World famous Tae Bo founder and seven-time Karate World Champion, Billy Blanks arrived in Brownwood Thursday to help Fit By Faith owners Krista and John Johnson for a benefit for the military with Tae Bo® for the Troops. Participants will receive a workout plus an amazing message of encouragement and hope.
Blanks stated that his uncle and his brothers served in the military, he loves them and all the military who have served or are currently serving and wanted to help raise money to send them care packages through the Billy Blanks Foundation.
“I love the military myself personally and I have an uncle and two brothers that were in the military. Anyway we can give support back to the military for what the troops have done for us as a country,” stated Blanks.
Billy Blanks has also visited the troops several times to workout with them and encourage them. Blanks also brings celebrities with him when he comes to visit the troops. On his plane trip to Brownwood, he received a request to visit the troops and is planning a trip in December.
“It’s a blessing to go there because you know when they cannot get their own families to come; we come to bring a part of home to them. I always tell the troops, that I didn’t come thousands of miles to bring Tae Bo to them, it’s to bring camaraderie, fellowship and spend some time with them. It boosts them up. The military give their lives so I can walk around and have freedom,” stated Blanks. “I want to bless them like they bless us.”
Blanks grew up in the projects on 38th Street in Erie Pennsylvania and was raised in the church. He stated that although he went to church all the time, it was not something he enjoyed. His mother, who had been a Christian for years required that her children attend church.
“I used to go to church as a kid, but when I turned 18, I said ‘I’m not going ever again’. Because I was always told I was going to hell and I was scared of church,” said Blanks. “17 years ago I gave my life to Christ and through that I learned without faith you cannot do anything.”
Then he saw an evangelist named Fredrick Casey Price and that changed his life and understanding about faith.
Blanks as a child faced many obstacles; including being shy and diagnosed with dyslexia, which in those days was not understood or treated. He was placed in a special education class with children that had severe handicaps, “sitting in wheelchairs and drooling on themselves” as Blanks described it.
“They put me in special education in a room with kids that couldn’t hold their arms up. They labeled me mentally handicapped, they called you mentally retarded. But I wasn’t that, I was just a shy kid. I was sitting in this room watching in wheelchairs slobbering all over the place and couldn’t hold their heads up. Even though I was sitting in this room with all these kids, I saw that there was something in me that has moved that is bigger than just a body. I must be bigger than my body, I knew it was the inside person I had to fix. I started disciplining myself and learning karate. Everything I was doing back then was on faith, but I didn’t know what faith was.”
Blanks also was told that he could not be in a karate class because he had short tendons and his dyslexia. He was told that he would not last in karate. Blanks said that he overcame these obstacles learning karate and becoming the Karate World Champion seven times. Blanks felt that if he could achieve this accomplishment, something would change in his life.
“When I won the World Championship, I thought something would change, but it was empty,” stated Blanks. “I did it again and again. My life was empty until I received Jesus Christ.”
Blanks originated Tae Bo in the 1970s. He explained it all started when his ex-wife bought the theme song of Rocky and he started working out in the basement of his home to this music.
“I came back and put the theme song on and started working out. Within 2-3 minutes I got cardiovascular tired and I was National Champion, I was in good shape, but when it came to moving for 2-3 rounds without stopping I was not in good shape. I started putting boxing, karate, calisthenics, everything combined together in a form of music exercise and I started working on it and developing it. I started showing it to people and it became this phenomenon.”
Blanks knew this was a new level of physical exercise that he could develop. Blanks came up with the name Tae Bo® which is from the words Tae meaning foot or leg for women’s fitness needs and Bo which has a meaning associated with boxing because men need to focus on the midsection or belly.
“I came up with this word, and put it in my wallet and said, ‘One day I’m going to use this word’, I just wrote it down, T-A-E-B-O. If you look at the word, ‘Tae’ represents ladies foot, leg and then ‘Bo’ represents boxing or waist for guys, because guys have problems with their waist and women have trouble with their legs.”
Tae is from Korean and Bo comes from boxing. He also developed an acronym for the word:
T – stands for total
A – stands for awareness
E – stands for exercise
B – stands for body
O – stands for obedience
“I kept working on it and working on it and next thing you know, it was this thing that revolutionized the fitness world,” said Blanks. “It’s just amazing how God took Tae Bo from the projects and put it in 103 countries in 30 different languages. Who would have thought it would have ever become this big phenomenon. To me God blessed the exercise so much that other people began to make copy cat versions of it because it was a very popular system and now you see other things that are doing Tae Bo. It shows me that Tae Bo works.”
Blanks said that he taught classes and bought a gym piece by piece for his workouts, but it wasn’t until he integrated faith that God truly blessed his career teaching and ministering through Tae Bo®. Blanks teaches that being physically fit takes the spirit, mind and will to push your body further.
“Fitness is based on what people see and hear. Fitness is a trend here in the United States, workouts are a trend. When something is ‘in’ they will do it, go out and get certified,” said Blanks. “Tae Bo is not like that. Tae Bo has been around for a long time. You got to have a will; if there’s not a will there’s not a way. It’s going to be challenging, but the fun part about it is you are putting yourself in a different position using it as a communication tool to help them go to other parts of their lives and do better. It can help you enhance other areas of your life. Tae Bo has a base and a foundation. When you learn to see that you have power in that area of your life (the part that needs improvement) and you start testing yourself with physical fitness exercise, it is going to challenge you in different ways and you can take this to other areas of your life where you have weaknesses, you will see changes.”
Blanks knows his career and ministry are a gift from God and has used Tae Bo® to spread God’s word.
“God is using me as a vehicle, teaching people to teach Tae Bo® and save people’s lives,” stated Blanks. “Teaching to change from the inside out, as Krista put it. It’s just a blessing to teach everywhere, I don’t take it for granted, you know people’s lives, you put it in your hands. I just go out there and tell people wherever God tells me to go.”
It was exciting for Blanks and his wife Tomoko to arrive in Brownwood Thursday night. The Johnsons were very excited to show him what had developed at their gym, Fit By Faith. 12 years ago, Krista was an overweight woman who finally saw that she needed a change, not happy with who she was. She bought a Tae Bo® tape and worked out in front of her television losing over 100 pounds. She was such an inspiration that she was featured in Blanks’ first infomercial and two others. She continued to be trained through Blanks’ workshops and videos and came up with the idea of creating a gym that was different, where people felt cared for and loved, to enable them to be physically fit and make it a way of life. Now, with Blank’s visit, the Johnsons are able to show him what his Tae Bo® has inspired.
“Krista and her husband, who would have thought this lady who was doing Tae Bo off of TV would get herself in such good shape? Now she is an instructor and has other instructors under her. I mean Billy Blanks had nothing to do with that, that was God. You know what I mean?” said Blanks. “I look at stuff like that and think wow, anything that man puts his hands on and says he has done it, it doesn’t last forever, but when God puts his hands on it and you yield to what he has for you, it grows and grows and grows. When I added faith, that is when Tae Bo took off –God saw to use me as a tool to work on people and minister in a way that is different, preachers cannot go where I go.”
Fit By Faith owner Krista Johnson agreed with Blanks and was excited to have him come to Brownwood for the event.
“For me, I love to have him see his fruit that he has produced, I mean, this is because of God using him for me to put that DVD in, this is his fruit” stated Krista Johnson.
Blanks said he is blessed to see gyms and ministries come from the changes in his students’ lives.
“This year has been a blessed year for me because God let me go and see people. She (Krista) was just a baby who came from losing weight to being a person showing people how to lose weight now, training people,” Blanks said. “Then you come here to her studio and see her teaching other people. For me as an instructor, you go ‘wow’, you wonder if people get it–and they do. God knows how to take the Word and they are doing what people never thought they could do. I’ve been blessed to be able to go teach everywhere. It’s been a blessing seeing different things like this happen, being able to see her instruction. I knew that if I made it a faith based thing, it would last instead of just a season. Once I made Tae-Bo faith based, God blessed it.”
Blanks will be offering classes at Fit By Faith located at 2719 Austin Avenue on October 7th at 5 am, 9:15 am, and 5:30 pm. The cost of the classes at Fit By Faith on Friday are $12 and spaces are limited. He will also be at the Brownwood Coliseum Saturday, October 8th from 10 am – 1 pm. The class at the coliseum should last about 1 1/2 hours and costs $25 at the door. You can participate in all or part of the class. There will be a meet and greet after the classes.
All proceeds will go to one of the foundations Billy Blanks created to give back. Those that want to learn about fitness that goes beyond just muscle and strength can come to enjoy the message Billy has for participants.
“Even if you don’t want to work out, just come out to listen,” stated Krista Johnson.
Donations will also be accepted on the website listed below or during the fundraiser.
Billy and Krista visit while watching one of the Zumba classes at Fit by Faith.
Blanks autographs a board broken with a karate move by Jodie Studdard with an encouraging message.
