How to hack Instagram and become a world-class martial artist

Mestre Brasília is a legendary figure in the sport of Capoeria.

Who, at 70+ years-old, do you know still doing cartwheels and releasing powerful kicks? A pioneer in the fighting discipline he invented not just moves, but entire subsets of techniques.

While training with him this week alongside Mestre Poncianhio, I asked a question:

What makes a great Capoeirista [A-player]?

Practice, practice, practice. Practice.

A-Players in all areas sing the virtues of discipline and consistent practice. It is their mantra.

Kai Greene, American bodybuilder and first runner up (2nd place) at the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Mr. Olympia competition (a feat I find more impressive than actually winning the contest because of halo-effect biases current winners enjoy), said in the must-watch documentary Generation Iron,

Hard work beats talent every time.

It’s a quote that I think of whenever I find myself struggling towards a goal, along with Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle Is The Way.

However, what few understand – and further, put into motion – is that practice principally takes place in the mind.

As bestselling Norman Doidge explains in The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Science (a book you must read):

The brain constantly re-wires itself. You have millions of neural connections and paths. It is what New York Times bestseller Nicholas Carr describes in The Shallows as ‘brain maps’.

You think of the word ‘sea’, and the colour blue, images and feelings of water, the sand, sun and sounds come to mind. Neural connections fire in all directions. Furthermore, as Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman revealed, your pupils dilated and your heartbeat increased a little.

Because you thought of those things, your neural connections just strengthened. Next time you think of the word ‘sea’, those things are even more likely to come up.

You can apply neural strengthening to any discipline.

What Norman Doidge discovered was that you can improve at any discipline – scientifically – through your imagination. Here are some examples.

Imagine yourself:

… throwing basketballs through the hoop
… drawing the front of your house in minute detail
… balancing in a handstand
… having a conversation in another language

Test after test showed that those who do cognitive exercises such as these perform better than those who do not.

How to hack Instagram to get free world-class training, OR, how to apply neural strengthening to martial arts

The web is an extension of the world’s collective brain. Use it as a tool to get free world-class training and as inspiration to serve your cognitive exercise (neural strengthening).

In this article, I’m going to show how I use Instagram (along with secret tools) to find the best videos for Capoeira training. You can do the same for any martial art, sport, or physical discipline.

Why Instagram and not YouTube?YouTube is a mammoth resource and there are millions of high-quality productions of great value. However, if you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ll know I’m a productivity nerd. Time is my most valued asset. I find that YouTube videos have way too much talking. I don’t need a 5 minute introduction, I just want to see the move again, again, again (because that is how you learn).

Instagram videos have the fantastic features of being short (max 45. seconds) and also looping. They’re also muted by default. No talking.

Step 1) Define your search terms

Be specific. Searching #capoeira brings up too much. You’ll be scrolling through endless pictures of related, but not practical stuff.

Search for specific moves you want to learn, names of teachers and subset-techniques. This is far more likely to provide more accurate results.

Step 2) Use these Instagram tools for better search results

HashtagPirate – search multiple hashtags for incredible filtering power. Also filter by ‘video’ results only. Super useful.
- Test with ‘#capoeira #angola’, or ‘#capoeira #cdo’
- Watch ‘au sem mão‘ and this funny bridge training video – example results I found.
Mixgram – search multiple hashtags again, filter with videos. As the searches can take a while when being very specific, I often use in a new tab along with HashtagPirate to do multiple searches at once.
- Test with ‘#capoeira #exercise‘, or ‘#capoeira #armada‘
- Watch this guy doing jack knives and wide plank, dangerous handstand exercises with meia lua de compasso.

A video posted by Fitness in DXB 💪 (@fitnessindxb) on Oct 29, 2015 at 2:21pm PDT

Step 3) Save the videos you find

When you find a good video, store it. Start building a bank of information you can call upon at any time to refresh your memory. Remember, neural strengthening relies on practice – you constantly re-igniting those connections.

Pocket – an app worth paying premium for, simply click the bookmarklet when you’re viewing the video and save it to Pocket. Tag it with the move, e.g. meia lua de compasso. Then, you can search for it from your phone, tablet, computer at any time and see all the videos you’ve tagged with that. A million times faster then trying to find it again on Instagram. See screenshot of what tagging looks like:

pocket screen shot tagging capoeira tom church

Evernote – Evernote my favourite tool of all time. Hands-down, every year, it’s Evernote that I rely on again and again. Bookmark videos just as you can with Pocket, or, using the app, take videos in class, write notes, upload your paper notes, share them with friends etc. etc.

Get Started

Start using Instagram for your goals and let me know your experiences in the comments or on Twitter @tomchurch. If you find any other cool hacks, I’d love to know and update this page like a living resource for best tech hacks for learning martial arts. Here are some more fun Capoeira Instagram videos I’ve found along the way. You can follow me on Instagram @yourbespokelife.