Will You Let The Cards Intimidate You???

There are many interesting ways to workout and enhance your creativity to get the results you desire. Although we have different needs and have different goals, the important thing to remember is to have your workouts keep you interested and utilize common grounds of the following: Realistic entities, injury-proofing the body as much as possible and take small steps to create your big picture.

I’ve done enough workouts in my lifetime that when it comes to the boring stuff, it decreases my enthusiasm and wanting to keep it going. Many are taught to just suck up the extreme stuff and the harder you make it, the better the results. Maybe there is some truth to that but it sure as hell isn’t the best option or even the only option.

One of my favorite methods of training in this thing we call life, is using the Deck Of Cards. It’s not a trendy little system that has come and gone. It has been a staple for many athletes for decades. One of the all-time greatest Catch Wrestlers Karl Gotch, used this to torture his students in practice before or even after they being on the mat and sparring. His style was to use mainly Hindu Push-Ups, Half Moon Push-Ups, Hindu Squats & Hindu Jumping Squats. It wasn’t an exclusive type of conditioning method but he put them through the ringer almost as much as he put himself through. Don’t remember the numbers he used at the top of my head but for him, he would often do 2 decks in a row to enhance his conditioning. There was a reason he always had gas in the tank and this was one of the reasons.

Karl didn’t invent the workout but it did blossom into the minds of other athletes after he made it famous in wrestling circles. NFL Legend Ray Lewis used this for doing his Push-ups, Nature Boy Ric Flair did it often while on the road when he couldn’t get to a gym and Iron Mike Tyson would do Squats with a deck by laying a card out on floor, bend down to flip a card and do Squats, move forward to the next card and so on until he completed a deck. My old mentor Matt Furey had to do a push-up deck in the sauna once during wrestling season at the University Of Iowa I believe. 

My first experiences with a deck was after healing up from my leg injuries back in 2005-2006ish and basically just doing push-ups and squats. Felt like Bill Mazeroski when he hit the walk-off homerun in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series the first time I completed that deck. It was a humbling moment for sure. That’s the thing when you accomplish something that means something to you. It may not matter to anyone else but to you, it’s a moment you cherish.

Since that time, I’ve done the deck multiple times doing different things and even went on to doing it twice in a row using my Dopamineo Band. Each time I complete it though, it always brings a smile to my face. Now, I have laid off those kinds of workouts for periods of time and when I always felt about jumping into them, morely in the bodyweight department, sometimes the cards did beat me and couldn’t finish them, so I would have to build myself up again which didn’t take long and eventually killed it again. With the band, it’s just another day at the office but with the bodyweight stuff, it is tough but that’s just part of the journey.

Lately, I have been working a deck I’ve had for many years based on Matt Furey’s Course Combat Conditioning. He had a deck made of his likeness in cartoon form called The Matt Furey Exercise Bible which consisted of Hindu Push-Ups, Hindu Squats, V-Ups & Tablemakers. I would say those are the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse of CC. Just 4 basic moves but yet have quite an effect on the body and if you’re not used to them, they will humble you. I’ve done several workouts with that deck recently and the first couple times, I would walk it off to catch my breath after a few cards here and there. Today, didn’t walk it off once. Did my reps, flip a card and kept going. Focused on the techniques, my breathing and not force the speed to the point of getting sloppy. Felt incredible to be able to do that again. Total for this particular deck for me is 500 Reps.

100 Hindu Pushups 

200 Hindu Squats 

100 V-Ups 

100 Tablemakers 

There are many ways to decks of cards workouts but each one has a lesson about aspects of life. We never know what to expect and just when you thought things got a little easier, BAM!!! You get hit with a heavy card that has you doing lots of reps and gives you that curveball. That’s life, we can only react to what comes at us and do what’s possible to get through it. Learn to adapt when things become unpredictable.

The cards can be intimidating but in the end, they’re just little pieces of plastic with numbers on them. They can’t hurt you and they don’t fight back. The only thing stopping you is you alone. Will you let the cards intimidate you, or will you break down the fucking walls and rise victorious? You have the choice, you have an obstacle and only you can make the decision to keep going or quit. Each decision will have you learning what you’re made of or let it break you. 

Have a blast with this and see what you’re capable of. Be amazingly awesome and get going. Do this workout anywhere and make it worth your time and put effort into doing it with fierce determination.

A Playout That Turns Boys Into Men & Little Girls Into Strong Women

Many playouts can be challenging and having variety brings a great element of using your brain and your nerves to take in strength & endurance you didn't realize you had. To me such a playout is using a simple deck of cards that can be done in a variety of ways; you can go fast, go slow, do holds, modify and utilize different variations to your advantage and fitness levels.

A awesome playout with the deck of cards is just doing Hindu Squats & Hindu Push-ups. Just these two alone can get you in awesome shape and give you a level of conditioning second to none. The idea of this one is to beat the deck and go a little faster beating it each time but unless you're a pro athlete (Pro Wrestler or someone in Combat Sports specifically) you can only go so fast until you start to lose form and stop focusing on the breathing, the technique and paying attention to the body inside and out. At one point in time for a while I was doing 400 Hindu Squats & 250 Hindu Push-ups at a time with the deck and that wasn't always the best thing for me and ended up hurting myself due to over excitement and adrenaline not paying attention to my body. It's a learning experience and doing that high of reps is a great accomplishment but there's more to it than just hitting those numbers.

You can put any exercise you want with your own deck but don't just do repetitions and thinking that's the best way to get stronger; there is a line you don't want to cross and it'll either make you or break you if you don't pay attention. The deck I like best is the one made for students of Matt Furey and the exercises are Hindu Squats, Hindu Push-ups, V-Ups & Tablemakers. These 4 are the foundation for Combat Conditioning and can be done in great ways that don't always require speed. There have been playouts with this deck where I didn't go for reps but counted breaths or seconds with each card and that becomes a whole other ball game. Doing them in Isometric Fashion develops strength from another universal element and creating power you didn't think existed. It gives that extra spring in your step and puts you in a state of mind that is blissful, peaceful yet excitingly challenging.

You don't need the Matt Furey Exercise Bible to do these 4 exercises, you can put them on any deck you choose but how you apply them for the best intentions is up to you. I mean just the other day I did a total of 300 Hindu Squats  and 100 Hindu Push-ups, V-Ups & Tablemakers each and felt like a million bucks. It never gets easier but it does get more interesting once you're consistent with it. You can make it the most challenging Playout of your life or make it to where its not that difficult but yet still feel great. Make it play for YOU!!!

If you can't get your hands on that specific deck, here is a place where you can pick your own deck and have at it.....My personal favorite deck is here.