It looks flashy, but it also looks effective. I believe a guy in the MMA event Cage Rage, was a Capoeira fighter and he won the title. Is it effective?
shareThe capoeira was invented by slaves in Brazil and africa. It was effective enough for the slaves they would use the dance moves to confuse the owners and then would tie knives to there feet. Picture the capoeira with knives slicing you with every kick.
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Even without knives, capoeira is still a strong style. Capoeira's big draw is distraction. A good capoeirista is always changing directions and the opponent never knows what's coming. Besides that, a capoeirista will put his whole body into an attack. Because of the nature of doing handstands and kicks, they can literally throw their whole body into a kick and still recover from it and do another one.
shareNo!
shareYes!
shareQuiet noob!! :D
shareI do a very rare street fighting style of kung fu here in the UK and my Sifu (www.splashinghands.com - that's my teacher on the front page) used to do Capoeira. I've always wanted to do it since I was a boy so I asked him about last month. He says it looks flash but 'if anyone tells you it's good in a real fight, they're talking crap'. :-)
Generally most styles involving lots of high kicking are useless in a real fight, but I still respect the athletism on Capoeira and the anti-slavery messages it stands for. So when I've recovered from a recent operation, I'm gonna give it a shot. :-)
Oh please. Anyone skilled in capoeira knows that it isn't about the kicks, it's about the tricks. I'd like to see any kind of martial art try to defend against some of the more elaborate tricks in capoeira. Try having a real fight against a mestre, and I'll get back to you.
In addition, it's probably the most adaptive and reflex-oriented martial art in the world, believe me... it's _hard_ to even come close to hitting someone skilled in capoeira.
"My girlfriend always laughs during sex-no matter what she's reading."
I was watching a clip from Pride FC yesterday where a Brazilian fighter was very flashy capoeira moves.Now he didn't connect to his opponent, but he was very good at doing those fast trick moves.
shareIt is, but like every other martial art, it has it's weakness. Over the past three years, I've started to buckle down to one style (Capoeira) from many different styles (others included Thai Boxing, Wing Chun, and JKD). It's really effective if you want to get in shape and capoeiristas can be really deceiving. Don't let the flashiness fool you!! If you get into a fight against a capoeirista, be on your guard (...and I'm not kidding).
shareYes. Capoeira is very effective. As commented earlier, a capoeirista can throw a lot of weight into a kick or head butt or take down. As a self-defense, I'd say one third of the moves I've learned are dodges. I'll be honest, it might not be the very best fighting style, but it is very effective. I think these are great comments from everyone who posted.
shareThat's not true, I'm 3rd dan in Hapkido and 2nd degree Black belt in Taekwondo and I have been in tournaments against guys that are very high ranked in Capoeira, It is very effective if the person knows how to use it But it is not that difficult to make contact with them, It just depends on the skill, You want to see a true weapon of self defense? Check out Hapkido, Mostly hand work and body work, But It takes some serious dedication to rank up in Hapkido.
shareIt is not effective. All of my wall of text have been deleted so I will have to explain but In a nut shell it is barley a martial art. It is a dance that not just anyone can learn. It worked for two reasons. 1. element of surprise . 2. They had weapons tied to their hands and feet. It is not a well rounded martial art . It completely fails with several age groups. It fails against multiple opponents . It teaches things you either cannot use in a fight or should not. It fails in close quarters. The ontly thing is it good for is cross training and exercise .
I have realized you can't make a difference. You must accept your fate
Of course its not effective! All that jumping, whirling, spinning and dancing uses up a tonne of energy for no real effect. Many of the attacks are weakly delivered. A spinning handstand with a tap of the foot to the enemy does nothing in a real fight. Also, most of the dancing movements look repetetive and predictable. Sure, if the opponent gets caught off guard then a looping haymaker of a spin kick to the jaw is going to end the fight but landing a blow like that is exceptionally rare in real fights.
Very entertaining to watch. Great for getting into and keeping in shape. But as a legitimate combat martial art - get real.
You explained some doubt in mind about the capoeira style -- distraction.
I'm hardly familiar with any style, but I thought that there were way too many extra movements.
I've theorized a slightly similar style, if I was confronted, but it's unlikely, being kinda big, middle-aged, and not living in (nor visiting) high-crime areas.
Part of my theoretical strategy: confuse the attacker & smash them (their head) against a wall. Never happened & doubtful it ever will.
Depends on the situation.
Mostly yes though, with it's very unorthodox (I do practice it by the way) moves you can get the jump pretty well on anyone who doesn't know about it.
"Menin aeide thea, Peleiadeo Akhileos" -Homer
well in my experience and yes i have sparred with people who practice capoeria.. its not that effective against a well rounded fighter ie if your talking about individual style then yea its all up the individual but when your talking about it going against a fighter who mixes it up and knows how to strike and grapple its not as effective
shareThe important thing is that capoeira was only a self defence in it's traditional setting and nowadays is only taught to be used against other capoeiristas, in the guise of a game/sport. I know people who have used things we've learned in class in street fights, and like someone said we learn to be very adaptive and to read what our "opponent" (we dont call it this in capoeira, we play we dont fight) is doing and trying to do.
In any inter-discipline fight it'd be fairly useless as someone who does Tae Kwan Do or Jiu Jitsu or anything like it spends all their time learning practical techniques and sparring but it does make you fit and lots of what we learn could be used in self defence so against someone who doesn't do any form of martial art of self defence it could easily be used. For most people the self defence aspect is a small bonus but for some people capoeira is a self defence option that doesnt make you feel like youre joining the army.
WE are now entering the Quebra Gerebra style where you have two capoeiristas fight each other .... yes it is usefull BUT let's say a martial arts practician with 4 years of experience fights a 4 year experienced capoeirista ... I don't see how Capoeira would overcome martial arts ... I mean I study martial arts for almost 5 years and I don't see how a capoeirista would beat me using capoeira tricks ... I am not saying capoeira isn't good ... in fact I am one of the hugest fans of Capoeira ever :D ... raven017 .... you say you also trained in JKD ... if that JKD is what I think it is ( Jeet-Kune-Do ) and you REALLY understood the principles of JKD , you couldn't possibly say capoeira is more efficient than traditional martial arts , right ? ... oh BTW : I said I fight a capoeirista with 4-5 years of experience , not a Mestre :)) he would beat the crap out of my sorrow ass :D And yes people , you should be on your guard ... raven017 ment it and I do too ... unless you use the Wing Chun range or a close full contact style , a capoeirista might beat the hell out of you ;)
sharei am a caporista of London and i sould say that this is almost missing the point. one of the tennants of capoeira is the trickery. when it has been said earlier be on your guard, he means it because there is no such thing as fair play (poked in the eyes stabbed in the ribs, kicked in the balls) it also teaches fluid and cunning style. you play and wait for an opening and go for that. even pretend to be worse than you are and let your opponent lower his guard. I know people can always do that, but ive seen nothing where it is as embraced as capoeira. and anyone who says angola is less aggressive is wrong (dont mean to be blunt but its true) angola is usualy played slower, but sometimes at the same speed as regional and it is less showy more direct and tactical.
who knows where thoughts come from, they just appear!
I'm sorry, but like the capoerista from London is saying... you have no idea. I've been training Tae Kwon Do as well, and sure, if I got into a fight, it could prove kind of useful, but when we're talking useful: What the hell are you gonna do if someone bloody jumps at your floor and kicks you in the nuts? This has nothing to do with anything but efficiency. Anyone skilled in capoeira would kick your ass. Somewhat with a fashion in addition I might add. You wouldn't stand a chance in hell.
"My girlfriend always laughs during sex-no matter what she's reading."
LOL, so many arguements. Yes Capoeira is good but it a capoeira can't defeat every style just becuz it's tricky, it could defeat some but not all.
shareYeah, I guess that's why capoeristas are kicking major ass out of mixed martial artists at the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Those MMA guys that know grappling and effective kicks and punches have no chance against the trickery of capoeristas.
Oh, wait..
here's the deal on this, capoeira will beat ANY form of martial arts (and I'm talking about a mestre in capoeira vs a master of the same time in any other martial arts) EXCEPT Grace... Grace is a little-known style, much like capoeira, that was designed by the Gracie family, we all know that that family is probably the BEST fighting family ever... because capoeira involves so much trickery and flips, they will beat you down... it's not all high kicks, there are low and medium kicks just like everything else, there aren't that many hand blows... we use our hands to move along the ground and hold our body weight... it's not just the strength of the blows or the weight of the body, but also the speed that packs the wallop in a capoeirista's moves... as a Brasilian I've studied a lot about this art and I can tell you right now, that it is the MOST effective style against every other form, unlike Karate, Jiu Jitsu and Tae Kwan Do, or even MCMAP where they teach "if this guy is here, like this, you can do this, and he can do this, and you can counter with this" no, capoeira will allow you to attack anyone from almost any angle, if you're good enough... it's not just flashy, not just for show, it will knock you out...
sharefirst off all you have know idea of what your talking about there is no style out there better then any other why else do you think in mixed martial arts they teach you to learn from multiples because one alone is not efficent but one thing is you can generate more speed from other styles such as muay thai tae kwan do and many more yes you can generate alot of force in capoeira but you can with others i saw a science show where they had a muay thai fighter kick at 130 miles per hour and had kick with 1500 lbs of force then they had a tae kwon do fighter kick at 138 miles per hour at over 2000 lbs of force where in the muay thai fighter who was massivelly muscular by the way kicked at 90 miles per hour and only generated around 1800lbs of force so its not the style its the individual
share[deleted]
Gracie BJJ is little-known? The Gracies founded the UFC, you dunce. I know this an old post, and I really hope you have grown up since it was written, because you are woefully uninformed.
"Be proud of who you are, Camp Firewood!
well, really, I think all of this is somewhat missing the point. The point of any type of fighting, whether it be ju-jitsu, boxing, taekwon-do, or capoeira, is that they're essentailly about learning a language. The language being this... If some one asks a question, you answer it, right? If I asked you what your name is you wouldn't look up and say, that's a nice lightbulb. You would say, my name is Sancho or whatever. With any style it's about being able to hear the question, someone striking at you, and then giving a response, your counter strike or block. Just with any style, everybody always has a plan until you're punched in the face. Then usually, there goes your plan. The key is to remain calm in fighting.
So to answer the question, is capoeira effective. Yes, it definately can be. But on the flipside, sometimes it doesn't even matter. Let's say a capoeirista is getting into a fight with a grappler... If the grappler attempts to take the other to the ground during a kick or whatnot, just like any other fighter, they can be taken down. That's not always the case of course because you can have someone who's able to stuff a takedown and knee the *beep* out of you or even reverse it and get on top and just ground and pound you. The same goes with other styles. It's just a question and answer type of situation. Best thing though, like I said, is to remain as calm as you can. Also, just like any other style, if you're experienced in a style and the other person doesn't know any type of fighting, chances are you are going to win.
Anyhow, I hope this helps. ha ha ha ha.
Capoeira IS effective. I'ved tried to do it once, and this laughed at me, fell and broke his arm.
"Enjoy yourself -- every day above ground is a good day."
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You guys are getting completely off the true issue. The question was is Capoeria Effective? Well anything is effective as long as you train hard and a lot, and you also need to put it in a real situation. Obviously rarely will you see some one do a jenga I believe its called when some big strong punk tries to throw down at a bar or club. It would be kinda funny to see it happen, "excuse me sir, let me get my rythmn first then we can fight ok...please." Same thing with any other martial arts, there is a phrase that has been repeated to me over and over "As you train, so shall you fight" so train enough with anything its going to be effective, it doesn't matter which martial arts you train in. Most people make the mistake of asking with martial arts is the best?...well the problem with that question is too many factors do you count flashy as being the best, effectiveness, street effectiveness, strength, speed, working 100% of the time????????????????? Too many factors to deal with and the biggest thing is no one martial arts works 100% of the time. Everything else is just cosmetic, you want to have overall control and effectiveness study everything you can for as long as you can. Back to the main topic though yes capoeria can be effective if you actually train for it, and dont just watch this movie and assume you can do it, because then the answer is Hell NO!!!!!!
shareThat phrase with "excuse me sir let me get my..." is funny. It would be funnier that the guy who fights againts to make a beatbox for the other one to get the rythm. :))
"Enjoy yourself -- every day above ground is a good day."
Capoeira can be effective depending on the type of opponent. A person with a moderate skill in Capoeira should be able to defeat most of your average "street" opponents. Meaning little or no training in combat. These people can be tricked easily.
I am a big fan of Capoeira and consider it a stylish form of combat dancing. However, compared to other martial arts, this style doesn't compare. Capoeira can hardly be effective against real martial artists that have been trained to watch your opponents moves and actions. Real martial arts like Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun, Muay Thai, Kenpo, Lethwei, Jujitsu, Aikido, Hapkido, and Judo. Look them up.
I can understand your comments though I dont agree with all of them. First I dont think you should declare what is or isnt a martial arts at some point someone will feel insulted by your declaration of their style not being real or true. Second with anything you do it depends on the skill not the style. Capoeria if I have to compare it to anything its like water boxing or drunken boxing you stay in montion, so you stay fluid. While being fluid you have more of an advantage than standing there and waiting for an attack, or throwing the attack. You had it correct before when you talked about watching an opponents movements, but with these styles the movements are all over the place hence they are more difficult to see. All styles are real styles, excluding things like tae bo no offense to Billy but that is not martial arts. You are also missing a lot of real and popular styles from your list including the most obvious Karate. Other than that its cool, there is a documentary in the works involving may different styles of martial arts Ill let you know when I hear more about it, I heard it should be really good.
shareDo you mean 'mind body and kick ass moves'? its a series of 10 30 min programs, id highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in martial arts.
share"Capoeria if I have to compare it to anything its like water boxing or drunken boxing you stay in montion, so you stay fluid. While being fluid you have more of an advantage than standing there and waiting for an attack, or throwing the attack."
Incorrect. If you are in motion, then you are at a disadvantage, for to make a countermove to the opponent's move, you have to stop that motion. Which means you have to exert energy that a guy simply standing does not have to. Which means you are already at a disadvantage.
And quite probably, your motion at that point is such that you are UNABLE to stop your motion (say, you are going through a cartwheel), which means your opponent is making the choice what will happen to your body.
"Capoeria if I have to compare it to anything its like water boxing or drunken boxing you stay in montion, so you stay fluid. While being fluid you have more of an advantage than standing there and waiting for an attack, or throwing the attack."
Incorrect. If you are in motion, then you are at a disadvantage, for to make a countermove to the opponent's move, you have to stop that motion. Which means you have to exert energy that a guy simply standing does not have to. Which means you are already at a disadvantage.
And quite probably, your motion at that point is such that you are UNABLE to stop your motion (say, you are going through a cartwheel), which means your opponent is making the choice what will happen to your body.
I love Capoeira. If I had the chance, I'd probably take it up recreationally, but I don't believe Capoeira is an effective fighting style.
Maybe back when it was invented by Brazilian slaves, and the style used to be a lot more practical could it have been effective, but the style has changed a lot over the years. These days Capoeira is fairly obviously focused around tricks and fancy stuff. Way back then, it would have been focused around the actual fighting itself. You never see contact Capoeira tournaments. It's all non-contact.
I've done over a decade of various styles of karate myself, and have a fairly good idea of what works, and what doesn't. Even if some sort of fancy Capoeira kick connected with another person, the guy throwing the kick would most likely lose balance. Capoeira just doesn't seem practical.
Ok, guys. If I would go practice Capoeira and I can't stand on my hands, should I be doing Capoeira then?
totally, you'll learn, if you could do something, why would you start it, but anyways, Capoeira is really a great discipline, it developes your mobility, by the way, as to how useful Capoeira is really in a fight, it's not that much per se, but if someone who has trained for sometime kicks you in a street fight, well... let's say you won't be all that happy about it
sharewhoa! there's a lot of miscommunication going on!
You should all slow down and read what the others are saying.
for my two cents: some of you are going on about how it's not effective blah blah blah.
If you don't like it, no-one is forcing you to take it up.
Also, the Capoeira shown in the Quest is not exactly the best example. (if that is what people are going off)
And there is a hell of a lot of "who can beat who" going on. Capoeira isn't a bunch of moves. It, like other martial arts, is as much about philosophy, choices, how you use knowledge/ability. Whether or not a capoeirista could beat a Muay Thai practitioner depends on the individuals, not the overall school of practice.
this macho attitude about what beats who is missing the point.
Capoeira is effective for many things, but perhaps not for beating people up.
"sabia canto no pe do laranjeira"
I play capoeira regional, and let me tell you... its got some real advantages.
But first, let me address some of the misunderstandings involved here. I'll group them by GIST, since it works best that way.
"Flips don't work in a street fight."
No, they don't. However, what happens in a roda isn't the same as a street fight. In a roda, or a circle of capoeiristas, its two people demonstrating their skill. Just like two judokas showing their intricate throws, its a way of demonstrating superior skill. In a streetfight, my ginga is going to be tight and fast, and my kicks probably won't be aerial in nature. More than likely, it'll be round kicks and straight kicks, with some hand-strikes to the ears, eyes, and neck. Attacks will be low, and aimed at center-of-mass. general commonsense fight stuff. Floreios (fancy moves) are for rodas and after you kick someone's butt. No one is upside down in a real fight.
"Its too much effort to be in motion"
A body in motion accelerates faster than a body at rest. A capoeirista is trained to keep the body in motion during a fight/game. Remember, a capoeirista is going to bait you into leaving something open to capitalize on, with attacks that don't follow Eastern thinking. I ended up throwing blows with my ex-wife's boyfriend once, and even though he's a corn-fed redneck who could eat me for dinner, I kicked his butt, because even if I was moving slow to conserve energy, the constant motion let me accelerate into an attack faster than he could compensate, so I could pick him to shreds easily. Controlled movement accelerates and slows according to the flow of the fight.
"I'll hit you when you're upside down."
If I'm dumb enough to go upside down and handstand-hop on my hands in the middle of a fight, then I deserve to get hit. Deception, the flow of the capoeirista, make the fight hard to gauge - real life says that the waving of my hands makes an opponent flinch from stuff that's not there, and stay still when I hit him in the ear, or eye.
"Don't you need music to fight?"
Duh. I play to the music during a roda, or the one in my head when I fight. Either way, I can and have done a sequence to "Hear Comes Santa Claus" last Christmas at the family gathering, just because a cousin saw a show we put on here.
Conclusion:
Capoeira is a martial art, as deadly as any Eastern art. The difference is that capoeira bases itself on deception and fast strikes, and uses a different mindset than is usually found in Eastern arts. The mindset is so different from Eastern arts because the foundations are completely different. Capoeira was invented by slaves as a fight hidden in a dance to avoid being caught learning how to fight by slaveowners. Besides, the Eastern mindset has had many years to percolate into our culture. Chances are most people can quote a Zen koan but not a saying from a capoeira mestre. That's ok, too. Even though its the 'new fad,' I have faith that real capoeira will not die. That being said,I'll leave here with two quotes I've picked up in my travels that deal with the philosophy of capoeira, just to share.
One
"A capoeirista's best weapon is his/her smile." A capoeirista can smile and look like she means it, then kick you in the teeth, still smiling. Never trust what you see in a capoeirista's ginga, or face.
Two
"The capoeirista has an intrinsic, instinctive understanding that there are no suprises when one is truly aware." Just as any capoeira game has surprise attacks, when one remains as aware as they are in the roda, nothing surprises them.
capoeira e meu filosofia de vida.(don't mind me, I don't know the ASCII to add in the accents)
All interesting points, and there is no "right" and "wrong" answer to this question. I was at a batizado once and the same question was posed to a Mestre. The response was, it's not the martial art, it's the practitioner. Sure, you can have the fastest kicks, the cleanest takedowns, and the hardest punches. But if you are unable to connect or you don't have the fighting drive to pull them out whenever required, then it doesn't matter what martial art you're studying.
About the handstands, of course. In a real life situation, the "rules" do not apply. Even still, within a Capoeira roda, there are no "rules" to speak of. Sure, you could do the "nice" thing and allow the person to complete an Au (cartwheel) or mortal (backflip), but also part of the game is timing the cabecada (headbutt) to the stomach while the other player is on his hands. On the other hand, I landed a wicked kick on somebody when he thought I was just doing a regular Au, only to go straight into a ponteiro while I was upside down. He got me back pretty good, though.
Oh, and regarding the choice of music...I once did a Capoeira movement demonstration (video taped for a student film project) while wearing a shirt and tie. My music of choice (we did three takes): Lunatic Calm's "Choke", and Crystal Method's "PhD." and "Weapons of Mass Distortion".
"That movie has warped my fragile little mind!" -Eric Cartman, "South Park"
It's as effective as most martial arts styles.
I'm a Silat player myself, and have found Capoeira practitioners to be good fighters.
The style has a lot of speed and excellent manoeuvrability.
As for MMA, it's a sport and not really martial arts.
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litndarc, no one said Capoeira was infallible. You can't dismiss something based solely on a specific, small flaw that is insignificant in most circumstances.
Especially insignificant when you consider that most artists today cross train in a number of arts to account for the complexity of life today compared to when these styles where created.
MMA IS a sport. Real martial arts are combat. Anyone who has seen real combat knows the difference between sport and a real fight.
Turn off your TV for a minute and think about it rather than acting like MMA is your God. If you know anything about Einstein, you'll know that any form of worship clouds judgment.
and finally, get a life.
How many posts have you written here?
Little Mister Know-It-All, let me give you some advice; when you act like a child, insulting everyone, you will be treated like a child.
No go to your room.
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Um, no. If you use it in its PURE form, no way. Especially if you don't have a ton of room to move. And all those fancy movements to cause distraction take too much time. But, not bad for staying in shape.
shareactually, boxing is good and effective, dont get me wrong. but the problem with boxing is that ALOT if not all of the training is focused on the upper body and the hands. a martial artist is trained to use ALL areas of the body to attack,defend and subdue. if you put a trained boxer against a trained martial artist, the odds are that the martial artist will coe out on top, strictly because of the ability to strike the legs, feet, arms, body and head using pretty much any appendage needed. boxers mostly concentrate on hand techniques, so they are open to attack in the lower body area.
unfortunatly, a martial artist has a broader arsenal to choose from, while with a boxer you really only have to worry about keeping an eye on his hands.
by the way, im not knocking ANY art at all. i honestly believe its the fighter, not the fighting style.
TKD 10 yrs
JKD 5 yrs
CAPOIERA 2 yrs
BOXING 4 yrs
KICKBOXING 1 yr
KENPO 1 yr
KUNG FU 1 yr
i have a little experience with what im saying.
but at least you guys can have a decent conversation without resorting to insults and child-like immaturity.
feels good to be surrounded by fellow artists.
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