Deployment Push Ups

I call this variation of push ups, the “deployment push ups” method. I just finished reading an excellent book about the Marine Corps, called ‘One Bullet Away.’ During the initial push into Iraq, the author and then Lieutenant recounts the story of what his men did during “down time.”

He said one of his Marines would take out a deck of cards and pull one from the deck, randomly. The Marine would then do the number of push ups that corresponded to the number on the card.

According to the author, the Marine sweated through the deck, again and again.

Sounds like a good way to change things up if your routine gets boring and you need a day away from the gym!

Another way is to make black cards pushups and red cards squats or situps.

It’s murderous.

[quote]dhuge67 wrote:
I call this variation of push ups, the “deployment push ups” method. I just finished reading an excellent book about the Marine Corps, called ‘One Bullet Away.’ During the initial push into Iraq, the author and then Lieutenant recounts the story of what his men did during “down time.”

He said one of his Marines would take out a deck of cards and pull one from the deck, randomly. The Marine would then do the number of push ups that corresponded to the number on the card.

According to the author, the Marine sweated through the deck, again and again.

Sounds like a good way to change things up if your routine gets boring and you need a day away from the gym![/quote]

We did the same thing except instead of push ups we did shots of vodka. It works best if the vodka has been transfered to a Listerine bottle and stored in the heat for a few of weeks to pick up some of that wonderful medicated flavor.

people in prison do that, I readed about it

I do that in the Air Force, we call it the Deck of Doom. We pick one exercise per suit (pushup variants, situps, jane fondas, arm circles, j-jacks, flutter kicks, jump squats, high knees)

Depending on the ease of the exercise, we add a multiplier in there. Jane Fondas are usually based on time (3 = 30 seconds) and so are flutter kicks and arm circles. It’s a pretty good time to see if everyone can get through the deck.

[quote]Flop Hat wrote:
dhuge67 wrote:
I call this variation of push ups, the “deployment push ups” method. I just finished reading an excellent book about the Marine Corps, called ‘One Bullet Away.’ During the initial push into Iraq, the author and then Lieutenant recounts the story of what his men did during “down time.”

He said one of his Marines would take out a deck of cards and pull one from the deck, randomly. The Marine would then do the number of push ups that corresponded to the number on the card.

According to the author, the Marine sweated through the deck, again and again.

Sounds like a good way to change things up if your routine gets boring and you need a day away from the gym!

We did the same thing except instead of push ups we did shots of vodka. It works best if the vodka has been transfered to a Listerine bottle and stored in the heat for a few of weeks to pick up some of that wonderful medicated flavor.
[/quote]

If you could get it, that Iraqi wiskey wasn’t to bad. Sheesh, at least the guys in nam’ got to drink.

[quote]coloradosteve wrote:
Sheesh, at least the guys in nam’ got to drink.[/quote]
Drink, smoke killer weed, and pop local speed called “Binoctols” (Great to watch distant firefights, tracers and arty)…Later, the N.Viets, in cooperation with the Russian & Chinese Communists initiated “Operation Red Snow” and began flooding in heroin cheap enough to smoke in loaded cigarettes, meant to hook/demoralize as many U.S. Troops as possible, using dope as a weapon. (While in the USA, the “summer of love” crashed when the dealers (weed, LSD) were run off at gunpoint by the pushers (heroin, crank) and it all went from mind expansion to walking dead junkies)…

Hearts: Burpees
Diamonds: Speed squats (valueX2)
Spades: Pushups (ValueX2)
Clubs: Pullups

Try doing this with a deck. . . I did and uhhhh ouch. :frowning:

Great conditioning method. The trick is to be hardnosed enough to do the whole deck yourself with minimal rest between sets.