![]() ![]() He later attracted celebrity clients such as Paula Abdul, and the popularity of the workout quickly grew, becoming a pop culture phenomenon after Blanks began releasing mass-marketed videos. Blanks opened a fitness center in Los Angeles to teach his new workout. The name is a portmanteau of tae (as in taekwondo) and bo (as in boxing). He used components of his martial arts and boxing training. In the late 1980s, Blanks developed the Tae Bo workout, while running a karate studio in Quincy, Massachusetts. Blanks played Ashley Judd's kickboxing instructor in Kiss the Girls (1997). Blanks also appeared in the opening scene of Tony Scott's The Last Boy Scout, where he plays a doomed pro-football player. This led to Blanks' work in several martial arts films, including King of the Kickboxers and Bloodfist. Blanks impressed the producers and was written into the script in a supporting role. Career īlanks was hired as a bodyguard for lead actress Catherine Bach during the filming of 1988's Driving Force, which was filmed in Manila during a time of political unrest. He also was a member of Chuck Merriman's Atlantic World Karate Team with Anderson. īlanks was an early member of USA Karate, the precursor to USA National Karate-do Federation, after it broke away from the Amateur Athletic Union. He was Karate Illustrated magazine's National Champion and Rookie of the Year for 1983. He represented the United States at the 1981 World Games in Santa Clara, California, and won a Bronze medal in the Men's Kumite Open (Heavyweight). He finished in 3rd place at the World Union of Karate-do Organizations (WUKO) World Championship in the Male Kumite category in 1980. ĭuring the 1980s, Blanks was a top competitor of the point competition, semi-contact, and sport karate circuits, notably against Steve Anderson. Martial arts īlanks holds black belt ranks in taekwondo (7th dan) and karate (5th dan), and a black sash in Hung Ga kung fu (under Sifu Wong Ting-fong). When he saw Bruce Lee on TV, he decided he wanted to be a world martial-arts champion. Blanks found the answer to these challenges in karate. The resulting clumsiness aroused taunts from Blanks' siblings and led his instructors to believe that he would never accomplish much. He was born with an anomaly in his hip joints that impaired his movement. He began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven, attending Karate and Taekwondo classes. Early life and education īlanks was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. In 2021, he was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame. William Wayne Blanks (born September 1, 1955) is an American fitness personality, martial artist, actor, and the creator of the Tae Bo exercise program. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |