoning patterns while moving down the line. Step over the end and return back on the opposite side.

5) One legged stand - This is a very basic drill in which you stand on one leg. Now to gain more
from this drill close your eyes and count to 30 then repeat on the opposite side.

6) Mogul jump - Place a line on the floor about 6 - 8 feet long. Keeping your knees slightly bent,
jump from one side to the next as if you are skiing down a mogul run. This is a great leg
conditioning and reflex enhancing drill.

7) Box Jump - Utilizing a small box (I use a milk crate), place your feet slightly apart and leap up
onto the box. Immediately hop down and then leap as high into the air as possible. Great for
explosiveness in your movements.

Directional change - Have an opponent stand 5 - 6 feet away from you. Charge forward toward
him and at the last moment before you crash together, use triangular footwork to avoid hitting
him. You can add a weapon or striking portion to this drill to make it more exciting.

9) Balance beam - Place a 4x4 or 6x6 beam on the floor. The first drill is to be able to walk it without falling. Make this more difficult by having to walk quickly or run down the length. Of course, you can elevate the beam to make it more difficult.

10) Balance beam #2 - Place a 4x4 or 6x6 beam on the floor. In this drill two opponents try to
push each other from the beam. Weapon drills such as single stick and double stick flow
applications, also can be performed on the beam. This simulates narrow or restricted area
fighting.

11) The clock - Place a 4 foot section of tape on the floor, then cross this one with another to form
a "T". Add two more sections to overlay an "X" on to the "T". When complete you should now
have eight lines on the floor in a clock like fashion. Starting in the center move to each angle
utilizing proper footwork. Always assume your opponent is attacking you and you are countering.
In Budo Taijutsu we call this drill "shinobi no happo sabaaki.

12) Slippery surface training-(Beware this can be a dangerous. Especially if you do not have
proper falling skills) Training on frozen surfaces, powder covered wooden floors (while wearing
socks), even wet grassy slopes, allows us the opportunity to train in an environment, where
balance and agile movement are critical for success. Do not try any sparring or fighting drills until
you can safely land on a hard surface without injury.

13) Strike avoidance - In this drill your opponent will throw various strikes at you in slow fashion. You must avoid by only using body motion. This can also be implemented with weapons. As you increase the pace add footwork to the drill.

14) Tire drill - Most of us are familiar with this one from football and soccer practice. Place a
series of tires, out in two rows. You must place one foot into each tire as quickly as possible.

15) Kip up - From a backwards fall or roll, immediately push off with your hands behind you to a
standing position. The key here is both in the explosive push off and when landing the correct
placement of your body weight to prevent you from falling back again.

16) Hand Stand - Another great balance enhancer. Some key ideas are don't throw your weight too far forward as you will fall over, relax and continue to breathe, watch out where you are going to land if you fall.

17) Cartwheel - Place one hand down on the floor quickly followed by the other as you push your
legs out and over your hands in a straight line.

1 Sit outs - From the referee or turtle position, place your right hand on the floor and shoot your
right leg through the space between your body and arm. Then turn over to the starting position
again and repeat with the opposite side.

19) Turtle/Bag position drill - Have your partner or a place a heavy bag on the floor, now you start
by lying on top of them in cross body position, while maintaining contact move to other floor
dominating positions.(Such as Scarf hold, four corners, reverse scarf hold etc)

20) Flip flops - From a standing position, leap out as if you are going to do a hand stand, when
your hands hit the floor immediately push back into the standing position.


due to me not being able to remember the name and exact procedure for all of them (since we don't DO all of them) I got this information from a source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7878300/Ni...raining-Drills

[Eli]

Brings back memories.
I use to teach ninjutsu in NY in the beginning of the summer, thus the reason for my in-activity a little while back.
Many of the exercises mentioned here, are what we taught.

[Raivu]

My favorite one that I do all the time is the Strike avoidance. I used to train with my sensei for 5 hours a day doing slow - moderate pace strike avoidance exercises, then I'd go outside where we have the rotating training dummy and see how much of it I could avoid and react to before I was hit. The longest I lasted was 45 minutes before I was overly exhausted.

[Drakonid]

Read the first couple paragraphs, and it was pretty interesting, but tl;dr

[Raivu]

Read the first couple paragraphs, and it was pretty interesting, but tl;dr

haha its' cool. They're just very brief descriptions of each type of exercise.