This unique fitness class is based on the techniques from the Brazilian martial art Capoeria, and is packed with historic significance  Capoeria instructor Edna Lima says “It was developed in Brazil over 400 years ago by the African slave people, and they disguised capoeria as a dance, that’s why it looks pretty much like a dance to trick their masters, and later on they used the same techniques against their masters to run away.”

The original art may look intimidating at first, but not when you break it down into individual fitness components.

“So I decided to put very simple combinations together,” Edna explaines “and it’s very good cardiovascularly, and we do a lot of strengthening, a lot of balance, a lot of coordination. 03:17:02:09 So and then the people, they feel a little bit like they have a little taste of the Capoeira martial art.”

Kicking, ducking, squatting, and lunging work your lower body and get your heart rate elevated quickly. Breaking it down into drills of the various skills keeps you sweating. Among the more unusual moves--hand stands and cartwheels, used to attack an opponent in the fighting form, but practiced for fun and fitness in this format. For Fitness Magazine, I’m Bonnie Kaye.