Tonight’s workout featured the classic 90s workout, Tae Bo with Billy Blanks. Tae Bo is a full body workout that incorporates Taekwondo techniques mixed with boxing. Billy Blanks actually created Tae Bo back in the 80s after years of practicing martial arts. Tae Bo became extremely popular in the 90s selling millions of VHS tapes nationwide. People love Tae Bo because it’s a great Cardio Workout designed to burn fat, tone the body, and teach some self-defense techniques.
Upon doing a quick Youtube Search for Tae Bo, I found a half hour workout from 1998 that looked fun. For Tae Bo you don’t need anything but your own bodyweight which is my favorite kind of workout!
How did it go?
I was feeling pretty sore after yesterday’s TRX workout. Thankfully this class started with a quick warmup and I couldn’t help but giggle at the unitard Billy Blanks had going on. If anything, I knew this was about to be a fun workout. On a side note- how do all these girls workout with with their hair down? I get SO sweaty, the last think I want is sweaty hair sticking to my back or arm.
Overall the workout was pretty easy to follow along. They use 8-counts for everything similar to Barre! The tricky part was the amount of 8 counts each move had – I think anywhere between 3 and 5. I honestly lost count. Tae Bo definitely fused mostly kickboxing elements with some martial arts and feet typical exercises into this fast paced cardio workout. I don’t know a whole lot of martial arts, but I have done a couple kick boxing before and this felt more kick boxing than martial arts. The cool down was pretty basic but I think you could always add your own stretch onto the end.
What did you think of Billy Blanks?
Billy Banks is very intense instructor – the kind where if I were actually in the class I might not be so into it. However, I love his mentality of “working from the inside out”. He is a strong believer in working on the mind for your own mental sanity so you can go back out into the world refreshed and ready to take on the day. I discovered his entire workout channel after (after this workout of course). Billy Banks has been posting workouts and PT videos from his living room since we all starting working out from home. He is still just as intense but it’s nice to see we are all working out in the same space, not a staged gym.
Should I try it?
Overall Rating: I definitely recommend trying a throwback Billy Blanks Tae Bo workout like the one I did! It was fun just to mix it up and have a little laugh at his purple unitard. If you are into more mainstream workouts, I highly recommend Billy Blanks Youtube channel for a more updated Tae Bo experience.
Check out the throwback class here: https://www.youtube.com/tae-bo
As always, let me know if you like it as much as I do!
xoxo
Krysta
