Tag Archives: practice

Keep Going

Posted on by

Rutgers Capoeira warming up

It took a long time for me to be comfortable with my capoeira.

Of course, I was excited about it. I wanted to share it with everyone I knew. For as long as I could remember, if you knew who James E. Green III was, you also knew he did capoeira as well (maybe not what it is or even what it looks.) It consumed me as I learned it, and it’s why I still study and practice it today.

The excitement of training resonating with my friends who trained also, and we had tons of fun in class, at events, and even when we occasionally trained on our own. We called them Capo Chills. We went out to public park-esque portion of our dormitory, working all everything. We worked music, movements from class, and made sure to work on our games as well.

With a lot of that gone, I can’t rely on others for that excitement. I have to create myself. I have to hone my skills to make sure when I play, I can play confidently. I have to make sure to play comfortably. Kicks thrown with insecurity create a dangerous environment for everyone. You learn the kicks, and it doesn’t take long to know how it’s done correctly, but throw those kicks with proper form on instinct takes time and repetition.

Comfort came from consistency. It came from practice.

Now I must be persistent to regain my comfort.

 

Strength

Posted on by

I have the world’s tiniest wrists.

They’ve always been small, dwarfing my forearms, biceps, and shoulders. They made my hands and fingers, but that should have been taking account when I started doing capoeira. It requires a lot of balance and support on your hands. It’s been away, but I can say that I have not have significant injury doing it as far as my arms and hands are concerned.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t had pain. Quada de Rins never is kind to the starters. It’s a lot of weight (especially with myself) to try to control with the smaller parts of your body. I’ve feared the snap when I try to do too much, using my hands as feet, and forcing my torso and the weight my legs on to my wrists. They’ve whined, they’ve ached, they’ve protested, they’ve complained.

But they never broke.

I want to thank my genes, my diet, my luck—I don’t have many issues with injury, but I think the credit should go to the art. My joint aches when I usually start training a certain movement, but it does go away. When a new ache starts, I can usually go back and break down why it hurts in a movement and fix it—part listening to my body, part fixing slopping mechanics. The creators of these movements weren’t researchers, physical therapists, or even educated. They focused on practicality and practice.
They ended up created the fountain of youth.