Forget Traditional Workouts — I Trained Like a Ninja Warrior for 45 Days and This Is What Happened

Ninja Warrior was all the craze when I was a kid. My friends and I would come up with our own little obstacle courses in the neighborhood park, speeding across the monkey bars and jumping off of swings.

Today, I am not too big on parks and swings, but about two months ago, I wanted to do something different and try training like a Ninja Warrior to add a little variety to my routine and see how strong and agile I am.

Now that I’ve gone through 45 days of Ninja Warrior training, I decided it would be fun to share my experience.

How I Trained Like a Ninja Warrior for 45 Days

I really wanted to train on an obstacle course a few times a week, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find one close to my home. The only one I found was for kids, so I had to do my best and devise a workout split that would prepare me for if I was ever to attempt a course.

After watching several episodes of American Ninja Warrior (AMW) on YouTube, I’ve realized that apart from grip strength, most obstacles require significant explosive strength. So, my split focused on developing the following things:

• Upper body strength
• Grip strength
• Agility
• Coordination
• Power

Of course, muscular and cardiovascular endurance are also big factors, but those will receive enough attention regardless of the form of training, so I wasn’t paying much attention to those.

That said, here’s what I’ve been doing for the past seven weeks:

Monday: Strength and Power Training

I would always start my week with strength training. I opted for moderate reps, as that seems to do a lot more for strength and power than one-rep maxes. (1)

Exercise	Sets, Reps, or Duration
Salmon Ladder Pull-ups	5 sets, 5 reps
Weighted Kipping Pull-ups	5 sets, 8 reps
Deadlifts	4 sets, 6 reps
Monkey Bars	5 trips in each direction
Face Pulls	4 sets, 15 reps
Rope Climb	10 ascends
Butterfly Pull-ups	6 reps, EMOM, 10 minutes
Dead Hang	5 sets, 2 minutes

As you can see, this strength and power routine heavily focuses on developing upper body strength, power, and grip strength. Apart from the deadlift, which I included because of the door-lifting obstacles on the course, I decided to push hard on the pulling motions and grip strength.

Thankfully, my gym has a Salmon ladder, so I could easily train the most popular NW movement. I also included kipping pull-ups instead of regular ones because this exercise involves a lot of core work. As you know, you can’t make it through the course without a strong core.

The rest of the exercises are pretty self-explanatory. Still, for the sake of being thorough, I did face pulls and rope climbing for grip and pulling strength, monkey bars to do something similar to the course obstacles, an EMOM interval of butterfly pull-ups for endurance, and dead hang to train my grip and stretch after a workout.

Tuesday and Friday: Agility Drills, Endurance Work, and Rock Climbing

My Tuesdays and Fridays were reserved for agility, endurance, and rock climbing. I would do agility drills first thing in the morning and go rock climbing around 6–7 in the evening.

My agility drills would consist of:

Exercise	Sets, Reps & Duration
Ladder Drills	4 sets, various drills (in-and-out, shuffle, etc.)
T-Drill	4 sets
5-10-5 Drill	4 sets
Box Jumps	4 sets, 10 jumps
Burpees with Plyo Push-ups	4 sets, 10 reps
Lateral Bounds	5 sets, 10 jumps

To be fair, modern-day Ninja Warrior courses aren’t too big on leg work, but since there are obstacles like Quad Steps, Bridge of Blades, Balance Bridge, Domino Hills, and many others, I thought that working on great footwork and precision would be quite beneficial, so I did a lot cone and ladder drills.

Also, explosive power is quite necessary, so exercises like box jumps and lateral bounds would make a difference, in my opinion.

Burpees with plyometric push-ups won’t necessarily translate to a great obstacle course performance, but they’re an excellent movement for building cardiovascular fitness and endurance, so I added them.

Why Rock Climbing?

Given the limited availability of obstacle courses in my hometown, rock climbing felt like the best training to help me develop grip strength and coordination.

An hour-long session would set my fingers and forearms on fire. I never imagined rock climbing could be this gruesome. After 15 minutes or so, my fingers would be super sore, and it would be extremely difficult to hold on for any more than a few seconds.

Thankfully, my instructor noticed this and said I should maintain as much contact with the jug as possible. Once I started gripping with my whole palm instead of just hooking my fingers, the difference was massive. So, if you decide to try rock climbing, grab with your whole palm.

Wednesday: Recovery and Yoga

Wednesdays and the weekends were my off days, but I decided to do yoga on Wednesdays, although not as a form of active recovery. Essentially, I wanted to devise a routine that would help me work on shoulder mobility and core strength. So, here is what I did every Wednesday for 40 minutes:

Warm-Up	Main Session	Cooldown
Child’s Pose, 2 minutes	Downward-facing Dog, 3 minutes	Seated Forward Bend, 3 minutes
Cat-Cow Pose, 3 minutes	Plank Pose, 2 minutes	Reclining Twist, 2 minutes
	Forearm Plank, 3 minutes	Final relaxation, 4 minutes
	Side Plank, 4 minutes
	Thread the Needle, 4 minutes
	Cobra Pose, 3 minutes
	Extended Puppy Pose, 3 minutes
	Boat Pose, 4 minutes

This yoga session was a bit more demanding than I thought it would be, especially during the first two weeks. While these yoga poses are beginner- and bodybuilder-friendly, doing them for 40 minutes isn’t, despite switching sides and taking mini rests between them. However, this helped out tremendously, but more on that in a minute.

Thursday: Strength and Power Training

Thursdays were also reserved for building strength and power. Here’s what I did:

Exercise	Sets, Reps, or Duration
Back Squats	4 sets, 5 reps
Box Jumps	4 sets, 10 jumps
Kettlebell Swings	4 sets, 20 reps
Trap Bar Jumps	3 sets, 15 jumps
Rope Climb	10 ascends
Dead Hang	5 sets, 2 minutes

Unlike the workout on Monday, I focused a bit more on the lower body on Thursdays. Still, as you can see, I haven’t neglected the upper body training. I would still climb the rope and hang from the bar, but I also added kettlebell swings to build additional arm, shoulder, and core strength.

As for leg work, I focused on building explosive power. I wanted to be able to jump, run, and change direction efficiently. This aligns with what I generally do while playing lawn tennis, so this session went smoothly every time.

Why So Many Different Rep Ranges?

I’ve done a lot of low-rep sets and high-rep sets when training for strength and power. However, many would have you believe that doing only 1–5 reps is the way to go here. However, many experts tend to disagree with such a black-and-white approach, as does Dr. Mike, a sports scientist and a professional bodybuilder.

Here’s what he had to say on this topic:

“If you just do sets of 10 to 20 all the time, it’s okay for targeting the faster twitch fibers and the tension-mediated pathways, and it’s okay for targeting the slower twitch fibers and the metabolite pathways. But it’s not the thing that does either one of those best. If you really need high tension, you do sets of five to ten. If you really want to drive a crazy amount of metabolites, you do sets of 20 to 30. Ten to 20 is a great middle ground, but that means it just does both of them okay. The thing is, you probably grow a lot from both, and if you have something that does both okay, it does the best general job.”

In other words, don’t limit yourself to a single rep-range. Mix it up, and you’ll see the best results.

Why Did I Do Ninja Warrior Training for 45 Days?

Besides simply wanting to introduce some variety into my workouts, training this way is also super fun and useful for everyday life and sports.

Focusing solely on strength and hypertrophy training will do wonders for your appearance in overall strength, but if you do it for too long, you leave a lot on the table.

First, as you progress with weights, your muscles get stronger at a much faster rate than your connective tissues, which could potentially lead to injury.

Also, training specifically for hypertrophy usually comes at the cost of overall mobility and flexibility. As someone more interested in sports than bodybuilding, I can’t have this happen. So, adding a bit of movement and “functional” training goes a long way in keeping me agile and flexible.

Finally, there’s only so much you can do for your grip. Sure, your forearms and grip get stronger as you pull heavy weights, but there’s a limit. Unless you train your grip specifically, you can’t expect massive gains. Since my grip was never super strong, this felt like a great way to fix that.

My Results and Impressions After Training Like a Ninja Warrior for 45 Days

Forty-five days is rarely enough to see any substantial results if you’re a highly trained individual like me, but sure enough, some results were more than noticeable in the end.

As you can imagine, the biggest difference was in grip and pulling strength. By the time I finished my Ninja Warrior workout, I could do 27 pull-ups in a row. For reference, my previous personal best was 23. So, that’s a massive 20% increase in performance after only 45 days.

I noticed early on when I was rock climbing that you have to pull a lot more from your lats when you’re in an awkward position. While your arms will still do a lot of lifting, it’s not the same as when you’re on the bar, and you can focus on the perfect technique. So, I assume that my sessions on the wall strengthened my back in previously ” neglected areas,” which translated to a lot more strength, power, and endurance when performing pull-ups.

As for the grip, the difference between day one and day 45 was night and day. I didn’t check my grip strength or anything, but as I was starting, I couldn’t hang for two minutes five times in a row. However, four days ago, my final set of hanging from the bar was three minutes long, and I had more in the tank.

I’d say that my muscular endurance has increased significantly.

Can Anyone Train Like a Ninja Warrior?

Yes, I believe that anyone can train like a Ninja Warrior. While only a fraction of people can complete the Ninja Warrior course, training to beat the course isn’t as hard.

Of course, it all depends on what kind of equipment you have at your disposal, but as long as you have access to regular gym equipment, a yoga mat, and some resistance bands to help you out during bodyweight pull-ups — you can tailor the exercise to your level.

How Can Training Like a Ninja Warrior Improve Your Daily Life?

While I would love to say things like, “Oh, I’m moving around like a ninja, and nothing hurts me anymore,” that simply isn’t true. Nothing drastic has changed in my life since I started working out this way, but then again, I was in pretty great shape when I started, and I wasn’t harboring an injury, either.

However, if you haven’t trained before, this will absolutely transform the quality of your life in 45 days. And, if you stick with it for a while, you won’t be able to recognize yourself in a year.

You will become stronger, more agile, and more coordinated; your balance will improve, and you will be more flexible than ever, and that’s a fact. The beauty of training this way is that you train like an athlete. You do a lot of compound movements, bodyweight exercises, and agility drills, which means you’ll get strong and buff from the waist up while being able to move like a panther.

Wrapping Up

These 45 days were really fun. It was my first time trying rock climbing, but the rest of the training was as dynamic and fun, despite being quite hard.

I became stronger and addressed a few weak points, such as my grip, so I am more than happy with the results.

If you’d like to try and train like a Ninja Warrior, you can copy my routine and see for yourself just how good it feels.

References:

1. Sarabia JM, Moya-Ramón M, Hernández-Davó JL, Fernandez-Fernandez J, Sabido R. The effects of training with loads that maximise power output and individualised repetitions vs. traditional power training. PLoS One. 2017 Oct 20;12(10):e0186601. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186601. PMID: 29053725; PMCID: PMC5650159.

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