Atacx gym capoeira: You can fight with it

[Calado]

I know nobody has been on this thread for a while, i have studied capoeira for many years now and have recently had the pleasure of training with Mestre Jogo de Dentro, Mestre Roxinho and Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha (eddy gordo) in Brazil. I agree with the guys saying "you can't fight with it"
However, capoeira is not just about flashy kicks and putting on a show, especially capoeira de angola, i have used the skills i have gained from capoeira in other martial arts, such as flexibility, agility, evasiveness, even malicia.
So, as for fighting purely using capoeira, no. Fighting using the skills gained only from capoeira, very effective.

 

[Calado]

Who is/was your mestre by the way? you seem to have lost the traditional teachings of capoeira somewhere along the way. Here in new zealand we dont promote it with fighting and your "cartwheel groin punch" but for what capoeira is really about and mestre pastinha's teachings, we struggle sometimes yes, but every capoeirista in new zealand, and the mestres i have trained with in brasil all teach/learn how to use capoeira defensively and offensively, and trust me, it looks a lot more effective than a cartwheel groin punch.

 

[Twin Fist]

i have studied capoeira for many years now and have recently had the pleasure of training with Mestre Jogo de Dentro, Mestre Roxinho and Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha (eddy gordo) in Brazil. I agree with the guys saying "you can't fight with it"

man, Ras aint having a good month...lol

 

[Calado]

just watched more of the videos, i swear they are a joke lol, sorry, but its true

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Very late on this thread. I watched the vids and honestly, aside from the cartwheel and the handstand, I didn't see anything that was particularly out of the ordinary.

The only thing that I saw that I was critical of was in (I think) number five, where Coach Ras goes in low and puts his head at about abdomen level in relation to his partner. I don't like putting the back of my head/neck into such easy reach and a savvy opponent could certainly take advantage of that.

I don't train in capoeira, so I have no comments as to how authentic it is.

Criticism of the videos themselves: In the first two videos, the sound quality was not all that good. The rest were fine. Also, I would like to have seen the techniques performed at speed (say three quarter) and without interruption after the instructional portion so that the viewer could get a sense of how it looks when actually performed.

Otherwise, it looked fine to me. Kudos to the OP for putting them up.

 

[Flying Crane]

I know nobody has been on this thread for a while, i have studied capoeira for many years now and have recently had the pleasure of training with Mestre Jogo de Dentro, Mestre Roxinho and Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha (eddy gordo) in Brazil. I agree with the guys saying "you can't fight with it"
However, capoeira is not just about flashy kicks and putting on a show, especially capoeira de angola, i have used the skills i have gained from capoeira in other martial arts, such as flexibility, agility, evasiveness, even malicia.
So, as for fighting purely using capoeira, no. Fighting using the skills gained only from capoeira, very effective.

Hi Calado,

if I may ask, who is your teacher? You've named a few names, but it's not clear to me if these people were your teachers, or simply people with whom you've had some (possibly) limited opportunity to train, without a deeper student/teacher relationship.

My own background is that I trained for about seven years or so, the bulk of that with Marcia Cigarra in San Francisco California, who is under Mestre Camisa in Rio. I was a graduated student/blue cord in the ABADA school and was one of the senior students at that time, tho I've not trained capoeira for a number of years now as I ultimately drifted away from it in favor of the Chinese methods.

My observation is simply that the way most people train and practice capoeira is not conducive to fighting with it, tho many of those people erroneously believe that they can. However, capoeira is most definitely a viable and effective means of fighting, IF one trains properly to use it as such. Again, most people do not, so in most cases, no it is not a viable fighting method because the people doing it do not understand how to use it to fight. But that doesn't mean the art itself cannot be used to fight with. I've had opportunity to meet and train with numerous accomplished capoeiristas who would be terrifying to face off against, they can fight quite well with it.

I'm not in agreement with the approach that Ras is taking to illustrate how to fight with capoeira. I do appreciate that he is attempting to make that point and is attempting to show how it can be done. I just don't agree with him in how he is doing it.

When you say that you agree with those who say "you can't fight with it", it may be that YOU cannot fight with it, but don't discount what others CAN do with it.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

just watched more of the videos, i swear they are a joke lol, sorry, but its true

Why don't you run some of your videos up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.