Lexington, KY - Whenever I catch a headline or see a commercial promoting a purportedly new exercise trend, I'm always transported back to the mid-'90s, when Billy Banks --
the personable, yet intimidating fitness personality --
was king of the infomericals as he advertised his new program, Tae Bo, on the national market.
Wearing boxing shorts and gloves --
Tae Bo was an aerobic mixture of taekwondo and boxing moves --
the hulking Banks would lead a bevy of good-looking women through a barrage of martial arts motions set to an upbeat tempo. Banks may not have been as enthusiastic, or spastic, as Richard Simmons, but he was just as effective --
it seems like you couldn't go anywhere without seeing somebody kicking and punching at their television screen, sparring against some menacing invisible opponent in the family room.
And then, they stopped. Tae Bo had gone the way of NordicTrack and Thigh-master.
Sometimes I've wondered whatever happened to Tae Bo? Turns out, Banks and crew are still making new videos that you can order online --
they're even available on VHS (talk about being transported back to the mid-'90s) --
but I never hear of anybody doing Tae Bo any more. I guess they've all moved on to Zumba, swapping a roundhouse kick for a rumba beat.
Could Zumba suffer the same fate as Tae Bo? It's not a question that keeps me up at night, but as a spectator of human nature, it's something worth pondering. People are drawn in by what's new, and for those of us who aren't dedicated to standard and traditional methods of exercising, such as jogging or weightlifting, trendy fitness programs, fleeting as they may be, provide the variety that keeps people interested in their personal health, which is important.
In this issue, we've profiled some new fitness practices people in Lexington are discovering -
Bikram yoga, Aqua Zumba, boot camps and TRX suspension training -
and the instructors and students we spoke with are all very excited about these programs. Will these new programs be here today and gone tomorrow? Who knows? But as long as we're moving from one routine to another, at least we're moving.