Cross-Training for Capoeira

One thing that newcomers to Capoeira often find is just how amazing of a physical training modality it is. New students discover sorenesses in all new places, learn to move in ways they never thought they could, and unlock broad gains in strength and mobility.

However, it is important to not make the mistake of thinking Capoeira is a "complete" movement practice. It is an amazing practice, and for many people it gives them what they need out of a physical training practice. But if you want to maximize your growth, both in Capoeira and in your fitness and movement practices in general, there are gaps to address. For example, while there is an incredible amount of upper body work in Capoeira, it is all in the "pushing" direction. Building "pulling" strength will take additional work. If you limit your training to only Capoeira, you will inevitably have gaps on your strength and mobility. But why is it important for us to address these gaps? I can think of three primary reasons why cross-training can be a big benefit to your Capoeira:

Preventing Injury

The biggest risk of not addressing gaps and imbalances in strength is injury. Capoeira is very demanding on our bodies, and the more gaps in strength and/or mobility your body has, the more likely small injuries can pop up. Things like pulled muscles, pinched nerves, and tendonitis become more frequent, and while these are relatively minor injuries, they can really hurt your ability to train and make consistent progress. The best way to guarantee long term progress is to be able to train consistently for a long time, and that requires that your body is healthy! By adding cross-training, we can make our bodies more resilient to injury by addressing the gaps that a Capoeira-only practice may leave, making it more likely that we don't have to interrupt our training.

Expanding Movement Vocabulary and Learning

Another benefit of cross-training is that it requires you to learn new types of movement that are completely different to your normal practice. Capoeira has an incredibly wide breadth of movements, but even still, people practicing for a while can often find themselves stuck in similar movement patterns. By cross-training in a different art or sport, you open yourself up to new and different patterns and expand your overall vocabulary. This can help reignite your creativity, but also gives you practice learning, both of which will transfer back to your Capoeira practice. Capoeira movement has a history of evolving as people bring pieces of other arts into it, so in a way cross-training has always helped our art grow and improve!

Preventing Burnout

Finally, diversifying your training does a lot to help avoid mental burnout. Capoeira is a huge and expansive art and people dedicate an incredible amount of time to learn and get good at it. But years of staying in the same lane can be really mentally taxing on people, especially when they face long plateaus or injuries that interrupt or delay progress. Having a secondary pursuit has helped me and others that I train with cope with the long journey of mastering an art while keeping our minds and motivation sharp. We are not robots, so we can't approach our training as if we are!

So now that we know cross-training is important, how do we get started? Well, there are many great options on cross-training that we will discuss in a future post, but what is most important is that you purse something! A less optimal modality is better than none, and one that you enjoy will help keep you consistent, so try a few and see what you like!

-Instructor Mike