Tae Bo advice

M

Mikie

Cathlete
I'm posting this to those of you who mentioned the Tae Bo Get Ripped Advance workouts.

I have the opportunity to purchase one or both of these and need some help:

1. I wasn't crazy about the origninal Tae Bo advanced so I have shyed away from subsequent Tae Bo attempts. However, when Cathe fans recommend something, my ears perk up! I know a lot of you have talked about how great this workout is and that lead me to believe it was "better" (IMHO) than the originals. You've already convinced me to get Power Strike while I wait on more from Cathe so I'm hoping this would be a good one too. I guess my question is: if I didn't like the original workout, is there reason to believe I may like the Get Ripped series?...maybe his style has changed...etc. Or is it that old adage: you love him or don't re: Billy Blanks?

2. If the answer is "YES, Get it!", should I lean toward the one with the blue cover or orange cover (that's how they were described to me...sorry!).

Let me know what you all think and thanks in advance for any help!

Take care,
Mikie
 
Hi Mikie,

My first experience with Tae Bo has been the Get Ripped Advanced, so I have no prior reference with Tae Bo. I can only tell you I really, really love the workouts! I love intense, real sweat busting workouts that are tough enough to leave you knowing at the end of the workout that you have just been thoroughly worked out! A bit sadistic, but if I'm not drenched in sweat, I feel cheated! So the Get Ripped Advanced does that for me, and I love it!
Now mine came as a 2pk, but if you have the opportunity to just purchase one, then the difference between them is fairly minimal, but workout 1 (gold background/woman on pic) is a total 60 min of kicking/jabbing/standing work. Workout 2 (purple background/Billy on pic) is also 60 min., but the last 10 min has a floor routine with drills on "all 4's" for your legs/glutes.
Hopefully someone with prior Tae Bo knowledge can compare/contrast the old videos to the new ones for you, but I give the Get Ripped Advanced series 2 thumbs up!
Donna
 
I like the Advanced Ripped series. I got quite a few of the original Advanced live tapes but kept only 2, number 2 and number 3.

I really don't have a lot of interest in trying Power Strikes...I viewed two of the tapes and they seemed very hard to follow because of the poor production quality. Someone else needs to comment on those.
 
Great question! I have the same feeling, I tried the "original" advanced tape and felt that 1) The moves were too uncontrolled, (it made me nervous that I would end up injuring my knees) and 2) all that talk about "my higher power" was too cheesey for me. Do you find the same issues in the "Get Ripped" tapes? I do love the fact that when you're finished you really feel like you've pushed yourself, I rarely see that in non-Cathe vids. Thanks in advance for any info!
 
Hi Rockstar,

As I said previously, I don't have any prior Tae Bo knowledge to be able to compare series, but unless I am COMPLETELY out of it while working out, I don't recall any "higher power" conversation during the workout. Now at the end, after the cooldown, he is saying something about T for..., A for..., but by that time I'm gulping water, swiping sweat, walking round in a circle and saying, "yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever dude, see ya next time!" So if it gets "spiritual" I haven't heard it!
There are some speed kicking segments that give me concern, but I am new to Tae Bo, so basically I just do the half time kicking. It isn't often, once while standing, you raise your leg out to the side and do fast roundhouses, and once while on "all 4's." So I just modify the speed to keep it safe for me. But I love the series! :)
I'm hoping he puts out more advanced like these in the future. Cathe spoils you for intense workouts! Once you get hooked on the higher intensity, most everything else pales in comparison!
Donna
 
Cant comment on the Tae Bo question but had to chime in about the Powerstrike...the production quality of the earlier series is poor, but the newer Millenium series is great in intensity, music, cueing and production quality.

Stacy
 
Cant comment on the Tae Bo question but had to chime in about the Powerstrike...the production quality of the earlier series is poor, but the newer Millenium series is great in intensity, music, cueing and production quality.

Stacy
 
Cant comment on the Tae Bo question but had to chime in about the Powerstrike...the production quality of the earlier series is poor, but the newer Millenium series is great in intensity, music, cueing and production quality.

Stacy
 
Hi Mikie--I've been doing Taebo since Billy Blanks' first infomercial. So I'm familiar with the original Advanced tape. The Get Ripped Advanced 1 tape (w/ the gold cover) is an awesome workout. The original advanced workout, in my opinion, is far less challenging. Get Ripped features new moves, new format (it's more raw & feels like you're in a class rather than watching the exercisers in a studio) & great music. I'm not too crazy about GR2 (purple cover) b/c it's not as cardiovascularly challenging as GR1.

GR1 doesn't have the spiritual stuff featured in the original series. So if you had a problem w/ that aspect of it, GR shouldn't pose a problem. He still motivates by telling you to push yourself & challenge yourself & saying things like "you gotta give some to get some" but those kinds of things don't irk me, in fact, they get me pumped to keep going.

I've tried Powerstrike as well & it's my opinion that it's not as good as Taebo. Which is not to say that it's a bad workout; it's good for those days when you don't feel like going at full steam. PS is more drill oriented. The moves are slowed down to maximize range of motion & good form so I use it once in a while on days when I feel like kickboxing at a slower pace. The only problem w/ PS, though, as others have mentioned, is the poor production quality. It really is pretty bad. Maybe my copy is worse, but there are times when I can't even look at the tv b/c the shaking gives me a headache. And there are moments when the screen gets all scratchy & none of my other videos do that.

Well I've rambled long enough. Hopefully some of what I wrote will help you in your decision making process.
 
Thank you all SO much for the wonderful advice.

I can identify with the need for a challenging workout...it's is too easy to get spoiled by Cathe!

I think I'll go for the orange/gold video.

Take care,
Mikie
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON May-11-02 AT 01:07PM (Est)[/font][p]
I have one question for anybody who owns Get Ripped. I read the review in collagevideo.com, and somebody said that the workout is lob-sided. She said that Billy Blanks does not do the same number of repititions on each side and sometimes forgets to work the other side all together. I don't mind different count in a live class, but for tapes, it kind of bothered me since the same mistake is repeated EVERY time. Can somebody clarify this?

Mikie, thank you for reading my mind -- I was about to post on the same topic. I found that the original Tae Bo (which I borrowed from the library) is not as fun/challenging enough. As Donna said in Get Ripped (and also in the original), when Billy 'double timed' it (esp during kicking), I found that the pace is too fast for me to be safe. But I am willing to try Get Ripped...

Just a note on the quality of Powerstrike. I have Powerstrike Milleniums and like it very much. As I understand it, Powerstrikes prior to the Milleniums are very poor quality. In comparison, the Milleniums are totally different. The old ones were taped from a live class. Milleniums are tape production quality.

Haslina
 
Hi Haslina,

The review would be correct about lop-sided counts in some areas, but I've learned to "overcome" those spots. By the time you do the workout the 2nd or 3rd time, you've figured out, "hey, he did 3 counts of 8 on that side but only 2 counts on this side!" So what I do is alternate which side I start with each time I do a video, and since I log my workouts anyway, when I log Tae Bo, I'll put Tae Bo-r or Tae Bo-l for left or right start. It really isn't that big an inconvenience when the workout itself is so good.
But yes, you'd think someone would have mentioned this to him before packaging the video as a "done deal!" I guess it's just the "perfectionist" in me, but those things make me go "hhmmmmm??"
Donna
 
I would highly recommend the Get Ripped Series. I have alot of his other tapes and well as the orginial ones. The Get Ripped series (both of them) are very challenging but are done in a more controlled manner. His first tapes are so fast, that you cannot do them correctly. Like someone mentioned, he doesn't do the same amount of reps on each side for some of the exercises but once you do it a couple of times, you can even them up. As far as the spiritual side, all of the tapes that I have, he mentions God in them, which being a Christian myself, I like. Another good choice is the Tae-Bo Live series. I have the advanced tape. It's challening and has a great soundtrack.
 
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