The dice game is a travel workout where you write exercises on the sides of one blank die and rep counts on another, then roll both for a set time and do whatever comes up, thirty burpees one roll, five sit ups the next. I have done my deck of cards workout in hotel rooms all over the world, but cards have one weakness: wind, and in Florida and most places we fish, it is windy. My friend Max Baumgartner gave me some blank dice and this format was born. In this Physical Friday I lay out exactly how I set the dice up, the Joker side I leave open, and the variations with kettlebells and even a hundred-sided die.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
You take blank dice and assign an exercise to each of the six sides of one die, and a rep count to each side of another. Mine reads burpees, push ups, sit ups, flutter kicks times ten, squats, and a Joker, against five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty five, and thirty. Roll both dice and do what they say, thirty burpees, five sit ups, fifteen squats, for a set time or a set number of rolls.
Amazon sells a pack of 60 unfinished wooden blank dice, basically wooden cubes, for ten or eleven dollars, and a hobby shop can probably sell them even cheaper individually. You only need two, three, or four dice, so one cheap pack covers you and all your friends with room to spare.
Set it before you start, either a time cap or a roll count. I will say I have thirty minutes, or twenty, or fifteen, and roll for the whole window, or I will commit to thirty rolls of the dice and finish whatever comes up. Either way, the rule is the same: whatever the dice say, you do.
I leave one side blank as a Joker for whatever opportunities I find on-site, because on the road you never know what is available. At ICAST we found a bus stop that was a perfect pull up spot, so the Joker became pull ups. If there is a parking garage, the Joker is running up it, and the number does not matter. It keeps the workout matched to wherever you land.
Wind. The deck of cards workout travels with me everywhere, you shuffle, assign an exercise to each suit, and do what the cards say, but on a pool deck or a beach in Florida the cards blow away. Dice will not blow away in the wind, they fit in any bag, and between the dice and the deck of cards you can keep workouts interesting for a week anywhere you go.
Yes, make a second exercise die of all dumbbell or kettlebell movements: swings, snatches, squats, lunges, overhead walking lunges. Roll the number die plus both exercise dice and do both, thirty pull ups and thirty swings, then roll again. I even ordered a hundred-sided die that looks like a golf ball, though it needs a very level surface and is hard to read, so a smaller number die may be the better call.
The deck of cards workout is something I hold close, it has traveled with me to many different countries, hotel rooms, and locations, and it never requires much thought. Often in Florida, though, and the places we go to fish it is very windy, and your cards blow away. That problem nagged at me until my friend Max Baumgartner handed me some blank dice. The whole origin story is in the episode, so press play above.
Two dice is all it takes. One carries the movements, burpees, push ups, sit ups, flutter kicks, squats, and one open Joker side, and the other carries the numbers from five to thirty. The choices behind those six movements, and why the rep spread runs the way it does, are in the episode. Press play above.
The best station on the road is usually one you cannot plan: the bus stop at ICAST that turned out to be a perfect pull up bar, the parking garage begging to be run. Leaving one side open lets the location write part of your workout. How I call the Joker on the fly is in the episode, so listen for it.
Infinitely, which is what I love about it. A second exercise die full of dumbbell and kettlebell movements doubles every roll. The hundred-sided die that looks like a golf ball might have been a step too aggressive, 97 burpees is a real possibility, and reading it is its own challenge. The variations I am still playing with are in the episode. Press play above.
Keep it fresh, keep it interesting, and make it yours. Two dice in your bag mean a workout anywhere you go, and between the dice and the deck of cards you can keep an entire week of travel training interesting.
I have a pack of 60 blank dice waiting, so if you come up with great exercise sides, send them to podcast@saltwaterexperience.com and I will put them on my dice and give them a try. I promise the dice will not blow away in the wind. Press play in the player above.
Max Baumgartner · the dice game · deck of cards workout · blank wooden dice · burpees · push ups · sit ups · flutter kicks · squats · kettlebell swings · dumbbell snatches · ICAST · travel workouts · Physical Friday
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.
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 workouts, recovery methods, and fitness habits that keep me ready for guiding, fishing, hunting, and everything else outdoors, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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