You've Gotta Be Fit To Fight (Tae bo)

Name: JayHall1991

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Product:	Tae bo
Date:	24/04/08 (1023 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exciting, Comprehensive, Effective, Time Efficient, Powerful

Disadvantages: High Impact, Some Mis Counts, Blanks Can Be Annoying

Tae-Bo is an at home fitness system mixing kick boxing, dance, resistance training, tae kwon do and stretching which promises to promote general cardio strength, muscle endurance and flexibility. In the late 90's Tae Bo burst into people's home as one of the first (and most enduring) cardio boxing classes and has continued to sell well ever since. It has seen many transformations; from purely cardio, to boot-camp style and from Christian based (with prayer and praising galore!) to the newest Amped series using a weighted bar for resistance. But in whatever guise, it proves to be one of the most comprehensive, sweat inducing, fat burning, muscle toning and laughter inducing (although not always intentionally) way of staying fit within your home. It's compelling mix of high kicks and heart pumping cardio always leaves me energised, stronger and more able to cope with the day ahead, plus the huge range of DVD's and styles makes it easy to spice up your workout routine which stops you from getting too bored. Tae-Bo offers DVD's for all abilities (although it could never be described as low impact) and when you reach the advanced levels then you will be treated to some of the most challenging and effective workouts available.

Tae-Bo is helmed by the cheesier than cheddar fitness guru, Billy Blanks; a seven time world karate champion, seventh degree black belt tae kwon do holding former 'athlete of the year'. He reeks of American 'you can do anything!' syndrome, but he is an undeniably amazing motivator, keeping you on track with his ridiculous chants 'fit to fight, to have a good life' and annoyingly inaccurate counting with a sort of shoutie tone that keeps you on track and kicking when your legs are screaming out for mercy. He developed Tae-Bo as a means to develop his cardiovascular strength (he was a karate champion, yet found than dancing for ten minutes wore him out) and in developing his fusion met a ballet trainer who taught him the importance of posture, stretch and controlled movement. Technically he isn't the greatest instructor; his counting is all over the place, he tends to do more repetitions on the right side of the body (leaving you stronger on one side) and I feel that sometimes there is too much attention given to the lower body and not enough on the upper, but he has so much frantic energy that it's really easily to get caught up in his chanting and movement.

Tae Bo first high kicked its way into the public consciousness when Paula Abdul adopted it as a way to stay in shape - she raved about it in the media and frenzy hit America with kickboxing classes becoming the most popular in gyms around the country. Since then cardio kickboxing has been replaced by newer fitness regimes but it still a great choice for all over body toning and fat burning and Tae-Bo has constantly adapted to suit different people's needs and fitness fashions. This means that there are hundreds of DVDs out in charity shops and retail stores - making it fairly easy and cheap to get hold of new and exciting workouts. I often find cassettes in charity shops that I haven't even heard of, and there is often a great variety of combos and new moves, so not many videos are too similar to each other (although they do all contain kicking, punches, squats and push ups).

====================Billy Blank's Tae Bo: The Ultimate Collection====================

This is where I started on my Tae-Bo practise, and I would highly recommend it to new practitioners (people who have been working out with Billy for a while will most probably already have most of these in other sets or volumes.) It's a box set with 4 of Billy's most successful and comprehensive early DVD and span about 5 years of releases with workouts that cover all bases, beginner, intermediate and advanced with an extra toning DVD. The set includes 'Tae-Bo 4: Abs and Glutes' & 'Tae-Bo: Active' & 'Tae-Bo: Get Ripped' & 'Tae-Bo Energise.' It's a cheap way to get hold of a set, retailing at £5.97 for all workouts on Amazon, and contains many of Blank's signature moves, combinations and strengthening technique. These have slightly lower production values than the later disks produced by Gaiam but they are still well very well made.

Tae-Bo: Get Ripped This one is bizarre because the instruction workout (which highlights proper technique, safety issues and correct alignment) is at the end of the VHS tape and separated on the DVD main menu. I would highly recommend looking at this first because it makes it so much easier to perform the more fast paced combos and will provide you with more confidence. Once that is mastered the Get Ripped videos is a good one; it is split into two workouts, beginners (although I would say it was all that easy!) and advanced. Both have a lot of emphasise on toning and sculpting as opposed to cardio (although there are some killer fast feet combos in the advanced) and are both relatively easy to pick up. The advanced is really sweat inducing and burns a lot of calories (although I feel that some of the exercises are performed a little extremely). There are plenty of high kicks and punch combinations and there is some good hip/lower body floor work. I have a slight problem with the abdominal routines on both disks as they don't really hit the places which I need, but that is only a slight grievance. There is also an 8 minute routine added which is good for a quick burst; but be prepared, it is very high intensity and fast, so I don't really recommend it for beginners and it doesn't match the toning power of the more comprehensive routines on the disk. It's a good cardio kick though.

The Beginner's Workout: Averaged about 2500 steps per workout with a emphasise of toning (squats, lunges etc)

The Advanced Workout: Averaged about 2750 steps per workout due to fast step combos, but again mainly toning

8 Minute Workout: Averaged about 300-350 steps per workout which is good for a short time due to heavy cardio

Running Time: 167 minutes

Abs and Glutes: As I said above I am not the biggest fan of Tae-Bo ab work because I find it works bizarre muscles and lacks a good burn for your oblique's but I know that some people find it the most effective for of stomach work. This DVD is VERY fast, infact probably unhealthily fast, but it definitely works alot of the muscles in the abs and your butt will start to ache by the end of the workout. You don't build up any steps and there is only minimal amount of cardio, but for those who want to focus completely on lower body toning this is a reasonable choice.

Tae-Bo Energize: Again this follows the same set-up as the Get Ripped; An instructional segment, a beginners segment, advanced segment and 8 minute power routine. The Energize DVD is a lot of fun as it is filled with intense bursts of cardio which really get your heart pumping and new moves which are a laugh to try and complete at first. It's a very upbeat workout with fewer toning sections (although the lower body gets a pounding) and a bunch of jumps, kicks and jogging on the spot type sequences. It isn't low impact (although hardly any of the Tae-Bo routines are) but it will easily build a sweat and some of the ab work is more successful than any of the other Tae-Bo routines. Again Billy Blanks puts a lot of emphasis on correct alignment and safety and the moves all seem to complement each other. Every major muscle group seems to be hit with this one and because of a nice stretching sequences (although throughout the whole Tae-Bo collection Blanks shows a lack of knowledge when it comes o flexibility work, taking on stretching without a lot of thought) and his continual motivational speaking keeps you going even when your butt is screaming. The only downside to this is Billy's rubbish counting and mis-shouts - he often makes you do more repetitions on one side of the body (which can cause misalignment) and he doesn't count each move out well.

The Beginner's Workout: Averaged about 2600 steps per workout due to alot of cardio

The Advanced Workout: Averaged about 3000 steps per workout with added toning

8 Minute Workout: Averaged about 350 steps (similar to the get ripped 8 minute workout)

================================Billy's Bootcamp=============================

I think this is my favourite Tae-Bo series as it includes a bunch of toning, cardio, weight work, flexibility and is hard enough to challenge all participants. The idea was born out of Billy and Shellie Blank's work with the U.S military, they designed these routines to simulate the work that the soldiers went through to stay in shape and so offers a strenuous and exciting routine for all. There is a lot more emphasise of the upper body and the lower body work is more routine squats and lunges; all the moves will be familiar to you (as they are probably used in all forms of exercise) but they are usually formed in a dynamic way to keep things flowing nicely. They have better production values than the earlier tae-Bo DVDs and are filmed in a stylish studio. It also incorporates the Billy Bands, tubes which strap around your feet and hands and make movement harder, which add extra resistant and effectively carve lean, strong muscles as opposed to the bulky look that weights provide.

Basic Bootcamp: This is a great workout with a lot of toning and cardio with some tai-chi like stretching work. This is my favourite form of routine as it includes all forms of exercise with a wicked inbuilt pace, some killer butt work and a fun heart-pounding soundtrack. There are alot of convention fitness moves (star jumps, push ups, and squats abound) but they really work all of the major muscle groups, this is the Tae-Bo routine with which I get the best results. The basic Bootcamp is still fairly hard going, there isn't a minute of rest and the lower body work is enough to get the blood flowing. There are some unusual but effective lower ab moves that really spice things up and this routine introduces the Billy Bands (weighted bands that strap around your feet and hands) which offers a great amount of resistance for extra-added muscle building/toning. I enjoy the flowing nature of the exercises and I think that the Bootcamp is one of the best ways to keep fit and build endurance. I am still not sure about Blank's stretches, they add some variation and I have heard wonderful things about Tai-Chi's benefits, but after such a strenuous workout this is not enough of a cool down or stretch out.

Advanced Bootcamp: This is without doubt one of the most strenuous, powerful, fat blasting, muscle building and fun home workouts available. Its sweat inducing to the maximum; filled with squats, push ups, lunges jumps, kicks, punches and weight work. Every muscle is worked, but never to the point of complete exhaustion, and Billy Blanks screamy, frantic style is more than enough to keep you motivated and punching away at the air. However, he mis-counts all of the way through which can make the whole thing kind of disorientating. There is never a boring moment in the advanced class; you are forced to constantly move from one kick to the next (with some wicked and painful combinations) and the mix of cardio and weight work makes for a very satisfying and comprehensive routine. There is quite a lot of arm work with push ups, arm curls, triceps curls and overhead tricep extensions which are very effective when you are using the Billy Bands and there is a wicked roll/push up segment. There are some fast paced moves to get your cardio in and every muscle in the leg and butt are pounded constantly with squats (lots and lots and lots of squats!) and variations on the standard lunge. Again the stretching and cool-down segments are Tai-Chi based, however in the Advances programme they are more comprehensive and effective, leaving you feeling refreshed and long/lean (I would still like some more stretching work though.)

Ab Bootcamp/Tae-Bo Live In LA: I do not regularly participate in these classes as i have never been able to enjoy the Tae-Bo ab work, however this has moves for every part of the stomach with a nice balance of slimming and toning exercises. It is presented in the same room as the main systems and it has a good pace all the way through. The Live in L.A disk is a lot of fun but is fairly throw away as a serious workout; it is faster than most other Tae-BO workouts (which fits in with its cardio theme) and last 35 minutes, but there is a lack of structure to the whole thing and the participants seem a little disorientated at times. There are some fun new moves and a cool stomach section - but overall the thing is only good for those days when you are feeling tired.

Beginner's Bootcamp: This workout averaged about 2650 on my pedometer because of a lot of combinations

Advanced Bootcamp: This workout averaged about 2700 -more emphasis on toning and shaping than other advanced classes

Live In L.A: This workout averaged about 1300 steps on my pedometer - quite good for a short programme.

================================Celebrity Fit================================

These two DVDs are Billy Blank's most recent Tae-Bo offerings which are an amalgamation of moves from various other Tae-Bo workouts which promise to tone long lean muscles and provide some effective cardio. Hitting all of the important muscle groups to give you a thin, fit 'celebrity' look; they burn calories, strengthen the body, build endurance and relieve stress. They have the best production values of any Tae-Bo series and are relatively comprehensive with some fun new movements and a higher emphasise on safety and good form. Billy Blanks is his usual self (part annoying, part highly motivating) and there are some cool standing stomach crunches. Most of the exercises are highly effective and time efficient and overall it is a varied, exciting and successful regime.

Get Celebrity Fit - Cardio: This is purely cardio with a lot of fast movements, sequences and compound short bursts of activity. This racked up around 3000 steps on my pedometer, this is very good and the programme seems to give the muscles a lean, streamline look whilst burning quite a lot of calories.

Get Celebrity Fit - Tone: This is a programme which I really enjoy; it is fast enough to keep me going, yet has a great amount of muscle toning exercises to build a strong yet lean look. It doesn't follow as hard a line as the Bootcamp workouts, but still has a nice amount of leg, arm, stomach, chest, shoulder and butt movements. I racked up about 2000 steps on my pedometer as this is a toning regime with only fits of cardio.
Other routines in the Tae-Bo library:

* The Tae-Bo Amped series: A set of four DVD, a set which includes a weighted bar to supercharge the workout. Amped refers to the very fast, short, sharp movements that increase calorie and carbohydrate burn, for increased cardio output. The bar adds resistance to tone and shape the muscles. This is only released on Region One - but if you have a region free DVD player it is well worth buying this system because it is super fun and very effective.

* T3: a whole mind-body system which sees Billy for the first and only time accessing the power to help you burn 1000 calories an hour (quite a feat, but it is very strenuous and fast!) with a greater focus on how your mental state affects your confidence, esteem and physical strength. There are three disks included in this along with two very comfortable hand weight (which are ergonomically designed to clutch to your fists like a glove) to add muscle building power.

* Tae-Bo Extreme: Billy Blanks developed the extreme programme for those who had practised Tae-Bo for over 2 years and had mastered the entire advanced DVD programme. It is a butt busting, exhilarating, push-it-to-the-limit workout filled with surprises, squats, lunges, kicks, punches, push ups and leaps. It burns a lot of calories and shows the most steps counted on my pedometer (at an extremely impressive 4000) while adding lean muscle mass and improving flexibility. However, some of the moves are performed too extremely and there isn't an appropriate cool-down or stretch out for such an aggressive routine. You have the option of including weighted gloves, you can only purchase this in region one.

* Tae-Bo Flex: Many consider Tae-Bo Flex as the pilates of the kickboxing world; with a huge emphasise on the core muscles and slowly toning the muscles with slow, controlled movements. It is designed to build strength and flexibility using much more condensed actions than the typical Tae-Bo workout. It is a dynamic and exciting addition to the Tae-Bo library.

Tae-Bo is one of the most comprehensive and impressive at home workout systems. Yes, it is high impact, cheesey, badly produced (on occasion) and is lead by a frustrating teacher, but it most definitely works, helps shape, tone and slim your body and makes you feel stronger, leaner and more flexible. There is a reason that it is one of the most successful weight loss programmes of all time; the movements are powerful, dynamic and time efficient.

Summary: A Great, Power Packed Workout Systems