The kick that shall not be named (because I'm bad at remembering Portuguese) plus bonus video

Terrible Harry Potter references aside, this is a kicking technique originally from Capoeira, but I never remember those names for long. I could comb through tutorial videos to find what I’m looking for, but this name is more amusing to me anyway. I picked up the technique from Stephen Carr who, by the way, was in Mario Warfare, which you should check out if you haven’t already.

Anyhow, at first I was just dabbling with the kick because it was fun to do; plus I was taking some capoeira classes at the time, so I thought it might be useful there. It turns out that the kick is not a good idea in a Capoeira roda. A really bad idea actually, as it is more of a “fighting” kick. Using this kick in a roda would just result in fisticuffs coming out…or because capoeiristas don’t punch, I guess it’d be footsicuffs (one thing I can’t dodge: euphemisms)? Needless to say, being the conflict avoiding guy that I am, I never used the kick in a roda. So much for a practical application to Capoeira. I still continued practicing it, because spinning is fun and it felt graceful when done well. Sometimes “because it’s fun” is the only excuse I need to keep practicing a skill, making it useful is just a huge bonus.

Speaking of which, by complete accident the technique because (almost) practical after I practiced it enough that it became close to automatic. Somehow it began to displace my usual way of getting weird looks when I wanted to get back to standing, which was back rolls. Now I’m sure people think I’m not only odd, but also a bit of a showoff. Eh, why not? Hidden bonus: The kick _might _be a faster way to get to standing than a back to standing too, on top of being all puurty like. Bonus numéro deux, someone charging at you at that instant would get a boot (okay, fine, foot…stop ruining my fun!) to the head. I can’t guarantee its efficacy, because finding willing test subjects is…difficult (Please sir, may I kick you in the head? Why? For science!).

Who doesn't want a flying rocket tub?

Okay, enough of that silliness for a moment. The technique does take quite a bit of jumping power, but the progression from the video should enable you to develop it gradually while learning how to generate and control the spin. Odds are developing the necessary power may take some time, don’t try to rush it. Also, a caveat: this requires good shoulder mobility and stability to be practiced safely. If you have really tight and/or weak shoulders, fix that first. Ido Portal’s scapular mobilization and stabilization routines are a good start, I also find that all the different kinds of crawls help too. Once mobility is okay you can ease into trying the first step in the progressions. With all that in mind, go forth and spin!

Bonus Video:

Not sure what’s up with all the bonuses today. I must be in a good mood, which may have something to do with this song (heads up: plenty of swearing).

Yesterday I was walking around a neighborhood in DC near me and found a path to a small creek. It felt like ages since I had explored barefoot, so I took 30 minutes to play around before heading back up the ravine to do productive things. Man, I forgot how much I missed jumping around on rocks barefoot! Rocks are far more challenging (even with shorter distances) than the usual stuff I find while wandering around cities. Luckily I had my camera with me. I had no real plan for this whole detour besides traversing up and down the creek. Here’s the video:

Related tags:

Get Updates

Creative Commons LicensePlay Everywhere by Sean Rogers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Site design by moi, built with Hugo.