This deck narrows the focus to the upper body and covers all four directions your arms and shoulders can work: horizontal push, vertical pull, vertical push, and a triceps-dominant dip. It is the hardest of the bodyweight decks here, because there is no leg movement to give your arms a rest.
You need a pull-up bar and something to dip on — parallel bars, a dip station, or two sturdy chairs. Everything else is floor work.
The push/pull structure
The four movements are chosen so that consecutive cards rarely hammer the same tissue twice in a row, which is what makes the volume survivable.
- Spades — Push-ups: horizontal push. Chest, front delts, triceps.
- Hearts — Pull-ups: vertical pull. Lats, rhomboids, biceps.
- Diamonds — Dips: triceps and lower chest, with a lot of front-delt involvement.
- Clubs — Pike Push-ups: vertical push. Shoulders, and the closest bodyweight analogue to an overhead press.
The pull-up problem
This is the workout where the deck maths collides with reality. A full deck sends the same rep total to every suit, and while a hundred-plus push-ups spread over a session is achievable for most trained people, the same number of strict pull-ups is not. Most people who can do ten pull-ups cannot do a hundred in an hour.
The fix is not to skip the hearts. It is to scale them so the volume is achievable: banded pull-ups, jumping pull-ups with a slow lower, or inverted rows under a bar or table. Scaling the pull is what allows the rest of the deck to work as designed.
How to program it
Because this is a high-volume upper-body session with no lower-body work, treat it as a training day in its own right rather than a finisher. Running it the day before a bench or overhead press session is a reliable way to have a bad time.
Once a week is plenty for most people. If you want to run it more often, split the deck — hearts and spades one day, diamonds and clubs another.
Scaling every movement
Each of the four has a clean regression that keeps the movement pattern while lowering the load.
- Push-ups: incline push-ups with hands on a bench, then knee push-ups.
- Pull-ups: banded pull-ups, then jumping pull-ups, then inverted rows.
- Dips: bench dips with feet on the floor, or a band across the dip bars.
- Pike Push-ups: raise your hands rather than your feet — a pike push-up from the floor is much easier than one with feet elevated.
- Whole deck too much: set face cards to 10 and drop the Ace value to 10.
Upper Body Workout — frequently asked questions
Can I build muscle with an upper body card workout?
Bodyweight training at this volume drives muscular endurance strongly and will build size for people who are relatively untrained. If you are already strong, the loads are too light to be a primary hypertrophy driver — use it as a conditioning or accessory session alongside heavier work.
What can I use instead of a pull-up bar?
Inverted rows under a sturdy table or a barbell in a rack train the same pulling pattern and scale easily by changing your body angle. Resistance-band pull-downs anchored overhead also work.
How long does the upper body deck take?
Longer than the bodyweight strength decks — typically 40 to 55 minutes, because pulling movements need more recovery between cards than squats do.
Should I do this before or after leg day?
Either, as it does not touch your legs. Avoid scheduling it immediately before a session where you plan to press or bench heavy, since your shoulders and triceps will still be recovering.