Welcome to another installment of Ninjas in Training! The true beauty of Ninja Warrior is that is requires such a huge cross section of skillsets, and so everyone tackles their training in a completely different way. So, we’ll be asking friends of site to share with us their approach.
You might have seen our next guest on Australian Ninja Warrior last season, charming viewers with a ridiculous smile, an incredible determination and a ridiculouser set of abs. Not only are we excited about him rocking Australian Ninja Warrior last season, but we’re super pumped that he’s sharing all his training secrets with us.
Kadeem, thank you so much for this interview! We met in the AusNW semis last year, were you excited to get a call back for Season 2?
No worries my friend! It’s been too long. Yeah absolutely! I knew the stakes were higher this year as popularity soared which meant really needing to nail the application video!
How has life changed for you since we were hanging back on that mysterious little island o’ ninja?
A lot has changed, obviously getting recognised in the street is a big change haha but also to became a part of this awesome community which is growing each year! The biggest change for me was the opportunity to open a gym with a few other ninjas which unfortunately fell through in the end, but gave me the skills and confidence to put my exercise science degree to good use by creating my own website to house training programs for ninja warriors.
When I personally started training for Ninja Warrior, there honestly wasn’t a lot of information online… and truthfully, there still isn’t a ton available. I learnt so much more going to Ninja Gyms than I ever could online. What was your motivation for creating your freakin’ amazing site https://52ninja.com.au/?
I agree! Through training on these obstacles and surrounding yourself with better ninjas, it makes you better. I remember trying to youtube how to train for Ninja Warrior leading up to season 1 and you were right, there wasn’t much!
I would say the real inspiration was noticing how many Ninjas had “ninjeries” or were always on the verge of, or struggling with a strength element, which was holding them back; eg can’t do a solid amount of pull-ups or can’t do a lock-off. I found myself helping people often, and thought to myself, “Why don’t I make a program on this?”
It started off with trying to work out how to write an e-book and then I realised how there was nothing out there so I decided to go all in, left my job and had my head down writing programs, filming exercises and collaborating with other health professionals to produce rehabilitation content.
At all the competitions I’ve been to… literally everyone seems to be dealing with an injury or a niggle of some sort… which makes sense, given how we all suddenly throw ourselves into brand new moves and obstacles we’ve never seen before… how does your program tackle injury prevention?
My objective is to basically be an information highway. I have at the moment 3 types of program genres: Strength/Injury Prevention, Conditioning & Rehab.
The strength programs aim to develop the necessary upper body strength to handle the vast array of obstacles that make up Ninja. Most injuries occur from lack off strength before performing something our muscles, tendons & ligaments haven’t been exposed too before. Take a lache for example.
The force that goes through your shoulder is crazy, if you don’t have the rotator cuff and upper back strength to control that force, an injury is inevitable.
I currently have 3 upper-body programs that basically take you from not being to do a pull-up to being able support your body on one arm. That level of strength will definitely aid in unwanted niggles.
If certain niggles do occur, my goal is to have a huge library of rehabilitation programs for people to access, especially as physios can be expensive to see, so I would like to save people money by giving them the tools to look after their own bodies and performance.
I just nailed my very first full chin up from a dead hang. I’ve been trying for 6weeks….life just got very exciting 🤪 Thank you Kadeem Aarons, you got me there in record time! ….Where will I be in another 6weeks?! 💪
Posted by Vanessa Sorrentino on Monday, 25 June 2018
Vanessa performing her first pull-up after 6 weeks of using 5.2 Ninja’s programs.
In your training program, do people need access to obstacles?
Not at the moment, I have released my first stage of content, so all programs are based around just being in a normal gym. I will do an obstacle crash course program where I will share all the different moves we have to learn eg how to do a lache or salmon ladder and follow that up with a program to develop the under pinning strength.
What does your own training week look like? Do you get to many comps?
My training of late has been lacking, I basically try and train at least twice a week at Fighting Lyons, When The Compound Training opens up officially in Ringwood, I’ll be there once a week. I do! Currently doing very well J at the monthly Compound comps I’m currently sitting 9th and in the NCL (Ninja Challenge League) I’m sitting in 2nd place overall nationally behind the great Ashlin Herbert. Training on obstacles is one thing, but comps are the true test if you’re ready for the show.
I’m constantly blown away with how supportive this community is…. How did your ninja journey start?
My journey started with the lead up to Season 1, Clem from the Compound was the first person I met related to Ninja, and from there the Ninjas would gather at Clem’s or bounce and once the show was filmed then of course everyone just clicked and the community was born!
Does diet play a big part in your life?
It should! I’m not the best at dieting per say, I eat as well as I can, but if you put a juicy burger in front of me I can’t resist! I personally am a sweet tooth so I need to be more disciplined and not give in to cravings too much.
I won’t ask you to pick favourites because that’d be way too mean… but who is the funniest ninja you’ve spent time with?
The funniest? Ohh even that’s a tough one! I will probably have to say Jake Baker, he was on season 1 but he commentates all the Compound Comps and my god is he witty!
The first episode of Australian Ninja Warrior just aired… Do you have any tips for new readers wanting to also train for Ninja Warrior?
Besides jumping on my website (just kidding), you really need to have a strong back & core. You should be able to do pull-ups & dead hangs on bars. Grip strength is number 1.
Thanks Kadeem, if peeps want to follow you and your inspiring social media enthusiasm, where can they find you?
Thanks for having me Adam! Can find me on Facebook & Instagram @5.2 Ninja and of course head to http://52ninja.com.au where I also have great free content to access as well!
If you’re interested in Kadeem’s programs, you can see them here.
Thanks again to Kadeem for being so sharing with his training, his goals and his progress. We wish him the best of luck in her goals for 2018 and beyond. These articles are all about building the Ninja Warrior community around the world and helping each other out. If we help each other out, we all get better, and if we all get better, we can make the world a happier, fitter, more exciting place.
If you’d like to share your training routines and motivations, please contact us.
Train hard Ninjas!
