Effective immediately and for a limited time.

Capoeira is offered FREE to all Richmond Sports Club members.

All you have to do is have a gym membership and you can train with the class.

Come get an amazing workout and learn capoeira!

Effective immediately and for a limited time.

Capoeira is offered FREE to all Richmond Sports Club members.

All you have to do is have a gym membership and you can train with the class.

Come get an amazing workout and learn capoeira!

You know what’s funny. I’ve been training for so long that I totally forgot how hard it is to sing and clap at the same time when you first start out. Especially when you’re singing in another language. And I quickly realized it when I taught your first song. But it brought back some good memories. I remember that I couldn’t do it at first and told another capoeirista how hard it is to do both things at the same time. And he says to me, “Try playing an instrument and sing.” Haha, he’s right, that’s harder.

There really is no trick to accomplishing this task. It’s quite simple really. It’s practice. Now the clapping is quite easy. I’m sure you can master it in only a few claps and repetitions. It’s adding the singing that makes it quite difficult. So my tip, simply put, learn the song. Learn it so that you can sing it effortlessly. Sing it in the shower. Sing it in the drive to work. Eventually you will learn how the song and rhythm match. And once you get the rhythm of the song, you’ll understand the beats. And to further help understand the beats, you’ll use clapping. And by combining singing and clapping together, already you’ve improved your coordination and improved your rhythm of your game with the music.

Imagine that. Singing AND clapping. Two minor things (from a fitness point of view) that help majorly in capoeira. See? Capoeira isn’t all about the cool flips and kicks.

I heard an interesting point last class. I teach you guys a lot of things in an hour that sometimes it can get overwhelming. And then by the time you come to the next class, you’ve probably already forgotten most of the things I taught you in the last class. Well I have a suggestion that may help you.

All capoeiristas should have their very own little notebook to carry around in class. I know many students and teachers who do that, and in fact I met someone who told me a story of how he has stacks of notebooks that contain capoeira movements, capoeira sequences and song lyrics. It’s a great reference guide and you can write it however you please. Write down whatever makes you understand the movement. I’m a great resource, considering I am your teacher, so feel free to ask me anytime you want if you have any questions about the class or the movements you learned.

Excuse my excitement, but I am quite new to this whole blogging adventure.

I added an email subscription widget to my sidebar on the right.

Subscribe your email, and you will be notified whenever I make a new post.

It’s really easy!

Richmond Sports Club is having an Open House for their whole facility the whole day on Saturday, September 11.

I will be conducting a demo class at 1:30-3:00 PM.

Bring a friend, come on down and try out the class!

I heard a lot of laughs and groans in our previous stretching session the other day. Usually because you couldn’t handle the splits, or when we did ponte (bridge), you wanted to just bail and let the bridge fall down. The ones who laughed and groaned, well that just means you need to stretch MORE!

Stretching is a very essential part of capoeira. It helps increase your flexibility which would help you do all of your movements, like the acrobatics and the kicks. It helps with your coordination and balance so you shouldn’t be toppling over. And it helps prevent any further injuries, such as a strained back or groin.

Now we’re not all Mr. Fantastic, so ideally, you shouldn’t only stretch when you come into my class. In fact, you should be stretching everyday, or at least as much as possible. A few minutes a day for some simple stretches and you shouldn’t be groaning anymore. =)

Phil

I want to talk to you about the word “Salve” for a bit.

“Salve” is a way Axé Capoeira students greet each other. At the beginning and end of each class, all students will say “Salve”. Doing this greeting, shows respect for the teacher and respect for the students. Come in next time and say “Salve!”

Also, I found a great wiki article that explains a lot of the capoeira techniques that you would typically learn in class.

Some words you may have heard in your first class are the following: Ginga, Cadeira, Meia-lua de Frente, Esquiva, Aú, and Armada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capoeira_techniques

Hopefully this helps!

Check out our new class flyer everyone! What do you think?

Hi everyone!

Welcome to Axé Capoeira’s Richmond blog.

I hope everyone enjoyed their first introductory class. There’s one word about introductory classes in capoeira that immediately comes to my mind when I observed everyone in class. Awkwardness. EVERYONE has that awkward feeling when trying out capoeira moves. From the ginga, to the kicks, to the esquivas, and to the cartwheels. I’m here to assure you, that every “capoeirista” (one who practices capoeira) has gone through this phase. Trust me! Your body might have felt weird doing it, but with enough practice of course, it will all feel natural. Be patient! =)

Anyways, I will continue using this blog to send updates about classes as well as share useful and interesting info about capoeira and our group Axé Capoeira.

Hope to see everyone next week!

Phil