Luck of the Draw Workout

Feeling lucky? Then grab a partner and a standard deck of playing cards and try your luck with this fun St. Patrick’s Day workout. (Also good for any other day of the year!)

Did you like the infographic? Check out the print version and feel free to embed it on your website using the following code:

<a href="https://www.bowflex.com/blog/luck-of-the-draw-workout.html"><img src="https://www.bowflex.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-bowflexShared/default/dwd19b6869/blog/content/Infographic-workout-luck-of-the-draw-2017.jpg" alt="Nautilus & BowFlex — Luck of the Draw Workout" title="Nautilus & Luck of the Draw Workout" />
<br>Infographic by Nautilus, Luck of the Draw Workout </a>

And for those who prefer a text breakdown of the rules:

1. Shuffle the deck of cards and deal out the entire deck into two "draw piles." The person who didn't deal chooses which pile they would like as their "draw pile."
2. You and your partner flip over the top cards of your deck and place them in front of you.
3. Whoever's card is showing the lowest value (based off the standard playing card value scale, aces are high) has to do one of these exercises, based off of what suit their card is showing:
   1. Clubs — Squats: Look at the number on your card and do squats equal to number shown on the card. If the card is a face card ("J," "Q," or "K"), do ten squats. If the card is an ace, do eleven squats.
   2. Diamonds — Plank: Look at the number on your card, multiply it by three, and do a plank for that many seconds. If the card is a face card ("J," "Q," "K") or an ace, do a plank for 30 seconds.
   3. Hearts — Jumping Jacks: Look at the number on your card and do twice as many jumping jacks as the number you see. If the card is a face card ("J," "Q," or "K"), do twenty jumping jacks. If the card is an ace, do twenty-two jumping jacks.
   4. Spades — Push-ups: Look at the number on your card and do push-ups equal to the number shown on the card. If the card is a face card ("J," "Q," or "K"), do ten push-ups. If the card is an ace, do eleven push-ups.
4. In the case where the card's values are tied, both you and your partner must do the exercise that matches your card.
5. Continue drawing cards until your piles are empty.
6. Everyone wins! (Or, you can come up with your own winning conditions if you need to make this a competition.)

Optional Rules:

• For advance exercisers, try upping the number of reps or seconds you perform for each exercise. For example, multiply the planks number by five, or add 5–10 reps of an exercises to each set.
• Don't have a partner to play with at the moment? Deal out 15–20 cards to yourself and flip each over one at a time, doing each exercise per the above rules. It's all about your luck now!
• Have more than one partner to play with? Deal the cards out into equal piles (put any remaining cards aside) and follow the rules above. In this version, all players who do not have the highest card must do their exercise. Remember, if two or more people are tied for highest card, they all have to do the exercise that matches their card.