Currently, our pace of life is completely crazy, with time left even for training at home . Many hours are devoted to work and a lot of time is lost – in this case this is the right word – traveling. When this happens, the day is coming to an end and there is still a lack of physical exercise, preparing dinner and dedicating time to the family.
5 steps to train at home and have fun with your family
Today we present an idea for a different activity that will allow you to have a good time with your family. The game consists of using a deck of cards to exercise and , so, train at home with your family!
There are specific card decks for sale with training routines and 1001 games to play. Our proposal is an alternative with a normal deck, the kind we all have at home. Take your cards, have your phone (or watch) nearby to control your exercise time, and follow our suggestion to train at home in a fun way . Observe the following rules and have fun!
1. Choose only 4 exercises
Select the exercises to train at home according to the body area you want to work on. For example:
- Global Training – Squats, Push-ups, Jumping jacks, Sit-ups;
- Leg Training – Squats, Lunges, Bridges, Deadweight;
- Upper Body Training – Push-ups, One-sided rowing, Shoulder press, Bottom (triceps);
- Core training – Sit-ups, Board, Oblique Crunch, Board with trunk rotation;
- Cardio training – Jumping jacks, Burpees, Mountain climbers, Skipping with high knee.
2. Assign an exercise to each suit
For example, if your goal is a Global Training with the exercises described, you can associate it as follows:
- Paus – Squats;
- Swords – Push-ups;
- Gold – Jumping jacks;
- Hoppers – Sit-ups
To help remember this association between suit and exercise, pointing on a sheet of paper is very useful.
3. Associate repetitions with each card
The game is very simple and will allow you to train at home in a fun way. The card number is the number of repetitions you have to do. Figure cards have bonuses and aces represent 20 reps. If you want to play with the joker, the game’s difficulty increases.
In short:
- Cards 2 to 10 – Each represents the number of repetitions. For example, if the two of hearts comes out, you do two sit-ups. If the nine of diamonds comes out, there are nine jumping jacks;
- Vallet – 11 repetitions;
- Dama – 12 repetitions;
- Rei – 13 repetitions;
- Ás – 20 repetitions;
- Joker – Represents twice the card that came out before. If a king of spades had come out before, this card entitles you to do 26 pushups (2 x 13)!
4. Set the duration of the game
The next step is to decide the desired playing time, which should depend on the participants and their goals.
If it is for playing with children , it should be short: 5 to 10 minutes. If, on the other hand, you want to do a more effective workout , we suggest 10 minutes with exercise blocks. In a lively afternoon with friends, 30 minutes will allow you to sweat and laugh.
You can train at home and make this game a more serious training, doing several blocks of 10 minutes. For example, make a first block as we described before and rest for 1 minute. Then hydrate yourself and prepare a new exercise block for another 10 minutes of training.
If you did a Global Training in the first, the second can be Cardio. Or do 2 blocks of 5 minutes each, one for Legs and one for Upper Body. Here, creativity is the key!
5. Start playing!
Now that you know how it works, just set the clock, shuffle the cards and start training at home . Place the deck face down and remove the top card. Show it to everyone, do the exercise according to suit and number of repetitions.
Once you finish, you should be the next player to draw the next card. Continue this process until the time is up. So, quickly and easily, you prepared your training routine and trained using just one deck of cards!
A comment from the GetFit team
Don’t be afraid to be creative! Include more exercises, make your own rules, according to your training level, the number of participants and the material you have at home. There are no limits to the imagination!
We give you an alternative to motivate two people to train at home: create a challenge ! Shuffle the cards and split half the deck for each person. Start at the same time and start drawing cards and doing the corresponding activities. The last one to finish her half pays for dinner or cleans the house! Above all, have fun while training.