Tae Bo: Fitness Craze or Effective Workout :: Exercise Health Papers

Tae Bo: Fitness Craze or Effective Workout? What’s all the fuss about? Tae Bo, a form of high impact aerobics that combines the moves of Tae Kwon Do, karate, boxing, ballet, and hip_hop dancing is the newest craze in gyms and homes across the country. Tae Bo, which stands for Total Awareness Excellent Body Obedience, was developed by Billy Blanks in the late 1980’s. Blanks, a seven_time world karate champion and black belt in six martial arts, developed Tae Bo in the basement of his home. Atfter encouragement from family and friends, The Blank’s World Training Center in Sherman Oaks, CA was opened, introducing Tae Bo to local townspeople and limited Hollywood celebrities. By word of mouth, Tae Bo gradually gained popularity, its’ fame peaking with the release of the video package in August of 1998. The four tape video package includes an instructional video, basic workout, advanced workout, and an eight_minute workout. The videos are commonly featured on a late night infomercial where the package can be purchased for three payments of $19.95. The infomercial, featuring testimonials from successful users, and a motivational speech from Blanks himself, has sold over one million copies since 1998. "If you’ve got the will__Tae Bo’s the way" promises the announcer, for thousands of users this seems to be the truth. Troy Obrero , a well educated personal trainer in San Francisco, CA gives Tae Bo his approval: "Tae Bo is an excellent cardiovascular workout with very good distractions." Obrero targets lack of variety as the reason for failure of many workout regimens, he claims that Tae Bo provides the necessary novelty and challenge to keep users hooked. Very few people have done the type of movements done in Tae Bo on a regular basis, continues Obrero, this leads to its extreme effectiveness in toning and defining the entire body. Blanks encourages his clients to work on their bodies from the inside out; he claims: "results are imminent from the very first Tae Bo workout, as completing it makes you feel great about yourself." Overall Blanks says his Tae Bo workouts can improve balance, coordination, flexibility, and will tone and define muscles. The workout regimen is exhaustively aerobic and therefore yields phenomenal cardiovascular benefits. Finally, perhaps the most appealing aspect of a Tae Bo workout is its’ proven calorie burning effectiveness. An hour long Tae Bo workout will burn 500 to 800 calories, compared with the 300 to 400 calories burned with a more conventional aerobics class. Testimonials The world wide web is full of glowing recommendations from faithful Tae Bo users. Although the workout seems to be most popular with women in their