Try This Workout: Deck of Cards Workout

There are many variations of how to do “Deck of Cards” workouts, I’ll explain one variation. This variation, and many others, are a great way to shake things up and have an on-going fitness challenge with yourself.

How it works: Each card represents a type of exercise you have to do, and the number of the card represents how many repetitions you have to do (Ace = 14 not 1 🙂 , K = 13, etc.); you can incorporate the use of the jokers if you want, some will use it as a wild card or a “get out of an exercise” card. Go through the deck as fast as you can and record your time. Aim to do the workout again in a week or 2 weeks, and challenge yourself to improve your time.

How to set it up: Get a deck of cards, assign an exercise for each card – putting the harder exercises with the lower numbered cards. Below is an example that you can try, which is a workout I’ve done with the Fitness Class I teach Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 7:00 p.m., and Saturdays @ 8:00 a.m. at Snap Fitness Edmonton South.

A (14) – Bodyweight Squats

K (13) – Situps

Q (12) – Dumbbell Lateral Raises

J (11) – Front Medicine Ball Slams

10 – Push Up Variation (Bench, Knee, Traditional)

9 – TRX Row

8 – Dumbbell Push Press

7 – Burpees (yay!)

6 – Alternating Bodyweight Lunge

5 – Bench Hops

4 – Bench Step Up

3 – Dumbbell Clean – 3 per side

2 – Set of Stairs

I’ve done this with many of my clients and they love it. You will need a little bit of room for this workout, depending on which exercises you choose. With the above workout you need: a bench, set of stairs, TRX, Set of Dumbbells for lateral raises, Set of Dumbbells for Push Press, Set of Dumbbells for Push Press, and a Medicine Ball. That being said, it’s possible to do this workout with very limited equipment if you set up the workout that way; I just had a lot of “toys” to play with at Snap Fitness and I used them for that reason.

Other variations you could try:

• Same as the above, but you draw “x” amount of cards and then do “task.” I’ve done this our Sunday stairs group drawing 3 cards, performing the exercises and then running a set of stairs. Or with the Edmonton Squash Club Fitness Class group by drawing 5 cards, performing the exercises and then running around the building once.
• Each suit represents an exercise and the card number = # of reps you need to do
• Each card simply represents an exercise with a predetermined amount of reps (better when you have limited equipment)

Give one of the variations a shot and let me know what you think!

-Mike