Press one and it is loaded
- 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 × 1:00LoadedA 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 × 20:00One 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
Why a heavy EMOM keeps your reps fast
An EMOM cuts the work into small sets on a fixed clock. Strength research studies a close relative: cluster sets and rest redistribution, which break the same reps into smaller pieces with rest spread between them. A 2020 meta-analysis of 32 studies found these structures highly effective at limiting how much bar speed and power drop during a session (effect sizes of 0.83 to 1.97). The lifts also felt easier, with lower perceived exertion.
Sports MedicineJukic et al., 2020, Sports Med 50(12):2209 to 2236, PMID 32901442
No study we found tests an EMOM by name. Reading a heavy EMOM of 2 or 3 reps a minute as one of those structures is our reading, and it is the case for using one: more of your reps stay quick and clean.
For conditioning, the minute paces you. CrossFit’s benchmark Chelsea is 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats every minute for 30 minutes. The reps are fixed, and your rest is whatever is left of each minute.
CrossFitBenchmark workout Chelsea, every minute on the minute for 30 minutes
The protocol
On every minute, start a set number of reps. The rest of that minute is your recovery, so there is no rest interval to set.
This timer runs 10 minutes, and the 10 is ours. Chelsea, the CrossFit benchmark, runs 30.
CrossFitBenchmark workout Chelsea, every minute on the minute for 30 minutes
Choose a number of reps you can finish in about 40 seconds while fresh. As you tire, the same reps take longer and the seconds left shrink.
Each minute has a mark at 30 seconds and a warning at 50. If the mark finds you less than halfway through your reps, the number is too high.
This timer rings a bell as each minute starts and ends, warns ten seconds before each minute ends, 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.
- Strength
Back squat or deadlift, 2 or 3 reps every minute for 10 minutes, at a weight you could lift about 5 times. Stop early if the bar slows down sharply.
- Bodyweight
3 pull-ups or ring rows, 6 push-ups and 9 squats each minute for 10 minutes. Add a rep to each when you finish every minute with 20 seconds to spare.
- Alternating
Odd minutes 12 kettlebell swings, even minutes 10 burpees. Set Rounds to 12 in Edit intervals so each exercise gets 6 turns.
- Every 2 minutes
For heavier work, 3 to 5 reps of a big lift every 2 minutes, 6 times. Set Work to 2:00 and Rounds to 6.
Do a few lighter sets of the first movement before you start the clock.
Common mistakes
Too many reps in minute 1. If you have only 5 seconds left at minute 2, the cue will catch you by minute 6.
Rushing reps to beat the cue. If your form slips, take one rep off every minute.
Stopping when you fall behind. Chelsea’s page says to keep going for the full time and count how many rounds you complete.
Adding minutes before adding work. Chelsea’s progression is one more rep of each exercise every minute, for the same 30 minutes.
CrossFitBenchmark workout Chelsea, every minute on the minute for 30 minutes
Questions
What does EMOM mean?
Every minute on the minute. You start a set of reps at the top of each minute and rest for whatever is left of it. A 10 minute EMOM is 10 of those minutes back to back.
What if I can’t finish the reps in a minute?
For Chelsea, CrossFit says to keep going for the full time and count the rounds you complete. Next time, start with fewer reps so each minute leaves you 15 to 20 seconds, a margin that is ours.
CrossFitBenchmark workout Chelsea, every minute on the minute for 30 minutes
Is EMOM good for strength?
We found no study that tests an EMOM for strength gains. In a 2020 meta-analysis, splitting heavy work into smaller sets with rest between them limited the drop in bar speed and power within a session. On our reading, a heavy EMOM with low reps has that shape.
Sports MedicineJukic et al., 2020, Sports Med 50(12):2209 to 2236, PMID 32901442
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
