Richard Simmons is for the oldies. Get in Shape Girl went out in the 1980s. Today, those mindful of exercise are looking to get martial on yo’ ass.Tae Bo is a set of fitness videos that combine karate, boxing, tae kwan do, and dance with high energy music. The workout includes repetitions of punches and kicks. According to the Tae Bo home page, Billy Blanks, the creator of Tae Bo, said the goal of the workout is to help improve a person’s fitness, mind, body and spirit. Kelly Brown, a junior majoring in dental hygiene, said her friend got her started on the videos.”My friend ordered the tapes. When she got them she said I had to come over and do them with her,” Brown said. “It is a lot of fun and it is something different.”The letters in the name “Tae Bo” all have a different meaning. The “T” stands for total, the “A” is for awareness, the “E” means excellence, the “B” is for body and the “O” stands for obedience.The Tae Bo video library includes an instructional video, a basic video, an 8-minute workout and an advanced Tae Bo workout. They all include a warm-up, the aerobic Tae Bo workout and a cool down. The advanced video includes 15 minutes of floor exercises such as sit-ups.”We did the instructional video and the basic one. They were pretty hard, but the advanced one was so much worse. I was so tired,” Brown said.Katie Oprea, a sophomore undecided major, agreed with Brown.”I couldn’t keep up with the advanced video. I had done the basic for a while, but I guess I wasn’t ready for the next one,” she said, laughing. “He is always reminding you to keep your stomach as tight as possible.”Oprea and Brown both enjoyed the workout videos, but they said people who see them doing the workout find it funny. “My friend’s roommates walked into her living room and were laughing and wondering what we were doing,” Brown said. “There aren’t usually people punching and kicking in her house.”Oprea said her roommates also laughed at her.”They think it is funny to watch me, but now I have gotten them to do it with me,” she said.Blanks, who has six black belts in martial arts forms, started the Tae Bo program while training in his home. He mixed his tae kwan do workout with dance music and liked the routine. He opened the Billy Blanks World Training Center in Sherman Oaks, Calif., where he teaches Tae Bo classes. Many celebrities have been to the center to do the Tae Bo workout, including Sinbad, Carmen Electra, Paula Abdul, and Neve Campbell. These celebrities have used the program to lose weight, improve their fitness, and even control stress.Certified Tae Bo classes are only held at Blank’s training center, but there are plans to open Tae Bo centers across the nation.Liz Davis, assistant director of recreational sports at OSU, said the university offers aerobics classes similar to Tae Bo.”Actually, Tae Bo is kick boxing. He (Blanks) just coined the name,” she said. “There are all different forms of kick boxing, the instructors just have different styles.”One class OSU offers is cardio-kick, an aerobic workout with kick boxing moves.”We put some more cardio in it, so we get a better cardio workout as well,” Davis said.Another class offered is box-step, which incorporates a step workout with kick boxing moves.Davis said Tae Bo and the other kick boxing workouts are overall body workouts.”It’s a power workout. They are total body conditioning, but use a lot of strength and good body mechanics,” she said.Even though these workouts may be tough, Davis believes anyone can do them. “You can start at your level and go to higher levels as you improve,” she said. “They are always trying to come up with something new to keep people interested in exercising.” Cardio-kick is held Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. in the Larkins Hall exhibition gym. The cost is $2 each session. Box-step is held on Mondays from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. at the Jesse Owens Recreation Center south.