What is Tae Bo fitness?  

 

It is an exercise that teaches a person how to communicate with their body. It is the combination of self awareness and control of martial arts, the focus and strength of boxing,and the grace and rhythm of dance.

A typical one hour class consists of a series of jabs, punches, kicks and steps, choreographed in a series of eight-count combinations.

The word TAE means foot and leg in the Korean Language. BO is shortened version of the word BOX. 

It was discovered by accident in 1976 by Billy Blanks  

When training, using the classic techniques from Boxing and martial arts, he was training to the original "Rocky" theme song and started punching and kicking to the beat.Within 10 minutes he was exhausted. He then realized if he was tired, being one who worked out for hours at a time 7 days a week, he was definitely on to something. Thus Tae Bo fitness was born. 

Tae Bo was designed as a different type of aerobic and cardio workout concept which is focused on the soul, mind and body and so the benefits of Tae Bo are both physical and mental. Tae Bo has been characterized as an excellent cardiovascular workout with very good distractions.

Because of the movements it involves, Tae Bo is effective in toning and defining the body's musculature. It can also improve one's balance, flexibility, coordination and has cardiovascular benefits. The benefit of a good cardiovascular workout was the first thing Blanks noticed when he inadvertently created Tae Bo in 1976 and it is still one of the top selling points of the program. According to Blanks, the cardiovascular benefits are a result of the dance moves added to the already high-energy workout.

The Tae Kwon Do aspect of Tae Bo provides self-awareness, self-confidence, and familiarity with martial arts. Martial arts combined with punch-boxing and dancing connects the mind and body by teaching mental acuity, physical strength, mental coordination and accuracy, and speed.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect about Tae Bo is its proven calorie burning effectiveness. An hour long Tae Bo workout will burn 500 to 800 calories, compared with the 300 to 400 calories burned with a more conventional aerobics class. If a healthy diet is followed, the burned calories should translate into weight loss. As it is an aerobic and cardio workout, Tae Bo helps its practitioners work out more sweat and lose weight at a faster pace when working out constantly during a week.                         

  

Tae Bo is also thought to lead to a better grasp of self-defense methods by kicking and punching that are done during a workout program. While Blanks says he hopes Tae Bo users are never put in a spot where they will need the self-defense training, Tae Bo will give them the skills and confidence to deal with potential trouble.

Tae Bo can also help with developing a positive sense of self-esteem. As with any form of exercise, it can promote "positive mental health as indicated by relief in symptoms of depression and anxiety," as stated in a study on the effects of exercise on mental health by Arizona State University researcher Daniel M. Landers.

Health Travel - India

          
Health Travel (Medical tourism) is a growing  sector in India. India’s medical tourism sector is expected to experience an annual growth rate of 30%, making it a $2 billion industry by 2015.As medical treatment costs in the developed world balloon - with the United States leading the way - more and more Westerners are finding the prospect of international travel for medical care increasingly appealing. An estimated 150,000 of these travel to India for low-priced health care procedures every year.

Advantages for medical tourists include reduced costs, the availability of latest medical technologies and a growing compliance on international quality standards, as well as the fact that foreigners are less likely to face a language barrier in India. The Indian government is taking steps to address infrastructure issues that hinder the country's growth in medical tourism.

Most estimates claim treatment costs in India start at around a tenth of the price of comparable treatment in America or Britain.The most popular treatments sought in India by medical tourists are alternative medicine, bone-marrow transplant, cardiac bypass, eye surgery and hip replacement. India is known in particular for heart surgery, hip resurfacing and other areas of advanced medicine.

The city of Chennai has been termed India's health capital. Multi - and super-specialty hospitals across the city bring in an estimated 150 international patients every day. Chennai attracts about 45 percent of health tourists from abroad arriving in the country and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. Factors behind the tourists inflow in the city include low costs, little to no waiting period, and facilities offered at the specialty hospitals in the city. The city has an estimated 12,500 hospital beds, of which only half is used by the city's population with the rest being shared by patients from other states of the country and foreigners.

Federal health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says, "Affordable health care does not mean our medicine is inferior to any superpower’s. I would like to say our medicines are indigenous, they are superior, and superiority does not come by escalating costs."

"Patients do not travel to India for health care services because they have a choice and they choose to go to India," says Ravi Aron, professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a senior fellow at The Mack Centre for Technological Innovation at Wharton. Adds Rana Mehta, executive director, Price water house Coopers (PwC) India: "If patients see value in what India has to offer, they will continue to come." 

 According to a report by the Delhi-based RNCOS, which specializes in Industry intelligence and creative solutions for contemporary business segments, India’s share in the global medical tourism industry will reach around 3% by the end of 2013. The December 2010 report -- titled "Booming Medical Tourism in India" – says that the industry should generate revenues of around US$3 billion by 2013. "The Indian medical tourism industry is currently in its early growth stage," says RNCOS chief executive Shushmul Maheshwari.

"India has the highest potential in medical tourism in the world," says Maheshwari of RNCOS. "Factors such as low cost, scale and range of treatments differentiate it from other medical tourism destinations. Moreover, growth in India’s medical tourism market will be a boon for several associated industries, including the hospital industry, the medical equipment industry, and the pharmaceutical industry."His study shows that CAGR (compound annual growth rates) in revenue in 2011-13 will be 26%. In terms of medical tourists, the number would touch 1.3 million by 2013 at a CAGR of 19%. "Medical tourism can be considered one of the rapidly growing industries in the Indian economy on the back of various factors," he says. "India has been ranked among the top five destinations for medical tourism," says Rana Kapoor, founder, managing director and CEO of Yes Bank, which has recently done a study on health and wellness tourism in India along with apex chamber of commerce FICCI. 

"I strongly believe that many developments across the world will put India in a fantastic position," says Devi Shetty, cardiac surgeon and chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya. "We produce the largest number of doctors, nurses and medical technicians in the world. Also, we have been traditionally linked with western health care because of the British influence on our medical education and the ability to speak English. This is extremely important for developing [global] health care. Our greatest asset is our ability to produce the largest number of technically-skilled individuals. We also have the largest number of USFDA (U.S. Food and Drugs Administration)-approved drug manufacturing units outside the U.S."

Ref : Wikipedia, Indian knowledge @ Wharton, Medical tourism Journals