Ninjutsu Training Online

Well, last weekend I got to spend some time in the great out of doors, practicing camping and survival skills in the snow. If you are a ninjutsu practitioner, you must constantly push yourself out of the comfort zone and explore new avenues of training. In 2009, I slept in the above (unfinished) snow trench in 10 degree weather, warm and snug on top of hemlock bows. This year, I have been pushing the limits of my Hammock Tent, and have slept out in about the same degree of coldness, but with a lot more wind (more pictures and information coming)! So not only did I hone my trap and snare making skills but I learned a great deal from my old pal, whom is a trapper about new ways to lay and set snares for emergency game trapping in a survival situation.

Lots of great information to put together for you from this weekend so stay tuned for more posts coming your way!

Bufu Ikkan

“A ninjutsu practitioner is very rarely surprised by a situation,  he utilizes his skills of observation, preparation and his training covers areas not normally found in traditional arts. It is through this wide angled view and preparation that he is able to protect himself and ones he cares for.” – Airyu

Bufu Ikkan

Ok, many, many emails have been coming in, so it is once again time for a Q&A session!!

“Airyu, I dig the post on 3/2, but can you tell me what you started to eliminate after you were honest about it? Thanks” – Randy W. Conn.

Ok Randy, one item I worked on was telegraphing. Allowing my opponent to see when I was about to strike. It was my shoulder, I would tense and it would ride up a bit just before I was going to strike. I spent hours and hours in front of a mirror working to eliminate this flaw. Then I started utilizing live opponents in various sparring scenarios to help me hone it even more. This is just a martial arts example, but I read this quote quite a bit and try to utilize it’s meaning in other areas of my life, financial, work, home life etc. See what else you can use it for and write me back when you can.

Bufu Ikkan

“Hi There, I have been constantly taught that you will lose fine motor control in a stressful environment and so you wouldn’t be able to shoot accurately, is this really true because it doesn’t seem correct.” – Bill T. Vermont

Hello Bill,

This is one I have heard for years but is proven wrong all the time! How else would our elite warrior teams like Operation Delta, SEAL, Rangers etc be able to fight back if they could not control the adrenal dump in their system? (Look up the SAS Kill house and see how they use live people in their drills to ratchet it up a notch) Recently, I was working with a group of boys on various first aid skills, when (planned) a boy ran out and started screaming that they had been hurt, they had fake blood on them and really played the part. Many of the boys stopped dead in their tracks, yet the ones whom had done this type of training, jumped right in to treat the victim. Training under pressure works, now start adding it to your regular program!

Bufu Ikkan

“Do you take supplements? What kind and what should I take to become a better fighter? – Ron P. GA

Hi Ron,

Yes, I supplement my nutritional program. My caveat here is I only supplement after I maximize my nutritional plan each day. That mean high quality food and drink comes prior to supplementing, period end of story. I train hard and I am not as young as I once was, but I run circles around many of my students. Now as part of my Ninja Warrior Conditioning program I offer advice on various supplements I have utilized and which ones have worked best, but this has not been released to the public yet, and will be a part of the upcoming Members area rollout coming soon!! ( I am stoked about this project!!)

So, no at this time I will be a ninja and be evasive on the answer…I can’t give away all of my secrets!

Bufu Ikkan

So there are a few answers to the many emails that come to my inbox each day. Before I sign out here, I want to Thank you all for continuing to support this site!! Get your friends and training partners to start coming by, and even liking the Facebook Page “Ninjutsu Training”. Last point the Ninjutsu Training Podcast will be making its comeback, so stay tuned my fellow N.I.T’s (That’s Ninja’s In Training!)

Bufu Ikkan

As a ninjutsu practitioner, understanding and surviving an extreme situation, such as a natural disaster, life threatening combat, emergency first aide etc., often depends on the individual’s ability to respond to the threat they are faced with. This “stress response” in humans has for decades been referred to as the ‘fight or flight’ response, and understanding the basic physiological and psychological components, will help you potentially survive a traumatic event.

The Physiological Basics

When faced with a sudden or extreme threat, two body systems act together to give you the best possible chance of survival. The reaction is for the most part not under your control. Your brain and your body decide what happens, the biggest toughest guy in the bar may turn and run, the tiny young bar tender may not, 90% of what happens is decided by chemistry.

The sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system get together at the first sign of a serious threat and if the threat persists for longer than a few more seconds both systems kick into high gear and adrenaline (epinepherine), noradrenaline (norepinepherine) and a couple dozen other hormones flood the body and the fight or flight response is triggered.

• Pupils dilate to take in as much light as possible
• Blood-glucose levels increase
• Veins in the skin contract allowing extra blood flow to the muscles
• Smooth muscle relaxes to allow extra oxygen for the lungs
• Heart rate increases
• Blood pressure increases
• Non-essential systems shut down (digestion for example)
• The only focus is the task in hand

It is your reaction to this flood of chemicals that decides what happens next. The first, often vital seconds can be wasted whilst your body decides what to do, which option will give you the best chance of survival. Your brain is processing information much faster than usual and increasing or decreasing the levels as the situation dictates. Running for your life or staying to fight is not at this point entirely under your own control, but highly trained individuals are much more able to overcome the flight part of the response and stand their ground and fight. This is why Elite warriors can enter a room under fire and can remove their enemy with pin point precision. Training under harsh and rigorous conditions allow you, the ability to control or at least understand and then deal with the powerful hormones course through your system. So how do you begin to implement this information into your training? Of course I have a few ideas:

1)      Use physical withering prior to engaging in a fine motor operation (ex: Shooting)

2)      Have your training partners begin to use verbal abuse during your training

3)      Train in low light situations

4)      Train in Street attire and the above 3 modifiers to your training

Yes, there are a lot more components, and methods to improve your ability to deal with this automatic physiological response, but a good Ninja doesn’t teach everything he knows!!

Bufu Ikkan

Nothing is more important to a ninjutsu practitioner than situational awareness. This is  a key to understanding your environment so that you can know better both your circumstances and your options. There are hundreds of examples that could be given here but as an example would you notice the bulge (printing) of someone’s concealed weapon if he approached you in a parking lot? Would you be able to remember enough details of the last turn of a path you passed two hours ago to be able to find it again? If you were attacked, would you be able to give a good enough description of the subject and getaway vehicle to have him identified? Well, let’s give you a great tool to help sharpen your Observation and Memory skills it is called “Kim’s Game”.

Kim’s Game was described in Rudyard Kipling’s classic book ‘Kim’ (1901). A British Intelligence officer, Mr.Lurgan, working in Simla, in northern India, is training the teenage street boy Kim, to be a spy. The enemy at that time was Russia, and the ‘Great Game’ was control of the North West Frontier – the gateway to India. In the book, Lurgan calls the game ‘The Jewel Game’ and ‘The Play of the Jewels’.

To begin with, Lurgan collects 15 random objects on a tray, and lets Kim observe them for one minute. The tray is then removed, and the players must write out a list of the objects seen. As the players gain in skills, more objects can be added, and more detailed descriptions required, for example, the relative position, color, size of the objects.

This game was recommended by Lord Baden-Powell in ‘Scouting for Boys’ as building up good scouting and military skills, never mind has made its way to the U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper School at Quanitico. So here is one of many drills that will help you sharpen your powers of observation and memory collection, now start practicing.

Bufu Ikkan

Ps: I have a whole new section on Ninja Mind Development Drills coming in the new Members section. Awesome material!!

“In budo, too, there are three important essentials: first, seeing and knowing oneself, one’s own strengths and limitations; second, the sword of discrimination, of decisiveness, for eliminating faults, weaknesses, and the unnecessary; and last, the sincerity, feeling, devotion, insight, and understanding of the heart.” – Soke Hatsumi

As I was traveling around the Midwest last week, I decided to go back into my old notes and I came upon this quote from Soke Hatsumi, and of course it started me to reminisce upon my training. Looking back all these years I have been training in the various disciplines and skills, I have got to know myself pretty deeply. You know what I mean, what makes me tick, what motivates me, challenges me and what even gives me a chill up my spine.

Now for a short exercise for you!!

Sit down and open your training journal (you better have one!!), start by listing what you know about yourself, everything! Just like I have stated above you need to know who you are in order to learn your own weaknesses and strengths. After you did, start drafting out how you would like to improve, and eliminate your faults and weaknesses.

Be honest here and dig deep as in by doing so, you can unleash some powerful emotions to help you improve on your Budo journey as well in life.

Bufu Ikkan

How is your day or week going? Is it hectic, running from one place to the next, action item after action item, only to then come home and have to clean up the house, drive the kids around, attend a meeting, maybe squeeze a training session in, then off to bed?? Sound familiar, I bet it does. Our lives are in a constant state of motion and activity and our brains are being forced to keep up with this frenetic pace, but how can you work to calm your mind, so that your body and mind can recover, well it is through meditation. Now before you groan and say “all this mental stuff doesn’t work” or “I don’t have time”, or any other lame ass excuse you can come up with, let me just ask you do you have 7 minutes you can spare in the morning? If you say no, then get up earlier! But let me explain, I came across a short piece from Jennifer Heil, an Olympic Gold Medalist Freestyle skier, and she recommends that we take just “seven minutes each day to focus on your breath. Slowing down to six breaths per minute for seven minutes is enough to calm the nerves and allow our bodies to physically recover.”

So, as always I became a human guinea pig in a new experiment to bring my frantic mind into calmness in just seven minutes. I start by sitting on the floor legs crossed, arms in my lap, concentrating on slowing my breathing down until I am at 6 breaths/min of time. My mind is usually racing trying to plan the day, remember to work on the website, call a student back but each time a thought wonders in I force myself to sit and concentrate on my breathing. After my first week, I felt huge improvements on my ability to focus on a task and creativity started pouring in. A ninja, must be able to control his/her thoughts and emotions on short notice, and so I ask you can you spare 7 minutes of your day to work on calming your mind? If not why are you reading this post, go and get some practice time in!

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu

I receive a lot of emails asking various questions so, here are a few that have come in recently.

“Sensei, I like the winter training posts you have put up, are you going to film anything new to add to the posts?” John G, Illinois

Hi John,

Yes I am! We just cleared a small storm that left 14 inches of snow here, and a nother new storm is coming in next Thursday. I hope to be able to head out to camp Shinobi to film some material next week.

Thanks for the question,

Bufu Ikkan

“Hi Airyu, do you have a list of the books and DVD’s you have read or watched and what is good and worthwhile to review?” William T, Mississippi

Of course, silly Ninja! I have a long list of material I have studied and that will be posted in the new Members section that is going to be released on March 15, 2014! Stay tuned for more on this upgrade.

Bufu Ikkan

“Do you train with a sword? Mark W. Conn.

Yes, I train with a very large assortment of weapons, and tools(ningu). You never know when you will be required to utilize something as a weapon or tool, so a wide breadth of knowledge can be very helpful. As I said in the above reply, the new members section will be packed with training information including various weapons both traditional and modern!

Bufu Ikkan

“Sensei, what do you think about Crossfit.” Sam P., Oregon

Hi Sam,

Well that is a loaded question! I have been a big fan of many training programs for well over 35 years. During this time I have been training and absorbing from many areas and people. Crossfit is not really a new program for me, as many of the short HIT programs it utilizes are very familiar, having been a fan and student of Coach Davies and Mark Twight material. Just as a side note I have and do teach several programs, one of which is Ninja Warrior Conditioning™,  that will be released this year to the general public. But also a great deal of this is being prepared for our members, keep in touch so you can join up and receive the material.

Train hard and intense!

Bufu Ikkan

Alright ninjutsu fans thank you for the questions, feedback and keep them coming as it keeps my motivation high so I can continue to bring great material back to you.

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu

South Korean Soldiers Training Old School

I love winter!

I love the cold the snow and even the treacherous driving (sometimes). Why, you might even think I am crazy but any ninjutsu practitioners should be training in all weather conditions, and yes that mean getting out in the cold! Now let’s take a step back here and identify a few different types of training you could be doing:

1)      Skill based

2)      Activity based

Here is a more detailed look at these two areas.

Skill based

When was the last time you practiced your camping skills in the winter? Setting up a tent or emergency shelter and then spending the night out in the elements? How about your cooking and water purification skills? Personally, I get out several times in the winter to do just this, I have built lean two’s, trench and debris shelters, as well as my hammock tent and spent pleasant nights in them nice and warm. I also enjoy physical training outside taking my ukemi, and striking drills out into the real world, hey when was the last time you took your pistol out to the range on a cold day and see how you would function and deploy a concealed weapon? So you are probably getting my point here, get out side and practice in a natural environment, without doing this you are only a “dojo trainer”.

Activity based

Here it is time to have some fun and stay in shape in the out of doors! Skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding (one of my favorites), shoveling, trail running(another of my favorites) hey you could throw in a biathalon event just to have some fun. I love snowboarding, facing your fear as you line up into the jump, using your legs and hips to carve and control the board, great training for your taijutsu! Last week, I was out on the slopes for 5 hours. The slopes were almost bare, no one around why? Well it was 0 degrees at the base, and now add you coming down the mountain on a board to throw some wind chill at you and it was ~-20 degrees! But it was awesome, I had so many runs I lost count! So get out there and choose something you like to do and pursue it with a passion!

O.K, now you have a few ideas to add once again to your training, so get ready and hit the cold temps!

Bufu Ikkan

Ps: More winter training tips coming…