What is Tae Bo® Cardio?

Tae Bo® Cardio is a high-impact aerobic workout that combines martial arts, dance, boxing, and kickboxing moves. This fast-paced workout is considered to have a number of advantages and disadvantages. During the 1990s, Tae Bo® fitness tapes and classes became quite popular, as did the program's creator, Billy Blanks.

Depending on a person's level of fitness, there are different types of Tae Bo® workouts available. Beginner workouts are available for those who aren't in the best shape or don't exercise often, and intermediate workouts are available for active people. For the more active athlete, the advanced version of Tae Bo® may be better.

Tae Bo® cardio workouts were designed to work a person's entire body. The series of quick moves can increase heart rate, and by doing so possibly lower blood pressure and strengthen the heart. Many of the long muscles are also worked during a Tae Bo® workout, which often results in improved strength, muscle tone, and overall fitness. Many people also enjoy that these workouts are relatively entertaining. Instead of doing a few boring repetitive movements, these workouts are constantly changing and set to highly energetic music.

Many beginners, and even some experts, can injure themselves during a Tae Bo ® cardio workout if they aren't careful. These injuries are typically the result of a person trying to work out beyond his fitness level, or using improper form. In the instructional Tae Bo® cardio workout videos, creator and instructor Billy Blanks implores the user to not try to overwork himself and helps demonstrate proper form.

Billy Blanks was born in Pennsylvania in 1955 with a hip problem that resulted in very limited movement of his legs. Despite his condition, and inspired by martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Blanks started martial arts training at 11 years old, and went on to win numerous championships later in life. During the 1980s, he had a short, unsuccessful acting career. It was in the late 1980s when Blanks was running a karate studio in Massachusetts that he perfected his Tae Bo® cardio workouts. He then moved his studio to Los Angeles, California and began teaching Tae Bo® classes.

Shortly afterward, the Tae Bo® cardio workout started to become very popular, and Blanks even began selling Tae Bo® cardio videos during infomercials aired on television. Classes could be found in every gym, and in 1999, it is believed that roughly 1.5 million home cardio workout videos were sold. Tae Bo® cardio was one of the biggest fitness crazes of the 1990s, and it remained popular into the new millennium.