Condition Your Team with a Deck of Cards

Looking for a different and challenging team conditioning drill, then look no further.

Turn a simple deck of cards into a tough and challenging fitness session.

This is a very clever and fun conditioning session that, if you use all 52 cards plus Jokers, can take up to 45 minutes.

The only equipment you’ll need is a deck of cards (include the jokers if you have them) and 2 Styrofoam plates per player (one for each hand).

Put your team in big circle, and then draw a card from the deck. Exercises are based on the card suit:

• Diamonds are Burpees
• Spades are Squats
• Clubs are Plate Slides (described down below)
• Hearts are V Ups (like situps except you lift your feet and your arms straight up into a V)

The quantity of each exercise is based on the value of the card. So a 10 of Spades would equal 10 Squats. A 4 of Diamonds would be 4 Burpees.

Face cards can have whatever value you want – with UCR Softball we use face cards as a 10.

The jokers can be fun things like a trivia question, or it automatically gives the next card a value of 1. Make this a fun and different way to mix fitness and conditioning into your practices without needing to have any fancy equipment.

Plate slides are tough. Players get into a pushup position placing one hand on each plate. They then alternate sliding one hand forward and then the other. A count of “one” equals both hands sliding forward.

And feel free to pick your own exercises to associate with the different card suits.

For more effective and fun team conditioning drills:

• The Ultimate Softball Practice Guide
• The Ultimate Softball Practice Guide (eBook)
• Team Drills Manual