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Every week, millions of people tune in to watch American Ninja Warrior Courses as ninjas complete a series of obstacle courses. American Ninja Warrior Courses are now available in parks and community playgrounds, allowing individuals participate and strengthen their agility.
If you’re researching how to build an American Ninja Warrior Course, you’re at the right place. In this guide, we’ll break down the steps to creating your course successfully.
An American Ninja Warrior course is a purpose-built design that is focused on progressive difficulty, functional movement, and full-body engagement. It features suspended elements that require users to hang and swing. It also has precision-based obstacles that reward technique and control.
Additionally, it features modular progression for users to progress from beginner to elite levels. Here are the key obstacle categories in a Ninja Warrior Course:
Balance obstacles: An American Ninja Warrior course has balance obstacles that test control, body awareness, and lower-body coordination. For instance, it has balance beams, stepping pods, rolling or wobble bridges.
Upper-body strength obstacles: These obstacles develop pulling power and endurance. Examples include monkey bars, hanging ladders, and rope climbs.
Grip and swing obstacles: These include gymnastic rings, nunchucks, peg boards, and flying grips.
Agility and speed obstacles: These obstacles encourage fast transitions and footwork. Examples of these include speed steps, slanted walls, and quick-hop platforms.
Before you install any frame or obstacle on your course, proper planning is essential to determine if it will be safe, functional, and profitable. This planning stage is the foundation of everything that follows:
Start by defining your purpose, or the ‘why’ of building the course. Your purpose will determine design complexity, obstacle selection, and budget. Here are a few examples:
Preschools and schools: These settings focus on age-appropriate strength, coordination, and confidence-building.
Public parks and playgrounds: These focus on durability and safety.
Gyms and training centers: These settings emphasize greater difficulty with performance-based progression.
Commercial entertainment venues: These areas are visually engaging with modular designs.
After defining your purpose, the next step is to identify your target age group and skill level. Instead of building a course for everyone at once, focus on clear differentiation. Here are key age categories to plan for:
Preschool (3-5 years): Designs feature low height, wide grips, and minimal fall risk.
Children (6-12 years): Designs for this group feature basic grip, balance, and agility obstacles.
Teens (13-17): Designs for this age group feature increased height, dynamic movement, and strength challenges.
Adults: Designs include advanced obstacles requiring grip endurance and upper-body strength.
Your location is also equally important. This influences whether you will build an indoor or an outdoor Ninja Warrior Course. Below is a breakdown of features:
Indoor Course Planning
Requires sufficient ceiling height (especially for hanging obstacles)
Allows controlled climate and year-round use
Typically uses padded flooring or specialized sports mats
Ideal for gyms, schools, and training centers
Outdoor Course Planning
Must withstand weather, UV exposure, and temperature changes
Requires corrosion-resistant materials
Needs proper drainage and ground preparation
Common in parks, playgrounds, and community spaces
There are many things to consider when designing your course, regardless of where you choose to put it. Here are some of the things to keep in mind:
Spacing: You need to make sure your course is on your property and is adequately spaced. Most courses usually start around 8ft x 10ft x 12ft. However, the size can change based on the obstacles desired and the complexity of your course.
Cost: Building a Ninja course can start for as low as $200 and can increase drastically based on frame materials, location, and obstacles.
Course flow: Create a continuous flow to allow participants move naturally from one obstacle to the next without confusion. A logical sequence is: balance → strength → grip, etc. It should also have a clear visual direction from start to finish.
Obstacle spacing and safety zones: You need to ensure that your course is well spaced to promote safety. Fall zones in the proximity of every obstacle should be adequate. Parallel obstacles should have a safe distance, and there should be a clearance on walls or fencing.
Progressive difficulty: A good American Ninja Warrior Course should be progressive in its level of difficulty. It should have progression plans to enable the use of the same course by varying skill levels without risk of injury.
Modular layout design: Modular layout design allows for easy customization, replacement, and upgrades. It also factors in future expansion without structural disassembly.
Once you have a design concept, the next thing would be to build your course using the obstacles that you desire. Obstacle courses must contain challenges in all levels of expertise i.e. beginner to advanced. Here is a breakdown of how each obstacle should be constructed:
Beginner-friendly obstacles are especially crucial for schools, playgrounds, and first-time users. They include:
Stepping Pods: These are low surfaces that enhance foot position and balance.
Balance Beams: These are straight or curved beams to increase the stability of the core and coordination.
Inclined Walls: These incorporate easy climbs to use without much climbing height and without too much difficulty.
Low Monkey Bars: These are a set of bars that are used to build grip strength without any risk.
These courses bring on incremental physical demands to individuals who are interested in going to the next level. They suit people of advanced age, adolescents, and leisure athletes.
Standard Monkey Bars: These are bigger in length, and they demand a grip strength.
Spinning Logs: These are rotating elements that challenge balance and timing.
Ring Traverses: These are swing obstacles that enhance coordination and control of the upper body.
Rope Swings: These are items that promote changes in momentum and grip changes.
These advanced courses are modular, allowing for difficult challenges to be increased in height or spacing. These are ideal for those with expert skills who want to have the ultimate American Ninja Warrior experience. They are suitable for training centers, competitive environments, and adult users.
Warped Wall: A curved climbing wall requiring speed, strength, and technique
Salmon Ladder: A dynamic obstacle testing explosive upper-body power
Cliffhanger Ledges: Narrow holds that demand precise grip strength
Flying Grips: Swing-and-catch obstacles that test timing and courage
Before you finalize your layout, you should have some inspiration to shape the creative direction and overall identity of the course. Without solid inspiration, your course will feel confusing or disconnected from your target audience.
Study real courses: You can find inspiration from watching the American Ninja Warrior television series itself. You may decide not to replicate every obstacle, but you can find inspiration in obstacle sequencing and pacing, visual storytelling, and balance between spectacle and functionality. You can also look at professional ninja gyms, training facilities, and public ninja parks.
Understand your audience's motivation: Find out what motivates your audience. For example, children are inspired by bright colors and movement. Teens seek skill progression while adults look for difficulty and measurable improvement.
Define your theme: Choose a color palette that reflects the theme of your ninja warrior course. Choose a competition-style layout for athletic environments and an adventure-based feel for schools and parks.
Include practical design: Include predictable movement patterns, proper spacing, fall zones, and secure anchoring.
Incorporate progression: Include early wins to build confidence. Create options for mid-course challenges to test skill and final obstacles that feel rewarding to complete.
Choosing the right materials is crucial to successfully building an American Ninja Warrior Course. These components determine how your course looks, how safe and durable it is, and how much maintenance it needs. Below is a breakdown of the materials and equipment needed:
The frame is the foundation of the entire course. If it is solid, everything else stands. If it is not, everything will fall. Common structural frames include:
Galvanized steel: This has high corrosion-resistance, hence, it is ideal for outdoor courses.
Powder-coated steel: This material can be used for indoor and outdoor courses.
Reinforced steel: This steel is designed to handle shock and high-impact.
These materials are built for excellent durability and grip performance. Here are some of the materials you should use:
Hardwood or laminated wood: Hardwood is a sturdy wood that is used for balance beams, steps, and platforms
Steel and aluminum: These materials are used for hanging, swinging, and structural obstacles
High-strength polymers: These materials are weather-resistant and are used for outdoor courses. They are used to design grips, handles, and molded elements
When it comes to building a ninja warrior course, safety is non-negotiable. Every piece of equipment needs to be designed with safety in mind. Here are some safety materials that you should include:
Rubber safety tiles
Poured-in-place rubber flooring
High-density foam mats
Wood fiber for outdoor parks
Your equipment may need protective coatings to extend its lifespan and improve safety. This is especially important if your ninja warrior course is built outdoors, where equipment is exposed to sun and rain. Here are common protective coatings:
Powder coating for corrosion resistance
UV-resistant paint for outdoor durability
Rounded edges and protective caps
Anti-slip textures on contact surfaces
No matter how visually appealing your ninja warrior course is, it must adhere to relevant safety standards to ensure the safety of users. Here is a breakdown of safety standards to consider:
Depending on your location, here are the standards your course will need to comply with:
ASTM Standards (United States): Commonly applied to playgrounds and sports equipment in the United States.
EN Standards (Europe): Focus on structural integrity, fall height, and impact attenuation
Local building regulations: Vary by region and municipality
Creating your course to match the user's age is another safety standard to adhere to. Common factors include:
Maximum allowable fall heights
Grip diameter suitable for hand size
Step spacing and platform width
Difficulty progression without sudden skill jumps
Falling is inevitable in a ninja warrior training. Safety measures need to be in place to reduce injury risk. Building your course with impact-absorbing surfaces is essential. Some fall protection elements you can include are:
Properly rated safety surfacing for elevated obstacles.
Extended fall zones around swinging elements
Mat thickness matched to obstacle height
Regular inspection and replacement of worn-out materials
Operational safety and supervision are important to avoid users colliding with equipment and other participants. Here are some practices to include:
Defined entry and exit points
Clear usage signage
Trained staff
With the six steps mentioned above, you can successfully build and design an American Ninja Warrior Course. By evaluating your purpose, target audience, location, getting inspiration, and including safety elements, you can create a space that will encourage repeated visits.
If you have any questions or want a customized design for your course, contact us at Vasia Playground.
Building an American Ninja Warrior course ranges from as low as $200 for a small setup to over $1,000,000 for a full-scale facility. Cost depends on material, size, and obstacles included.
Ninja warrior course sessions usually last about 60 to 120 minutes. Special classes usually run for about 75 minutes.
A ninja warrior course is appropriate for children aged 5 and up, with many facilities structured for adults to build strength, balance, and coordination.
Yes, a Ninja Warrior course can be expanded later. Most modern designs feature a modular approach, allowing for new extensions.
Ninja gyms teach a combination of physical, mental, and social skills, including building strength, resilience, and coordination in children and adults.
