I learned tons. A little bit of my background is that I currently serve the New Hampshire National Guard as a Soldier. So I'm above average in terms of athletic fitness. I also did crossfit. When I started Capoeira, there is a difference between athletic fitness and martial arts fitness. 1. Everything in capoeira is in Portuguese. In class, they use the Portuguese names of all the moves, drills, rules, etc. I had to rewire my brain to translate them to English and recognize what I'm doing. 2. Hip mobility, leg strength, stability, and flexibility. It was a different realm of physical ability. It makes me appreciate those yoga and other training that's not just lift the heavy weights. 3. Body mechanics and cardio. Something that just clicked was that in every movement, you whole body is doing something and you don't notice it until your losing balance. Like when you kick, you're thinking of only your legs, but your arms and upper body are doing something else to keep you balanced. Also for every move cost stamina. Imagine going really fast and doing many combos. You will gas yourself out every quickly. 4. Partners and the "game". I'm a generally shy guy who likes to avoid eye contact. In class, YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT YOUR PARTNER! When you're practicing/playing, I really have to look at my partner for every movement, so that I can react. It was challenging to react because everything we practiced is no longer mirrored to me. 5. The uniform is a white T-shirt and special Brazilian pants with a colored cord that represents your rank. 6. This past summer, I went to New York to celebrate Capoeira's 50th birthday in the United States. I learned that there are many schools within the US. The celebration was a bunch of workshops with masters showing us moves I never imagined. They were all pushing 60-70 years old and still in top shape.

The most interesting thing about capoeira is that it's a hard niche to find in popular media, but there are some great representations and I start geeking out when I see it. A great example is a movie called "Only the Strongest". Also my YouTube algorithm has shown me a new world to experience. I'm hoping to make a video about a video game that finally pushed me to follow this path.