Another point of view
Well, while it's certainly true, as has been noted repeatedly on the Video Fitness Forum, that the "safety police" really don't like Tae Bo, I think it is unfair to just reject Tae Bo and the people who do it out of hand. I incorporate Tae Bo into a well-rounded fitness program that includes step, hi-lo, running, weight training, and other kickboxing/martial arts activities. I am an educated consumer, as I believe most home exercisers are, and I am well aware of the potential flaws, whether real or potential, in the Tae Bo tapes. Like any other educated consumer, I know how to modify, and I am careful to include additional warm-up, cool down, and stretching with ANY tape (or for that matter, gym instructed class) that fails to include a sufficient amount to meet my needs. I do not have to actually be a licensed fitness professional to "understand" the pitfalls of all sorts of exercise, although I have considered becoming certified, on the side, as a personal trainer (in addition to my current career as a lawyer) so that I can put all of my already acquired knowledge to some good use.
When you say you reviewed Volume I of Tae Bo, although you did not actually do the tape, I wonder if you are referring to the original set or Tae Bo Live, Vol. I? The reason I ask is that as more and more Tae Bo tapes have been made, Billy Blanks has addressed concerns raised about earlier tapes, including sufficient stretching, warm up, and instructions on modification. Also, if you actually do the tape instead of just watching it, I think you'll find that Tae Bo gets you warmer much more quickly than most activities and burns substantially more calories than one would otherwise imagine (it's been documented to burn up to 800 calories an hour).
The instructor, who you apparently disklike, has a different style, no doubt, than what you prefer, but that is the beauty of home fitness-- if you don't like the instructor, you can simply turn off the tape. As for the instructor with the headset who you claim is anorexic, I assume you are referring to Shellie Blanks, who is Billy Blanks' daughter. Although I do not know her, I have taken a class at Billy's actual studio in LA, and I can tell you that most if not all of the instructors at his studio are as cut, muscled and buff as she is. Those people who know about anorexia inform us that it is IMPOSSIBLE to build muscle, let alone muscle like that, if you are anorexic, so it might be wise to know whereof you speak before suggesting that another fitness professional is suffering from an eating disorder. (As a side note, I've actually seen Shellie Blanks in person, and if that woman is anorexic, then I'm a slice of my grandmother's Polish Sausage. Rumor has it the woman eats like a horse. She certainly doesn't look anything but healthy in person.)
As for your concerns about back injury, you will note that "table work" is present in many, many gym offered classes as well as respected video tapes like those from the FIRM, and while there certainly are concerns about back injury if those exercisers are performed incorrectly, good instructors (including Billy Blanks, in his tapes) constantly remind their participants that they must hold their stomach muscles in very tight in order to protect against back injuries. Similarly, educated consumers know how to modify these exercises to further protect against injury if needed.
On a final note, I think that you are missing the big picture here. If nothing else can be said about Tae Bo and Billy Blanks, the following must be noted and respected nonetheless: Tae Bo has gotten more Americans (who after all make up the most obese nation on the planet) off their tushes and into a fitness regime than ANY fitness program of any kind in recent memory. The original Tae Bo tapes are in large part responsible for the statistic noted on the front page of Cathe's website, namely that exercise video sales are up over 150% in the last year. Tae Bo sat at the top of the video sales charts for months, and that fact alone has got to make you think seriously about not only the capacity of Billy Blanks as an instructor, but also about the effectiveness of Tae Bo as a workout. I don't know about you, but I would rather have a few Americans occasionally suffer a little back pain than have hundreds of thousands of them dying from heart disease and dozens of other serious illnesses related to being unfit and overweight.
It is also interesting to note that Tae Bo has gotten members of VERY diverse communities involved in fitness in ways that the standard, white middle class suburban gyms have not. Billy's live classes (which only cost $10 a pop and require no outrageously expensive gym membership) are full of the famous and the working class, gay and straight people, people who are rich and people who are not, white, black, asian and latino participants (to name a few), and women and men. I can only assume that the purchasers of his videos are equally diverse. Shouldn't it be the goal of fitness professionals to have everyone get as fit as possible, regardless of income, background, race, gender or sexual orientation? Billy Blanks has managed to acheive that where, it seems to me, many others have failed.
It seems to me that if the community of fitness professionals does not like Tae Bo for whatever reason, they at least have to respect the way in which it has invigorated the interests of everyday people toward getting fit and becoming active. Also, you've got to hope that some of the success of Tae Bo will spill over into more traditional fitness arenas, which, after all, would be good for the health of the nation as well as the pocketbooks of the professional fitness community!
Incidentally, I don't work for Tae Bo or anything like that-- I just use it and many other tapes (including those by the wonderful Cathe) as a part of an integrated fitness routine. I also think it is important for educated home-exercisers to stand up to the stereotype that because we are not "professionals" and don't work out in gyms, we somehow are all being conned, abused and injured. I've been using Tae Bo since it came out (between once and three times a week, using a variety of Tae Bo tapes) and I haven't been injured once. I also see a chiropractor once a week (for long term injuries arising out of the more accepted-- and torturous-- form of exercise known as classical ballet) who has found no difference in my back with or without Tae Bo as a part of my fitness routine.
Of course, all of this is just my opinion, no more or less legitimate than yours. I, at least, will not attempt to add more weight to my opinion by claiming that anyone on this forum or anywhere else does not have the capacity to "understand" it. I'm sure that Cathe and many others have educated us well enough to judge for ourselves.
Liz
