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- Tabata Timer8 × 0:20 / 0:10Seven to eight sets of twenty seconds with ten of rest between them, handed over whole by the 1996 paper.Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
- HIIT Timer8 × 0:40 / 0:20Forty hard and twenty easy, eight times over: a gym circuit format for near-maximal work, with time to reach the next station.
- EMOM Timer10 × 1:00A cue once a minute and no scheduled recovery, so you earn your rest by finishing the repetitions early.CrossFit
- Rest Timer1 × 2:00Two minutes of rest, started as you rack the bar: the top of the ACSM range for muscle growth and the NSCA floor for big lifts.American College of Sports Medicine · National Strength and Conditioning Association
- Plank Timer3 × 0:30 / 0:30Three holds of thirty seconds with thirty between them, the front plank in the USA Gymnastics exercise progression sheet.USA Gymnastics
- CrossFit Timer1 × 20:00LoadedOne twenty minute clock with no rounds and no rest inside it, the length the published benchmark Cindy is scored over.CrossFit
- Stretching Timer10 × 0:30 / 0:10Thirty second holds taken twice a muscle group, which is the sixty seconds the ACSM position stand asks for.American College of Sports Medicine
What a good Cindy score is, by CrossFit’s own numbers
Cindy is the workout this clock is set for: as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats. CrossFit first posted it on 29 December 2004. Its page puts a good score at 8 to 10 rounds or more for beginners on a scaled version and for intermediates as written, 20 or more as prescribed, and 25 or more for elite athletes.
Top athletes finish a round in under 45 seconds. For every level, the page sets a round in under 2 minutes as the goal, which is 10 rounds or more by the end.
CrossFit describes Cindy as a test of muscular endurance and stamina built from low-skill bodyweight moves. You need a pull-up bar and floor space, and it scales down well, which makes it a fair first benchmark.
The protocol
One clock of 20 minutes. There are no rounds or rest periods built in; you rest when you choose to.
Cindy is time-priority: the time is fixed and the score is rounds and reps. Fran is task-priority: 21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups, scored by how long they take.
CrossFitBenchmark workout Cindy, posted 29 December 2004CrossFitBenchmark workout Fran, posted 25 August 2003
For a task-priority workout the clock is a cap. Fran’s page says it should not go past 10 to 12 minutes, so set 12:00.
The halfway mark sounds at 10:00. At Cindy’s goal of under 2 minutes a round, you want 5 rounds done by then.
This timer rings a bell when the clock starts and when it runs out, warns ten seconds before the end, has a fullscreen key, and keeps the screen awake where the browser allows; it is free and needs no account. Keep this tab in front, because a browser may pause the sound of a tab you cannot see.
Sessions to try
These are our suggestions. Where one follows a published source, that source is cited under it.
- Beginner Cindy
12 minutes of 3 ring rows, 6 assisted push-ups and 9 squats, as many rounds as possible. Set the clock to 12:00.
- Cindy
20 minutes of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats. Say each finished round out loud so you do not lose count.
- No equipment
15 minutes of 10 lunges, 10 push-ups and 20 sit-ups. Set the clock to 15:00.
- Fran cap
21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups for time, with the clock on 12:00. Pause it the moment you finish.
Warm up first: a few minutes of rowing or jogging, then shoulders and squats.
Common mistakes
Sprinting the first rounds. Cindy’s page suggests splitting the push-ups early: 5 reps, a quick shake of the arms, then the other 5.
Letting the range of motion shrink as you tire. The score counts full reps with sound mechanics.
Losing count. Count whole rounds, and tally the reps of the last one when time is up.
Running past the cap on Fran. If you cannot finish inside 10 to 12 minutes, lighten the load or cut the reps.
Questions
What does AMRAP mean?
As many rounds and reps as possible in a fixed time. Your score is the rounds you finish, plus the reps of the round you were on when time ran out.
What is a good Fran time?
CrossFit’s page gives under 12 minutes for beginners on a scaled version, under 10 for intermediates, under 5 as prescribed and under 3 for elite athletes. The average is 4 to 7 minutes.
Is this an official CrossFit timer?
No. CrossFit, Cindy, Fran and Chelsea are trademarks or workouts of CrossFit, LLC. Bursta is not affiliated with or endorsed by CrossFit.
Six palettes, and a phase keeps its meaning in all of them
The same four grounds, drawn six ways. Each is solved so that get ready, work, rest and done stay apart, and so the clock stays readable from across a gym. Pick one and the whole page turns with it; this browser remembers the choice.
The app
The same clock, in your pocket
Bursta is being finished for phones. Android comes first and iPhone after it. It is the timer you have above, built as an app: the same reading of the wall clock every frame, so a locked screen, a phone call or a backgrounded app does not make it drift.
It keeps sounding with the screen off
The bell lands with the phone locked in your bag and your music still playing. A page in a tab cannot do that.
Your own workouts, and a record of them
A builder, a library you name and reorder, a history that fills itself in, and a calendar with repeats and reminders.
Made to be read while you are breathing hard
Six palettes, five text sizes, and the phase in the colour of the whole screen. English and Ukrainian.
Soon on Google PlaySoon on the App Store
