Omari R
Latest Reviews
New York City Ninja Academy
I just finished taking the 7:30p “Adult” class. I think I was the only proper adult in the room apart from the instructor, but that was fine. The other three students were high school students. We started mostly on time and I got a brief run down of the rules. We did 10 laps as a warm-up; the area is roughly the size of a basketball court if I had to give you a mental model of the size of the space. After the jog we did a brief period of stretching then went into the Ninja training.
Within 1.5 hour, I was pretty able to sample most of the exercises; at least the ones I was capable of doing. There wasn't any rigid structure and programming, and I got to hop in and out of the different obstacle courses. A lot of the exercises require a decent amount of upper body strength. If you aren't used to swing and hanging off things, then your grip strength will definitely be challenged. They also have a balanced based obstacle course if that is more your forte. They rotate parts of the obstacle course on the weekly basis, so there are always new challenges to try.
The instructor, Sebastian, was wonderful and very encouraging. My only regret is that I wish they had things like this when I was younger. I had so much fun, and I'm happy something like exist. They also had so much fun.
There is another location in Gowanus called Brooklyn Ninja Academy. Which might be more convenient for any Brooklynites. This one is a bit tough to get to if you're taking the train because it's all the way on 12 Avenue and 55th street, but the closest train is located on 59th and 8th Avenue.
Some recommendations that, I felt, could have the experience even better:
Provide locker rooms to change. The only place to change in privacy is the one unisex bathroom, which was clean, by the way.
A vending machine with drinks or water cooler would be great since this is a gym.
A courtesy email reminder sent out 24–72 hours before class is always a nice touch.
Overall, I would highly recommend trying this out. They make it look so easy on TV!
Within 1.5 hour, I was pretty able to sample most of the exercises; at least the ones I was capable of doing. There wasn't any rigid structure and programming, and I got to hop in and out of the different obstacle courses. A lot of the exercises require a decent amount of upper body strength. If you aren't used to swing and hanging off things, then your grip strength will definitely be challenged. They also have a balanced based obstacle course if that is more your forte. They rotate parts of the obstacle course on the weekly basis, so there are always new challenges to try.
The instructor, Sebastian, was wonderful and very encouraging. My only regret is that I wish they had things like this when I was younger. I had so much fun, and I'm happy something like exist. They also had so much fun.
There is another location in Gowanus called Brooklyn Ninja Academy. Which might be more convenient for any Brooklynites. This one is a bit tough to get to if you're taking the train because it's all the way on 12 Avenue and 55th street, but the closest train is located on 59th and 8th Avenue.
Some recommendations that, I felt, could have the experience even better:
Provide locker rooms to change. The only place to change in privacy is the one unisex bathroom, which was clean, by the way.
A vending machine with drinks or water cooler would be great since this is a gym.
A courtesy email reminder sent out 24–72 hours before class is always a nice touch.
Overall, I would highly recommend trying this out. They make it look so easy on TV!
PhotoUno Photography School
I just got my first iPhone after being team Android ever since I got my first HTC smartphone circa 2010. I'm still getting used to doing things the “Apple way” and PhotoUno's “2-hour iPhone photography class” is an excellent way to accelerate the learning curve of learning to harvest the capabilities of the iPhone camera. We had Francisco (Lyons) as the instructor of the class. We had a small class (4 students) which probably made for a better experience before we all got my individual attention. The class seats up to 9 people.
We started the class off with short introductions, then we got into the very basics of photography. Think ISO, shutter speed, aperture, the rule's of 3rd's etc. I already knew most of this, but this was a greater refresher and I felt it was taught at an adequate level for the uninitiated. We got into shooting actually objects and learning about the multiple settings and functions that the stock iPhone camera app makes available.
The class is laser focus on the default camera app, and the instructor didn't make mention of any 3rd party apps at any point. Overall, I felt that it was well worth the money. Francisco was great and was excellent at breaking down somewhat complicated subjects to a beginner level. I felt a lot more comfortable using the camera after taking this class.
We started the class off with short introductions, then we got into the very basics of photography. Think ISO, shutter speed, aperture, the rule's of 3rd's etc. I already knew most of this, but this was a greater refresher and I felt it was taught at an adequate level for the uninitiated. We got into shooting actually objects and learning about the multiple settings and functions that the stock iPhone camera app makes available.
The class is laser focus on the default camera app, and the instructor didn't make mention of any 3rd party apps at any point. Overall, I felt that it was well worth the money. Francisco was great and was excellent at breaking down somewhat complicated subjects to a beginner level. I felt a lot more comfortable using the camera after taking this class.