What do you think of Jake Mace?

[TigerHeart]

A least Billy Blanks’s Tae Bo is real.

 

[Tarrycat]

I have never studied Wing Chun, but I disagree with this statement. Forms (as we use them and teach them) are an important teaching tool. Done properly, they help train specific movements as well as aid in the development of power, balance, timing...
Doing them improperly will not only adversely affect learning the movements and techniques, but can be the direct cause of injury. Just as one example, an improperly thrown punch or kick can hyperextend joints. Ouch.

I agree 100%.

Extending too much leaves the muscles, bones, & joints vulnerable to any injuries.

Every art should be strict on forms as to avoid the risk of injury. We're just as strict regarding it.

Some will agree, others will disagree, I'm fine with that.

 

[Danny T]

A least Billy Blanks’s Tae Bo is real.

It is real...a real Fitness system. Specifically designed as a fitness system combining dance, some martial arts type techniques, and some boxing techniques. It is not intended for fighting nor was it meant for any combat or self defense. It's only intent in design is to increase fitness through movement. The high-intensity choreography workout is intended to increase cardiovascular fitness, strength, muscular endurance and flexibility through specific movements.
So yes Tae Bo is real.

 

[DanT]

Just because they aren't meant for that, that doesn't mean they wouldn't be useful for it, if separated from the martial application. Tai chi forms are often used just for fitness. There are some forms that were developed specifically for muscular development; a friend who was trained in something (some form of Karate, I think) showed me one of them.

Problem is that he's trying to pass them off as legitimate traditional guoshu (designed to maim and injure other humans), not as only fitness. Herein lies the issue.

 

[JR 137]

It is real...a real Fitness system. Specifically designed as a fitness system combining dance, some martial arts type techniques, and some boxing techniques. It is not intended for fighting nor was it meant for any combat or self defense. It's only intent in design is to increase fitness through movement. The high-intensity choreography workout is intended to increase cardiovascular fitness, strength, muscular endurance and flexibility through specific movements.
So yes Tae Bo is real.

I agree but...
I remember some of his students like Dara Torres say she was “learning self defense moves” during the infomercials back in the day.

But Dara Torres can say anything she wants as far as I’m concerned

 

[jobo]

It is real...a real Fitness system. Specifically designed as a fitness system combining dance, some martial arts type techniques, and some boxing techniques. It is not intended for fighting nor was it meant for any combat or self defense. It's only intent in design is to increase fitness through movement. The high-intensity choreography workout is intended to increase cardiovascular fitness, strength, muscular endurance and flexibility through specific movements.
So yes Tae Bo is real.

but that wouldn't make it any more or LESS effective than the many real fighting styles that are done with out real fighting, which seems to be a fair old few, from your description it would at least give you the physical fitness for self defence, that some other arts would not, at least as commonly practised

 

[drop bear]

It is real...a real Fitness system. Specifically designed as a fitness system combining dance, some martial arts type techniques, and some boxing techniques. It is not intended for fighting nor was it meant for any combat or self defense. It's only intent in design is to increase fitness through movement. The high-intensity choreography workout is intended to increase cardiovascular fitness, strength, muscular endurance and flexibility through specific movements.
So yes Tae Bo is real.

It think it was designed for self defence. If you read the promotional material. Because anything can be for self defence if nobody ever has to use it.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Problem is that he's trying to pass them off as legitimate traditional guoshu (designed to maim and injure other humans), not as only fitness. Herein lies the issue.

That was my point. If he just used them for fitness (saying they are based on the appropriate MA, similar to Tae Bo), rather than asserting they are the fighting forms from those arts, he'd be fine.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

I have never studied Wing Chun, but I disagree with this statement. Forms (as we use them and teach them) are an important teaching tool. Done properly, they help train specific movements as well as aid in the development of power, balance, timing...
Doing them improperly will not only adversely affect learning the movements and techniques, but can be the direct cause of injury. Just as one example, an improperly thrown punch or kick can hyperextend joints. Ouch.

I definitely see where you are coming from, but all of that is not nearly as bad as what he teaches in his self-defence videos. Just as an example you are comparing a hyperextended joint to getting stabbed in the back while trying to do a spinning back kick. Also looking at the youtube comments for Jake's videos, the hate doesn't seem to stem from any sort of practical stand-point but purely because it is different and not "authentic".

 

[DanT]

That was my point. If he just used them for fitness (saying they are based on the appropriate MA, similar to Tae Bo), rather than asserting they are the fighting forms from those arts, he'd be fine.

Agreed

 

[Xue Sheng]

It is real...a real Fitness system. Specifically designed as a fitness system combining dance, some martial arts type techniques, and some boxing techniques. It is not intended for fighting nor was it meant for any combat or self defense. It's only intent in design is to increase fitness through movement. The high-intensity choreography workout is intended to increase cardiovascular fitness, strength, muscular endurance and flexibility through specific movements.
So yes Tae Bo is real.

Correct Tae Bo is not for fighting, but Billy Blanks himself is for real when you are talking martial arts

 

[Danny T]

It think it was designed for self defence. If you read the promotional material. Because anything can be for self defence if nobody ever has to use it.

Per Billy Blanks:
“Tae Bo is based on Boxing, Martial Arts, Calisthenics, and Dance all combined into one form of cardio exercise that you need to get into good shape. If you have never heard of or done Tae Bo before I just want to introduce myself to you and to say I am the one who created this form of cardio kickboxing.”

After touting his karate accomplishments he talks of being in his basement just doing some punching and kicking to the theme song for the movie Rocky and that with-in two minutes he, the karate champion of the world, was tired.

“So I said, you know what? I’m going to put all these movements into a cardio fitness exercise system that has really changed me from the inside out.

So I created TAEBO
Total
Awareness (of)
Excellent
Body
Obdience

This is what TAEBO represents. TAEBO is a fully body cardio fitness system.”

Don't know what anyone else has stated but this is from Mr. Blanks himself.

 

[JR 137]

Correct Tae Bo is not for fighting, but Billy Blanks himself is for real when you are talking martial arts

I don’t know much about him aside from his infomercials back in the day, but if @Buka vouches for him, he’s got to be legit

 

[Danny T]

Billy Blanks and his martial skills are for real.

 

[Finlay]

I have a few problems with Jake Mace

- the titles of his video's ..'wow' 'incredible' 'amazing skill' then what he shows isn't that much.

- his self defence is ridiculous

- his style is fake, a lot of things wrong with his bagua. However, he speaks with such authority on the subject. An example of this would be his "how a champion trains kata" video where he does a little bit of a bagua form (taolu not kata) does some chin ups and then does a little more of the form. Thinking that the 8 changes can be broken up like this.

Those would be the main ones I guess. He has some physical abilities high kicks and so on and then seems to think he can superimpose them on to different styles

 

[JowGaWolf]

Correct Tae Bo is not for fighting, but Billy Blanks himself is for real when you are talking martial arts

Billy Blanks never promoted Tae Bo as a self defense art. He was straight forward with it.

Per Billy Blanks:
“Tae Bo is based on Boxing, Martial Arts, Calisthenics, and Dance all combined into one form of cardio exercise that you need to get into good shape. If you have never heard of or done Tae Bo before I just want to introduce myself to you and to say I am the one who created this form of cardio kickboxing.”

After touting his karate accomplishments he talks of being in his basement just doing some punching and kicking to the theme song for the movie Rocky and that with-in two minutes he, the karate champion of the world, was tired.

“So I said, you know what? I’m going to put all these movements into a cardio fitness exercise system that has really changed me from the inside out.

So I created TAEBO
Total
Awareness (of)
Excellent
Body
Obdience

This is what TAEBO represents. TAEBO is a fully body cardio fitness system.”

Don't know what anyone else has stated but this is from Mr. Blanks himself.

Billy Blanks never promoted Taebo as a self defense system. Taebo has always been about fitness and nothing more. People had fun doing his classes and following his DVDs and got into shape.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I don’t know much about him aside from his infomercials back in the day, but if @Buka vouches for him, he’s got to be legit

Billy blanks competed back in the day. Not his best showing

Taebo / Boxercise fighter

Billy working real martial arts techniques

 

[Danny T]

Billy Blanks never promoted Tae Bo as a self defense art. He was straight forward with it.

Billy Blanks never promoted Taebo as a self defense system. Taebo has always been about fitness and nothing more.

Agreed...that was my point. That he stated it was a fitness system.

 

[Tez3]

However, he speaks with such authority on the subject.

Is this because he genuinely believes what he's saying is true or because he's trying hard to con people? When people call him a liar and fake etc this is an important question to ask, someone's teaching may be very poor, the techniques may not work but it's not always because the instructor is fake but that they themselves have been poorly taught. I've never heard of Jake Mace and know very little about what he's teaching but while criticising him I would be careful about calling him a fake. Fake and incompetent aren't the same thing.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

Is this because he genuinely believes what he's saying is true or because he's trying hard to con people? When people call him a liar and fake etc this is an important question to ask, someone's teaching may be very poor, the techniques may not work but it's not always because the instructor is fake but that they themselves have been poorly taught. I've never heard of Jake Mace and know very little about what he's teaching but while criticising him I would be careful about calling him a fake. Fake and incompetent aren't the same thing.

This is the interesting thing. Go back a couple of years and I would say he believed he was the bees knees of CMA. However more recently he's been bringing in other people to effectively teach him in his videos. Here are a couple of examples of this:

This shows that he is aware that he needs more training from others and is striving to improve. You'll also notice that he's doing a lot more workout and stretching videos with an emphasis on "this is what I do, not necessarily what you should do" whereas before he was very much "you should do this otherwise you are not a true Martial Artist". Now, for all his failings I do think that Jake genuinely believes in everything he does. I would definitely lean more towards incompetence than fraud in his case, but it's nice to see he is slowly trying to improve this.