Tae Bo Live Basic Volume 2

I was over 300 pounds in my teens and this video was a Godsend. Now I am 29 and in that place again. I started this again and hopefully I am well on my way to losing the weight I need to lose. It hasn't lost its effect, TRUST ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the second Tae Bo basic live workout and my favorite so far out of the three. It really does get the heartrate up. You start off with side stretches,punches and uppercuts to energizing, upbeat non-vocal music. He then stretches your hip flexor and hamstrings. This basic workout is more high impact even though the beat is slower than the advanced live tapes. I get a good workout with this tape and I alternate this tape with the advanced. The workout consists of front and side punches that really work the abs. You do these moves to the song,"You've dropped a bomb on me". Some other moves are jumping jacks, speedbag and a combination of the two. You also do high impact scissors with your feet as you alternate punches. This really gets your heartrate up. Some lower impact moves are a grapevine with punches and a knee up. There is a nice variety of kicks in this video. Side kicks, roundhous kicks,alternating side kicks and machine gun kicks. Some other combinations are his famous squat with an alternating kick and 2 knee ups and 2 front kicks and 4 jumping jacks. There is no floorwork. A nice Tai chi cooldown finishes the workout with a neck and shoulder stretch. Some songs are "Aint' Nobody Stoppin' Us Now", "December 19.Oh What a Night", "Do You Miss Me". Billy is teaching over 50 people in his L.A. studio. It's nice to see all different kinds of body sizes. Everybody is sweating and working hard. Billy is constantly going throughout the class and encouraging people, holding up his hand for your to punch. This is a very fun video! My favorite of the basic tapes.

Billy is charming and full of energy. He is motivating and keeps you going by his encouraging words and tips on form.

For those of you out there who have been waiting for an excellent, solid basic workout by Billy Blanks, Tae Bo Advance Live Vol. 2 is it. In my opinion, this is Billy's best basic workout to date.

The entire tape is about 30 minutes long at Billy's World Training Center with a brief warm up and cool down. In that 30 minutes you execute some familiar moves from the first advanced workout such as the squat and kick, balancing on one leg and kicking, roundhouse kicks, and the punching bag. According to Blanks, he incorporates some moves from the first advanced workout into the basic workout to help you move up to the advanced level. All the moves flow nicely together to make it fun.

The music is also great. Oldies but goodies like the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" can be heard.

Because it is a basic workout, between all the punches and kicks, the exercisers march in place. However, this can be modified to doing a boxer's shuffle in place to keep your heart rate up if you are an advanced exerciser. I did this and got in a great little workout. Plus it is just fun, fun, fun.

If you are familiar with Kathy Smith's kickboxing workout, this tape ranks about the same as that one for intensity. It is a solid intermediate workout but advanced exercisers can get some benefits too with some modifications.

The warm up and cool down are not that long but that did not bother me. If you like a long stretch after your workout, you might need to do more than just the final stretch at the end of this video.

Overall, I found this workout to be safe (Billy executes the moves more slowly, allowing you to see the proper way to do the exercises before speeding up), fun, and taught by a master instructor who not only knows what he is doing but enjoys doing it. You just know this man loves his job. I really believe he is there for you every step of the way. I can hardly wait for his other workouts.