I designed a workout that was too hard for me!

Last week, I designed a Deck of Cards workout that was way too hard for me! In fact, I couldn't even finish it!

I love making up my own HIIT workouts and Deck of Cart (DOC) workouts but I hadn't done it in awhile. I tend to do workouts like these in the summer. But on Thursday morning, I decided it was time to dust of the 'ol deck of cards and head out to the carport to switch things up!

This is what I did for my first DOC workout:

Hearts- Jump rope rotations (x10... so a 2 of hearts would be 20 rotations. An Ace of hearts would be 150)

Diamonds- Bicycle crunches (x2... so an 8 of diamonds would be 16)

Spades- Donkey kicks

Clubs- Mountain climbers

Jokers- Stability ball pull ins

I messed up and did Jacks as 11 reps, Queen as 12 reps, and King as 13 reps. Normally, in a DOC workout, face cards are just supposed to be 10. I did the aces as 15 (as usual) and for Jokers, I just picked a random number of reps (20).

So all in all, for the first DOC workout I ended up with:

1050 jump rope rotations
210 bicycle crunches
105 donkey kicks
105 mountain climbers
40 stability ball pull ins

This DOC actually went very well. It took me 27 minutes with no breaks to complete. Then I took a short break to get water and go to the bathroom.

I thought my next DOC workout would be easier. My intention was:

Hearts- Burpees
Diamonds- Sit ups (x2)
Spades- Jumping jacks (x10)
Clubs- Push ups
Jokers- Stability ball pull ins

I quickly realized jumping jacks are NO JOKE. The first card I picked up was an Ace of spades. Do you know how hard it is to do 150 jumping jacks? I can run 20 miles no problem, but 150 jumping jacks was a HUGE problem. I wanted to die after only about 25 or so.

So I changed it so that every spade would just be 50 jumping jacks no matter the number. 

I also realized sit ups are hard and I couldn't do them x2. Multiplying by two is fine if you pick a 3 of diamonds, but what a bout a Queen of diamonds!?

Soon, I switched from sit ups to bicycle crunches. I switched the spades from jumping jacks to either mountain climbers or donkey kicks- depending on what I was feeling.

Even after making the exercises a little easier, I was at 37 minutes and I wasn't even done with the whole deck! At this point I was doing high(ish) intensity exercises for over an hour with only one break, which is longer than I normally run in the morning.

I was forced to stop because it was 7:10 and I had to be at work at 7:55. Also, I felt like a noodle. I was shaking and felt a little throw up-y.

I knew I'd be sore the next day but was surprised at how sore I actually was! I could feel it in every muscle in my body, but especially my glutes. Why!? I do 100-120 donkey kicks every time I lift, which is 2-3xs per week. Was there another exercise in my workout the day before that really engaged my glutes? I can't figure it out!

This was the first time I ever had to change, alter, and then ultimately end a workout that was too hard!

Did you ever make a workout for yourself that was too hard and you couldn't do it?

Why do you think my glutes were so sore!?!?!?!?