Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107265 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Synopsis
Describes how to increase agility, flexibility, strength, and endurance by practicing capoeira, a Brazilian whole-body training program that can be done anywhere in as few as fifteen minutes per day.

Customer Reviews

Great manual for capoeiristas and exercise fans alike
It's important to say first of all what this book isn't - despite appearances, it won't teach you how to play capoeira; only a couple of the movements included are kicks, and there's no attempt to explain how movements can be linked into sequences or used in a game. Instead this is a description of exercises drawn from capoeira that could be used on their own by people looking for a different kind of work out (something like a much more dynamic and acrobatic form of yoga), or by capoeiristas looking for ideas of how to build the strength, balance and flexibility needed to develop and learn movements at whatever school or classes you attend.

Every exercise is clearly explained, and the specific benefits of each (strength, balance, flexibility, agility, endurance, fat-burning, etc) are set out, to help people construct training programmes that deliver the results they're looking for.

As a relative newcomer to capoeira (about 9 months experience) I've found this book the most useful reference I've tried so far. The reality is that most full capoeira movements are far too complex or subtle to capture or explain in still pictures, so books that try to teach too much are doomed to fail. In contrast, this book concentrates on simpler movements (supported by some very clear photographs) which work well for training. It's still helpful to know capoeira from classes, but I could imagine a total beginner picking this up and being able to follow 90% or more.

So So
As the above review mention this book is very good if you are beginning Capoeira or want exercises using your own body weight to build strenght, endruance power, felxbility getting your body into an all round bettter physical state. However i feel that this books brings in nothing new that you would cover in actual Capoeira lessons. The exercises are all based around core movements of capoeira such as the cocorinha, Au, ponte, headstand and so if you are attending lessons do not expect to find anything in this book that you wouldnt normally cover in a good lesson. That said the book obviously doesnt state that it will teach you Capoeira and so where it is really useful is in its descriptions of the exerciese; their executions, suggested regimes and benfits to the body. Also the book has a very good introduction explaining the different ways to train the body. As i said this book is really aimed to build strength and flexibilty through a series of exercises based on capoeira. If you want these results but dont want to go to classes, or if you just need inspiration/motivation with your training outside of class then give this book a go.

No Gym... Yaaay!
Yes, the major triumph of owning this book is that the whole concept of gym can be neglected. The book covers a lot of capoeira's basic and intermediate postures and Taylor did very well in explaining the benefits of the techniques. As a Capoeiraista I find it not as useful as i thought it would be but... a big but... If you are interested in getting in shape in a matter of weeks, I can see this book will be your bible during that period of time. It explained the mechanism of the exercises in detail.

ALl you need is an empty space in your living room and a wall to be able to do the exercises. It's a great book for those who don't have the time for the gym or even for those who only have ten minutes to exercise.