Blanks differentiates between exercising for weight loss and teaching physical fitness as a lifestyle, the latter being part of who you are, what you expect from yourself; it requires dedication and offers lasting results. It is something you can learn.
“When you come out of your mother’s womb, everybody is taught. Everybody expects a baby to walk between nine to 12 months. Everybody expects that. So, walking is a lifestyle. Can you imagine if a baby said to his momma at a certain age, ‘Mummy, walking is too hard.’ Nobody would be walking,” Blanks quickly concludes.
Tae Bo’s mix of martial arts, boxing and dance requires a discipline and focus in order to make total-body workouts a part of one’s lifestyle. The form he developed has worked for millions of people, as it results from effort and initiative. “If you got the will, then Tae Bo will be the way. You need to step out. You need to work hard,” Blanks said.
During our interview, he stressed that practicing regular exercise later in life proves difficult if doing so has not already been part of one’s lifestyle. But that does not mean you have to over-do it. Physical fitness, as a lifestyle, could mean a 15-to-20 minute workout, and not necessarily every day. According to Blanks, everybody exercises differently, depending on what one’s body wants and needs. His oldest student, at 102 years old, works out three to four days a week. “It’s like a marathon. You run it at your own pace.”
Blanks collaborated with his daughter, former Ju Jitsu World Champion and Junior Olympic Gold Medalist Shellie Blanks Cimarosti, on his latest project, “PT 24/7 Workout.” It encourages people to know their bodies and use fitness as a communication tool. By linking mind and body, he makes physical fitness a responsibility, as essential as eating and walking. He say to those who try to integrate physical fitness into a busy life, “Don’t try to do things. Just do.”
With a team of less than half a dozen direct employees, Blanks reaches an international audience through fitness programs and DVDs. By speaking to hundreds of people all over the world, including those in the Armed Forces and as a member of the President’s Council for Physical Fitness and Sport, he gives people what his parents and teachers gave to him: unconditional love and support.
“You give, you receive. What you give out, people give back. And to me that’s what Tae Bo represents,” stated Blanks, who attributes his success – in terms of both professional and fitness goals – to community support. His humble background, as the fourth of 15 children born in Erie, Pennsylvania, attests to his use of resources, and it is also evidence of his own sense of self-motivation and humility.
“The most important thing for me is giving back to my community because my community gave to me. I remember back in 1978,” he recalled, “I had the opportunity to go to the world games, and to be able to go to the world games you need a sponsor. My community helped sponsor me, and I ended up winning a gold medal and the world championship.”
In his travels to over 100 countries, Blanks discovered that obesity has reaching into even the healthiest cultures. He believes that he can eradicate obesity through teaching others to communicate with their bodies, but, in order to do so they have to take that first step and start the conversation. After that, he is convinced that people will want and need the same thing out of a workout: motivation. “They need you to put your hand on their back and say, ‘Come on. Let’s go. Let’s do it.’”
This support helps bolster fitness within families. Blanks explained that parents and kids who sweat together build their relationships, as they talk about their workouts. “If you take them and put them in a room and work them out together, all of a sudden you see things change.”
He believes that children who are not physically active become bored. They misplace their frustration by hurting themselves or other people. Through physical activity, their minds also become active. Accordingly, physical fitness empowers children to succeed in their studies, become stronger athletes and communicate better with themselves and their families. To complement this self-empowerment effort, he founded “The Billy Blanks Foundation,” an organization committed to helping high-risk youth achieve their fullest potential.
Meanwhile, Billy Blanks continues to create new workout videos to help individuals take control of their minds and bodies. His advice is basic: “Keep stepping. Stay focused.”
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