Some time ago, a reader asked me about training traditional Bahian capoeira kicks on a bag. I promised him an article; but since the topic is complex, I only release the article now.
"(Old) capoeira is wrestling" is my favourite saying. And I repeat it precisely because so few people get it.
(I am sure they are puzzled: "What does he mean, wrestling? Capoeira has kicks!")
Today, let us look at Bahian kicks; to show you what I mean, or part of it.
A long ago, when I started capoeira, I and my friend Mirek were very big on training it as a martial art. So after learning common Bahian kicks, we took a big kicking mitt and tried various kicks on it.
A kick that surprised us the most was Mldf (Meia lua de frente). We thought it would be a weak kick. But contrary to our expectation, it was very powerful on the mitt. But not by producing sharp, percussive impact; instead, it moved the person holding the mitt to the side.
So we found out Mldf was powerful, but its effect was pulling, shifting the opponent's center of gravity; not producing a percussive impact.
Back then, we were unable to form any conclusion from this experiment. "Mldf is surprisingly powerful" - that was our conclusion at the time.
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Today, I can tell you the secret behind this experiment: The secret is you are not supposed to use Mldf as a 'kick' in the common martial art sense - producing percussive impact anywhere on opponent's body.
Instead, think of Mldf as of a hook; a kind of technique that hooks behind opponent's head and pulls down, in the similar way thaiclinch hooks behind his head and pulls down.
As I show in our video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT4-6uiYKRw
you cannot use your hands for clinching against Physical-game ginga; so you have to clinch with your legs. And Mldf is one of the ways you clinch opponent's head.
However, unlike thaiclinch, clinching opponent's head with Mldf knocks him out; by jerking him sharply down by his head (the way we discovered it on the mitt).
And that is also, dear reader, the way Mldf should be used; by clinching behind opponent's head with it and pulling down. That way, it is the most powerful, and causes knockout quite reliably.
I repeat: You should not use Mldf to just hit a random place on opponent's body; instead, seek to hook behind his head with it and pull down; for a knockout.
In other words, Mldf is not a kick; it is a power clinch - with your leg. It does not kick out - it pulls.
If you experiment, you will find out other Bahian kicks work the same way (let us leave out Bencao and Jawkick for the purpose of this discussion).
With Armada and Chibata, it is analogical - the most powerful way to throw these kicks is to hook behind opponent's head and pull down; this is a knockout shot; they are power clinches too.
Mldc is a bit harder; because most people do Mldc wrong today. As I write in my other article, Mldc must be thrown at least using Leopard+LightLegs+Seduction1 (both hands on the floor).
The Seduction1 is very important part; because without it, your kicking leg is straightened at knee in Mldc.
Mldc thrown with straight kicking leg will cause you to injure your own knee if it hits an immovable obstacle; but it also cannot be used to hook behind opponent's head.
If you however throw the proper Bahian Mldc, both hands on the floor, with Seduction1 (Leopard+LightLegs+Seduction1), your kicking leg will be a bit bent at knee.
This not only protects your knee joint; but it gives the kick a slightly hooking path, so it can be used to hook behind opponent's head with your heel, to 'clinch'; and pull down with your whole bodyweight; for knockout.
As you see, the four major kicks of traditional Bahian capoeira - Mldf, Armada, Chibata, Mldc - are not really kicks as most people understand them; instead, they are 'power clinches'; used to hook behind opponent's head and pull down hard, knocking him out.
You are looking to clinch opponent's head, like a wrestler - only with your leg.
Note
All the above applies only to proper capoeira kicks - LightLegs or RubberLegs kicks.
If you want to try the effect out without knocking out your training partner, use his shoulder.
First, throw Mldf into his shoulder, from the side - he should feel a little slap.
Then, throw Mldf behind his shoulder, hooking behind his shoulder and pulling forward and down - it should jerk his whole body forward and downward. And imagine you would do this to his neck.
You can try the same with Armada, Mldc and Chibata.
The above also determines the way you should breathe properly in Bahian kicks. On most of them - Mldf, Armada, Mldc, Chibata, Jawkick (and even Nemer Martelo) - you should inhale as you kick; not exhale as with normal kicks. That is because they pull towards you; so they should be powered by inhalation.
The only Bahian kick that you should exhale with is Bencao.
Note that this puts Bahian capoeira kicks completely apart from all martial arts kicks; as in 'real' kicks, you always exhale. You cannot throw a sidekick (Chapa) while inhaling, for example. But Bahian kicks are thrown on inhalation! Or they should be.
This also gives you the proper way of training Bahian kicks: Do not train them as normal kicks, by lashing out at the heavy bag; but as power clinches.
Let the partner hold a bag; and kick it by hooking behind it and pulling down sharply. Yes, you want to pull the bag towards yourself; not to push it away from you or slap it sideways!
You will also find out why you want to have both hands on the floor in Mldc - because otherwise, the pulldown would unbalance you too much, robbing you of power.
One-handed and no-handed Mldc are wrong not only because they do not support LightLegs; but also because you cannot hook behind opponent's head with them and pull hard - you would fall down. They can only be used for lashing out; thus they do not belong to proper Bahian capoeira.
This also naturally changes the way you play capoeira. With proper Bahian kicks (power clinches), you do not have the tendency to stand far from the opponent and lash out with your legs.
Instead, you will naturally try to move closer and pull in with your legs. (Consider the difference between 'lashing out' and 'pulling in' - it is a complete opposite).
This will give your capoeira a wrestling feel - and this, my friend, is what proper Bahian capoeira should feel like.
But you are not doing this (only) to make me happy. This way of using traditional Bahian kicks is also the most powerful. So if you want to knock out people with traditional Bahian kicks, you should use them as power clinches. Remember - hook behind head and pull down!
Bahian kicks not only do not contradict the axiom "Capoeira is wrestling" - they prove it correct. If you want to use them properly, you have to 'wrestle' - to clinch, to pull the opponent towards yourself (albeit with your legs).
Even proper Mestre Bimba's Martelo - Nemer Martelo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWg_31AamVY
pulls toward you when done properly. (Even though it does not clinch, it breaks ribs; but it has the same feel as other Bahian kicks done properly).
Unlike the modern Leopard(Filhos de Bimba) Martelo that pushes out.
Similarly, Queixada, modern Martelo, Chapa, Gancho,Ponteira etc are not proper Bahian kicks; precisely because they lack the above mechanics. They do not pull in, they lash out.
During my years of participating in and watching capoeira, I found out that people rarely, if ever, use traditional Bahian kicks - Mldf and Armada - as real fighting kicks; ie to really get the opponent. They only use them to carress the air.
Instead, when they fight, they use Martelo, Sidekick/Chapa and the wrong, straight legged Mldc.
The reason is apparent - because they want to lash out, to kick out; and you cannot lash out with the traditional Bahian kicks the way you lash out with Martelo or Chapa.
To use Mldf and Armada (and in fact, even Chibata and Mldc) properly, you have to use them as I describe above - to clinch, to pull down.
Traditional Bahian kicks are contractive; while modern kicks are expansive. It is a completely different type of game.
In old Bahian capoeira (Physical-game) you pull the opponent towards yourself and chew him; you do not push him away and strike him with percussive strikes.
It seems that the character of Bahian capoeira changed from pulling-in to lashing-out during 20th century; which gradually made the traditional kicks unusable.
How many real hits with Armada or Mldf did you score during your jogos? I know I gave none during my 'official capoeira' era. Armada and Mldf are ritual kicks in modern capoeira - because they cannot be used for lashing-out. But these were the core kicks of old Bahian capoeira!
During the second half of 20th century, more lashing-out kicks were added - Martelo, Chapa, etc - that shifted the characted of Bahian capoeira even more toward lashing-out. That made Mldf and Armada useless ritual kicks.
If you want to revive them, to revive the old Bahian capoeira - just hook behind his f@cking head and pull! And wrestle; remember: Pull him in and chew him.
Note that the above does NOT apply to Carioca version of the two kicks - Mldc and Chibata! Carioca versions look similar, but have different mechanics; and thus work differently.
While Bahian Mldc and Chibata hook and pull down, as explained; Carioca Mldc and Chibata uproot and throw.
Bahian Mldc and Chibata are power clinches; Carioca Mldc and Chibata are throws/takedown.
Both Bahian and Carioca versions are wrestling techniques; but each system has its own flavour - Bahian kicks pull in and chew; Carioca kicks uproot and throw on the ground.
But none of them are 'kicks' in the modern sense (ie something that primarily produces percussive impact with your leg).
I purposefully left Bencao and Jawkick from this article; because it would confuse things too much.
But Bencao is also a wrestling technique; you are supposed to be so close the kick goes downward into his chest, taking him down. (Ie Bencao is not a long range kick like they show in modern capoeira).
Jawkick does not KO the opponent; but rips out his jaw from its joint at one side. This is not a knockout, but leaves him unable to fight.
Note that this is also wrestling-like finish; because it does not kick out, it pulls his jaw down, ripping out the joint.
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