Kickstarter and IndieGoGo backers who received exercise decks with their NOVA Gym pledge can take advantage of our exercise deck games. Some games are best for single player experiences while others work better as multi-player games. You can read through the games below or simply download the pdf.
Single Player (you can play with more people, it’s just not competitive)
In this game, the number of cards you draw is the number of rounds you’ll complete. Shuffle the deck. Start by drawing three cards (3 rounds) and work your way up to more the more you play the game.
Turn your cards face up in front of you. Add up all the numbers in the upper left corner of the card. This is how many seconds you will perform each exercise for. Perform the exercises on each card in the order in which you drew them. When you get through all drawn cards, you’ll repeat the series for as many rounds as you have cards.
If you like, you can take a 30 second – 60 second break at the end of each round.
Example:
Player draws 3 cards – numbers 3, 5, and 16. Player will do 3 rounds of 3 exercises, performing each exercise for 24 seconds each.
If the workout you drew wasn’t challenging enough, you can always draw three new cards and play again, or draw more cards for a longer workout session.
2-3 Players
(you can play solo but it works best if someone else is there cheering you on)
Extra recommended equipment: Interval timer
Goal: Be the last man standing (well… exercising, in this case).
For this game you’ll want to use an interval timer. Set your timer to 60 seconds for exercises with 5 seconds rest in between to give you time to transition to the each next exercise.
Shuffle the card deck. Divide the deck among the players. If there are an odd number of players, set the remaining card(s) off to the side.
When you start the timer, each player will perform each exercise from their set of cards for 60 seconds. When the players finish their set, they start back at the beginning and repeat. When a player needs to take a break for a rest, they are out of the game. The last player still working out wins.
NOTE: While this game is meant to push your endurance and stamina, if you feel you need to take a rest you should rest. These games should be for fun more than anything else. Make sure to drink plenty of water and take a break when you need to, even if it means you don’t win the game.
2-4 Players
Goal: Get the most points!
Before starting the game, agree amongst all players how many reps each exercise will be performed for. If you are unsure, start with 10 reps.
Shuffle the deck. Each player draws a card. The player with the highest number on the card keeps the card and relaxes while the other player(s) return their cards to the pile and have to perform the exercise for the agreed-upon number of reps. When the exercise is completed, players draw their next card and the process repeats. The game is over when there are fewer cards remaining than the number of players.
Each card is worth one point. Players add up the cards in their hand at the end of the game and the player with the most cards wins.
Alternate Version: Instead of counting the cards as one point each, you can use the number on the card as the point value. This means there could be a player with only three cards, but their numbers are 18, 19, and 20, ending up with the highest point value despite the relatively small number of cards in their hand.