I've had these cards for four days. I think I'm going to really enjoy using them.
I'm 70 years old, in good health. My weight is good, though I'm sure my BMI could stand to be a lot better (I do intermittent fasting, and am moderately low-carb in my eating, but I can't completely control my wife's decisions when it comes to cooking pasta, bread and such).
I have never been a heavy or consistent exerciser. I'm hoping that with the help of these cards I can make a new start, and follow through with a regular fitness routine that I will stick with. My goals are 1) to rebuild lost muscle mass, 2) get stronger, and 3) to develop a physique that will make people gasp when I tell them my age(!). I do think numbers 1 and 2 are achievable. As for #3, we'll just have to see!
One of my problems with exercising in the past has been boredom over doing the same routine every day. These cards should provide plenty of variety. Now the main obstacle will be simply keeping myself from skipping days, which always leads to skipping weeks and then months. But I do feel that by alternating and mixing up different exercises, I'll have a better chance at overcoming such avoidance.
There are 50 exercises in the deck, plus some suggested routines for working different parts of the body. I am ignoring the suggested routines and plan instead to follow my own loose and unstructured routine, basically just shuffling the cards and choosing a half dozen at random to work with each day. Since I'm just now starting, that could change depending on how well (or not) such a routine meets my needs.
I plan to start exercising for "real" tomorrow. I have spent the past few days, since the cards arrived, trying out each exercise in turn in order to create a whittled-down deck that will meet my needs and abilities. First, I set aside all the cards that require equipment I don't have, such as a weight bench and step-box (or whatever that thing is called). Then, I set aside all the cards with exercises that I found "impossible;" that is, I couldn't do even a single rep.
After my winnowing process, I was left with 28 cards to use. I think this will provide plenty of variety, as I'll probably only be using a different half-dozen or so each day. As my strength and confidence improves, and I acquire a bench, etc., I may try to add back in some of the other cards. But I'm not going to worry about that right now. Let's see if I can be consistent and stay motivated with just those 28 first.
My plan right now is to do three sets of 10 to 15 reps of each day's chosen exercises. Note that that is purely aspirational at this point! Although none of the 28 exercises were impossible for me to perform when I was trying them out, many were definitely hard. I expect that I'll have to build up to my target reps/sets over some time. This will give me a good goal to shoot for, though.
As to the cards themselves, I can tell that a lot of thought went into their design. The illustrations and the instructions for the exercises are minimalist (a necessity for fitting on the card format), but clear and to the point. I had no trouble understanding any of them. In the past I have tried following exercises from books, YouTube videos and fitness apps, but I think having these cards at hand will be much more usable. They'll be easy to flip through, shuffle up, and lay out close to where I'm exercising, and therefore more readily referenceable.
I'm glad I bought these cards, and am optimistic that they'll be just what I needed to kick-start my new commitment to getting fitter.
| Manufacturer | NewMe Fitness |
|---|---|
| Brand | NewMe Fitness |
| Item Weight | 10.3 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 0.87 x 3.54 x 5.12 inches |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Cover Material | Paper |
| Material Type | Plastic |
| Size | 3.5"x5" |
| Manufacturer Part Number | Na |
