Many people join Capoeira for the cool moves. It’s true. Capoeira does have some very nice air and ground acrobatic moves. Today we are going to be learning a ground acrobatic named “S-Dobrado”, pronounced “ess-ee”, “Do-brah-do”. It is a mixture of a dodge, counter attack, acrobatic, and the world’s most powerful kick as described by Fight Science.
Today we are just going to learn the actual movement, as it is very demanding and leaves many would-be Capoeira practitioners in the dust. Let’s go ahead and get started, amigo. These 3 simple steps I developed years ago when training under my Capoeira instructor, Mestre Advogado.
When, I first started training, I was fat, out of shape, not flexible, and had never done martial arts (nor dance) before. After struggling, and failing, I understood the 3 key points where this move goes wrong for Capoeira students.
Step 1. is make sure you can esquiva frontal all the way down. You’re going to need this low stance to swing your back leg out and around to the front. The first exercise you need to master, as long as you can esquiva frontal all the way down, is to put all your weight on your supporting hand, and swing your back leg all the way to the front without touching ground.
You’re going to have to switch your supporting hand to the other one when your leg passes to the the midway point from the front to the back. Just doing this first exercise will give you the stability of switching hands and having all your weight on it, while executing this leg swing. That’s key.
Once you feel pretty stable doing this exercise you can move on to Step 2. Executing the exact same exercise as Step1, use your momentum to try to throw your hips up in the air. You will fall back down to the ground, and this is fine, but you will learn from this exercise to not stop….and use your momentum to generate power to throw you into air/acrobatic.
You will do this exercise until you can achieve the height you need for escape velocity to go over the top. Really try go higher and higher each attemp of Step 2. This portion of the S-dobrado development is often skipped over, and that’s why you see so many Capoeira students fail and eventually give up. Once you can get all the way up to a handstand, directly straight up from where you started the move…you are ready for Step 3.
Given that you can esquiva frontal all the way down, swing your leg from the back to the front with decent stability, without touching the floor and can launch yourself upinto the air up to a handstand, Step 3 is eaassssyyy…
Just reach back over your head with your initial esquiva support hand, push your chest and hips out, reaching for the floor above your head, and go into a macaco/au. The hard work is truly over with Steps 1 and 2. The move time and dedication you spend on those first 2 steps, the easier it will be to coast past Step 3 with control and confidence.
These are the type of advanced Capoeira moves I teach on my “O Rei’s Capoeira Ground Game System Part 2: Intermediate to Advanced“. My first Ground Game hit best seller on Amazon a couple times, so I really know how to convey these seemingly impossible moves to the average Joe Six Pack. Check it out below and let me know what you think.
I have plenty of awesome ground and air mini-courses free on my Youtube channel, so make sure you subscribe. I have endless products on moves, fight, takedowns, music, and everything else you need in your Capoeira life journey. Until next time, Ginga Warrior. Bora!
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