Card-iovascular.

I'm Beat. Tired. Sore.

After hitting the gym this morning and running 4 miles, I came home and tried an at-home workout that I had read about a while ago - LifeHacker's Deck of Cards Workout. It's as simple to do as it sounds.

1. Grab deck of cards, shuffle.
2. Flip over the top card - do the corresponding exercise (card # equals reps, face cards are 10)
3. Flip over next card - repeat until done.

While I liked the red card exercises (Hearts = Jumping Jacks, Diamonds = Bench Dips), I groaned inwardly every time a black card (Clubs = Knee to Elbow Plank, Spades = Lunges) came up. I'm convinced that whomever invented Lunges went on to invent Waterboarding as an easier alternative. As it was my first time, I only did half the deck, but let me tell you - there was only one Ace, and a fuckton of black cards. I'm rethinking my shuffling strategy next time.

I do have to say that it's a refreshing change to the regular, planned out routine. The anticipation of the next card, the surprise at how many/little reps you have to do, trying to do it as fast as you can with good form, the torture when you have four spades come up in a row  (okay, skip that last one) - it keeps everything fresh and fun.  I'd like to incorporate it as a once-a-week thing for those days when I want something different.

Next week I'll try 35 cards. Once I can do all 52, I'll start bragging - if I'm not a spent puddle on the floor, that is.

Give it a shot.

(52 pickup is not an option.)







Later.