Workout I Did: Strength Stack 52 Five-Card Monte

Before we get into this Workout I Did, a quick note: I did this one pre–stress fracture. Oh, those were the days! Now, let’s get this workout party started! This is the workout I did:

The concept of working out with playing cards isn’t a new one—we do it all the time at my gym—but usually you just select an exercise for each suit, use the number on the card to determine your reps and then shuffle the deck and go to town. But the Strength Stack 52 is full of a variety of cardio and body-weight exercises that you can mix and match for all kinds of games and fun combos. For my first Strength Stack 52 experience though, I went with the Five-Card Monte. Or, what I like to call the full Monte. (Minus the nudity.)

For this workout, you do four rounds of five cards each. I shuffled the deck and drew my first five cards. Kind of fun to let the fate of the deck select your workout.

And kind of overwhelming to see them ALL laid out. Although the whole thing took me just about 20 minutes. Note the double single-leg squat that fate dealt me. Not cool, Robert Frost!

All in all, I did get a pretty complete full-body strength workout with lots of cardio. Plus, I got all kinds of sweaty—and my endorphins got me peppy enough to feel the need to take a self-indulgent I-just-rocked-that selfie.

I will definitely be using the Strength Stack 52 again and trying new games. The deck is a little pricey at upwards of $15 (It really wouldn’t be hard to make your own at home, but the ease of it already being done is nice. Plus they offer instruction on the cards on how to actually do the moves), but it’s super convenient. I’ll totally be taking them the next time I travel. A no-excuses workout for sure!




Anyone else enjoy using cards of some kind to work out? Like having chance determine your workout’s fate? —Jenn