That’s interesting though, how you contrasted your Contra-Mestre’s preference with yours…wouldn’t he emphasize both, as in “kick fast but make sure you still have control”?

My opponent throws a kick and I don’t so much as dodge as I collapse away from the kick. Now I’m stuck with my stomach in the air, trying to be as menacing as possible with my crab walk. I kick from my floored position to keep my opponent out of my airspace while I’m trying to grab some clean air from the ground level.

Then when we mercifully get out and back to singing, I’m still trying to muster enough air for the song for another couple minutes.

So yeah, endurance is a feature to work on. Although I most often hear, “Robin, open up your legs more; move faster!” Contra Mestre is big on moving as fast as possible, while I’m big on doing the move in a manner that I can control.

That is a REALLY good point. I need to remember that! Although I think it’s actually a combination of both, working on the movement might work even better since it’s kind of like building strength *and* technique at the same time. Haha, we should tell NASA to get started on their reverse-gravity apparatus for one-time installation in capoeira academies…

And YES I totally know what you mean about knowing the sequence or movement but not actually being able to do it! That’s one of the most frustrating things for me, ever…especially when people in front of me have the strength but have trouble with the movement/sequence, whereas I could dictate the entire thing step-by-step by memory but am relegated further back because I can’t do it physically!

The absolute WORST is when there’s a sequence I actually *can* do, or can half-do, but the people who go first don’t remember it properly, so then the teacher assumes it’s just too hard for all of us and then *downgrades* the movement for the rest!!!

Oh, I never thought it was really a static assessment, either…it doesn’t really make sense for the teacher, or anyone, to mean it without the “yet”, or there’s almost no point in saying so! Still, I think the message I’d take away are both the ones ending your first paragraph, but maybe with a “thus” in between? Since practicing the move would make you stronger at it, and if you know you lack the strength, that would make you want to practice more.

Strength is a funny thing. It comes in many forms. A lot of dudes I see benching a ton of weight at the gym couldn’t do half the stuff some skinny angoleiros can do, and maybe vice-versa. I’ve known capoeiristas that actually had to lose muscle when they started training in order to be able to do some moves. I think in capoeira, just overall being stronger won’t be as effective as training your muscles for specific moves; ie, being X amount stronger won’t help you nail a move as much as practicing that move 15 minutes a day will. (Although I wish it would, because I can really only spend so much time doing bananeira against a wall before all the blood rushes to my head )

I have to say I actually haven’t seen it that much in my own experience, aside from literally -my- experience as I wrote about. You’re definitely right about the spectrum: every single person will be better than you at something, and worse than you at something, and vice versa.

That’s interesting what you said about women falling into the “trap” of just wanting to be better than men. Could you elaborate on that a little?

And thanks again for your comment!

I liked how you brought up the idea of examining ‘ism’s vs. making excuses. I’ve seen both very prevalent in capoeira. Generally, speaking men are better in capoeira. And generally speaking, many women don’t train as hard and don’t play as aggressively. There are many reasons for this and definitely sexism and cultural and social norms come into play.

Of course there is a spectrum, when it comes to skill, strength, flexibility, speed, etc. Men and women fall in different places along this spectrum. I’m better than some men and some men are better than me when it comes to strength, speed, game, flexibility, etc.

I don’t have much control over sexism and what people think about me as a woman. But I can control how I train. So I train as hard as possible, not to be better than men (some women fall into this trap) but to be as good as I can possibly be.

Thanks again for your great post. I always look forward to reading your blog.