Your Wedding Day - Kick, Punch, March

Kick, Punch, March

by Susan Hart Hellman

BILLY BLANKS®, one of the most sought-after trainers and fitness consultants worldwide, is creator of Tae Bo® and Billy Blanks World of Fitness in Westlake Village, California.

SHELLIE BLANKS CIMAROSTI, fifth-degree black belt holder and tae kwon do Tae Bo® instructor, has personally trained thousands including executives and celebrities.

YWD: Billy, Most brides and grooms are very familiar with Tae Bo®, but would you please give us your personal definition, and why you went into the fitness field.

Billy Blanks: Tae Bo® is a fitness routine that gives people a chance to accomplish goals they never thought they could accomplish, and it allows them to have fun while they’re doing it. Tae Bo® means Total Awareness of Excellent Body Obedience.
   I got into the field because of a hard childhood. I was born with a medical condition that allowed me only a limited range of motion and I couldn’t do sports. I had undiagnosed dyslexia too, so I struggled through school. People believed I wouldn’t succeed, but at 12, I found karate and used my mind and will to push myself to transform my body. That transformed my mind and spirit too, and I went on to earn a seventh-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and black belts in five other forms of martial arts. I opened my fitness club in the San Fernando Valley, and now Billy Blanks World of Fitness in Westlake Village.

YWD: You also became a world karate champion, the first Amateur Athletic Union Karate Champion, and winner of the light heavyweight class in the Massachusetts Golden Gloves Championship. But starting a fitness routine is difficult for most people, so how can a bride become as motivated as you are?

Billy: A bride should think of getting fit in a certain way. We don’t say to ourselves, ‘Body, go to the gym and get in shape.’ By saying that, we’re separating our self as a person from our body.
Shellie Blanks Cimarosti: What we actually tell ourselves is, “I have to go to the gym and get in shape.”
Billy: See how Shellie used the word ‘I’? We can’t just say ‘Body, go to the gym,’ because it’s our mind and will that gets our body to the gym. So I would tell a bride that first, she must get her mind and will in shape.
   That has to do with our five senses. For instance, we all have the will to do the first 15 minutes of a workout because we’re physically fresh. But then, our senses knock at the door of our will, and it’s easy to open the door and listen to our senses say, ‘This hurts now. This is getting too hard.’ Then we let our senses make our will give up.

YWD: How can a bride develop that will to be fit?
Billy: I would tell a bride, let your mind control your senses. Go to a gym, or put on a DVD, shed your senses and say ‘I’m going to do the best I can. I’ll just take my time, pace myself.’ The next thing she knows, she’s saying ‘I can do this’ then, she’s empowered, has developed her will. Exercise then, is coming from the inside out, instead of letting the outside take her power.
   I would tell a bride to use the most powerful things in the world, her own words. If she says, ‘That’s too hard, I can’t do that,’ she’ll be right. Words cause action, so here’s what I would ask a bride to say: ‘The way I look today is how my mind and will have made me look.’ And, ‘The way I will look tomorrow is the way my mind and will will make me look tomorrow.” Those words will give her power, will, and control.

YWD: Your Tae Bo® books and videos are best sellers. How can Tae Bo® help a bride work from the inside out using her will?
Billy: I think people first come into the studio, or buy fitness tapes, to lose weight. They’re just looking at their outside. But in developing Tae Bo, I remember when I was misdiagnosed, with people saying I was mentally retarded when I just had dyslexia. They were only looking at my outside and missed how to help me. So I realized that for me and my team to help, we have to look at our students from the inside.
   Shellie and I travel worldwide and see how peoples’ lives change because we took time to see them from the inside. We tell people, ‘Come on, you’ve got the power. You’ve got the will. You can do this. Push through it!’ That’s what a bride needs to tell her self too, and hear from others. That’s what people get with Tae Bo®.

YWD: How does this relate to the actual wedding? Will being physically and mentally fit help with a bride’s inner confidence on her wedding day?
Billy: Tae Bo doesn’t just look at the image of your body, and neither should a bride. By going to a fitness studio, or working out inside her living room with her fitness videos, she’s challenging her will to do the work out, developing her power, and giving herself something that will last forever. That’s what will give her confidence on her wedding day.

YWD: Many brides begin planning their wedding at least a year in advance. How soon should they begin planning a fitness routine such as Tae Bo®, and what is the ideal time commitment every week?
Billy: When you get ready for something, it has to become your whole lifestyle, so make exercise a part of you life right away. If you start planning your wedding a year ahead, start your exercise then too, if you haven’t already.
The ideal time commitment is at least two to three days a week for 45 minutes. But take your time, work up to it whether you’re using a DVD or taking a class.
Shellie: Start with whatever you can handle, then add five minutes to the work out as you can. Then eventually, you’re up to 45 minutes.

YWD: What about the bride who does wait until the last minute?
Billy: Even with four weeks, a bride can still do a nice work out to help her feel more comfortable about putting on her wedding dress and about getting through the wedding more confident and relaxed.
Shellie: But brides getting a late start should set realistic goals. If you’re down to a few weeks, don’t set yourself up to fail. Do it in a healthy, safe way. Don’t say I’m loosing 50 pounds in six weeks. Don’t crash diet, work out 20 hours a day. You won’t be healthy.
Billy: Then you’ll be panicked because you didn’t meet your goal. If you’re panicked, then you’re stressed, and your wedding won’t be as much fun.

YWD: We’ve been talking about the bride, but what about the groom?
Shellie: What’s awesome about Tae Bo, is that it appeals to men more than any other exercise. It’s typical for a bride to want to get in shape, but we have a lot of grooms coming in too.
Billy: It releases stress for grooms too. Often, they bring in their groomsmen, and they build camaraderie. It’s a mission. They’re getting together and working out, talking about the wedding. It’s like a boot camp.

YWD: How could the well-being achieved through fitness influence wedding planning and decision making and relationships with others such as wedding vendors?
Shellie: I worked out all the time when planning for my own wedding, and it made everything stress-free. Having a fitness routine gave me an outlet where I could clear my mind for one hour. That helped me get clarity so I could deal with the business of planning a wedding and doing everything that needed to be done.
Here’s something else that worked well. My husband Mark and I met at the gym, so we were always working out together. For the day before our wedding, we decided to have all of our family and friends come together to and do Tae Bo®.
All of us gathering in one room and taking my dad’s class the day before the wedding was really, really, fun, and the camaraderie when we all worked out together got everybody excited and relaxed about the wedding day.

YWD: What about a couples’ relationship with each other during these potentially stressful times? Would it help if the couple worked out together?
Billy: Can you imagine how much more a bride and groom will learn about each other if they begin working out together six or nine months before the wedding? What Tae Bo® does is bring self awareness, and it brings a couple closer. They get to a point that when they’re ready to get married, they have built a more solid foundation as they had a chance to challenge their wills both individually and together.

YWD: What final advice about fitness and weddings do you have for brides?
Shellie: Following an exercise routine will help you be in shape mentally and physically when your big day comes. Then, remember, have fun at your wedding!
Billy: Fitness, weddings, everything comes from the inside. It all must come from spirit, mind, and body - in that order. Working out, especially together, sets the tone for your wedding, for your future household, and for your life. •

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