Anybody living in the '80s had to hear of the fitness phenomenon called Tae-Bo.
The part boxing, part martial arts and part fitness routine that had everybody and their mama jumping, kicking and sweating with its creator, Billy Blanks.
Blanks, who at 64 still wakes at 4:30 a.m. to train and teach his new Tae Bo-inspired multilevel fitness program, Billy’s BoomBoxing. “We’re talking to people about nutrition and exercise—and how to find a good workout because the workout has to fit your personality.
Everybody wants to be healthier and stronger, and feel good about themselves.”
Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven, attending karate and tae kwon do classes.
He was born with an anomaly in his hip joints that impaired his movement.
The resulting clumsiness caused taunts from Blanks' siblings and led his instructors to believe that he would never accomplish much.
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Blanks found the answer to these challenges in karate. When he saw Bruce Lee on TV, he decided he wanted to be a world martial-arts champion.
Starting out as a bodyguard for lead actress Catherine Bach during the filming of 1988's Driving Force, Blanks was in Manila while the actress was filming.
Blanks impressed the producers so much that he was written into the script in a supporting role. This led to Blanks' work in several martial arts films, including King of the Kickboxers and Bloodfist.
Blanks also appeared in the opening scene of Tony Scott's The Last Boy Scout, where he plays a doomed pro-football player. Blanks played Ashley Judd's kickboxing instructor in Kiss the Girls (1997).
Blanks developed the Tae Bo workout while running a karate studio in Quincy, Massachusetts. He used components of his martial arts and boxing training.
The name is a combination of "tae" (as in taekwondo) and "bo" (as in boxing). Blanks opened a fitness center in Los Angeles to teach his new workout.
He later attracted celebrity clients such as Paula Abdul, and the popularity of the workout quickly grew, becoming a pop culture phenomenon after Blanks began releasing mass-marketed videos.
He sold over 1.5 million VHS tapes in his first year, and is reported to have grossed between $80 million and $130 million in sales.
"I was in my basement," recalls Blanks. "I had just won the National Championships, and of course, I put on the Rocky theme song (laughs).
As soon as the song came on I started moving, kicking, and punching to the beat. Within 2-3 minutes I got cardiovascularly tired. I was one of the best fighters in the United States but I was not in good cardio shape!"
"I started combining karate moves, boxing moves, and calisthenics all together into a routine. I joined a ballet company because I didn’t know how to count music at the time.
I had a Russian instructor who taught me ballet and how to count music. Once I learned to count music, I started to create routines."
What's Next for Billy Blanks
In addition to creating a cookbook, having an online physical training platform, working with his son to produce online workout videos for the next generation, Billy is still a busy man.
He still makes appearances, does huge workouts for large groups of people and still shares fitness tips for everyone from the novice beginner to the seasoned pro.
"Don’t start out with an hour or 45-minute workout. Start with a 15-minute workout. Do that for a week or two.
And then gradually add minutes to it. Within two to three weeks, you’ll probably be up to a 45-minute workout that you can handle. This helps build up your confidence, and then the workout starts to become a lifestyle.
"And as you start to work out, don’t change your diet. See what happens to your body within two to three weeks of working out. You start losing inches, you start losing weight. Then you might say, 'I want to take this or that out of my diet and see what happens.' I try to help people figure a way that their personality can pick up a good workout and a good diet—one with real eating where they’re not walking around starving—that they can do for a lifetime. I don’t want to teach people about weight loss. If you want to lose weight, you have the power to do that. If you don’t want to lose weight, but just want to get stronger, you also have the power to do that."
"I tell people that every day above ground is a blessed day for me. And being around people. I come and teach a class – people motivate me. You never know whose life you’re going to change and by changing somebody else’s life, it changes your life. It gives me a chance to look at myself."
