The deck of cards workout is my favorite no-equipment travel workout: you assign one exercise to each of the four suits, then flip cards and do the reps shown, with face cards worth ten and aces worth eleven. It needs nothing but a deck smaller than my phone, so I can do it in a hotel room, a stairwell, a parking lot, or a full gym. In this Physical Friday I break down exactly how the deck of cards works and how to scale it.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
The deck of cards workout assigns one exercise to each of the four suits in a standard deck, then you flip cards and do the reps shown. Number cards are face value, face cards are ten, and aces are eleven. My go-to is burpees for spades, push-ups for clubs, sit-ups for hearts, and squats for diamonds. It is my favorite travel workout because it needs nothing but a deck smaller than my phone.
You control the difficulty through the face cards and aces. To push hard, count face cards as ten and aces as eleven. To make it easier, count face cards as one or ten and aces as one or eleven, depending on your fitness level. The same deck delivers a beginner session or an advanced crusher just by how you read the cards.
Assign the jokers any exercise you want, and I like to use them for cardio. If I have a jump rope I might do a hundred double unders, or a 400, 800, or one-mile run depending on how much time I have. If I want to move fast, I pull the jokers out entirely and just run the fifty-two-card deck.
About twenty minutes for me, though it varies with your fitness level and whether you include the joker cardio. The whole thing fits in a small space, so I can do it in a hotel room, almost in a closet, in a stairwell, in a parking lot, or in a full gym.
Because it is never the same and it takes almost no space. Even with the same four exercises, shuffling gives you a completely different stimulus, sometimes a cluster of burpees, sometimes spread out. You can swap in any four exercises too, so it is infinitely different, and the deck is smaller than my phone.
Yes. Beginners scale by counting face cards as one and aces as one, choosing easier exercise variations, or pulling some cards to shorten it. The structure stays the same while the total volume drops, so you can start where you are and build up over time.
People kept asking me where they could learn the deck of cards workout after seeing me do it on Instagram while traveling. We have a lot of new listeners, so I wanted to lay out the whole system in one place because it is the workout I take on the road everywhere.
Here is exactly how I run the deck of cards workout with nothing but a standard deck.
A standard deck has four suits, two black and two red, and you assign one exercise to each. That is the whole structure. The magic is that even with the same four exercises, shuffling gives you a totally different stimulus, sometimes a cluster of burpees, sometimes spread out. I explain how the suits and values work in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Flip a five of diamonds and you do five squats, that part is simple. Face cards and aces are where you control intensity: push hard and face cards are ten and aces eleven, or back off and count them as one. The same deck delivers a beginner session or a crusher. I walk through the scaling in the episode, so press play in the player above.
It takes up less space than my phone, needs zero equipment, runs about twenty minutes, and fits in a closet. I have done it in stairwells, parking lots, and hotel rooms. You never know what is coming next, which keeps your head in it. I explain why it beats every other travel workout in the episode, so press play in the player above.
I have used the deck of cards for years and it has saved me countless times on the road. When you are traveling for fishing or business and do not have a gym, this gives you everything in something smaller than your phone.
Grab a deck and try it. Burpees, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, a hundred flutter kicks on the jokers, and shuffle for a new one every time. You will understand why it is my favorite the first time through. Press play in the player above.
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
Tom Rowland · deck of cards workout · burpees · push-ups · sit-ups · squats · flutter kicks · double unders · jokers · Physical Friday · Saltwater Experience
I’m Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast’s Physical Friday series I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong, healthy, and able to do what they love for life — in short, practical episodes you can put to use right away.
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