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Viral 1990s Fitness Guru Billy Blanks Is Still Teaching Tae Bo at Age 69 and Says He Will Until He 'Leaves This Earth'

Tae Bo creator Billy Blanks talks to PEOPLE about the lasting impact of his fitness lifestyle and why he'll keep teaching forever, as he approaches his 70th birthday.

For someone who has spent much of his life in front of the camera, both in his popular workout videos and dozens of feature films, Blanks is quite unassuming in person; humble, grateful and willing to dispense the wisdom he's acquired in his long career. Billy Blanks.Koichi Kamoshida / Staff / Getty Images Though some think Tae Bo is a portmanteau of Taekwondo and boxing, Blanks says it's actually an acronym: "T stands for total, A for awareness, E for excellence, B for body and O for obedience. He's managed to maintain that connection long past the VHS era, creating a social media following on Instagram and YouTube and even dipping his toes into the virtual reality space with Taebo Reboot.

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