Our Story
Bellingham locals Becca Margulies and Jadyn Welch founded Life Force Ninja in September 2019 with the goals to bring the sport of ninja to Bellingham and to promote a healthy active lifestyle. Bellingham and surrounding areas quickly took to the sport, and before we knew it, ninja became so much more than just an activity – it grew into a community of amazing kids and adults that have all connected with each other through movement. Ninja has truly become a way of life for many of those that come to play, train, and compete at Life Force Ninja.
Meet Our Team
Becca Margulies
Co-Owner/Ninja Coach
Becca is a big kid at heart who believes in the power of play, no matter your age. As a kid her family encouraged her to try many different sports, including: gymnastics, figure skating, whitewater kayaking, snowboarding, and mountain biking. Becca fell in love with ninja when she and her partner Jadyn were looking for fun ways to get fit. They saw a need in the Bellingham community, and Life Force Ninja was born in 2019. Becca is so excited to work with kids of all ages (adults, that means you too) and to help build Bellingham’s ninja community.
Crossfit Level 1 Certified
CPR & AED Certified
Jadyn Welch
Co-Owner/Ninja Coach
Jadyn has always been a bit of a ninja, from doing capoeira as a pre-teen, breakdancing in high school, and mountain biking later in life. Around age 34, Jadyn discovered the sport of ninja along with his partner and sweetheart Becca. The two of them immediately fell in love with the sport. Not only does it make you feel like a big kid, it‘s also incredibly physically demanding, and SO MUCH FUN! Jadyn coaches our Advanced competitive team, and is non-stop tinkering with obstacles, creating new hair-brained challenges for our ninjas to try their hand at. He competes in UNAA and NNL leagues, and maybe one day he’ll make an appearance on "the show", aka American Ninja Warrior.
Crossfit Level 1 Certified
CPR & AED Certified
Jesfer Mikesell
Ninja Coach
Hey my name’s Jesfer but you can call me Jes! I‘m proud to say that I’m a staff member of Life Force Ninja! There‘s nothing more exciting to me than being involved in a community that isn’t afraid to move freely, have fun, and support each other. I enjoy anything that involves painting or making music, but when I’m not at the gym you can catch me outside hiking with a camera in one hand and a beer in the other.
ASFA Advanced Personal Trainer Certified
NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist Certified
CPR & AED Certified
Cailin Jewell
Ninja Coach
Cailin moved to Bellingham to attend Western Washington University and immediately fell in love with the area. After graduating with a degree in Spanish, she decided to stick around and continue enjoying the outdoor activities Bellingham has to offer. She discovered ninja after joining the crew at Life Force Ninja in 2020, and has become a huge fan of the sport. She began competing in the UNAA league this spring. When she’s not at the gym, Cailin is outside looking for adventures like mountain biking, hiking, or skiing. She also loves getting creative with new sewing and design projects, playing the keyboard, or spending time with friends.
CPR & AED Certified
Alexandra Billings
Gym Attendant
Personal Trainer, life enthusiast, and cat lady, Alex is your go-to gal for all things health & fitness. As an athlete, Alex strives to greet each day as an opportunity to challenge herself and test the limits of what she is capable of doing.
Taking life with a "glass half full" attitude, you’ll always find Alex with a smile on her face and some pep in her step.
Alex is your ultimate hype girl and coach whether you‘re completing your first step on a slack line or climbing that final rung on a salmon ladder. Offer her a good slice of pizza, and you’ll have a friend for life.
CPR & AED Certified
Jensen Newhall
Ninja Coach/Fitness Coach
Jensen is a fitness loving Florida native that can’t say no to a challenge. He got his start in fitness during high school through the sport of rowing. After finding ninja in college, he fell in love with the science of movement. Since then Jensen has been a course tester for the shows American Ninja Warrior and Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge. In 2021, he and decided to move to Bellingham to join the Life Force Ninja crew. When not at the gym, Jensen is commonly found practicing handstands in the park, biking, unicycling, playing hockey, or hanging out with his dog Zuko.
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
CPR & AED Certified
Susan Deschenes
Fitness Coach
Susan moved to Bellingham in 1992 from Aberdeen Washington and fell in love with the town. She has been teaching group fitness classes for over 28 years and has been a certified personal trainer for over 25 years. Her education includes an undergrad from Western Washington University in Exercise Science, as well as a Master’s in business. She started training martial arts in 1991 and is currently still training with TAP (kajukenbo) with a second degree black belt. Her passion for fitness and martial arts makes Ninja Force the ultimate place to work! Her full time job is teaching at Skagit Valley College in the PE department.
Certified Yoga Trainer
Certified Pilates Trainer
Certified Personal Trainer
CPR & AED Certified
Our Facility
Life Force Ninja’s 18,000 square foot facility boasts a robust ninja playground with over 70 different obstacle challenges. With features such as an 18′ tall mega warped wall, an air bag with obstacles overhead, a climbing wall, and 3,500 sq ft of ninja lanes, Life Force Ninja is one of the most well-equipped ninja gyms in the Pacific Northwest. We love to mix things up to keep it interesting, so you can expect that our course will change on a weekly basis.
Here’s what you can expect to find on any given day at Life Force Ninja:
- Flywheels
- Floating doorknobs
- Floating monkey bars
- Floating peg boards
- Gymnastics rings
- Hanging doors
- Lache bars
- Liquid logs
- Monkey bars
- Mini tramps
- Parkour blocks
- Pegboard
- Pegboard teeter totters
- Ring toss
- Rope climbs/swings
- Super salmon ladder (16′ tall)
- Salmon ladder transfer
- En garde salmon ladder
- Sideways boards
- Sky hooks
- Spider wall
- Spin cycle
- Spinning globes
- Spinning discs
- Teeter totter balance beam
- Tick tock
- Trapeze bars
- UFO’s
- Unstable bridges
- Warped walls – 8′, 14.5′, 18′
- Wobbly steps
- Wingdings
- Wingnuts
- Zipline
- Ziptracks
We Are Builders
One of the reasons Life Force Ninja is truly special: we build most of the obstacles that you get to play and train on. From concept drawings, to design in CAD, to production, we do just about all of it right here at our gym. Our obstacle build lab houses many specialized tools, including a CNC router. In a matter of hours, we can come up with a new obstacle idea, and have it hanging on the course by day’s end. And did we mention how much we LOVE to build obstacles??? It’s just as fun to build as it is to play! We are always scheming on the next new obstacle, which means those coming to our gym are constantly treated with new toys and challenges. Ultimately, this gives our ninjas an unparalleled opportunity to continue advancing their skills.
Get in touch
Do you have questions about our programming or schedule? Maybe you’re interested in planning a Life Force Ninja birthday party or corporate event. Whatever it is, we’re happy to answer any of your questions. Please send us a message here, and we’ll do our best to answer as soon as possible.