How to Do the Macaco | Capoeira

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We are going to go over the macaco, which is a movement that usually is considered a flip. The beauty of the macaco is that you are able to do it in a game, and still within a game. Once we come in to like acrobatics. The macaco can always start like this. (?) is going to demonstrate.

He is going to get himself in to a squat position. Actually, the way he is demonstrating the macaco here is not from the ginga. Eventually, he's going to demonstrate how to do the macaco from ginga, if pretending that he were in a game. Now he is standing there. He is going to place his hand behind you, and swing his legs over. So he is going to jump over and that is the macaco, all the way around.

All this can be done, again. From there, he is going to go from ginga. So, now if he is doing the ginga, he goes in, and macaco. So basically, you don't have to leave the game. You can always do the macaco. From ginga it is straight in to it. Usually when you apply the macaco, it is very important to make sure you have your hands flat on the floor.

You are going to be pretty much working very hard with your shoulder muscles, and that it is very important for you to engage your hips in to it, in to the swing. Use your legs to push off the floor. From there, it is a single momentum that takes you all the way around. So, as you see (?) has his hand placed there, on the ball of his feet.

Pretty much he is going to shoot his hips in to the air, and then from there, push with his feet and jump across. Usually, it takes a lot of practice for you to do the macaco. Of course, you won't get it by trying once or twice. You have to try, I would say, a couple of times or even a hundred times. It takes practice. So from there you can push off with your feet. Place your hand on the floor. It is all about momentum, and that is the macaco.

[Nonotthis]

pro tip for learning this from an ex gymnast. find hills of varying slopes. do it backwards down the hill, switching to less steep hills as you get better until you can do it on flat ground. how i learned back handsprings

[jkphilosophy]

I was told to do this first before trying the backflip

[joselaloz]

i did it in two tries lol but its dificult!!! especially to overcome the fear of falling into your head or something its a mind game this one.

[Whitensane]

you can do macaco against the wall, by climbing with your legs.
Also going to the bridge with walking your hands down the wall.
Once you feel comfort in doing both of these, try going faster with less steps and with more momentum and eventually you will get there. Cheers :)

[xmmxsheba]

this is a cultural form of fighting. you do know that martial arts weren't created for harming one another. martial arts all over the world were created to master self control, and discipline

[mikeshinodafan]

ohhh my god everyone needs to realize that capoeira is effective and all the acrobatic aspects of this martial art like the macaco for example is just for the dance/disguise style to this martial art. Some videos proving that capoeira can be used in UFC without the dance/acrobatics are fucking posted just type capoeira knockout(grammar Nazis u guys can suck me up)

[froggygoggy]

Definitely, but it does require enough strength and power to:
a) Get your arm to support your weight as you hop over
b) To push off the ground to actually go over

That being said, it actually takes less leg power than it seems. Learn to use your hips to drive yourself up, and as the vid points out, momentum does help, so you gotta be brave enough to trust yourself to make that hop over.

If you find that your arms can't support yourself, take it slow and train up aye :)

[meleecraft]

Yes it is possible, make sure to warm up good, with special attention to you wrists and bridge position, and then go for it, you will be surprised :)

[Demmrir]

As someone who does capoeira and MMA, I have to say... I love capoeira, and in THEORY the movements generate a great deal of power. However, they are extremely hard to land without your opponent simply dodging them.

On the other hand, the front kicks are the reverse. They're faster than muay Thai style kicks and all look the same so they're MUCH easier to land, although less powerful.

Mostly, I like capoeira for the exercise regimen and focus on using your core in all your movements.

[patheticmortal]

its hard to not turn completely into a valdez when you've done valdez for years, but it definitely makes it easier to do as a whole :-)

[bluewolf]

On a backflip tutorial I had to do the macaco but I couldn’t do it even If I tried my hardest...so I went on this video and I listened really carefully but I still couldn’t do it and it took 2 whole days of trying but I still couldn’t do it so now I can’t do a backflip or a macaco

[wyvernofthewoods]

You obviously have never played capoeira, it is an art style as well as martial art. It may not look as powerful as a hard-stance martial art but in off-the-ground fighting you find that the momentum produced from these acrobatics focused into the heal going into the face of a poor guy has much more damaging potential than a standing straight kick.

[akhaiiro]

Is there a separate name for a one handed macaco? I did one while trying to stand up, not sure how, but have worked on it and got it pretty smooth 

[negativeproximity]

There's actually a few capoeiristas who have done fairly well in the Bellator MMA circuit.

[ECSTATICKev]

Gonna do this when I get high so I won't feel it if I'm hurt I'm gonna be still smiling

[tragictransformerelectra]

That's like a backwards cartwheel. I probably have to build up my body first. Lol

[Whitensane]

As every movement in capoeira this is something you learn along the line of progress, so before doing macaco you can learn other things which will help you to master this one. Also this is all about momentum and technique so you could easily learn it in matter of minutes or in 2weeks if you wish to put an effort.

[bluewolf]

I’m still trying so I can do a macaco and then learn to do a backflip

[Skatolotodo]

capoeira requires lots of hard work man it's not just dancin' watch the video made by discovery channel (i think) about martial arts and see which one has the strongest kick...

[stonerkungfuguy]

Can you do an Au (cartwheel) at least? If not then no.