Difficult Tae-Bo Workout Packs a Punch
Beware. The Gym Rat is snooping around Southern California, looking at the best and worst in health clubs. And he isn’t just any rat. He’s been teaching for four years at various clubs in the area. He is a member of the International Dance Exercise Assn. and is certified by the Aerobics and Fitness Assn. of America.
*
You have to try awfully hard to miss Billy Blanks’ Tae-Bo infomercial on television. The ad for the seven-time world karate champion is on at all times of the day.
Oh, look, there’s Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers exhorting the virtues of Tae-Bo; and there’s Sinbad, the comedian, singing its praises. From the sweat-drenched celebrity participants to the Joe Schmoe off the street, it seems everybody has gone head over heels about Tae-Bo.
Everybody except me. I have a real love-hate relationship with it.
Don’t get me wrong. My friend and I left the 7:30 a.m. Friday class with Debi (one of Blanks’ nine instructors) feeling as if we had really gotten a workout. But my friend, a former diver and gymnast, said she could feel every injury she had ever had. And by the time I had driven home, my middle and low back felt stiff and sore. For three days after class, every time I took a deep breath, my back talked back, and I don’t think you should feel that way after working out.
*
This is not an aerobics class, and it doesn’t claim to be. Tae-Bo is a combination of taekwondo and boxing. True, it is done to a beat you would find in a high-impact aerobics class, but that’s about the only comparison I can make. The warmup is too fast and the cool-down is nonexistent. However, if you want to sweat and work hard, this is the place to be.
As any gym rat knows, you can always tell who the regulars are because they run to their spots in the front of the room. My friend and I took residence in the back of the packed class just so we could check out the other participants.
They came in all shapes and sizes, wearing everything from designer workout wear to shorts and T-shirts. Most who were in the back of the room didn’t--or couldn’t--keep up with the routines. I know I couldn’t do 32 side kicks without taking a break, and I saw some people holding on to the cubbyholes in the back to prop themselves as they tried to lift and kick that leg one more time.
*
The teacher didn’t use a microphone, and she didn’t instruct participants on correct body alignment. She didn’t show any modifications for first-timers. You need to know the limits of your body, and even if you do, it is easy to forget them in the intensity and energy that fill the room. And if you don’t like loud music, bring earplugs.
But as sore as I was, I would definitely go back because the workout and the energy level were so intense.
Blanks, who has been teaching Tae-Bo for 15 years, opened his first studio in Sherman Oaks in 1989. Overflow crowds forced his move into the 20,000-square-foot World Training Center a year and a half ago. He’s now looking to move into even larger digs, he says. The former bank building has upstairs and downstairs aerobics studios, which can fit 140 and 80 people, respectively. He needs every inch of space when he teaches--many Tae-Bo enthusiasts have waited an hour to take his class.
The studio also has a child-care facility that opens at 7:30 a.m., but it is closed Mondays. The cost is $6 an hour, but other packages are available. There are three treadmills, three Precor elliptical cross trainers, one StairMaster, free weights, Cybex machines and 12 personal trainers.
“[The gym] has been a blessing. It’s a real blessing,” Blanks told me after class. “I see changes in people’s bodies every day. I offer a good spirit to the people, and I hope people walk out with a good feeling.”
Some of them probably walk out a bit sore, too.
If you know of a gym or health club you think the Gym Rat should scope out, fax to (213) 237-4712 or e-mail: health@latimes.com.
The Rat Trap
On a rating of one to four rats, four being best, here is how the Gym Rat rates Billy Blanks’ World Training Center in Sherman Oaks:
* Parking: The lot is big and well-lighted, but you’ll do battle with the throngs waiting to take the next class. Get those quarters ready to find a parking spot on Ventura Boulevard. ***
* Locker rooms: None. Blanks doesn’t want people hanging around: “Come in, work out and go home,” he says.
* Juice bar: You have your choice of two bottled-water machines. *
Billy Blanks’ World Training Center, 14708 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; (818) 325-0035 or 325-0036. Your first class is free, then it’s $10 a class. A one-month membership is $45; one year is $350. Club hours are 6 a.m. to noon and 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 6 a.m. to noon and 3:30 to 7 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The gym is closed on Sunday.