The deck of cards method for the 10,000 Pushup Challenge turns your daily pushups into a game, flip a card, do that number of pushups, and keep flipping, because one full deck adds up to 380 reps, more than the roughly 357 you need each day. Week one is when soreness and boredom hit, and playing little games with the pushups is how I get through. This Physical Friday shows you exactly how I deal the deck.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Take a standard deck and flip cards one at a time, doing the number of pushups shown on each card. A six means six pushups, an eight means eight, a three means three. Count face cards, jack, queen, and king, as ten, and aces as eleven. Keep flipping through the deck and the reps take care of themselves without you thinking about sets at all.
One suit, the two through ten plus three face cards at ten each and the ace at eleven, totals 95 reps. Four suits make 380 pushups for the whole deck, which gets you past the roughly 357 you need per day to finish 10,000 in February. Add a rule that every joker is a set of 50 and the deck becomes 480.
About 357 per day, because February gives you only 28 days. The deck of cards conveniently produces 380, so one full deck a day keeps you slightly ahead of pace, and getting ahead means finishing early, which the tracking spreadsheet on tomrowlandpodcast.com will happily show you.
No, and I do not even encourage it. Split the deck into little stacks and spread them around your day, some in the kitchen, some upstairs, some at the office. I split mine into seven small stacks and work through them across the day, never knowing how many reps each stack holds, which keeps it a fun surprise instead of a grind.
It removes thinking and adds variety. Sets of 50 or 20 repeated forever get boring, while the deck deals you easy stretches and brutal all-tens stretches at random. You are not planning anything, just obeying the next card, and on the days you do not want to do pushups at all, that little game is often what keeps you going.
Take care of yourself, drink plenty of water, and keep working toward the goal rather than stopping. Going from not many pushups to hundreds a day makes almost everyone sore, including me. Spreading reps across the day in small stacks, varying your pushup style, and staying hydrated all help the soreness pass while the habit builds.
The 10,000 Pushup Challenge is underway, and there are some very sore people out there right now, including me. Doing the same workout every single day is where most challenges die, so this is the week to reach for the most familiar tool on this podcast, the deck of cards, in its purest form. I walk through exactly how I split my deck in the episode, so press play in the player above.
One deck, 380 pushups, zero thinking. Here is the system.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Sets of 50, sets of 20, sets of five a whole bunch of times, it all turns gray by the second week. The deck deals you stretches that are all tens and stretches that are threes and fours, sometimes brutal and sometimes a gift, and that unpredictability is exactly what keeps the daily number from feeling like a sentence. I get into why this works on the hard days in the episode, so press play in the player above.
I split my deck into seven small stacks and scatter them through the day, never knowing whether a stack holds thirty reps or eighty. Each stack takes a few minutes, the surprise keeps it fun, and by evening the whole deck, and the whole daily number, is done without one big dreaded session. I explain how I place the stacks in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The deck gives you 380 against a required 357, so every full deck banks a little surplus. The spreadsheet on tomrowlandpodcast.com recalculates your remaining reps as you log them, and watching your finish date creep earlier is real motivation to deal one more stack. I want to see who finishes the challenge fastest. I talk about finishing early in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Want the full breakdown? Press play in the player above and listen to the whole episode.
It is a long month and you can absolutely do this. Drink plenty of water, take care of the soreness, and when the daily number starts to feel heavy, deal yourself a deck of cards and let the game carry you.
Download the tracking spreadsheet at tomrowlandpodcast.com, keep logging your reps, and if you get ahead, finish early, I want to see who knocks out their 10,000 the fastest.
10,000 Pushup Challenge · deck of cards workout · 357 pushups a day · tracking spreadsheet · tomrowlandpodcast.com · soreness management · hydration · Captains For Clean Water · Physical Friday · Saltwater Experience
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, nutrition, and mindset that keep guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong on the water and in the field, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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