Her doctors had told her movement could help her manage panic symptoms, she said. And since discovering the old-school workout on TikTok, Tae Bo has become part of her go-to routine.<\/p>\n
Tae Bo, a cardio workout combining taekwondo, boxing and aerobics made popular in the 1990s by the martial artist Billy Blanks, is seeing a resurgence online.<\/p>\n
Ms. Pettirossi, who is 22 and lives in Vermont, is one of many people born years after the fitness program debuted who are now turning to Tae Bo videos and recording their workouts on social media.<\/p>\n
TikTok is providing an even bigger audience for Tae Bo than its ubiquitous infomercials, DVDs and cassette tapes did \u2014 and introducing the workout to a new generation. \u201cNow I\u2019m getting a second chance,\u201d Mr. Blanks, 70, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cExercise has to be fun,\u201d said Nikki Fraser, an exercise physiologist in Toronto. \u201cWhatever makes you excited and motivated to keep going back, that\u2019s the kind of exercise you should do.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the original videos, Mr. Blanks is usually dressed in a tight tank top and silky boxing shorts and leads a group of mostly women through a series of punching, kicking and twisting sequences. He cries, \u201cWork it! Work it! Work it!\u201d between the group\u2019s cheerful eight-counts. Everyone is slick with sweat and smiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though we were working out hard, we were having so much fun with doing it,\u201d Mr. Blanks said.<\/p>\n
Most new Tae Bo converts are working out with Mr. Blanks on YouTube, where many of his old videos have been uploaded in full. But some are digging out old DVD and VHS players and buying Tae Bo tapes<\/a> at thrift stores.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone wants to go back in time,\u201d said Weslande Jean Baptiste, 36, who remembered Tae Bo from infomercials she had watched as a child. \u201cWe just want things that are much simpler.\u201d<\/p>\n She was drawn to Tae Bo in November, she said, because it required no equipment and was free on YouTube. She does the workouts five to six times a week at her home in Cleveland and has been recording her progress<\/a> on TikTok. \u201cNow I see why everyone was running to the stores buying his DVDs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mr. Blanks, a seven-time karate world champion, developed Tae Bo while he was training in the 1970s. His goal was to get more women involved in martial arts, and he found that adding aerobics made the sport more appealing to many of them.<\/p>\n After he started training his first famous client, Paula Abdul, in the 1990s, lines formed outside his studio in Sherman Oaks, Calif. More than 100 participants often filled each class, he said, where celebrities and athletes punched side by side<\/a> with grandmothers and teenagers. When Mr. Blanks started filming workout videos, he said, he hoped to replicate the energy of his studio workouts and scale it to televisions across the country.<\/p>\n In his videos, Mr. Blanks addresses the viewer directly, offering modifications and pointers while repeating \u201cGood job!\u201d At the end of most workouts, the group cheers and joins hands, forming a glistening chain of muscles around Mr. Blanks.<\/p>\n Emma Latouche, a 28-year-old Pilates instructor in Melbourne, Australia, has done Tae Bo several days a week for the last month, noting the infectious energy of Mr. Blanks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like you\u2019re a part of it, even though there\u2019s 20 or 30 years\u2019 difference between when it was filmed and then just watching it on YouTube,\u201d Ms. Latouche said.<\/p>\n Ashlynn Miller, 23, used to do Tae Bo with her mother in the living room of her childhood home in Iowa. She was scrolling on TikTok a few months ago when she came across someone her age trying Tae Bo. \u201cI was like, man, I haven\u2019t done that in ages,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ms. Miller decided to give it a try and posted a video<\/a> of her third attempt at the workout. Her comments were flooded with notes of encouragement. \u201cI\u2019m a Year 2000 Tae Bo Lady. It\u2019s hard work but it\u2019s worth it!\u201d one user commented. \u201cOriginal Taebo girlie!\u201d another wrote. \u201cSo glad to see it\u2019s making a comeback. Keep up the great work!\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Miller said doing Tae Bo helped her feel closer to her mother, who passed away three years ago. And now, her own 14-month-old daughter watches her do the moves in their living room \u2014 and sometimes she cheers along.<\/p>\n Mr. Blanks, 70, still teaches Tae Bo classes daily from his home in Los Angeles. He regularly hosts live workouts on TikTok that draw thousands of participants and has a Tae Bo app in the works.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are going, \u2018Wow, Billy Blanks is back,\u2019\u201d said Mr. Blanks. \u201cI\u2019ve never been gone!\u201d<\/p>\n Chloe W. Shakin<\/p>\n Journalist<\/p>\n I did several Tae Bo videos as I reported this story, and I\u2019m still feeling sore! I have vivid memories of staying up way past my bedtime as a ’90s kid and watching Tae Bo infomercials \u2014 so it was fun to finally try the workout. Why do you think Tae Bo is making a comeback? Have you tried it?<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n I worked out with Billy, Shelly (Billy\u2019s step-daughter), and Michael (Billy\u2019s brother) and Dion (Shelly\u2019s boyfriend) at their Sherman Oaks studio in the early 1990\u2019s! Most of us were barefoot, and were packed like sardines in that tiny, sweaty studio! Fun fact: Gene Simmons was my kick-boxing partner during a class! He and his wife Shannon Tweeds and their two kids practiced Tae Kwan Do at the studio.Great workout, lots of fun! I will have to see if I can keep up with 70 year old Billy as a 58 year old! Thanhs for the fun \u201cbox\u201d down memory lane!<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cropped-d42a2ecd5350584924787d791297ca6204fe80e25e33c1ece8c4e4da5ac2b91dc3020767.png\")
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