Looking at whether Tae Bo is a martial art

Tae Bo is a famous exercise regime that was devised by fitness instructor Billy Blanks in 1976. By the 90s, it had become massively popular and was arguably the equivalent of Zumba for its time. One of the main quirks of Tae Bo is its relationship with martial arts. Although Tae Bo has never claimed to be a martial art or self-defense system, it does have a lot in common with certain disciplines such as Taekwondo, Boxing, and Karate.

This makes sense, considering its founder Billy Blanks is a lifelong martial artist and 7th degree black belt in Taekwondo. Although Tae Bo has never claimed to be anything other than an exercise system, some people sometimes categorize it as a martial art. In this article, we shall be explaining why this isn’t the case and what Tae Bo actually involves.

What is involved in Tae Bo

There are plenty of videos that show Tae Bo in its full form. In short, it is a full-body, cardio workout that is designed to work nearly all of your muscles. Typically, it takes part as a group exercise but can also be done in isolation.

Here, participants will keep moving on their feet and go through different drills. For instance, they may be asked to do one minute of high-knee makeovers, followed by star jumps, and then shadowboxing. The primary goal of Tae Bo is to get people moving with no equipment involved. Due to its use of various muscles and movements, it can also be quite strenuous at times. Like all forms of exercise though, it can be toned down for beginners or older people.

To summarize, Tae Bo takes certain elements from martial arts and blends them into a cardio workout. Because of the martial arts elements, it can also improve flexibility and balance, as seen with the high kicks implemented. As you can imagine, as Tae Bo was pretty groundbreaking for its time, it quickly caught on and was seen as the in-thing that was new and exciting throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

Martial arts styles used in Tae Bo

As mentioned, Billy Blanks is primarily viewed as a Taekwondo expert when it comes to martial arts. Because of this, he uses a number of TKD techniques in Tae Bo. Even the name Tae Bo sounds similar to Taekwondo.

For example, Tae Bo practitioners will often practice roundhouse kicks, high kicks, and other strikes that are borrowed from Taekwondo. Unlike martial arts though, the main emphasis is on working your muscles and flexibility, rather than improving your technique. As a result, the form used by Tae Bo practitioners is not as good as those who train TKD. This is quite understandable given that the goals of the two are not the same.

Another martial art incorporated into Tae Bo is boxing. Here, you’ll see Tae Bo practitioners throwing jabs and the odd uppercut. In this sense, Tae Bo is quite similar to boxercise which is also very popular with women and those wanting to increase their fitness.

Lastly, Tae Bo also takes from parts of Karate and even Muay Thai. As Karate has a lot of crossover with TKD, this makes sense. Furthermore, Billy Blanks even competed as a high-level Karateka during the 70s, so this is even more understandable. As for Muay Thai, this is seen with the high-knee techniques which are akin to knees from the clinch. Based on the above, it’s understandable that people sometimes confuse Tae Bo as a martial art.

Tae Bo is not a martial art

At the same time, it’s important to clarify that Tae Bo is certainly not a martial art. Whilst it could be argued that it could help you improve your chances of self-defense, it’s just not the same as a proper martial art, nor does it claim to be.

As previously stated, the main goal of Tae Bo is to sweat, burn calories and get fit. It isn’t based on fighting or improving your mentality either. With this said, the technique of throwing punches would be far superior when comparing Boxing to a Tae Bo practitioner. Similarly, a TKD fighter would have way better form than a Tae Bo fanatic.

In fairness, flexibility, cardio, balance, and strength are all important when it comes to fighting and self-defense. With this in mind, Tae Bo would certainly make you a better fighter in these areas which is better than nothing.

Is Billy Blanks a legit martial artist?

Based on the available evidence, it’s fair to say that Billy Blanks is certainly a legitimate martial artist. For instance, he competed regularly during the 70s for the US Karate team, won various Karate competitions, and even captained the US Karate team at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

There is also ample evidence of him online showcasing perfect form when it comes to throwing athletic kicks, as well as teaching people how to do Karate and Taekwondo. This shouldn’t be too surprising either, considering that Blanks started training the two when he was 11 years old.

Remember, MMA wasn’t around during the peak of Billy Blanks peak as a martial artist. If it was, then you could almost guarantee that Blanks would have been good enough to get into the UFC. Whether he could have been a champion is unknown. The point is, that for his era – Billy Blanks was a top fighter.

Conclusion

Whilst Tae Bo isn’t a martial art, it definitely took inspiration from striking martial arts such as Taekwondo and Karate. Given the background of the Tae Bo creator, Billy Blanks – this makes sense. If you’ve ever trained in Karate or TKD, you’ll be well aware that the warm-ups can be quite tough in terms of cardio and physicality.

So, Blanks had the idea to combine these aspects and mold them into a fitness workout that was marketed to the masses. The result was that it changed his life forever, whilst also changing the image of fitness workouts in the process. Despite the fitness industry being huge today, it was a different place back then and Billy Blanks certainly made his mark on how fitness programs are created and marketed.

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