Ultimate Guide | A Full-Body Deck of Card Workouts

One of the simplest ways to plan your full-body workouts is with a simple deck of cards. Though several manufacturers have created exercise playing cards precisely for workout routines, there's no point in buying a set if you already have a deck of playing cards at home. A list of exercises, a timer, and a deck of cards are all you need to create your full body deck of card workouts.

Occasionally, it's a good idea to stir things up. This full-body deck of card workouts will provide you with skin-splitting pumps as well as HIIT cardio. You will only need a barbell and a deck of cards. A deck of cards, yes, you read that right. You might not think a deck of cards should be in your gym bag, but after reading this full-body deck of cards workout, you will reconsider.

The good thing is that this type of exercise can be easy to adapt to any fitness level. If you complete all 52 cards, you will have completed 364 reps. That's a lot of repetitions, particularly if you're only doing one exercise. Even if you do three exercises, you'll still end up with around 120 push-ups, which is more than you can probably do if you haven't done push-ups in a while.

Now, you might be wondering that how this existing workout plan can be designed. We have done intensive research and after getting opinions from experts, we have been able to devise out the best way to design a full-body deck of card workouts. We have done this research so that you may not have to waste your time looking for the best way to do a full-body deck of card workouts. Let’s check out how to design a full-body deck of cards workout.

How to Design a Full-Body Deck of Cards Workout

Here’s how to design a full-body deck of card workouts to get maximum results:

Make a Decision About Your Workout Focus: Is it time for leg day? Do you want to get your back in shape for those pull-ups? Do some cardio to get your heart rate up? We recommend that you choose a muscle group to target or a specific goal with the workout, whether it's cardio or strength.

So you might've been watching Messi trying to balance a soccer ball in his underwear and thought to yourself, Jeez, let me get some abs. It's sit-ups all the way. But maybe you were watching and thought, "I need some pecs." You appear to be doing push-ups. Perhaps it was the strange, inflatable-looking muscle under his arms that drew your attention. You'd better get yourself a pull-up bar, my man.

The one and only rule is that the workout must be rep-dependent rather than time-dependent. For instance, in a typical deck-of-cards workout, the focus is on the core, so you can incorporate ab-focused movements such as hollow holds, plank jacks, jackknives, and Russian twists. If you aren't trying to target muscle groups, think about making it a total-body workout by incorporating exercises from the upper body, lower body, core, and cardio.

We recommend combining exercises that work your entire body—say, traditional push-ups, bodyweight squats, and knee-to-toe crunches.

Create An Exercise For Every Suit: Once you've made your decision, reorder the cards and place the packet facedown next to the sliver of space you've set aside for today's self-improvement routine. This could be your floor, a beach towel, the Russian Space Station—really, anywhere, which is the whole point of this.

Toss the top card. Do as many push-ups as the number indicates. (Jack=11, Queen=12, King=13, and Ace=1). Turn over The next card. Perform that many bodyweight squats. Flip once more. That many knee-to-toe crunches. Flip 49 more times, rotating through the various exercises, and then flip every day until you look like Messi.

You'll assign different workouts to each suit depending on the focus of your workout. For example, if it's leg day, you can do squat jumps for every heart card you draw and lateral lunges for every spade card.   Whatever exercises you end up choosing, keep in mind you have all of your equipment (if you're using any) ready so the transformation is smooth and you don't waste time messing around. Here's an example of an exercise assigned to each suit:

• Diamonds = Plank-Ups
• Hearts = Squat Jumps
• Clubs = Superman Lat Pull-Down
• Spades = Russian Twists

Make a decision about what to do with your face cards. Face cards can be counted as a certain number of reps (for example, Jacks = 11, Queens = 12, etc.), or they can be designated as special moves. In a deck-of-cards ab workout, for example, assign jumping jacks to jack cards, glute bridges to queen cards, and supermans to king cards. You can make all of the face cards 10 reps or a timed movement. Here are some more examples:

• Jacks = V-Ups or Knee Tucks for 30 seconds
• Queens = Lateral Lunges for 30 seconds
• Kings = Blast-Off Push-Ups for 30 seconds
• Ace = Burpees for 30 seconds

Be Aware of Your Reps: The number on the card determines how many reps you'll do for each workout. So if you get a seven of hearts, for example, you'll do seven reps of that workout. Isometric workouts (such as planks or hollow holds) can be assigned as 30- or 45-second holds if they are included as face-card moves. If you want to make the low-rep cards more difficult, you can make it a double-count per move; for example, if you're doing oblique mountain climbers, driving both knees up gets counted as one rep instead of two. (Partial-rep strength training can also make a workout more difficult.)

Assign a Specific Time Duration for a Deck of Cards Workout: Though there are no time constraints for a deck of cards workout, the primary objective is to go through all 52 cards plus two joker cards as fast as possible. It may be harder to complete depending on the objectives of your workout, but the goal is to get through the entire deck.

That indicates there are few to no rest periods between card flips. When you've finished one card, move on to the next, and hold the recovery period brief so your heart rate stays elevated. Although if your workout is strength-based, having little to no rest other than flipping the next card can make for a difficult workout.

You can definitely finish a whole deck of cards in 15 to 20 minutes, and then you can also set targets, such as finishing half the deck in 10 minutes or attempting to set a timer for five-minute intervals and seeing how many cards you can wrap up in that time. Another option is to work the arms, shoulders, and workout the chest for 10 minutes and then the quad exercises for the lower body for another 10 minutes.

Reshuffle Your Cards: It's time to start sweating now that you've assigned workouts to each suit and know how many reps you need to complete for each card. However, before you begin your workout, make sure to shuffle your cards so you don't repeat the same exercises. You should do a series of exercises to keep yourself rebutted throughout the workout. Now that you know how to design a full-body deck of cards workout, it’s time to get to know some effective tips to make a perfect deck of cards workout.

Effective Tips to Make a Perfect Deck-of-Cards Workout

Following are the most effective tips to make a perfect deck of cards workout:

• Push and pull movements, as with any workout, should be included to help you prepare both the front and back of your body. Adding pulling movements to this workout with body weight may be difficult, but if you have some facilities or a random object that you can use, you can certainly get an intense workout in.
• Push-ups, planks, and overhead shoulder presses are good examples of push workouts to be included in your workout, and for pulling movements, sit on your stomach and do Ts with your arms, as you would in some different versions of supermans, to concentrate on boosting the upper back and widening the chest. You can also do rows with weights, pull-parts with resistance bands, or inverted rows with something to hang off of (a TRX, parallette bars, a sturdy chair, or a handrail might work).
• If you have a workout partner, you can alternate flipping cards and performing the exercises. You flip, they accomplish the workout, and then you flip and do the workout. The opportunities are endless.
• The more workouts you do, the fewer reps you'll need to do of each. When you do five exercises, you only do about twenty of each. Lunges, Russian twists, pull-ups if you have a bar, leg raises, dips using your couch or a chair, burpees, bird dogs, and any other bodyweight workout that comes to mind.
• Don't try to finish the entire deck at once. Try doing 15 cards for a week, then 20 the following week, and 25 the following week. Alternatively, do 26 cards in the morning and try to finish the remaining 26 at night.

Conclusion

When it comes to integrating a deck of cards workouts into your schedule, it works best as a burnout round or implementer at the climax of your workout. However, because it is so adaptable, you can use a deck-of-cards workout as your leg day, chest day, and so on.

We have presented you with the best way to design a full-body deck of cards workouts. Readers are recommended to practice these workouts to get their bodies in shape. However, since each human body is unique, workout enthusiasts should consult an expert before going for these workout practices.