Billy Blanks

[7starmantis]

OK, here's the question, what do you guys think of Billy Blanks? I have "haerd" that he won some tournements or so, back in the day? He seems to know how to kick and punch, and I've tried tae bo, seems to be a pretty good cardio workout.



7sm

 

[7starmantis]

Does everyone know who Billy Blanks is ?

 

[Kenpo Wolf]

In his time, the early to mid 80s, he and Steve 'Nasty' Anderson was the best tournament fighters around. I had the good fortune to watch them compete on a couple occasions. Pure technical brillance at the time. I would love to see Billy Blanks get back into the ring to see if he still has it.

 

[Samurai]

Several people have told me that Billy was an awesone fighter.

I think he can still hold his own against some of the "instant black belts" that you see in the ring today.

Thanks
Jeremy Bays

 

[7starmantis]

Yeah, I would be interested to see Billy in the ring again!

 

[DJDragon]

Did he also make a few movie appearances?

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by DJDragon

Did he also make a few movie appearances?

I believe he has several of his "own" movies out. All 80's though I believe.


7sm

 

[Blindside]

Oh dear,

BAD, BAD movies.

No you don't understand, BAD movies. :shrug:

Lamont

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by Blindside

Oh dear,

BAD, BAD movies.

No you don't understand, BAD movies. :shrug:

Lamont

:rofl: I have only seen part of one movie of his. He had to go through some "chinese torture test". He was like in a cave, and thy turned the heat up, and he had to stay in there and do all these "tests" and stuff. It was deffinatly very BAD!!! :rofl:

 

[Shinzu]

i like billy blanks. i believe he is a true martial artist. not one of thiose fakes that claim to know everything.

i have also trained with his tae bo tapes. although the techniques are not so great, it is an excellent workout.

 

[Sabaki]

Hey he did make one ok movie! Not for the plot I'll admit, or the title that matter - "KING OF THE KICKBOXERS".

However the movie did have some nice fight scenes in which Billy played the "bad guy".

Anybody seen it?

 

[Klondike93]

My thought, bad movie real bad movie.

I used to watch Billy and Nasty Anderson go at in the 80's and they were simply the best of the day. When they fought it was in point fighting but it might as well have been full contact when they hit. What I remeber Billy Blanks for is showing that you could lift weights and get big and strong and not lose flexibility or speed.

I think though that too many will remember him for Tae Bo or some of his bad movies


:asian:

 

[cdhall]

Originally posted by 7starmantis

OK, here's the question, what do you guys think of Billy Blanks? I have "haerd" that he won some tournements or so, back in the day? He seems to know how to kick and punch, and I've tried tae bo, seems to be a pretty good cardio workout.

7sm

I heard that he had won 7 world fighting titles and that he was definitely one of the best fighters ever.

This info looks good on him
http://www.taebo.com/billy-blanks.html

I'm assuming it is all accurate. I've never heard anything bad about him, except that Tae-Bo is more aerobics than martial arts but I think even he says so, so this is not really a negative in my opinion. I don't think he would send any of his TaeBo Heroes into the UFC for example.
:asian:

 

[ace]

I don't know if he was or is a good FIGHTER.

But he has given back to the Martial Arts.
Tae-Bo started a Craze that got people wanting to
Go to the Dojo.

It now has hundreds of names from
Cardio Kickboxing.Kwan do, even Tae kick
are just some of the names i've heard.

Billy gave people a new way to look at Martial Arts.

 

[ChoyLiFutDude]

Billy Blanks might have been a really good tounament fighter, but marketing a cardio workout as self defense is stupid. These people "master" all their Tae Bo tapes and think they can actually defend themselves. That my friends, is a recipe for disaster.

 

[ace]

It is not self defence.
But he did create a way to bring people in.

Not everyone does M.A. for the same reason.

I my self prefer Mixed Martial Arts Fighting,

But that is not for everyone.
Just like Kickboxing is great but not for Everyone.

There is something for everyone & Billy
Found a way to Expose people to M.A.

For that he deserves Credit.

 

[Carbon]

Its true the tapes might not give you the same self-defense knowledge as if you went to a real Dojo.

But I think that it does have benefits when it might show punches/kicks where people might of been doing them wrong I see alot overhead swinging like throwing a baseball from people.

It just makes me laugh.

 

[tshadowchaser]

Mr. Banks was a top knotch fighter in his day.
He found a way to make money with Tae Bo cashing in on the arobic crazyness that was/is going on. Good for him , it shows he has a good buiness head. The routin actualy isnt that bad but it is not martial arts training it is an excercise veido.
Mr. Banks has produced some good students and looks to still be in great condition himslef.
His films Sucked raw eggs. Not his fault other than he choose the wrong ones to make.
MHO
Shadow

 

[ace]

No Tae Bo is not selfdefence
But it has drawn many People to the M.A.

 

[Shinzu]

i dont think tae bo is at all any means of self defense, but i do think it gives people a taste of the martial arts. it has no doubt sparked the interests of many. hats off to billy