Deck of Cards Workout

Originally published: 11/16/2011

Lately, my motivation for exercise was waning. I was still active, but I could tell I needed to change things up. I was still doing a set of pullups most mornings and playing roller hockey on Mondays. The rest of the week I might do a body weight circuit if I was highly motivated, but usually I would do a couple sets of pushups and crunches. I had been following the Lifehacker Workout, but didn’t like the running aspect. I have nothing against running, but its not what I want to do right now, especially since I’m more focused on a more fast-twitch sport like hockey.
What I found in my search for “something different” was the Deck of Cards workout. This seemed like it could work for me. Basically, you select 4 exercises to associate with each suit in the deck and then you do the number of reps on each card. I started with the following exercises:
Hearts: Jumping Jacks
Diamonds: Pushups
Spades: Lunges
Clubs: Knee to Elbow plank (I did them WAY too fast, so that they were like Mountain Climbers)
Here’s what I learned about each suit/exercise. First, the Jumping Jacks were a tad too easy. I want to incorporate steam engines, jumps or just running in place. Second, the pushups were definitely too easy. I will elevate my legs, stagger my hands or narrow my hands to increase the challenge. Next, the Lunges were a bit much on my hip flexors. I feel like adding body weight squats, since they have been a foundation for my recent lower body workouts. Last but not least, the Knee to Elbow Mountain Climbers were probably what aggravated my hip flexors the most. Instead, I plan on doing more core focused exercises like crunches, sit outs or planks. My vision is to do the more challenging exercise for the low reps (Ace to 7) and the easier exercise for the higher reps (8 to King). Each face card is 10 reps. Here’s what I have planned:
Hearts: Low rep - Knee to Chest Jumps. High rep - Jumping Jacks
Diamonds: Low- Incline or Narrow Pushups. High- Regular Pushups
Spades: Alternate Lunges/Body Weight Squats
Clubs: Low- Sit Outs. High- Crunches