TapouT XT Road Warrior Test

There are a lot of references to being able to do TapouT XT on the road, business trip, on holiday and anywhere in between, but these are all hypothetical from what I gather.  This last week I had a chance to put TapouT XT to the test on the road.  You'll see the not so conventional workout area, how to setup for watching the videos and a great way to travel with your equipment.

Office Location

The road warrior test came about because I had some field work to do in the rural part of Northern Nevada, and didn't want to put the TapouT XT program on hold.  Let's just say the new office scenery was more beautiful than the normal straw colored walls of the old one.

Side of a Mountain

Floor of a Valley

Unconventional Workout Area

Your workout area is where ever you want it to be.  We stay in crew quarters where the rooms are just a little bigger than the beds, so space is limited.  Since I was sharing the area with 2 other people, It would be rude to take up the TV area for an hour.  What I settled on was the small office floor, a 6 foot by 8 foot area.

Workout Area

Equipment Setup

Watching the Videos

A laptop was used to watch the TapouT XT videos.  If you don't have a program on your computer to watch DVDs, VLC is a great free open source media player that plays almost anything you throw at it.

If a laptop is not an option, you can convert your DVD to a digital format and watch it on your phone, workout MP3 player (like the 16GB Sony Walkman I use) or tablet. Use a program like DVD Cloner to convert the discs you own to digital format.  If your media / MP3 player takes a certain format you can use the free version of Any Video Converter to convert the video.

Workout Equipment

All the TapouT XT equipment fits in the black drawstring bag that the Black Mountain 6 resistance band set comes with.  For me that includes

• 2 pound punching gloves 
• Set of 3 loop bands
• 6 resistance bands

If you need a bag for your stuff and don't want to spend a lot of money, look in the camping section of your local sports store or Walmart.  To store all the stuff above, you'll need is a bag that is at least 6 inches in diameter and 12 inches tall.

The large bag in this 3 bag camping set would be perfect to hold all your TapouT XT workout equipment.  I've bought this set before and use the smaller bags to keep my toiletries in when I travel.

Adapting to the Area

When you workout in an unfamiliar area you need to be adaptive.

• You'll probably have to change your orientation when doing TapouT XT exercises that require lateral movement
• Bring a towel for when doing low plank  or ground moves.  Some times the flooring is inhospitable and you'll need something to keep you from getting burns on your forearms and elbows.
• Make sure you have enough water.  Hotel rooms usually have small glasses to drink out of.  Plan ahead before your workout.  Ask the front desk if you can have a larger glass or pick up a bottled water (24 or 32 oz).
• Don't be afraid to temporarily move some furniture around to create your workout area.

TapouT XT passed the road warrior test with flying colors.  Keep these couple things in mind and you'll be a TapouT XT Road Warrior conquering any post apocalyptic hotel room. 

• keep an open mind for your workout area
• be flexible when it comes to how you watch and follow the workout
• organize your workout equipment for easy transport
• do a little planning ahead when adapting to the workout area