So What about Tae-Bo?

I finally went out and bought Tae_Bo.

For those of you who don't watch infomercials on TV, Tae-Bo is the hottest new trend in aerobics tapes. The name is a combination of Tai (from the Korean word for 'foot') and Bo from Boxing.

What it is, is a combination of kick boxing with some Tae Qhando moves.

Billy Blanks, the man who made the Tae-Bo tapes, is a personal trainer from Hollywood. Among the stars he has trained is Sinbad.

It's kind of pricey

Target sells Tae-Bo for $34.95 and includes the basic instructional tape and the 'basic workout'. Considering the other workout tapes on the rack were 10.00 to 12.00, TaeBo was definitely pricey.

I did watch the instructional tape once and then, did the exercises with the tape. TaeBo is complex enough that it does help to go through the Instructional tape first.

After I felt I knew the moves, I did the workout. It's a 23 minute workout and has the same moves that the instructional tape has but it moves a lot faster.

Billy, does some flexibility moves in the beginning and end of the workout but virtually no real stretching. Most of need stretching at the end of the workout. I had to do my own stretching after doing Tae-Bo.

Tae-Bo only works a few muscles, basically thighs and glutes and biceps and triceps and a little bit on the waistline.

Those high kicks are too hard for me

If you aren't 20 years old, and extremely fit, you may find TAE-BO rather difficult. There are certain moves in Tae-Bo which it takes a dancer to complete. Ordinary people need to modify those moves into something more do-able. Also, there are some high impact moves included in the workout.

Best for 20 year old gym rats!

Tae-Bo seems geared towards the 20 year old fitness affectionado -you know the type- who takes a size 4, is at about 5 percent bodyfat and has a difficult timing getting aerobic with a traditional workout. Many of these people are tired of step workouts and of course, the feeling that the exerciser is aligned with the celebrities would have great appeal.

It basically works the few muscles which young women worry about i.e. the glutes, the inner thighs, the triceps and is very high intensity (some of that intensity coming from the high impact moves). At only 23 minutes long, it fits easily into many folks busy schedules.

In my opinion, other than the young gym rat group, Tae-Bo may not really suit the needs of other age groups. The flexibility to do moves like the 'roundhouse kick' is simply not there in most folks over 40. The workout is too short for those of us who want to do some serious fat burning (you only start burning fat after the 20 minute point of your workout). Older people cannot handle the high impact moves either - neither can those with fuller figures. And most of us over 30 need to think about toning many more muscles than the few groups Tae-Bo works. Finally, Tae-Bo tapes offer very little in the way of flexibility or stretching which is a must for most over 30.

I didn't find the Tae-Bo workout that interesting or fun to do. After you learn the few basic moves, workouts seem limited to those few moves. And no matter how fun a tape is, I could not stomach doing it daily for a long period as the infomercial on Tae-Bo suggests the tapes be used.

But Billy is so charming...

Billy Blanks is - yet another - charismatic fitness guru whose charm and ingenuity in marketing is helping him go to the bank. According to his webpage, Blanks has ambitious plans for Tae-Bo. He plans to make many more tapes and open special "Tae-Bo" fitness centers all over the United States.

Unlike some other infomercials which offer ineffective programs with ambitious claims, Tae-Bo is definitely effective at what it claims to do i.e. providing a decent aerobic workout. It might even work in the fitness programs of those over 30 if combined with other cross training activities and if some modifications of the dance moves was made. And if you do it 4 or 5 times a week, you might lose some weight. However, although the Tae-Bo claim that it's sweeping the country might have some truth in it, the claim that it's the "future of fitness" or something which has never been seen before is hardly accurate. Tae-Bo is just another aerobics tape like some 5000 others available today.

And if the prospective buyer is over 30, full figured or not fit, she or he might be a whole lot better off purchasing a Richard Simmons 'Sweatin' tape or a Denise Austin tape both of which offer better aerobics and more overall muscle toning as well as a more interesting fun workout.