Capoeira

[brad2]

what do you all think of capoeira?
I have been practicing for a while now, and it seems a lot of martial artists dont like it. I do know one thing though, its better than tkd.

[Brokenmace]

It take more tactical knowledge to pull off your art. It relies to a great degree on trickery and deception to land strikes. Also, not many folks can get their heads around the wierd angles a good practitioner throws at them without breaking their game.

If I was you, though, I would practice a ground fighting art to complement what you are doing. If someone good is fighting you, they'll just sweep you to the ground and start stomping.

Capoeira is very good (if you are flexible) if someone puts a joint lock on you, as you've practiced just the sort of kicks that can get you out of certain wrist locks. Where most would go to the ground from the pain, you'd post an arm and flip into a kick.

Ask your Mistre for specific street fighting tactics and applications. Remember, it looks like a dance as much because it is a dance, as because of deception. In modern times it is both dance and combat.

It is hard to be good in combat while practicing an art that is mostly sport and dance for most folks. Hardened combatants are hard to find (if not impossable). You'd probably have to go to Brazil to find anyone who routinely used it to fight with growing up.

Also, you'll want to toughen your shins. At those angles, you're bound to crash into an elbow, which is the trained response for many fighters today. You should also learn to kick like a Thai boxer, if only to fool your apponents. Plus, if you run out of energy it is a good fallback.

I knock TKD all the time, that doesn't mean there's no TKD guy who could kick my head in. It's the artist not the art.