Can't Be Beaten! (Tae bo)

Member Name: GuruOnAMountain

Product:	Tae bo
Date:	27/06/05 (1817 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Is fun., Is relatively cheap and easy., Gets results.

Disadvantages: Has a slight air of American cheesiness.

It was summer time again and my big sister had fallen into her usual summer time routine of manically trying to get washboard abs just in time for slipping into her bikini (not that she ever accomplished the task, mind you)! It wasn't long before she popped down the shops and proudly entered the house with a shiny, new workout video, but for once I actually found myself interested in it.

It had an eye-catching yellow cover with red text and the image of a rather formidable looking instructor on the front. She slipped it into the VCR and we were bombarded with upbeat music and cheery looking people energetically punching and kicking in time. Now, this looked far more interesting than her usual workouts and before long I found myself joining in.

The first thing I noticed was that my TV screen was not filled only with ultra-fit, ripped males and super skinny females who did everything perfectly and neglected to shed even a drop of sweat, but there was a mix of all sorts of people. I spotted an elderly woman, a little girl who must've only been about 8 and quite a few ordinary looking men and women who were clearly not ultra fit and who occassionally made mistakes. This certainly made me feel a lot better about myself, rather than watching a screen full of picture perfect fit people whilst I was puffing and panting like an old horse!

I soon discovered that the instructor was called Billy Blanks and after a little research learned that he was a martial artist who had combined Tae Kwon Do (a Korean martial art) and dance moves and had unintentionally hit upon the idea of Tae Bo. I also learned that he's not as formidable as he looks, either, but encourages the people on the video and the people at home in an energetic and unpatronising way.

The Tae Bo workouts are high energy, but are far from boring. I can't stand doing exercise videos when you're confined to doing constant repitions of sit-ups or some other boring exercise, but when I was doing the Tae Bo workouts, I was so distracted by perfecting my kicking and punching that I forgot I was exercising half the time! I was knackered afterwards and really felt like I'd burned off a fair few calories by the time I'd finished!

The video I use is called Tae Bo Active and has a basic workout and an advanced work out. I also had a Tae Bo Advanced video and that really took it out me! I've seen Abs and Glutes videos, too, and I'm sure there's others in the series that I've not noticed. Tae Bo has become extremely popular and it certainly seems to work. I don't use it regularly because I'm a lazy hound, but I've seen the results of friends who use it day in and day out and they have not only lost weight, but have brilliantly toned muscle and are a lot fitter!

Because these workouts have grown so popular it is really easy to get your hands on Tae Bo videos or DVDs. Most shops that stock even a small amount of fitness videos/DVDs will have at least one of the Tae Bo series available and of course, they're easy to obtain on the internet.

Considering how little a DVD costs, I think Tae Bo is well worth a try if you're looking for a way to get fit without going to the gym and feeling like a Mr. or Mrs. Blobby among all the well-toned, fit people. It will keep you engaged and entertained as well as get you fit. What have you got to lose?

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