Posted on June 18, 2018 by Brad Thornton — Leave a comment

Sport Obstacle Highlight – The Flying Squirrel

One of the newest obstacles added to the AG Ninja arsenal not only brings excitement in it’s functionality, but it’s also beautifully crafted with a lot of attention put in to the design. Outside of creating obstacles that are safe and professionally engineered, we really want to focus on designing items that look great. Let’s face it, when your customers walk in to your facility, you want them to take one look at your equipment and think “whoa, that is really nice!” No doubt, this was achieved with the release of the Flying Squirrel.

If you haven’t seen the show, you may not be familiar with this Ninja Obstacle. The mechanism you see in the photo above works in conjunction with a second one to create a swinging obstacle that allows you to act like…well, just like it’s name.

Generally, a series of these are lined up so the athlete can fly from one set of bars to the next. Obviously, this sounds like a high level obstacle, and normally I would categorize it as such when used in a conventional manner. However, sometimes you have to think differently of the products we offer. It’s important to see how each of them can be used as a training tool and not necessarily a means to getting from one side of a frame to another.

In a structured obstacle training environment, the flying squirrel can be used for a massive age range. Now, if it is being placed on a course type environment where kids are simply trying to mow through a series of obstacles then it is limited to a more skilled level.

For example, before kids can learn how to release a bar and grab another, it is imperative they learn a proper swing/tap first. The flying squirrel apparatus is a fun way for kids to practice this swing and even swing and release and drop in to a pit or large resi. We even have options with this obstacle to allow the arms to operate independently of one another (more difficult) or connected to each other (easier).

I love this obstacle and know that it provides a variety of ways to teach body control, coordination, strength, confidence etc. The sensation of one day flying is appealing for kids and adults so I promise you can’t go wrong by including these in your curriculum.

If you have any questions or need details, feel free to to email me at Brad@american-gymnast.com

Posted on March 27, 2018 by interactivesports — Leave a comment

Need a New Ninja Training Curriculum?

NinjaZone Elite

Brand New Comprehensive Obstacle Training Curriculum

Do you need a new curriculum for your Ninja program? AG Ninja and NinjaZone have partnered up to create a brand new NinjaZone Elite training curriculum! As sport obstacle training continues to explode across the country, programs need a more comprehensive curriculum to serve a broader range of athletes. Now it’s here!

We have created several starter packages to take your program to the next level. However, if you need to customize the layout of your course to fit your space, just contact us and we will use our Ninja design skills to create one just for you!

Not Yet a Ninja Zone Member?

Become a member and save when you shop on our web site

If you are not yet a Ninja Zone Licensee, you can save on your very first obstacle course purchase with us by signing up. Just fill out our contact form to let us know you’re interested >>

Already a Ninja Zone Member?

Upgrade to NZ Elite

If you are already a Ninja Zone Licensee, you automatically have an account on our web site. Login and shop our entire web site with NinjaZone preferred discounts! (Need Login Info?)

You will need to upgrade your Ninja Zone Licensee account with Ninja Zone to receive the NZ Elite frame-based curriculum.

Posted on January 20, 2018January 20, 2018 by Brad Thornton — Leave a comment

Sport Obstacle Highlight – The Flying Bar Trainer

While it’s great to have all of the high flying, exciting obstacles you see on the TV show, it’s also important to remember the little novice Ninjas just starting out. No doubt, most of them want to immediately hop up on a salmon ladder or give the 14ft warped wall a go, but obviously that’s not exactly realistic. Of course, there will also be many youngsters that may walk in to your facility and see some of these towering obstacles and get intimidated right from the start.

A great way to alleviate some of the fears of the timid ones and keep the interest of the more ambitious little ninjas is to have a good selection of obstacles that mimic the popular ones but are scaled down to be more of a trainer obstacle. It is important for your program to be unique and consistently varied. But more importantly, you should have trainer obstacles where your younger athletes can learn proper technique in preparation for the show level obstacles.

One example of a popular obstacle that is appealing to kids of all ages is the Flying Bar. Considering the big air and large gaps the athlete has to cross with this obstacle, it is not one for the squeamish. A miss here and it’s a long fall to the ground. This is definitely a high level obstacle that is meant for properly trained ninjas. But, what if the little ones could do something similar that has the same technique but on a much smaller scale?

That’s exactly what our very own Flying Bar Trainer does. Give your novice ninjas some peace of mind knowing there aren’t any huge gaps to cross where they can potentially plummet 10ft. This innovative obstacle allows them to practice the same tap and body movement as the original flying bar, but the solid piece keeps them on the apparatus and keeps their spirits high. Challenge them as they progress by having them hop multiple ridges.

Check out some athletes working out on the FBT:

See more info on the Flying Bar Trainer and other unique obstacles here

Brad Thornton

Posted on December 2, 2017 by Brad Thornton — Leave a comment

Ninja Frame Options for Every Facility

When you work with a large customer base with facility sizes ranging from 1000 square feet to 80,000 square feet, there certainly isn’t a standard when it come to a Ninja solution. Some clubs are looking to simply fill a small dedicated space with the most efficient and budget friendly setup possible. Aesthetics may not be as big of a concern for these customers. They simply want to get the most bang for their buck and provide a fun and safe course for their Ninjas.

Then their are customers who are really going for a “look.” Functionality is certainly important, but they really want to also present a wow factor for their Ninjas.

Lastly, there is a group that falls somewhere in between. So, how do we serve such a broad range of requirements? Well, we felt it was important to have a framing system that would appeal to each one of these 3 groups. So, we created a 3 tier course solution for our customers

Tier 1: Budget Friendly, Smaller Footprint, Aesthetically pleasing to youth in it’s colorful appearance

Tier 2: Slightly higher in pricing, small footprint. Combines the look of the Tier 1 frame with a TV show like frame

Tier 3: Highest priced of the group, largest footprint. Has the wow factor in it’s large TV show look

Check out the short video on the 3 Frame options:

Check out our full Ninja selection at: http://interactsports.wpengine.com/product-category/sport-obstacles/

If you have design needs or questions, please email me at Brad@american-gymnast.com

Brad Thornton

Posted on November 24, 2017November 30, 2017 by Brad Thornton — Leave a comment

Sports Obstacle Highlight – The Floating Discs

One of the trickier things that comes with designing a Ninja Setup for a client is providing a course that will cover a broad age range and skill level. The majority of people we are designing for have kids that range in age from 4 to 15. So, creativity becomes essential in the design process.

We have to consider 3 main things

It must be fun and safe for the younger kids
It must be fun, safe, yet challenging for the older kids
The course must fit within the client budget

Of course, we could simply recommend a number of our obstacles to keep on hand to swap in and out on the Katana Frame. While it is nice to have additional obstacles so you can keep the course fresh, sometimes this does not work with the budget. So we have to constantly think of ways to be creative with obstacles so they may be used in a number of ways by different age groups.

With all of these thoughts in mind, we created the Hanging Disc obstacle. We wanted to see how we could transform our floating pole obstacle (which the young kids love) to something that the older kids would enjoy as well. Our Floating poles look like the image below:

This is a fun obstacle but there is only one way to use it. So, we decided to shorten the pole to about 15 inches and do a rope connection for the remaining length. This allows us to do the floating poles as well as the very challenging high floating discs. The below photos show the difference between the two:

Low Discs:

Then these low discs can easily be transformed to the high discs by eliminating the rope:

All of a sudden, this becomes one challenging Ninja obstacle! You get two obstacles in one and everybody is happy! You can see more of our sport obstacles here.

Email Brad@american-gymnast.com for any questions regarding Ninja or to see about our design services

Brad Thornton

Posted on October 17, 2017October 17, 2017 by interactivesports — Leave a comment

Sports Obstacle Highlight – The Devil’s Bridge

Ninja Training Sport Obstacle - Devil's Bridge

A major objective of our AG Ninja brand is to design products that are not only fun and challenging, but also have versatility. Whats better than buying one ninja obstacle that can function like three and also covers a variety of skill levels? After all, we all want to get our money’s worth when making large purchases, right?

Our newest obstacle, The Devil’s Bridge, is a great example of a multi purpose Ninja Obstacle. We looked at several of our popular Ninja Obstacles and tried to come up with ways to combine them so our our customers don’t have to make unnecessary multiple purchases as their Ninjas progress and require more challenges.

The Devil’s Bridge is a blend of 3 different obstacles:

The Unstable Bridge

The Devil’s Ladder

The Monkey Bars

The Result:

The Devil’s Bridge

The Devil’s Bridge is a great obstacle to have on hand if you have broad age range training on your Ninja rig. Here is an example difficulty progression based on varying the configuration of the obstacle.

Beginner

The simplest configuration of the obstacle is designed to function as a set of split, flat monkey bars. Since each section is hanging from a chain, the obstacle will have some movement, making it more difficult than a standard set of monkey bars. This configuration can be hung low for new ninjas and can slowly be raised as the ninjas progress to add the element and excitement of height. You can also steadily increase the gap between the two sections, allowing for a greater reach.

Intermediate

After a few months of training, your ninjas are going to be ready for a new challenge. Fortunately, the Devil’s Bridge can easily be converted in to an intermediate obstacle – the Devil’s Ladder. This is done simply by reducing hardware on one end of the ladder and increasing the incline. The result will look like this:You can start off with just a slight incline and steadily increase it as the athletes advances.Even decline the ladders if you wish …Advanced

Finally, your advanced athletes can use this obstacle as the unstable bridge. The outside planks of the ladders are a wide wood surface, allowing the athlete to grasp hold and hop along the edge and then do a swing, release and hop to the second ladder.If your athletes master this, then increase the gap between the two bridges …Still not difficult enough? Stagger the heights between the two bridges to create a more difficult transition.

So you can you can get really creative with this obstacle, creating a number of different challenges for your athletes. The key to success with your classes is to keep things fresh and exciting so your kids never know what to expect each time they come in. We are constantly brainstorming on ideas for unique obstacles so keep an eye out on the AG Ninja product page for new additions.

To order this Ninja training obstacle, see the product page here: The Devil’s Bridge