Little Ninja Shop

Here you will find all the things your Little Ninjas or you can use to sharpen your skills. How can you choose and what should you get? I will also on this intro page to the Ninja Shop add information, suggestions, and lists of what to look for in the store.

The Little Ninja Shop is a dedicated martial arts online store offering all that you will need to help you or your Little Ninja on a Martial arts journey. You can find uniforms, kicking heavy bags, targets, gloves, training weapons and even apparel.

Sneak inside and see the hundreds of items that can turn the average person into a highly skilled ninja. Or, read on for recommendations and lists to help you choose what gear will be best for your Little Ninja or even yourself.

Ninja Shop Uniforms for Little Ninjas

For Uniforms, I always suggest a ninja’s favorite color: black. For smaller children or most any child for that matter, this is preferable to lighter colors because of dirt and stains. They tend to get the most odd things stuck to or smeared on their clothes.

But to be honest, for my classes if your Little Princess Ninja wants a pink gi, go for it. There are several colors in the shop to choose from.

Student Uniforms are the lightest weight and least expensive. With children’s tendency to outgrow their clothes every year, it only makes sense to look for the most affordable options.

Look in the uniforms category for the Student uniforms. The 6 oz. Gis are the most cost effective for newer students. More advanced students will already know what they are looking for and it is all there as well.

There are extremely thick advanced Karate Gis, Judo and Jiu Jitsu Gis, specially designed Kung Fu ones, and V-neck TaeKwonDo versions. These are style specific. Make sure the uniform you choose is suitable for the classes you or your Little Ninja will be taking.

These are some of the top of the line uniforms for most any style from one of the most trusted manufacturers/distributors of martial arts equipment in the world. You can’t go wrong with choosing quality. Many other companies use mass overseas production to bring down prices.

Here’s what happens when you buy items of inferior quality that will be used regularly. You may start out with a cheaper price for the item, but once the item is used more than a few times it begins to fall apart. You end up spending more in the long run.

The uniforms and other apparel in the Little Ninja Shop are made for active use and will hold up to the strains that either kids or adults put on them. You will be buying quality that will last.

Ninja Shop Training Equipment

There are some basics that most any home gym would be better by including. These are by no means mandatory to learn a martial art. Yet, it is a matter of speeding up learning, the enjoyment factor, and simulating resistance.

You will find several forms of heavy bags or kicking bags in the Ninja Shop. Any of these will help with power and body conditioning. All of the bags in the shop are usable by children and adults. This way you and your Little Ninja can workout together!

In the Blockers and Targets category, some of the most useful items are the…

  • body shields
  • hand targets
  • strike films

I could literally run classes for weeks with just these and not run out of new ways to use them. If you are going to be helping your Little Ninja as a parent/trainer or if you are training and have a partner, these are invaluable.

They are also cheaper due to the need for training partner as a holder. Heavy bags and kicking bags are more expensive due to the ability for solo training and the substantial amount of more material needed to make them.

You will also notice a difference in price and material used in many of these targets and pads. The reason usually comes down to how they will be used. Extreme punishment will have to be absorbed by those designed for repeated use by pads utilized by adult kickboxing students.

For Karate, TaeKwonDo, and Kung Fu practitioners, there is a much wider range of techniques that require other forms of training. Unlike the repeated similar strikes of boxing or kickboxing on a single set of pads, their ‘abuse’ is spread out over many different targets and pieces of equipment.

Because of this they will be softer and not necessarily made of leather. The kickboxing and boxing targets are usually harder and made of thicker material. So, be sure to choose the targets and equipment that will suit the type of training they will be used for.

Fitness Gear For Active Adults And Kids

For all those parents and other adults that are looking for a great way to get in shape on their own without the ‘meat market’ scene of local health clubs, these fitness items could literally change your body and life.

Most believe that you need a huge warehouse full of equipment to get into shape. The truth is much simpler. You need a good healthy fasting based diet and a few basic items to help you get moving and change sedentary habits.

In the Ninja Shop we have included items I have and still use to this day. I am rehabilitating old and new injuries with them and slowly getting back into a more ‘fighting’ shape.

Doctors unanimously agree that aided body weight exercises with light to medium resistance are the best and most healthy alternative. So, forget about the high gym prices and look into these simple solutions.

Resistance Bands

Resistance bands have been around in the medical community for decades. They are used for rehabilitative exercises after surgeries. Bands with lower tension resistance can be used by the elderly for safe exercise as well.

Today, many have realized the great power they posses in helping everyone increase strength, muscle tone, balance, and coordination. They are safe, easy, inexpensive all in one workout gyms that you can carry in a small bag.

Here is a great example of just a small portion of what you can do with high quality, safe resistance bands.

Caution: Not all resistance bands are created equal. I have used everything from medical tubing (we used these for years doing uchkomi or Judo throw drills) to high quality workout bands. The difference comes in the construction when a handle is applied to the latex band. This is where cheap knockoffs will fail and the injuries could potentially pile up.

The bands in the Little Ninja Shop are constructed with safety and durability as the key design component. You will not get lightly secured grips just waiting to break after only a short amount of time. These are built to last and take abuse.

Take a look at the bands today in the Little Ninja Shop Fitness category.

Medicine Balls

Medicine balls are great workout tools that can add tons of versatility and exercises to your workout. Caution should be use if allowing children to use them. These are heavy pieces of workout equipment that look like toys to children. Make sure they are supervised if using them.

For older children, teens, and adults these can be invaluable assets to any home workout routine. If used right they could even be used for a majority of a workout.

They come in different sizes and weights for use with different types of training and by different sizes of people. As one gets too easy to use with some exercises it should be switched for a heavier one. This simple switching of the entire ball is much easier than dealing with plates, bars, or pullies.

If you are wanting a full body workout with minimal equipment and space, medicine balls could be right up your ally.

Protective Equipment For Little Ninjas

For the youngest of martial arts students, most protective gear is usually not necessary. Usually, freestyle resistance drills with partners are reserved for older students.

It is not uncommon for these younger Little Ninjas to wear them to prevent accidents and get them used to the feel of having it on. Also, while using heavy bags it is advisable for all ages to wear some kind of glove to keep down abrasions and other injuries.

Besides, many kids like the look of wearing boxing gloves, chest pads, or headgear.

For upper elementary age kids and above, these sets of gear become more needed. With live practice part of some programs, these students are required to get their own sets.

Here I will lay out what you can find in the Little Ninja Shop and point you to some of the differences.

Boxing and Kickboxing Style Gear

Boxing and kickboxing are a very popular sport side to the martial arts. It is not reccomended that younger children participate in live practice with partners, but the techniques and protective equipment can be used in a multitude of ways.

This can develop a good base for self defense training as they get older. Gloves, Headgear, and heavy bags all can be used by students of any age. They come in many different forms, from light bag gloves to huge boxing training style gloves and everything in between.

What you want to look for is the size that works best for you child or the adult that will be using the pads. Youth style may fit the hand a bit better for a child, but will also have less padding. If the child is in the upper elementary grades, a boxing glove with more padding may be advisable.

Hand wraps honestly are usually only needed by teens and above. They are worn beneath the boxing glove and are for the protection of small bones and joints.

They are used to ensure the hand is not injured as the student punches with maximum force against different objects. Smaller children will generally not generate enough force to cause similar injuries if a proper glove is used.

For teens and above it is recommended that wraps be worn under the gloves. Many believe that the glove alone will protect the hand with full power and speed behind the punch. This is an errant view.

Here is a tip that has usually held true for as long as I have been training.

  • The gloves are for the other person or to help striking targets to last longer.
  • The wraps are for the student doing the punching, to help prevent injuries to their hand.
  • A good boxing glove will usually serve both purposes for smaller children.

Whether the gloves are for younger or older students or used for target or air training, the selection in our Ninja Shop has what you will need. You won’t regret buying quality.

Karate Style Protective Gear

There are many types of Karate and TaeKwonDo pads that can be worn. These are for protection from falls and accidents, but mainly they are used in live sparring training. For this reason, they will mainly be for older kids through teens and adults.

Can younger children wear them for safety reasons? Sure. They will like some of the look and feel of them. It will just be more necessary for older students.

Here are some of the different types of Karate protective padding that you will see in the Ninja Shop…

  • Foot pads
  • Shin pads
  • Knee pads
  • Chest guards
  • Forearm guards
  • Hand pads
  • Headgear
  • Mouth pieces
  • Cups and Supporters

These are all sold separately so you can choose the right pieces for the activity your Little Ninja will be involved in. As an instructor, there are a couple pieces that are necessary for any student. This is regardless of whether live sparring will be done or not.

The first and most important is a mouthpiece. There are a myriad of examples I can give of how children have knocked out teeth simply by falling. This is not only a martial arts thing, but an active kid thing.

There is one example that readily comes to mind.

One of my Little Ninjas was playing at home and pretending to be an Olympic Ice Skater. In her mind she could do jumping 540 spins and hover in the air indefinitely. Well, reality had a hard lesson for her that day.

While playing on the hardwood floor in her living room, she jumped in the air just like it happened in her mind. Only, in reality she crashed face first into the floor.

The poor little thing knocked out two of her front teeth and was traumatized, or so she thought for a week or two.

Accidents can happen in and out of a Karate class. This is especially true with very active kids. One second they are beside you and the next they are hanging precariously from a tree limb.

When participating in an active sport, it is a good practice to wear a mouthpiece. This leads us into the second essential piece of equipment, the cup and supporter.

Cups and supporters are an essential part of any gear a student wears if they are in a group setting. For online training or solo training, it is much less needed. However, these virtual or solo students may want to wear them to get used to them for when they do train with partners.

For group or partner training, I can’t stress enough the necessity for cups and supporters. The injuries these could stave off are numerous. This goes for grappling, striking, and weapons arts.

As for the sparring pads themselves, they are a best practice when partner or group training. There are different reasons to wear different pieces.

Some pads are for the student who wears them. These include…

  • Headgear
  • Chest Guards
  • Mouth Pieces
  • Cups and Supporters

Some pads are to protect the partner the student trains with.

  • Hand Pads or Gloves
  • Foot Pads or Boots
  • Shin Pads
  • Forearm Pads

All of theses items in the Little Ninja Shop are made with top quality construction with the highest level of materials. For anyone wanting to purchase these pads or protective gear, you can rest assured that they will last. I have used them for decades, and they lasted many years with active use.

Little Ninja Shop Everyday Bags and Apparel

For school, workouts, or for travel, carry bags are essential items for everyday use. Your Little Ninja will need a backpack and gear bags. Why not get one that shows their Little Ninja style?

Check out the apparel and carry bag categories in the Ninja Shop. We have everything from shirts to hoodies and gear bags to book bags. Your kids can look the part as they develop their Ninja Skills.

Rash Guards In The Ninja Shop

One of the item lines are something I use every day when teaching, training, or shooting videos. I wear rash-guards always when working or working out. They are such a great addition to any uniform. They are way more useful than most people realize.

There are several reasons that these shirts can really help.

One of the lesser known, but extremely helpful advantages of these tops is the ‘wicking’ ability of the material. It takes sweat away from the skin and helps it to evaporate on the outside layer of the shirt.

As our bodies heat up, they produce sweat. This sweat carries with it some of this heat. As it is evaporated off of the skin, along with the water heat energy is taken off into the air. Thus our bodies are cooled and regulated.

These rash-guard shirt speed up and aide in this process. I can attest to the fact that if there is any sort of breeze from wind or fans this shirt acts like a personal air conditioner. Wearing them under heavy grappling Gis has become the method of choice of many Jiu Jitusu and Judo players.

There is also the saftey benefit that comes along with especially the long sleeve versions. Their design is for creating a barrier for fungus and bacteria related skin rashes and diseases. This can also be useful for more common things like warts and infections from dirt.

Not only this, the look and feel of these shirts can help smaller children that have an aversion to wearing many types of clothing cut down on the time it takes to get used to the chafing associated with new Gis.

Back Packs And Carry Bags

I carry a back pack with me everywhere. Because of what I do, it serves me better than a briefcase or a rolling case. Those are impractical in so many situations. A back pack works from small children, through high school, past college aged students.

The backpacks in the Little Ninja Shop are designed to last. They can double as a gear bag for basic things like uniforms and a couple pieces of protective gear. They can work great for school and even in my case, for work.

No matter if they are just to keep everything together or used for traveling, these bags and back packs will do the job. Hey, and you will be sporting Little Ninja style at the same time.

If you are going to an on location martial arts class, these bags are a must. No one wants to be walking into a dojo or classroom dropping random things as they go. Get one of these bags and you can make an entrance with style.

Training Weapons In The Ninja Shop

When it comes to training weapons, this can get kids excited more than just about any part of the martial art or its equipment. I have noticed time and again, weapon training sparking interest in the most ‘too cool’ kids.

In the Little Ninja Shop, we have TONS of options for training weapons. Some are more specific to particular styles (like the love affair some Karate styles have with tonfas) and some are more universal.

There are also the tactical and self defense oriented ones that replicate carryable self defense weapons. The difference here being that about half of the weapons in martial arts are traditional weapons that would get you stopped by the police if you were to carry them openly on a walk through town.

Let’s look at some of the options to get you familiar with what you will see in the shop.

Filipino Kali Training Weapons

Filipino Kali training weapons come in all types of materials, but usually take the form of only a couple styles of weapons. Kali training weapons are based around the…

  • Stick
  • Staff

They represent sharp or impact instruments and are used to train a variety of lengths and styles of edged weapons. These simple yet versatile training weapons are used the world over.

The main form of a training Kali or Escrima stick is rattan. This type of wood though plenty hard enough for use in most any situation, has a slight bend to it when striking hard objects. This cuts down on broken bones if accidents happen.

There are padded options as well and they can even be used in live sparring situations for older and adult students. These drills are some of the most fun in the martial arts, bar none.

Check out the wide selection of Kali sticks today in the Little Ninja Shop.

Traditional Training Weapons

Kamas are one of those Karate style weapons that trace their history back to farmers defending themselves, their families, and their land. At different points in history lawlessnes would reign and ordinary people in Japan would have to fend for themselves against outlaws and even tyrannical governments.

These weapons have their original design founded in farm tools and instruments. Through years of training and with additions of other techniques, Kama practice has taken on an intricate and dynamic new look.

For a good selection of these training Kamas swing over to the Little Ninja Shop.

Tactical Or Self Defense Training Weapons

These sorts of training weapons are meant for adults. Kid should really not be training with these sorts of concealable weapons. There are parts of many styles that deal with them, but in a good school, class, or under a good instructor, kids will not be taught to use them.

For adults they are great tools for learning and increasing your self defense capabilities exponentially. Learning to use them and to defend against them could literally mean the difference between life and death.

There are several styles to choose from and instructors may have a preference on which type you use in their system. So make sure you know what you are looking for when getting one of these tactical trainers.

The Ninja Shop Takeaway…

That is a lot of information. How does a parent or grandparent make sense of it all? If an adult is searching for martial arts equipment for themselves, usually they have been in the martial arts long enough to know what they are looking for.

Yet for parents and grandparents searching for items for their Little Ninjas, it can be confusing. Here is a list of things that will be applicable to my Little Ninja Karate Class online or in person…

Advised Karate gear…

  • Black Student 6 oz Gi
  • Youth Rashguard
  • Youth Martial Arts Shoes

Optional but recommended Karate Gear…

  • Your Choice of Heavy Bag
  • Youth Boxing Gloves
  • Body Shield (for parents to use while helping kids train)
  • Striking Film (for parents to use while helping kids train)
  • 2 Square Hand Targets (for parents to use while helping kids train)
  • Your Choice of Back Pack

And that will do it for the recommendations and information on the Little Ninja Shop. I look forward to helping your Little Ninja on their martial arts journey, either with training equipment or Online Little Ninja Classes.