Billy Blanks is a fradulant asshole. His Tae Bo is a complete fraud that milks people of money in the promise of “quick and easy” self defense while getting into shape. He is a bastard and a disgrace to true self defense martial artists, which granted are few enough. My hope is that he has become convinced of his own bullshit and someday gets the joy of applying his poor excuse for self defense against a serious threat. Afterwards, I hope the story comes out that he got his ass handed to him, so that people will pull away from his crap! God damn it. He shit is polluting martial arts everywhere as more and more dojos offer Kick Aerobics in the pursuit of money over true martial arts.
And now Subway has him as a spokeperson. Well, Subway, you are using a fraud as your spokeperson and I will boycott your business for as long as he remains your partner (yes, I will be sending a letter to the PR dept. of Subway).
You are a martial arts guy. I’m not. So, I take no issue with anything you said about martial arts or Billy Blanks being a fake or any of that. I would just like to state for the record that anyone I know (including myself) who owns Tae Bo tapes, owns them purely for exercise value, not for learning how to become a proper martial artist.
They sit proudly in my video cabinet, collecting dust right alongside Buns of Steel and The Firm.
From what I have seen of them, they are as good as any other areobic type tape. And could sit proudly by Chris’s buns of steel anytime.
The true danger this posuer presents, in my opinion, is that he may delude someone into believing they could learn self defense from ANY tape. Not just his rubbish. Hell I know guys that have studied legitimate styles have their asses handed to them.
Someone who stood a half decent chance of evading an attacker may instead rely on their new found mastery of the carribean martial arts. I wonder if the result would bother his concious?
The self defense aspect of my dojo primarily is focused on the concept of Scenario Based Training (see Peyton Quinn “Real Fighting” “A Bouncer’s Guide…” and to some degree Sanford Strong “Strong on Defense”). My self defense instruction deals with legitimate research done in the field of self defense, especially with regards to two things:
Train hard. Develop the Spirit of Osu!
Develop the proper self defense mindset (see Sanford Strong “Strong on Defense” in particular, but also Massad Ayoob, Jeff Cooper, Peyton Quinn, and others. I think Strong puts in best).
Finally, my dojo makes a minimum amount of profit and I keep it that way. I don’t charge any dan ranks any dues. And I adjust the dues quarterly to match the needs of the dojo and just the needs of the dojo. I haven’t made a penny from teaching in the past 8 years when I started that policy. I am not a hypocrite, pal. I put my honor where my mouth is. But nice try none the less…
I primarily used to be Kyokushin; however, I am no longer a member of any organization, since no organization would allow me to do the kind of self defense work I wanted to do. I still consider myself Kyokushinka. I am 5th dan (22 years, almost 23 years), and recently was upgraded to 6th dan recommended, which means that I will test for 6th dan sometime between a year from now and two years from now.
So, what will be your rebuttal? Hmmm… you asked the question and I answered. Let me guess, are you going to call me a liar? Going to make the claim that the self defense I teach is just as much bullshit? Go ahead bucko, but come packing evidence. Oh, and you may want to go read some threads I participated in on self defense before you come back and put your foot in your mouth. You might be interested in my view overall of martial arts as a means of self defense (i.e. compared to carrying a gun for example).
(there is a nice old one in MPSIMS called “Sweet Justice”)
Glitch:
One of my old sparring partners used to train with Blanks back when he was competing (pre Tae Bo, pre bad B-movies, maybe even pre arrogance). Now, this guy was big and solid and hit like a triple-vodka (feels kind of god for a second, then the world starts to spin), but I never felt particularly threatened in our matches and we had some very spirited workouts. He told me that when he sparred with Blanks he would regularly get called down for “excessive contact” and more than once knocked him out. It is certainly possible that he was less than 100% honest about it, but I never had reason to doubt his honesty in anything else.
BTW – he did say that blanks was extremely quick and scored well from the perimeter. He just said Blanks had a glass jaw and poor interior defense. Perfect for hollywood. Not much use on the street.
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
A related point - a lot of people go to those classes and get seriously injured because their bodies aren’t used to the pounding and flexibility needed for some of those moves. I don’t really understand aerobics anyway - just get on the treadmill I say - but I would say Taebo is just a big fad that will soon run its course.
By the way I was in Subway last week and got a look at the Billy Blanks poster on the wall. Had anyone noticed that the guy’s eyes are crossed? Either that or he has a lazy eye or one is made of glass, or something. Really creepy looking. Maybe it’s just the poster, but he’s in two different poses and in both his eyes are screwy.
Have you actually watched the tapes? I do Tae Bo regularly. It’s been great for me. It’s helped my flexibility, stamina and to a lesser extent, my strength. Not to mention the weight I’ve lost. It’s an workout tape that I enjoy doing: First, because I don’t feel gay when I’m doing it and second, because it’s tough enough to challenge me.
That being said, I never kid myself into thinking I’m learning self-defense or real martial arts technique from the tapes. This really receives minimal emphasize in the workouts. To me (and to most people, I think) Tae Bo is a physical fitness program rather than martial arts. This is bad because…
Sounds like you may be exhibiting a little professional jealousy. Guy’s made a bunch of money, well, gee, he must suck!
Sorry pal, but Tae Bo has motivated me, my wife and several people we know personally to regularly exercise. We’ve gotten good results. The tapes are cheap and we can use them in our own home at our own pace. Nobody I know bought the tapes looking to become Bruce Lee.
Hey, I am very glad that you and others haven’t been suckered by Blanks. Hooray! Yippee! Yahoo!
However, Blanks repeatedly pushes his product as quick and easy self defense (the tapes I saw say clearly on the back “self defense”). For that he is a fraud in my book. If Blanks had the integrity to sell his product for what it is I would applaud him! I could care less ultimately if he makes money, but he is making money by bringing disgrace to something that is very dear to me. I wouldn’t let him profit by sullying the reputation of my wife, and so I despise him for sullying the reputation of the martial arts even if he is just a part of a larger problem.
I tried Tae Bo. It works up a sweat, but if I used those moves on some mug in the street, I’d get either 1) laughed at, or 2) my butt kicked. I know almost nothing about martial arts. But even I can tell he’s full of boloney.
My brother’s best friend’s dad beat the tar out of Billy a while back. The dad is a 4th degree black belt in tae kwon do. They fought in some competition. I’m not sure what level Blanks is at. (or if he trains strictly in tae kwon do)
So, apparently, he’s not only a fraud, but not even a great fighter. Is that a fair assumption?
Tae Bo is great excercise, so I have heard.
Insofar as self-defense is concerned, I would tend to agree with Glitch, as I so often do. Glitch and I met in the “Physics of a head-butt” thread in GQ. Everything he said was true and accurate and very honest.
I can tell you that he knows what he is talking about in regard to anything in the martial arts/personal defense field.
That being said, just wanted to say “Way to go, man. I really hope I get to meet you some day.”
I know this is the pit, but this is a thread where the OP has his shit squared away to such a degree that all you can do is shrug and say “Right on.”
how did it start? well i don’t know i just feel the craving. i see the flesh and it smells fresh and it’s just there for the taking…
VvvV
Yeah right, Glitch. Tae Bo is a fraud because it implies that it could be used for self-defense but Karate and most other traditional martial arts are not? Traditional karate teachers claim that their styles are specifically for self defense yet most of them don’t work any better than Tae Bo. At least it’s obvious to most people that Tae Bo is primarily for excercise.
a) can kick somebody’s brother-in-law’s cousin’s dentist’s next-door neighbors ass;
b) is an authentic practictioner of any particular martial art or another; or
c) can teach me how to protect myself in a street fight
is completely and totally irrelevant to me.
I don’t do it to learn to fight. I don’t fight. I don’t expect to have to fight. I don’t put myself in situations that I would need to solve with my fists. To date, this has not been a problem for me.
Tae Bo tapes do not teach blocks or dodges or footwork or any other specific fighting techniques. Anybody who thinks their getting anything more than exercise from them is a fool. This does not make Tae Bo worthless or fraudulent.
Glitch, I’m sure you are a martial arts expert. It sounds as if you have a genuine interest in your students and run your school for their benefit. If I wanted to learn martial arts, I would hope I could find someone like you to teach me.
But if you ask anybody who has done Tae Bo or who continues to do it, they’ll tell you that it’s essentially an aerobics program based on punches and kicks rather than dance moves.
It’s fun. I enjoy it. I’m in better shape than I have been for almost 20 years. You’re telling me this is a bad thing? Whatever.
Konrad: I have said on many occasions that the bulk of martial arts instructors are rather poor, and that as commonly taught martial arts is useless in self defense. Name me a specific person who claims martial arts is quick and easy self defense and I’ll rant about them too (as I have done in general in the past). However, Billy Blanks is one of the most vocal and now seeing him plastered all over Subway made me want to vent some steam. Don’t try playing issue reversal on me, it is an easy trick to spot and won’t work.
No, I am not and if you read what I am saying carefully you would realize that. What IS a bad thing is Billy Blanks claims of Tae Bo as a means of self defense. Whether you and a few others didn’t fall for it is irrelevent. I know many who have. This is terrible because it puts theirs lives in danger because they now have a false sense of security.
From “Strong on Defense”:
This is not what Tae Bo offers (and yes, Konrad, just to make you happy neither does the bulk of other martial arts training). Calling Tae Bo self defense is fraud, and delivers a false sense of security that can easily get somebody killed.
Glitch, can you recommend any schools that do put more emphasis on the self defense aspects as well as the strength, flexibility and traditional parts of martial arts. I found Kempo was much more self defense oriented than ShoenRyu karate. I am talking about after several years of study, I know enough that there is no such thing as a can of Instant Whup Ass.