Last week, my friend Joe went to his first Muay Thai Boxing class at a gym in the area (blog post about it here), and hilarity ensued (to borrow a phrase from Tucker Max). I’ve always been interested in studying a martial art to go along with strength training for a number of reasons:
- Why not? It gives me something to do.
- I’ll be able to defend myself against ninjas, which is nice.
- It’ll improve my flexibility, which could use some work.
- I’ll feel like a badass. win-win!
Now, I was trying to decide which discipline to follow and I came across Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art originally developed by slaves. What makes this one so awesome? Um, it’s literally BREAK DANCE FIGHTING. I’ll let that sink in for a second. Yeah, take fighting, and throw in flips, spins, rhythm, and a big helping of awesome and you got yourself on hell of an afternoon. I’ve been a terrible break dancer for years, and it’s something I’ve wanted to get back into, so I figure might as well learn some fighting moves and get better at that at the same time!
So I’ve done some research on Capoeira (apparently there’s this free encyclopedia on the net called Wikipeidia…who knew!), “Capoeira’s origins are not entirely clear. While many believe that the form displays a combination of African and Brazilian martial arts, historians are divided between those who believe it is a direct descendant of African fighting styles and those who believe it is a uniquely Brazilian dance form distilled from various African and Brazilian influences. The sparring is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, and extensive use of sweeps, kicks, and headbutts.” Sounds good to me, plus I’ll look like these guys:
Now, I do have some concerns in going this direction. One, there’s no real fighting when it comes to practicing Capoeira, it’s all about the movements and actually NOT hitting each other. If you get in a fight with a dude, you’re not gonna wanna practice NOT hitting him. You’re going to want to beat the **** out of him as quickly as possible if you’re in danger. Plus, if it happens in a bar or some place similar, then break dance fighting probably won’t help. Anybody out there ever done Capoeira? Can it actually be effective in a real-life situation? I’d consider studying Capoeira alongside a more applicable study like Brazilian Ju-Jitsu (also taught at the same gym) or Muay Thai boxing with Joe. Either way, I’d definitely like to jump into Capoeira soon. At the very worst, I could look like this guy and get cast in the next You Got Served movie.
Best Break dancing I’ve Ever Seen
Any Capoeira people out there? Any recommendations? Would anybody NOT recommend Capoeira?
-Steve
