How to Train to Be a Ninja Easily

Co-authored by Dany Zelig

Last Updated: October 28, 2024 Fact Checked

In feudal Japan, ninja otherwise known as shinobi, was a covert agent who specialized in sabotage, espionage, infiltration, and, when the situation required it, assassination and combat. While the samurai upheld strict rules of conduct, both morally and in their duels, the ninja fought in the darkness, sneaking into locations without stirring up the attention of their enemies. To train to be a ninja, therefore, you must learn to fight with alacrity as well as strength, slipping in and out of your missions while remaining practically invisible to your foes.^{[1]
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Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Moving Like a Ninja

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Travel by night. In order to be as stealthy as possible, the ninja nearly always operates by night. Their skillful espionage and guerrilla tactics go beyond the skills of a traditional warrior. To learn the way of the ninja, you must adjust to operating after sundown. Practice moving in complete darkness. This will help you use your environment to perceive the world around you.
- When you travel at night, you should try to avoid any street lamps or other artificial sources of light.
- Getting your eyes to adjust to true darkness is half the battle of learning to travel in the dark. Ninjas learned both "static vision," which is grabbing something still in the darkness, and "dynamic vision," which involves catching something moving at night. Try both of these tactics. Juggling in the dark is great way to practice.
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Climb trees. In addition to their stealth tactics, a ninja must be extremely nimble. No wall is too large to traverse, and all objects blocking your path are surmountable. Being comfortable climbing trees is the best way to practice nimble movement strategies.^{[2]
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Research source}The ninja often traversed castle walls by scaling trees and hopping from tree to wall.
- You might want to invest in a pair of hand and foot claws and practice climbing trees using them. This will help you get a better grip into the bark of the tree.
- Getting to the higher ground of tree branches will not only help you avoid enemies, but will also give you a better view of your surroundings. From this height, you'll be able to plan your espionage strategies more accurately, as you'll have a clear view of your current location.
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Swimming is another great way to build strength. It also helps to learn how to swim silently, in case you need to approach a target by water.
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Camouflage yourself using nature. Part of blending into your environment is using it to your advantage. Start with the most basic hiding posture, otherwise known as Uzura-Gakure. This requires you to draw your limbs and head into your body, becoming as small as possible. If you remain completely still, you can hide among rocks in your natural environment. You also want to use trees to conceal yourself.
- Another aspect of this strategy is Kannon-Gakure, where you'll cover your face and stand in front of a tree. By hiding your face, you'll blend into the tree and take advantage of the blind spot of the human eye.
- Ninjas also often hide behind trees. Much like Uzura-Gakure, you must become as still as possible, even stiller than the leaves blowing in the wind. If you can be stiller than the leaves, your enemies will only see their motion, making your body become practically undetectable.
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Evade suspicion from your enemies. A true ninja practices "the art of invisibility," attempting to move through space without notifying their enemies of their presence. While the modern ninja must cope with a larger amount of human-made light, many evasion strategies from feudal Japan can still be used today.
- The stealth walk is the simplest of these methods. If you guide your steps onto the outer edge of your feet, you'll muffle the sound of a normal footstep. Practice on gravel or sand, as you'll be able to assess the sound of your steps as well as the footprint left behind by your motion.
- Distraction and misdirection will also help you avoid suspicion from your enemies. This might involve you tossing a stone away from your path, or, in present day, having someone call the phone of the person you are attempting to move past. They will direct their focus toward the other sound, giving you ample time to sneak past.
- You can also use common sounds, like dripping water or the hum of a radiator, to mask the sound of your own motion.
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Run quickly. While the ability to quickly scale walls is extremely important to your training, you also want to make sure that your stamina remains intact. While your goal is to evade startling your enemies, you also want to make sure that you're confident in escaping any unforeseen conflict. If you're being tailed by a foe, your espionage strategies may not be as useful as pure speed.
- The Thirty-Sixty Speed Training is a simple way to improve your cardiovascular strength and sprint speed.^{[3]
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  Research source}Get a stopwatch and find a place to run without any obstacles. You'll start by jogging for 60 seconds. After this jog, sprint for as quickly as you can for 30 seconds, then jog for another 60. You'll repeat this cycle three more times, and it should take you exactly seven minutes.
- Make sure that you aren't resting completely in your jog. This should feel like a passive recovery, but you want to make sure you're keeping your heart rate up. It's very likely that you'll have to sprint for over 30 seconds when running from an enemy, so you want to prepare for the worst.

Part 2

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Fighting Like a Ninja

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1
Practice your jumping. It's important, as a ninja, to have the strength to jump with force, as you'll need this to scale walls and hop between surfaces. When paired with your climbing and running skills, you'll be able evade attacks from your enemy if you ever engage them in combat. You also want to strengthen your legs, as great deal of your physical power will be held within them. Some exercises that you can do to improve your jumping skills and leg strength include:
- Perform lunges across the room. This will strengthen your quad muscles.
- Move in tiptoe to strengthen your calves. By walking on tiptoe, you'll also practice moving more quietly, which will improve your skills in espionage.
- Jump as high as you can, on flat ground, until you feel exhausted. These are also known as box jumps.
- Sit in a horse-riding stance, bending your knees deeply and keeping your legs shoulder-width apart, for a significant amount of time. This squat will strengthen your legs. You can also jump repeatedly out of a squat, much like a box jump.
- Put your leg into the air, about waist high, and hold it there. This is otherwise known as a side-leg kick. Maintain this position for as long as possible.
- If you have access to weight training equipment, train your legs with weighted squats and leg presses. The stronger your legs are, the more force you'll be able to put into your jumps.
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Strengthen your core with bodyweight exercises. A large part of learning the way of the ninja, especially in modern times, is using the weight of your body to gain strength. These exercises are also much easier to incorporate into your training, as you won't need any expensive exercise equipment.^{[4]
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- Remember that mastering these exercises takes some time, as they require full engagement from your entire body, rather than just one isolated muscle.
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Learn taekwondo. While many of the martial arts can be incorporated into your combat strategies as a ninja, taekwondo is one of the oldest and most tried of these schools of thought. One of the major advantages of mastering taekwondo is that it focuses on using the legs, rather than the hands. Your enemies, especially if they are untrained in combat, are very likely to attack you with their fists.
- From the get-go, your mastery of taekwondo will give you a leg up in the event of an attack. Your legs also have a larger range of motion than your hands when taking down enemies coming from all sides of you.
- Break boards to improve your speed, precision, and power. You'll also need an immense amount of focus to snap a board, as it requires bringing your foot down on the perfect snapping point of the plank. Remember that you must think about moving through the board, not simply onto the board itself. Aim for a spot that is past the board, and your foot will move through it with power.
- Make sure that whoever is holding your board has a firm grip, as this is half the reason that you'll be able to bring your force through the wood to snap it.
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Spar with staves. When engaging in combat, the ninja can also fight with a staff. This is useful in taking on a large number of enemies, especially as your foes may be approaching you with similarly blunt and powerful objects. ^{[5]
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- One of the best staffs to train with is the bo staff, a tall staff usually made out of red or white oak. The bo staff has been used by the ninja since their beginnings in feudal Japan. Often deemed as an "extension of one's limbs," the movement of a bo staff is meant to mirror open-handed movements in martial arts.
- Your stance contains a great deal of your power when fighting with a bo staff. The placement of your feet will dictate a great deal of your upper body strength, and you'll be able to strike your enemies differently depending on your foot placement.^{[6]
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- You want to learn a wide variety of striking strategies. This will ensure that you have a keen eye for weak spots on your enemies. Pairing these strategies with your most nimble stances will maximize your dexterity with the bo staff.^{[7]
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  Research source}Remember to practice your attack strategies in a safe and open location, as you don't want to be harming those around you or causing any unnecessary damage to your home.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Living Like a Ninja

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1
Dress to fit your environment. To be a proper ninja, you must blend in completely to your location, whether this is in a busy city square or out in the forest, isolated from all human contact.^{[8]
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Research source}Because a ninja must evade suspicion from enemies at all time, it's crucial to adapt your attire to fit your surroundings.
- The most basic ninja outfit is the traditional head wrap and robe, otherwise known as the zukin and the shozoku, respectively. Contrary to popular belief, these outfits are actually not black, but actually are made from a dark blue fabric. Because a ninja wears the zukin and shozuku when traveling through the night, the dark blue blends into both the darkness and the moonlight, minimizing the risk of drawing attention from foes. The ninja also wears combat sandals, simultaneously lightweight and supportive when moving quickly.
- In addition to the traditional ninja garb, you also must learn to disguise yourself to travel unnoticed in the daytime. Some of the traditional ninja disguises include monks, merchants, and actors. There are many disguise roles for a ninja, but it's best for you to be concealed as a traveler. This way, you can enter any town and be perceived as a stranger, making your unfamiliar presence not seem abnormal.
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Master ninja breathing strategies. Controlling your breath is crucial to fully inhabiting the life of the ninja. Because you need to hide for long periods of time, remaining as still and silent as possible, you need to be able to quiet your breath. Practice some of these strategies, which will not only help you evade attention, but will also improve your mindfulness:
- Breathe in time with your steps. You will naturally enter the flow of your motion and assure that you're keeping an even flow of oxygen into your body. When running, aim for a 3:2 ratio, allowing your in breath to cover three of your steps, and your out breath to cover two. When walking, you can use the more meditative 4:2 ratio.
- Practice deep breathing. Proper breath expands your whole torso. Practice breathing into your abdomen as often as possible, until it becomes habit.
- Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth while walking. Running requires more oxygen, so you'll need to breathe in through your mouth and nose at the same time.
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Adapt to the diet of a ninja. To ensure that their bodies moved quickly and efficiently, ninjas adhered to a strict and lean diet. You want to minimize your meat, dairy, and sugars, as these foods take longer for your bodies to process into energy. Light foods that are also high in protein, like pine nuts, are good for your lean ninja figure. It's also rumored that pine nuts improve your sensory perception and can help in the anti-aging process.
- You cannot eat any food that can lead to unforeseen body odor. If your enemies can smell your presence at any time, then you will arouse suspicion. It's not enough to simply be unseen or unheard by your opponents. You cannot be detected with any sense.
Because so much of the existence of the ninja hinges on being undetectable, you must be careful not to train in the presence of potential enemies. Finding a secluded location, especially when practicing your skills in combat or evasion, is crucial to maintaining the secrecy of your identity.
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Minimize and simplify your existence. It's very difficult to properly inhabit the life of a ninja if you have a larger number of possessions or ties to any one location. You need to constantly be in motion, as well as completely adaptable to any environment that you enter. Because of this, it's best to not hold on too dearly to any unnecessary clutter or worldly possessions. They will simply hold you down and become cumbersome to your constant traveling. You must be present in the world around you, constantly assessing your surrounding with an even and open mind.
- Embrace a minimalist lifestyle by cutting down your possessions to the essentials.

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Do I have to learn how to jump, roll, and attack?

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You should. You can mix in some parkour movements with martial arts.

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A ninja is supposed to be stealthy, go on missions, and fight. But what if there's no one to fight?

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A true ninja will wait and train to become even better. Making a fake enemy isn't a good option and would cause troubles. Patience is the ninja's virtue.

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How can I become a ninja in a very short period of time?

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Focus on the power inside of you and practice your ninja skills in every spare moment.

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Make sure you have dark clothing and a balanced diet.

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Wear shoes that don't make noises when you walk. If you can't get any, then try to be as quiet as possible when you walk.

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To breath more quietly, breath in through your nose, then out your mouth.

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