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.

Instructor Comments:
Inspiring, fresh, invigorating, lively, spirited, encouraging, and caring. I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

Tiffanee Saunders