Having trained in a myriad of other martial arts before starting up in Capoeira, I had often heard people say that it’s ‘useless’. As a martial art that integrates elements of music, dance, and gymnastics, I could see why those who come from a hard-hitting, strictly-for-self-defense background would think so. When you see people performing it on television or in a live show, there’s no contact. Yes, they are doing high speed kicks, but they are also really far away from each other. There also seems to be no punching, blocks or any other hand techniques for that matter. Lastly, people are singing, clapping, doing backflips, and spinning around on their heads. Hardly an environment condusive to training for the realities of defending oneself.
At the same time however, as with anything, it is always easiest to judge things that we do not understand, and most of the people who make such claims haven’t actually trained in it.
Capoeira does have a lot of wild gymnastics and breakdancing-esque movements. One need only attend any given Roda to see that. At the same time however, much like in many other traditional martial art with high flying or gymnastic movements, the value in training in such movements is that they teach you to have better control of your body, give you better distancing and spacial sense, muscle coordination, and lastly (and perhaps most importantly) self confidence in your ability to control your body.
I, for one, can certainly vouch for the fact that after you can land backflips and backhandsprings on a hardwood floor (or concrete), you feel like you can pretty much do anything.
Beyond that however, even if those techniques are present, that certainly doesn’t take away from the fact that Capoeira has the same basic kicks as most other standing martial systems. It utilizes a front kick, sidekick, roundkick, back kick, and a few spinning kicks (aimed at taking the opponents head off), and if one trains in them to the point of mastery, then they are just as usable as kicking techniques from any other martial arts style.
In addition to this, despite the fact that Capoeira has no blocking perse, this makes its system of evasions second to none, and perhaps the trickiest and most difficult to predict of any martial art. While other martial arts may be linear in either attacking or retreating, Capoeira can be linear, circular, in any direction, at any height or even upside down. Counterattacks can be targeted as low as the ankle of the opponents supporting leg while they are kicking, (and down with the whole body inches above the floor) or as high as their head while in the middle of a jump. Although we rarely see them in demonstrations, Capoeira also incorporates takedowns, and leg sweeps that make many Capoeira Rodas look more like this than like this.
This is not to say that Capoeira is a perfect system of self defense. As aforementioned, a punch is pretty much the most common kind of attack one can expect in any kind of a fight, and Capoeira does not train its practitioners on how to throw them or defend against them. As such, the chances of successfully avoiding and/or countering one when someone throws one at you for the first time isn’t exactly optimistic. At the same time though, as every system of martial arts training is bound by the rules of their sparring system, none of them are perfect. Even Mixed Martial Arts which argues to be the most effective of all martial systems lacks applicability in military or two-on-one self defense situations where there’s only time for a single strike and taking an opponent to the ground is simply not an option.
Beyond that, despite the fact that Capoeira ’sparring’ (i.e. the Roda) is supposed to be done with little and light contact, as with break-dancing, Capoeira was first and foremost developed on the street. As a function of this, oftentimes a contest between members of opposing groups can not just become fierce, but can turn into a street fight in and of itself. Many (if not all) Brazilian Capoeiristas are used to practicing that way, and (again, as in breakdancing) often the ones who go on to be the strongest leaders of their group are often those who are the toughest on the street. (I’ve heard that the Mestre of my particular group is works as the head of security at a prison). At least in the case of Capoeira Masters who were trained in Brazil, this experience will also come through in terms of how they both practice techniques themselves, and teach them to their students.
In conclusion, although we as martial artists are proud of the ways that we train, and the styles we come from, I think it is of equal importance to couple that pride with humility when it comes to speaking about the way that others train. That being the case, I suppose in answer to the question that I posed in the title of this blog, I would say, “Come and train in it, and find out for yourself.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8xxgFpK-NM
Chuck Johnson is an action actor, and a martial artist of 16 years. In addition to action films, he currently teaches action, martial arts, and stretching techniques in Tokyo, and Saitama, and also works as a personal trainer.
