The sweat beads off your brow. You wipe it away for another exhilarating rapid punch and kick ‘til you’ve punched and kicked yourself into total exhaustion. Whew! Was all this punching and kicking to fend off some imaginary attacker? Nope, it was all for your well-being! If you were into healthy living in the ‘90s and had a VHS player, you most likely worked out to the martial arts-like exercises of Billy Blanks and his uber popular Tae Bo videos. But where did the sudden Tae Bo popularity come from, who exactly is Billy Blanks, and what is he up to today (hint: he’s still looking fit)? Read on dear reader and push yourself another set ’til you’ve exhausted yourself to the point of a full Tae Bo breakdown.
Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons — there weren’t a lot of “hip” options for those looking to get their VHS exercise fix on in the ‘90s. No disrespect, but Fonda was a bit older and Simmons was a bit nerdy, so what was a younger, “hipper” person supposed to do for a modern ‘90s workout without having to truck it to a gym? (Driving — yuck!) Enter Billy Blanks and his late night infomercials for Tae Bo videos. With marketing appealing to the younger ‘90s crowd up late and open to something that wasn’t their mom’s boring old Fonda videos — Tae Bo was a refreshing and frenetic alternative to the exercise status quo. And it wasn’t just the martial arts-like boxing maneuvers that made Tae Bo exciting, nope, Tae Bo’s founder Billy Blanks’ ripped and toned physique was a breath of fresh air from the more homely Fonda and Simmons video types — as you watched Mr. Blanks, you felt like you were one kick away from your own set of rock hard abs!
Launched in 1998, the Tae Bo videos took Billy Blanks from being a $70-an-hour sometimes celebrity trainer to grossing over $80 million by May 1999 — less than a year after the tape’s launch! (INSERT KEANU… WOAH) While that may seem like a quick rise to the top, Mr. Blanks had experience not only working as a trainer, but also as a charismatic actor in multiple martial arts films. Indeed, the charm of Billy Blanks and his refreshing Tae Bo workouts did not spring from nowhere overnight despite what the numbers suggest. Billy had been hard at work refining his martial arts skills since taking up Karate and Taekwondo classes at the age of 11.
Born Billy Wayne Blanks on September 1, 1955 in Erie, Pennsylvania — the punching, kicking, badass Billy we all know today started life with quite a bit of physical adversity. Billy was born with joint issues in his hips that not only impaired his movement, but would lead to teasing and torment from other kids. However, Billy did not let his disability or the words of others get him down, and upon watching Bruce Lee on TV one night, he became transfixed with Lee’s fighting abilities and quickly set his mind toward becoming a martial artist himself. For the next ten years, Billy would continue training in various martial arts and overcome his hip issues, until he finally had a breakthrough in 1976 at the age of 21 while training in his basement — Billy decided to begin combining the various martial arts and boxing training he had learned into a more varied and intense workout for himself, and developed what we now know as Tae Bo.
With the basis for his Tae Bo practice in place, all that was missing was a shot for Billy to show off his charismatic personality, and this chance came another twelve years later when Billy was hired as a bodyguard for actress Catherine Bach in the 1989 film Driving Force. Blanks impressed the film’s producers so much while on set, that they ended up writing him into the movie in a supporting role! This break led to Billy acting in dozens of other films through the ‘80s and ‘90s, and in 1989 his hard work paid off — he was able to open his Billy Blanks World Training Center in Sherman Oaks, California, where he would begin teaching his Tae Bo workout!
Slowly over the course of the next nine years, Billy amassed a steady following of hip, health-conscious LA natives and hot ‘90s celebrity clientele such as Paula Abdul. With success mounting locally in Los Angeles, Billy took his onscreen know-how to practice in 1998 when he put together the release for his first Tae Bo video. And the rest, as they say, is history — goodbye old stodgy Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons workouts, hello high intensity Tae Bo!
So where is Billy Blanks today? While the VHS workout craze of the ‘80s and ‘90s has long passed, a 65-year-old Billy is still hard at work as of this article’s publication in 2021, helping all generations of people reach top physical shape. While many kickboxing type rip-off classes were created to emulate Tae Bo’s success throughout the following decades, none have ever reached the craze that Billy Blanks set off in the ‘90s. Today, Billy is still leading workout courses online through his website, and through weekly videos available on his YouTube channel. Just like Billy’s drive to overcome his physical hip deformity and prove his instructors and naysayers wrong, Billy continues to keep that Tae Bo spirit alive in the hopes that it may help others overcome their own adversities.
Have any memories of your first body breaking Tae Bo workouts in the ‘90s? Or better yet — find one of Billy’s old Tae Bo workouts from the ‘90s on YouTube and give it a try recently? Let us know how you fared in the comments below! I have a strong suspicion that those “old” Tae Bo videos would kick our butts way more today than we remember! Ha.
- Just one year after Tae Bo’s release in 1998, it had already sold 1.5 million video sets.
- Tae Bo’s tape sales generated over $80 million US dollars in revenue in just their first year.
- The original Tae Bo videotapes were sold in a four tape package that included an instructional video, basic workout, advanced workout, and an eight minute workout.
- Tae Bo’s infomercials in 1998 sold the four tape package for three payments of $19.95 USD.
- An hour-long Tae Bo workout will burn 500 to 800 calories, compared with the 300 to 400 calories burned with more conventional aerobics class.
- Just one year after Tae Bo’s release in 1998, it had already sold 1.5 million video sets.
- Tae Bo’s tape sales generated over $80 million US dollars in revenue in just their first year.
- The original Tae Bo videotapes were sold in a four tape package that included an instructional video, basic workout, advanced workout, and an eight minute workout.
- Tae Bo’s infomercials in 1998 sold the four tape package for three payments of $19.95 USD.
- An hour-long Tae Bo workout will burn 500 to 800 calories, compared with the 300 to 400 calories burned with more conventional aerobics class.
1 thought on “Tae Bo: The Most Popular and Effective ’90s Workout Videos”
Yeah, i remember those like it was yesterday. Should have working out with it much more. I just had a question. What are the names of all those soundtracks used in all 4 video tapes? PLEASE. I NEED THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!