I took Capoiera for a year before switching over to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) for the last six months.
Capoeira requires more flexibility and musicality than I have. Instead, I have a good strength to weight ratio and don’t tire easily which suits BJJ better.
Plus BJJ as a form of grappling and is more applicable in the real world, should you need it, because most fights wind up on the ground.
And I’ve noticed is how coaching works or doesn’t work for me.
A teacher can’t coach a student to do a movement the student isn’t able to do. The student will only be trying to survive the pattern being taught, rather than absorbing it.
Among lots of possible factors, difficulty learning a movement could be due to the athlete’s lack of flexibility, balance, strength, symmetry, or coordination. Then add to that communication skills and jargon. My primative Spanish and a veneer of Portuguese Capoiera jargon combined to create a confusing environment for me to learn in.
Capoiera was a lot of “monkey see, monkey do” learning which isn’t effective for me. It wasn’t always clear what we were doing or why we were doing it. Culturally it seems, Americans like to ask lots of questions in striving to understand the what you’ll be building on.
Having an English-speaking instructor is important for me because he can explain the nuances of different moves, which I was missing out on before. But even if the language situation were reversed I’d still prefer BJJ.
So far BJJ is fun, interesting, and a good fit for me.