Fitness is in the Cards - The Sudorific Workout

~written by Chad


A crazy thing happened to me yesterday. For the first time in months I found myself at home...alone...for about 4 hours. I think I felt just like this guy.

I can't imagine what he is reacting to

For anyone with kids, you know how rare this  type of event is. Although it sounds like nothing, it is everything! I love my wife and girls more than I can explain, but I also love some good old fashioned alone time. For me it was my first chance, in a long time, to spend more than 20 minutes in the gym. As a result I have a new and amazing workout for you.

I call this workout the Sudorific Cards. 'sudo' for short. "What does that mean?", you ask. Great question! Sudorific means "causing sweat". And trust me, this workout does! I weighed in before and after (don't ask) and I lost 1.1lbs in less than an hour. That's a lot of sweat! Many a glass of water later and I was rehydrated, but the effects of the workout continued for hours, burning more calories than I would have otherwise. The true test of a workout's calorie burn should be measured for 24 hours, not just the duration of the workout. A single workout can be responsible for some serious calorie loss. Boosting your metabolism is one of the most important ways to maximize your weight loss.

Wrong!

Right! Not mine!!

I digress...

For this workout, all you need is good old fashioned deck of cards. As long as there is a full 54 cards, including Jokers, you are okay.

My deck came from Walmart and cost me $0.93. I turned it into this ingenious system, because I like to do it outside and the wind can ruin the workout if you aren't careful.

For this workout, each of the cards represents an exercise and a quantity of repetitions. For the numbered cards 2-10 you will do the same number of reps that is on the card. 4 of diamonds equals 4 repetitions. For the cards 2-10, each of the 4 suits has it's own exercises. There is a specific exercise and number of repetitions for the Jacks, one for the Queens, and the same for the Kings, Aces and Jokers. In total there are 9 different exercises.

The full exercise breakdown is shown in the video. Mind the quality, not much of a techie but I'm working on it.

If you prefer, here is the exercise list.

Diamonds (2-10) : back lunge hops 

Hearts (2-10) : supine leg kicks

Clubs (2-10) : squat thrusts & push-ups

Spades (2-10) : squat jumps & narrow push-ups

Jacks : alternate leg drops

Queens : plank leg raises

Kings : high knees

Aces : mountain climbers

Jokers : burpees

Your goal is simple, get through the cards as quickly as you can.

The beauty of this workout is that with a quick shuffle of the cards you have a new workout. The exercises stay the same, which allows you to improve on them, but the order will always be different so you will never know what is coming next. Too exciting I know.

It took me 43:45 to finish and I felt like dying for a very good portion of that. I didn't die and I honestly feel awesome today. Ready for more!!! You will too, trust me.

Have fun with this one and please let me know your times. I know some of you can beat me for sure!

Chad