Deal ‘em in: Kids get a turn at fitness cards

With no video screen and no high-tech gear involved, can kids get interested in fitness? Yes, says Phil Black, who has devised a workout around a simple deck of cards. Called Fit Deck Jr., the cards can be combined to target specific areas, or chosen at random.

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Fit Deck Jr.: This is an offshoot of Black’s previous endeavor, the Fit Deck -- cards for adults featuring body weight-only exercises for upper, middle, lower and full body. Black, a former Navy SEAL and currently a San Diego firefighter, thought the younger crowd (ages 5 to 16) needed their own deck. Among the 50 exercises are kid-friendly versions of basic movements; the “dipsy dog” is a tricep dip and the “duck walk” is a forward lunge. But others have a more playful edge, such as “the mule,” in which participants balance on their hands and kick both feet up behind them. The deck comes with 70 games and activities, such as the “Scavenger Hunt,” in which teams must find the cards hidden around the house and perform the exercises. “The overall point is that they’re moving,” says Black, who created some of the exercises after watching his own children and other kids and based some of them on his own training as a SEAL. “I’m hoping they get some exercises ingrained in their minds enough so that they’re never at a loss for doing an exercise.”

Price: $14.95. Available at www.fitdeck.com or by calling (858) 453-6644.

-- Jeannine Stein