A great workout is when you can play with certain exercises and make a little game out of them and making training more enjoyable while also getting the most out of your conditioning in a short period of time. Animal Exercises is one of those methods that really throws boredom out the window and into a world of imagination, playful movement and being free.
When it comes to Deck Of Cards workouts; over the years I've done various types from doing Combat Conditioning Exercises, totaling 500 Hindu Squats, 1000 Step Ups, Ab Wheel/Step Ups duets and doing hundreds to a thousand reps or more with sledgehammer training. Some of these workouts go from 20 minutes to over an hour depending on what I'm doing. The 1000 Step Up Card workout lasted 50 minutes at my fastest. Some workouts are about speed but others were more precise and keeping form as best as possible and letting the speed come naturally. Some workouts required rest periods and others were straight through the deck where flipping the card was your only rest. You do what you like and make progress little by little.
When I came up with the animal movements for the cards, it naturally became a favorite. It was fast, quick and didn't require almost any rest and just go straight through. It consisted of 4 Animals: The Bear, The Crab, The Duck & The Chimp. At a good clip, it should take about 15 minutes or less to complete but don't forget, the faster you go, the more you need to be aware of your balance because if you move too quickly and the body doesn't line up, you can trip and fall on your face or ass. So although this workout requires speed and agility, it also requires a solid amount of balance and awareness. This was my morning workout today and finished the deck in 13:28. Got a great sweat going and feeling energetic plus the endorphin high just fucking rocks man.
Here's how you number out the reps/steps to reach 500 (in this case for the animals)....
Hearts: Bear Crawls
Diamonds: Crab Walks
Spades: Duck Waddle
Clubs: Chimp Walk
2-10 Cards are as is.
Kings/Queens/Jacks Are 10
Aces Are 16
Jokers Are 50 Steps Of The Bear Crawl
All cards should lead up to 500 Reps/Steps. I learned this specific numbers game from an article that legendary catch wrestler Billy Robinson had said that he would do this with wrestlers from time to time on Hindu Squats because you can do 500 in various ways but with the cards, it's never the same order twice.
This is an awesome workout that hits practically every muscle in the body and has awesome benefits for conditioning, continuous strength, balance, agility and cardio. Requires no equipment and if you're short on space, just move back and forth with the space you do have (for this particular workout, it's a lot more fun to do it out at a park or on a grassy area. Be wild, free and amazingly awesome.
