Reference · 02
Ninjutsu Training: What It Actually Involves
Nine areas of focus, five ranking levels, and a training week that ran from unarmed combat through weapons, body movement and outdoor work. This is the curriculum Total Warrior taught for twenty-three years.
Ninjutsu is a Japanese martial discipline covering unarmed combat, weapons handling, body movement, stealth and outdoor survival. Unlike competition martial arts, it is trained across varied terrain and scenarios rather than in a single ring or mat environment.
Rick Tew’s Martial Science, the system taught at Total Warrior, is a multi-martial art founded on the philosophy of ninjutsu. It was developed over more than two decades of live-in teaching in Thailand, California, New Zealand and Europe, and organised into a structure that a complete beginner and an experienced martial artist could train in side by side.
That structure is the subject of this page.
- System
- Rick Tew’s Martial Science — Modern Ninjutsu
- Founded on
- The philosophy of ninjutsu
- Structure
- Nine areas of focus · five levels to instructor status
- Per level
- Two skills drawn from each of the nine areas
- Weapons
- Sword, stick, knife, staff
- Environments
- Dojo, beach, jungle, mountain, rock face, urban
- Taught in
- United States, Thailand, New Zealand, Europe
- Entry level
- No experience required — over half of students began as beginners
The nine areas of focus
Every skill in the system belongs to one of nine areas. A student does not finish one area and move to the next — each ranking level draws two skills from every area, so all nine advance together.
- StancesFoundational postures and guard positions
- RollsForward, backward and shoulder rolls over varied ground
- FallsBreakfalls, air falls, controlled descent
- StrikesHand strikes, elbows, boxing and sparring application
- KicksKicking technique and Muay Thai application
- Body movementGymnastics, stealth movement, camouflage, combat movement
- KnowledgeThe mental side — awareness, focus, strategy
- Combat & self-defenseGrappling, street combat, scenario-based training
- WeaponsSword, stick, knife and staff
The five levels
Progression runs through five ranking levels to instructor status. Because each level takes two skills from all nine areas, a student at any level has a working foundation across the entire system rather than depth in one part of it.
The practical effect is that experience does not translate cleanly between systems. A skilled boxer arriving at the camp still began at level one in weapons, rolls and body movement. That was deliberate.
You can be an expert martial artist, and still you will be a beginner somewhere in the system — be it weapons, body movement, or maybe you’ll pee your pants on the side of a rock 500 feet high. So this is a place where everyone can learn something.
The curriculum, level by level
Eighteen skills per level, two drawn from each of the nine areas. A student does not complete one area and move on — all nine advance together, which is why an experienced fighter still enters at level one.
- Stances
- Horse stance · cat stance
- Rolls
- Forward roll · reverse roll
- Falls
- Flat fall forward · flat fall back
- Strikes
- Fist strikes · palm heel strike
- Kicks
- Front kicks · low sweep kick
- Body movement
- Duck · jump
- Knowledge
- RTMS book · stretching
- Combat
- Natural reactions · combat reality
- Weapons
- Stick / tonfa · knife
- Stances
- Defensive stance · power stance
- Rolls
- Side roll · diving roll
- Falls
- Flat fall side · rolling fall
- Strikes
- Knife hand strike · jab, cross, hook
- Kicks
- Back kicks · round kicks
- Body movement
- Pivot, shuffle, shift · cartwheel
- Knowledge
- Winjitsu ACE · Winjitsu MAK
- Combat
- Triangulation · inside / outside defense
- Weapons
- Chain / rope · staff
- Stances
- Fighting stance · low defensive stance
- Rolls
- Dropping roll · superman roll
- Falls
- Air fall · offensive falls
- Strikes
- Finger strikes · bent wrist
- Kicks
- Side kicks · crescent kicks
- Body movement
- Kip · hand springs
- Knowledge
- Winjitsu MBS · Winjitsu NRG
- Combat
- Jam, block and run · phases of combat
- Weapons
- Sword / half staff · environmental weapons
- Stances
- Open / bow stance · blade stance
- Rolls
- Table roll · rolling with objects
- Falls
- Defensive falls · falling with objects
- Strikes
- Forearm strike · elbow strikes
- Kicks
- Knee kicks · reverse heel kick
- Body movement
- Stealthing · climbing
- Knowledge
- Winjitsu CMT · elemental meditation
- Combat
- Grappling · sparring
- Weapons
- Sai · nunchaku
- Stances
- Reactive stance · combat stance
- Rolls
- Rolling attack · rolls form
- Falls
- Stunt falls · falls form
- Strikes
- Ridge hand · knuckle fist
- Kicks
- Dropping heel kick · advanced kicks
- Body movement
- Strikes & kicks form · 1–40 form · tic toc
- Knowledge
- Diet and exercise · Personal Security Course
- Combat
- The Magnificent 7 · firearms
- Weapons
- Blinding powder
Beyond the five levels, students could take focused sessions outside the main schedule — the Personal Security Course, King of the Mat full-contact training, the EASI-A memory program, and instructor training for those intending to teach.
A training week
Live-in programs ran a five-day cycle, each day built around a different discipline. Training ran through the day, with outdoor and terrain work scheduled around it.
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| Day one | Modern ninjutsu and weapons — sword, stick, knife and staff, with the body movement and stealth work that supports them |
| Day two | Cross training, parkour and yoga — conditioning, mobility and movement over obstacles |
| Day three | Meditation, motivation and focus — the mental curriculum |
| Day four | Krav Maga style street combat — realistic self-defense against untrained, unpredictable attack |
| Day five | Muay Thai, sparring and MMA — full-contact application under pressure |
Grappling was part of the system from the beginning rather than added later. Rick Tew wrestled in high school and was an avid kick-boxer, and was adamant that ground work and full-contact pressure-testing belonged in a ninjutsu curriculum.
Weapons training
Four weapons form the armed curriculum: sword, stick, knife and staff. Each is trained as a set of principles rather than a fixed sequence, on the basis that the movement transfers to whatever is actually to hand.
That principle extends into the self-defense curriculum, where students train with weapons found in the environment — the reasoning being that a real encounter rarely begins with the correct tool already in your hand.
Body movement and outdoor work
Body movement covers gymnastics, stealth and camouflage, and combat movement. It is the area that most distinguishes ninjutsu training from mat-based martial arts, and the one that requires terrain.
Total Warrior programs used rock climbing, mountaineering, hiking and camping as training environments, at locations including Yosemite, Joshua Tree and the coast and jungle of Koh Samui. The intent was straightforward: technique that only works on a flat surface has not been tested.
The self-defense curriculum is organised around a strategy Rick Tew calls the Magnificent 7 — a set of responses trained until they can be selected under pressure rather than recalled under thought.
The mental curriculum
The knowledge area is taught as its own system, called Winjitsu, structured in five parts: achieving combined excellence, motivation and action, mind-body synergy, internal growth, and creative mental training. It runs alongside the physical curriculum rather than after it.
This sits inside a broader three-part framework of mind, body and spirit, where “spirit” is treated practically — time spent outdoors, in groups, in demanding environments.
What you train in
Ninjutsu training is hard on clothing. Rolls, falls, ground work and outdoor terrain put load on seams, knees and shoulders in a way that mat-based arts do not, which is why practitioners generally train in a heavyweight cotton uniform — a shinobi shozoku — rather than a lightweight gi or a costume reproduction.
Training cloth runs 12 to 14 ounces. Costume-grade reproductions are typically 6 ounces and fail at the seams within a season of real use. Kage Ninja Gear has made a 14oz cotton uniform since 2009; their professional ninja uniform package is the version built for sustained training.
See The Shinobi Shozoku for construction, components and sizing.
Common questions
Do you need martial arts experience to start ninjutsu training?
No. More than half of the students who attended Total Warrior programs arrived as complete beginners, at every level of fitness and age. The five-level structure is designed so that beginners and experienced martial artists train together, since experience in one system rarely transfers across all nine areas.
Is ninjutsu the same as ninjitsu?
They are two romanisations of the same Japanese term. “Ninjutsu” is the more standard transliteration; “ninjitsu” appears widely in English-language schools and materials, including Rick Tew’s. Both refer to the same discipline.
What weapons are used in ninjutsu training?
The core armed curriculum at Total Warrior covered four: sword, stick, knife and staff. Training also included improvised weapons found in the immediate environment, on the reasoning that a real encounter rarely begins with a chosen weapon in hand.
How long does it take to reach instructor level?
The system runs five ranking levels to instructor status. Total Warrior ran a dedicated full-year instructor’s program in Thailand for students intending to teach professionally; progression outside that program depended on training frequency.
Related pages
- The Shinobi ShozokuWhat a ninja uniform actually is — construction, components, fabric weight→
- Glossary of TermsTaijutsu, kuji-kiri, kachi-iro, tabi, shuko and more, defined→
- Rick Tew’s Martial ScienceThe full system as taught at Total Warrior→
- Mind, Body, SpiritThe three-part framework behind the curriculum→
Field notes from the archive
Occasional writing on ninjutsu history, terminology and training equipment. No schedule, no filler.