Greetings, Steemians and Steemettes.

Yesterday, I talked about my first experiences with Capoeira. As fun and beautiful as Capoeira and the culture surrounding it are, Capoeira as a martial art is belittled when it comes to the martial arts. Humans love to make comparisons, no matter how hard to actually evaluate or quantify certain qualities are. They see the dancing, the singing and the acrobatics and usually discard the art as just being"Interesting but not effective". Do you agree with that? I wager that some people on Steemit have some background with the martial arts themselves, so I am eager to read up on some opinions. Because I dislike coming in empty handed, I will give you my opinions first, of course.

Not a sport

Not what you expected to see as a headline right? Let me explain. I make a big distinction between something being a martial art and something being a combat sport. A combat sport has a competitive nature that usually sees play in big regulated tournaments of any kind. Martial arts to me are more about the art itself and the culture behind it. There may be some competitiveness, but not in a way kickboxing or karate have.

With that being established, Capoeira is not a sport. People practicing Capoeira with one another, at least these days, do not train to fight. They train to play. Capoeira is a game that you play with someone else in the roda. You do it for your own excitement but also for the excitement of others. Remember from my last post that this was originally used as a cover to conceal the hidden meaning of actually training for combat.

Different styles of Capoeira

Styles may be an odd choice of words here. Capoeira isn't like Kung Fu where you have different animal themed styles. You have different ways to approach the Capoeira and usually, they are dictated by music. There is a remarkably slow way to play that involves very grounded and slow movements. It almost looks lethargic to a novice. Less exciting at first if you were initially drawn in by the acrobatics.

There is also another rhythm that is entirely about fast and lose play, where you bring in as many impressive moves. When playing in a roda, you usually go through different kinds of rhythms and speeds. Usually starting slow, the final is usually fast, loud and amazing to behold.

There is also a rhythm named after one of the earliest and most influential masters of the Capoeira. I remember the first time I heard my teacher Kangaroo play the rhythm for me. Listening to it made me feel like being chased by a swarm of hornets. The movements in this style are the exact opposite to what I described earlier. Focusing on the most basic of movements, fast and quick, barely and acrobatics. I did not particularly like this style because it was very unexciting to play with. I do see why it is important though, being the other side of the coin that is Capoeira.

Awkward stance

Did you know that people with other fighting backgrounds have a remarkably hard time getting into Capoeira? And there is a simple reason for that. Most fighting styles in different martial arts involve combat stance where you rest in a single position. This position is usually turned to the side in a way that is meant to give the opponent less room for attack on your body.

In Capoeira, the exact opposite is the case. The main stance here is the Jinga, which isn't actually a stance but an ongoing movement. While doing the movement, your body is always directly facing the opposition. Constant motion in this set way paired with the feeling of vulnerability leaves veterans of other disciplines uncomfortable. The great thing about the Jinga is that you can immediately switch into any of the many evasive maneuvers the art has to offer.

It hurts!

Most moves meant to attack in Capoeira involve the feet. You hardly if ever get to learn any attacking moves involving your hands. Writing this kinda reminds me of this guy, anyone else?

In Capoeira, the hands are usually used for movement and mobility instead of cooking. There are some throwing moves and, depending on the group you are in, these can be pretty harsh and take inspirations from other things like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for example. I won't cover these here though. I am convinced that slaves used their hands to do some more things aside from those two with their hands as well. But back to the kicks.

Capoeira kicks hurt and they hurt a lot. Hitting the right places with enough force can leave the unknowing target with grave injuries. And if you look at the anatomy behind a Capoeira kick, it makes sense. I am no physicist myself, but even I can explain that the amount of force a Capoeirista can build up with his kicks is immense. The best example for this is one of the kicks Capoeira is most well known for, the Meia Lua De Compasso.

This kick is great in showing the differences in training one can have in the art of Capoeira. As a novice, just wrapping your head around the idea on how this kick is supposed to work without breaking of knotting together your ankles is awkward. But once you understand the flow of movement behind it and learn to execute it, you understand how terrifying this is. Your feet reaches a high velocity in basically no time. And all that force being focused on the heel for a small point of impact. The real beauty of this particular moves comes from it's flexibility. Being able to use this from a lot of different positions and evasive maneuvers makes it remarkably versatile. Some say that this kick is a great way to see how good and experienced someone is when it comes to Capoeira and I agree. This kick or kicks similar to it see use in MMA every now and then, so people are aware and that is a good thing.

The real beauty of Capoeira

Almost every martial art or fighting sport has some way or form to make others feel bad about themselves, so Capoeira isn't special when it comes to that. On the contrary, as much as I was complimenting the attacking capabilities earlier, it takes a lot of time and practice to get to a point where you are able to understand and execute these kicks in a way that do not leave you open and easy to counter and even then, there would probably be better and more efficient ways to engage.

No, the true beauty actually lies in the evasive maneuvers. While most people only see the cartwheels and jumps, the real kicker are the more subtle evasive movements that can be used from almost any situation and position to re-position yourself in a way that is much more beneficial for you. Which is good because the Capoeira offers a lot of different ways to actually engage someone. More valuable though is the way this can be used to disengage out of harmful situations. The unconventional means a Capoeirista learns to move himself help him stay on his feet after being caught of balance where others would easily fall. This in itself is something I consider to be an essential advantage. And this kind of thinking and acting is encouraged and nurtured from the very first day of training.

The entire music thing also has it's advantages. Especially someone who has never learned a thing about fighting will wonder when people talk about there being a certain "rhythm" to fighting. Capoeira did a great job at giving me the feeling for that. Since I started doing Capoeira all these years back, I found that I have a much greater ability to understand the flow of a fight and who is leading whom.

Final Verdict

Is Capoeira the best, strongest, most efficient, effective martial art out there? I dislike making comparisons between martial arts and am no fan of people who do. But if I were to answer, I would probably say "no". For the many things Capoeira is doing great, in a real fight or any kind of tournament fight if I would be into that, I wouldn't want Capoeira to be my only ace in the whole. Capoeira makes and keeps your body fit and healthy and you get this good understanding about how a fight works and how to move yourself around the ring. On the other hand, Capoeira is very exhausting and hard to maintain over an extended period of time, the attacks are, while highly potent, highly telegraphed and easy to interrupt. Given how people hardly if ever make contact with one another, there isn't as much body hardening/conditioning happening as in, for example, Muay Thai.

What I do say is that everyone who takes an interest in fighting of any sorts should definitely start learning Capoeira anyway because the strengths of the art are highly beneficial as an addition to almost any other martial art/fighting style or combination there of.

Thank you all for your loyalty and support!

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