If you have ever seen the
games show, The Cube, with Philip Schofield (ahh, Joseph), then you will have
had moments of I-can-so-do-that. If it wasn’t the fact of it being televised
(terrible stagefright see) and the camera adding on 10 pounds, I would so love
to go on that programme. Same with Fun House (stagefright hit me at a young
age), Gladiators and Crystal Maze. But, back to the Cube. The games look so
easy but I have no doubt that they are actually much harder than they look. And
it is the same with Capoeira.
Everyone knows of Capoeira,
if not only for its difficulty in spelling and pronounciation (ka-poo-eh-ra, I
believe). But few, unless you’ve tried it, probably know exactly how tricky it
is to perform.
Personally, I thought it was
a relatively dancey faffy (in a good way) martial art. And it is a dancey
martial art but it sure ain’t faffy – the moves are flowy but exact and
specific – when you see people waving their arms and legs about, it’s all part
of an actual routine.
Held at SkillTown, a cool
rough ‘n’ ready East London large converted warehouse in Hackney Wick (same
venue as Day 70 ! Tricking & Tumbling), the Capoeira class was run by
Instructor Joao today. On a relaxed easy come, easy go Saturday afternoon, the
class had around 7-8 people, most of whom I discovered, may be new to Capoeira
itself but are pretty darn flexible/sporty/talented.
Instructor Joao led us
through some balance exercises to start – balancing…on your hands. We practised
kicking legs up to get into freestanding handstands (hard, I was so far off a
straight line), walking handstands (if you cant do the first one, the second
one is a lost cause) or handstands against a wall for the less advanced
(hello).
After the handstands
session, Instructor Joao taught us a few moves linked into a short “routine.”
The routines are performed in pairs and Instructor Joao explained the
importance of keeping focus on your partner when performing the moves – e.g. starting
facing your partner, waving your arms (in a cool way, this really is hard to
describe), turning around and looking at your partner through your legs,
kicking up to face your partner again and so on. Performed correctly, it looks
(and feels, I imagine) pretty cool – a funky mix between a dance and a fight.
In honesty, I found the
class quite hard – you have to be very flexible (bane of my Fitness-life),
co-ordinated and have stellar balance for this class. But, as with everything,
you can’t expect to get results without practice and looking at the rest of the
class, it looks pretty fun to be good at Capoeira. I’ve said it before but an
unfortunate consequence of these 80days is not being able to give any Fitivity
the time and effort needed to get used to it and more importantly, good at it!
I so want to be able to do a freestanding handstand!
The Need To Know:
- Where: Skilltown
- Nearest Station: Hackney Wick (7mins)
- When: Capoeira on Saturdays 12.30-14.00
- How Much: Day entry £2, then £5 per class or unlimted day pass at £14
The Want to Know:
- Who’s it For: For those flexible martial artists/dancers who want to fuse
- Sweat Scale: 7/10. I get nervous (and hence sweaty) when I can’t do things
- Strength / Cardio / Flexi
/ Tone: Flexi and skill
- Complexity: 8/10. Lots of co-ordination required
- Fun Factor: 6/10
- Changing Facilities: Some rough ‘n’ ready toilets.
- Instructor Inspiration: 7/10. Talented!
The Stats:
- Total Time: 86mins
- Calories Burnt: 331. 3.85
calories-burnt-per-minute
- Average Heart Rate: 109
- Max Heart Rate: 157
 |
| Instructor Joao |
No comments:
Post a Comment