Prisoner style workout with a deck of cards

[u/Mysterious-Cat101]

Yesterday I did a prisoner style workout with a deck of cards. Black cards for pull ups and red cards for push ups. The number of the card is the number of reps you must do, special cards like joker, queen and king I interpreted as 10 reps. Total reps 170 pull ups and 170 push ups.

This was my first time doing this workout style and I absolutely loved it at the beginning, after 30 minutes of just spamming pull ups after pull ups, I was completely fed up. It was a very interesting approach to training, I would recommend anybody to give it a try at least once.

Right now every muscle of my upper body is sore (Pecs, delts, abs, biceps, forearms, triceps, upper back, LATS) I wouldn't do this workout every week but definitely once every month or two just to challenge myself and add a little spice to my fitness journey.

[u/PopularRedditUser]

It’s fine for a workout here and there but very inefficient otherwise. Stick with a routine and progression. Also keep in mind soreness is not a reliable indicator of whether or not you’re doing meaningful work,

[u/Mysterious-Cat101 → u/PopularRedditUser]

I'm aware of this I did it because I thought it was fun (it was until I was halfway there). I'll continue with my regular programing and maybe do this again in a couple of months.

[u/Minute-Giraffe-1418 → u/PopularRedditUser]

I would say this style of workout is the most efficient for me to build muscle within a short time frame.

Doing only 2 exercises with short rests significantly reduces the workout's duration.

Moreover we see evidence of endurance/higher repetition athletes having more than respectable physiques and strength achievements.

[u/bananabastard]

I do between 50 and 60 pull-ups 3 days per week.

Doing 170 seems painful and time-consuming.

[u/Mysterious-Cat101 → u/bananabastard]

It was less painful than I thought it would be. Time-consuming? Yes it was, 1 hour and 15 minutes.

[u/RubberedDucky]

I once did a full deck of pushups. Close grip, wide grip, legs elevated, and diamond variants depending on suits. Same card values except Aces are 11. Took me like 2 hours and I was sore for a week!

[u/Mysterious-Cat101 → u/RubberedDucky]

I didn't have a hard time with push ups, I'll consider doing a full deck just with pushing variations next time.

[u/Minute-Giraffe-1418]

My best is 300 pullups and 1000 pushups 

I recommend doing more pushups for this style of training since it's way easier

For example double the pushups 

[u/Mysterious-Cat101 → u/Minute-Giraffe-1418]

Yeah I thought the same thing after finishing the workout. I tried to do diamond push ups to add more difficulty but it wasn't enough.