Ever been at a loss as to what training to do? Ever thought “I’d really like someone to tell me what workout to do today”? Well then – the Deck of Cards Workout is for YOU!

The Deck of Cards Workout is simple…using a normal deck of playing cards allocate an exercise to each suit e.g. Hearts = squats, Diamonds = press ups, Spades = lunges, Clubs = bent-leg sit ups. Then, starting with the well shuffled deck face down, turn over the top card and do the prescribed number of reps for that exercise, so if you turn over the 8 of spades you would perform 8 lunges (either in total or per leg – that’s up to you.) Then, with minimal rest turn over the next card and do that exercise and so on until each card has been turned over.

Play the Joker for fitness

Jokers can be removed or left in to provide extra exercises – the Joker could be something like run 500 meters or do 20 burpees…whatever you feel like putting in. The idea is to complete the deck as fast as possible, so it’s an excellent cardio and muscular conditioning workout. Personally I like to make sure the Joker is a real challenge to add some extra intensity to the workout. However, whilst a challenge is good, making the Joker so tough that you fail to complete the workout would be a bit of a mistakes so use some common sense!

Regarding the picture cards, there are a couple of options…Jacks = 11, Queens = 12, Kings = 13 or all picture cards = 12 (or higher).

The beauty of the Deck of Cards Workout is that you set the parameters based on your current fitness level and progress is very easy to achieve by repeating the workouts over time. And, as time passes and you get fitter, you could increase the consequences of the ace from 1 rep to 3 reps and later to 5 reps and so on which adds volume to your workout.

The Deck of Cards Workout lends itself particularly well to body weight or minimal equipment exercises which keeps the transitions fast and the pace of the workout high, but you can do it using equally well using traditional weight training exercises.  I’ve outlined some of my favourite Deck of Cards Workouts to get you started…feel free to use them as they are or mix elements from the different workouts in your own unique training session. If you come up with a particularly good one, why not post it below for others to use?

1)      Black cards = push ups, Red cards = bodyweight squats, Jokers = run 500 meters.

2)      Hearts = Burpees, Diamonds = double unders (x 2), Spades = high pulls, Clubs = sit ups, Jokers = 60 second planks.
(For this workout, when performing double unders complete 2 reps for every number of Diamonds i.e. 4 of Diamonds = 8 double unders)

3)      Hearts = skipping (x 10), Diamonds = body rows, Spades = kettlebell swings, Clubs = dips, Jokers = row 500 meters.
(For this workout when skipping perform 10 turns of the rope for every number of Hearts i.e. 7 of Hearts = 70 turns of the rope etc.)

4)      Hearts = step ups, Diamonds = sandbag clean and push press, Spades = chin ups, Clubs = crunches, Jokers = 100 rope turns skipping

5)      Hearts = barbell squats, Diamonds = barbell deadlifts, Spades = body rows, Clubs = bench press, Jokers = 60 seconds of twisting sit ups
(For this workout use around 60% of 1RM – it may be necessary to perform the reps rest/pause style i.e. if unable to perform all of the reps when a high card is revealed then do as many of the reps as possible, rest briefly and then continue with the set)

I strongly recommend writing in large letters the exercises you have allocated for each suit and sticking it somewhere visible for the duration of the workout. This will minimise any time wasted trying to remember what exercise you are supposed to be doing and avoid making mistakes.

As the cards come out in a random order, sometimes you’ll get a good run of dissimilar cards but from time to time you’ll think you must be playing poker and you’ll get runs of suits or lots of high cards in a row. Tough! That’s the beauty of this workout – you never quite know what you are going to get and that randomness is part of not just the fun but also the training effect.

There are endless variations for the deck of card workout and you are only limited by your imagination. As a change from the norm it’s a great but simple workout which really gets the job done! Let us know how you get on…..

The Deck of Cards Workout, 10.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

Popularity: 14% [?]