Adults and Kids love them alike

12/6/08
Hi Phil,
You don’t know me but I have to say having purchased your original set of kids and adult cards I have had a lot of interest from kids and adults alike wanting to buy them.They really are great and I use the adult ones all the time in my own training although I am 49 I have to say they have been a god send as I have my own little gym at home and the cards are perfect. I would recommend them to any of my friends and collegues and will.
thank you again for a great idea!
Ingrid

A Good Idea Made Better

December 6, 2008
We’re all familiar with the card deck workouts where you assign a suit to push ups, and another to squats and the other suits to sit ups, and dips or whatever. Or you make red cards for push ups and black for squats. The deck is shuffled and dealt and whatever hand you get you do the numbered reps by the value of the card.
Last year I found out about the Fitdeck from military,com. It was created by an ex Navy SEAL. Ex Navy SEALS seem to be good at coming up with things like the perfect push ups, the Fitdeck and other exercise devices. I use the fitdeck for my cal days. Instead of 4 exercises max with a standard deck of cards, there are 50 total exercises divided into upper body, middle body, lower body and full body exercises. There are even cards for warm up, stretching and games. It’s a great idea, and instead of working out you workout, you deal it out.
I was thinking about Christmas presents and went back to their site. Wow! There are decks now for dumbbells, kettle bells, exercise balls and a number of other things. The decks can even be combined to create mixed routines. These aren’t bodybuilding routines, they are fitness routines, but who knows what will be there next year. This is as American as you can get. Take a good idea and keep making it better.

Helping me through Birth

Hey Phil
I just wanted to write to say congrats on the Fit Deck business. I bought a fit deck about 3 years ago, which I used religiously until I had my second baby. I think the only thing that might get me back into exercising now is your Yoga Fit Deck. I just noticed that you released a bunch of new versions of the Fit Deck and I am excited to gift them to my whole family.
In any case, I just had a great time surfing through your site and I figured I would drop you a line to say how much I enjoyed it. Best of luck with a great business.
Take care
Renata

Road to fitness – Exercise intelligence setting up a home gym

Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Convenience is the biggest reason people opt to work out at home. Here are some things to keep in mind if you’ve been thinking about setting up your own home gym:
Location and space available: The size of a home gym is a matter of personal preference, as the quality of a workout is not dependant on how much room is available. Decide where you plan to work out and make note of square feet and height of the area. This will help you to make a wiser choice when it does come time to purchase equipment, being that bulkier pieces can take up a considerable amount of space and tend to look smaller in the store than they do once you get them home.

One of the greatest benefits of exercising at home is that it saves time. You can work out when the mood strikes you, no gym bag to pack and unpack, no waiting for equipment or driving back and forth to the gym. Having the phone ringing next to you, or people coming in and out of the room, however, can interfere with your workouts, so when it comes to location, try to choose a space where you’re least likely to be interrupted or distracted.

Type of equipment: Traditionally the most durable, inexpensive, compact, portable and versatile pieces of exercise equipment include resistance bands, jump rope, wrist weights and dumbbells. Resistance bands weigh only ounces and take up practically no space, and so are also great for traveling, and dumbbells also fit neatly into a small area. Wrist weights are ideal because you can use them alone, or as a way to increase resistance when doing dumbbell exercises without having to purchase additional sets. They are also wonderful for anyone who has trouble grasping objects.
A wonderful new product that I recently discovered are FitDecks (ww.fitdeck.com), invented by Phil Black. Black got the idea from a card game that he played while attending Yale University. He and his roommates would shuffle a deck of playing cards and do pushups that matched the card that was selected, such as doing 10 pushups if drawing the 10 of spades. He took this deck-of-cards workout and created FitDeck, incorporating dozens of exercises he later learned as a Navy SEAL. There are many decks to choose from, each containing illustrations and instructions describing dozens of different exercises, stretches, and movements. The current line consists of 24 FitDeck titles ranging from Pilates to a Navy SEAL workout.

Martial Arts tonight…

1/9/09 blog
Tonight was great. I got to show two kids how to do rolls. Got to be the mean red belt to the kids class for a bit. Made them fix their belts for being tied wrong. Fix they’re stances for being wrong. Ok not that mean really. Well maybe to the kid that had his tooth come out. The same one that hit his head on the floor in the last class of 2008. Made him do push ups, but that was because he didn’t bow in our out.

Adult class I actually got it started at 7. all 4 of us that were there on time. Quick set of jumping jacks, then some quick mobility exercises. Then we got serious. I broke out the Combat Sports Fit Deck. The newest white belt hated me by the time we were done. We did half the deck, 10 cards, but I left the repeat cards in. Then we did lots of kicks and things, after more jumping jacks. 2 sets of 10 push ups. The 7th gup (orange belt) said those were easy, so later our next set was 30. I nailed them all…

Then during our second water break, one of the masters said now that we’re all tired we should get the cards out. I handed him combat sports. He shuffled them, had three green belts (4th, 5th and a 6th gup) each draw one. Don’t remember now, but one was double the next card. SO much fun. But my back hurts now.

FitDeck Balance Dome Exercise Playing Cards

02/09/2009
Now five years old, FitDeck has come a long way from its first set of exercise playing cards that were stuck in a pouch pocket and were meant to be all things to all people. (Click here for a Jan. 10, 2005 SNEWS review.) Today, creator Phil Black has created a bit of a FitDeck empire. He now has eight, 56-card packs geared to different audiences and goals (bodyweight, junior, senior, yoga, Pilates, stretch, prenatal and postnatal) and another 16 “booster” 26-card sets that can be used separately or in combination with the full sets, including routines such as kettlebells, office, travel, bodyweight and others that are location- or equipment-specific.

We took a look at the Balance Dome booster set, geared for use with a BOSU or other dome product, since many people probably get one of these nifty gadgets then don’t know what to do with it beside stand on it and balance. (Click here for a March 31, 2003 SNEWS review on the BOSU.)

First of all, the concept is to offer a compact personal trainer: A deck of cards that concisely shows and explains exercises and can be shuffled, mixed and matched for endless variety. The business stems from Black, a former Navy Seal and Navy Seal instructor and now a personal trainer and EMT, who used to play a homespun game dubbed PUG (Push-Up Game) with his dorm roommates when he was at Yale. Yes, they used a deck of cards, each coded to represent different exercises.

We really like the idea of having handy, simple instruction that can be pulled off a shelf to use at home without fuddling around with computers or DVDs, as well as a compact item that can be taken to the gym, on travel, to work or anywhere without a lot of falderal.

The Balance Dome set offers 18 exercise cards with six exercises in each card clearly labeled for upper, middle or lower body. A user can either shuffle and draw to create a unique routine, or simply do whichever ones suits his or her fancy – perhaps all upper or lower one day and another body area the next.

One problem with some FitDeck sets – although less so with the Balance Dome version – is that exercise can end up in an order that isn’t necessarily the most highly recommended for the best workout, e.g. a leg exercise, then a back exercise, then a lower-arm exercise, then back to a glute exercise…. Plus, some are presented without modifications in some cases – not a lot of room on the cards! – so a user must use his or her head and not do something that doesn’t feel right. However, since FitDeck’s inception, Black has figured out how to show a small picture with a modification to make an exercise easier or harder. The modifications are shown in illustrations that are simple, but quite clear and effective.

The cards also now come in a clear plastic case that easily snaps closed. (In fact, two 26-card packs could fit inside one case since they are designed for the 56-card sets.) He also has packages that combine several sets geared toward specific needs, such as a road warrior or new moms.

These are a great value-priced addition to a home or on-the-go workout routine for most levels, whether you just need a reminder of what to do or want to kick your routine out of its normal trot.

More

Information

• Cross-Train with FitDeck
• Custom FitDecks
• FitDeck Cardholders
• FitDeck Contributors
• How to Use FitDeck
• Reading a FitDeck Card
• Testimonials
• Who’s Using FitDeck?