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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 × 20:00One 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 / 0:10LoadedThirty second holds taken twice a muscle group, which is the sixty seconds the ACSM position stand asks for.American College of Sports Medicine
What regular static stretching did for range of motion
A 2018 review of 23 studies looked at stretching kept up over weeks. Every kind of stretching improved range of motion, and static holds improved it more than bouncing (ballistic) or PNF stretching. Weekly time seemed to matter more than the length of one session, and the review suggests at least 5 minutes of static stretching a week, spread over at least 5 days.
The American College of Sports Medicine asks for stretches covering each major muscle-tendon group, 60 seconds in all per exercise, on at least 2 days a week. Its 2021 summary gives the hold: 10 to 30 seconds for most adults, 30 to 60 for older people, to the point of tightness or slight discomfort.
American College of Sports MedicinePosition stand, 2011, Med Sci Sports Exerc 43(7):1334 to 1359, PMID 21694556American College of Sports MedicineStretching and Flexibility Guidelines Update, 18 March 2021, archived copy
Long holds right before hard effort cost a little. In a 2016 review, static stretching of 60 seconds or more per muscle group cut performance by 4.6% on average, against 1.1% for shorter holds. The range gained from one bout usually lasted under 30 minutes.
The protocol
10 holds of 30 seconds with 10 seconds to change, 6:30 from the first hold to the last. Two holds per muscle group give 5 groups the 60 seconds ACSM asks for.
Ease into each stretch until you feel tightness or slight discomfort, then hold still.
Before training, keep holds under 60 seconds per muscle and follow them with dynamic moves. A 2012 review found holds that short did not cost maximal performance.
Medicine & Science in Sports & ExerciseKay and Blazevich, 2012, Med Sci Sports Exerc 44(1):154 to 164, PMID 21659901Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and MetabolismBehm et al., 2016, Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 41(1):1 to 11, PMID 26642915
After training or on a day of its own, run the full routine. Five short sessions a week fit the 2018 review.
This timer rings a bell as each hold starts and ends, warns ten seconds before each hold 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.
- Lower body
Hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors, calves and glutes, one hold for each side, in the order you like.
- Desk break
Chest, upper back, neck, hip flexors and hamstrings, one hold per side, after a long stretch of sitting.
- Before running
One 30 second hold each for calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors and glutes, then easy running or drills. Set Rounds to 5.
- Longer holds
Holds of 45 seconds for older adults, inside the 30 to 60 ACSM gives them. Set Work to 0:45 and Rounds to 8.
Breathe slowly and keep breathing through each hold.
Common mistakes
Bouncing into the stretch. Static holds gained more range of motion than ballistic stretching in the 2018 review.
Stretching once a week. In the same review, how often you stretched each week went with better range, and the length of one session did not.
Long holds just before a sprint or a heavy lift. Keep them under 60 seconds per muscle there, and save the long ones for later.
Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and MetabolismBehm et al., 2016, Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 41(1):1 to 11, PMID 26642915Medicine & Science in Sports & ExerciseKay and Blazevich, 2012, Med Sci Sports Exerc 44(1):154 to 164, PMID 21659901
Counting in your head. A count speeds up once a position gets uncomfortable, and a 30 second hold quietly ends at 20.
Questions
How long should you hold a stretch?
ACSM gives 10 to 30 seconds for most adults and 30 to 60 for older people, repeated to 60 seconds per exercise. Two holds of 30 seconds meet both numbers.
American College of Sports MedicineStretching and Flexibility Guidelines Update, 18 March 2021, archived copyAmerican College of Sports MedicinePosition stand, 2011, Med Sci Sports Exerc 43(7):1334 to 1359, PMID 21694556
Should I stretch before or after a workout?
Either works. Before, keep holds short and follow them with dynamic moves; holds of 60 seconds or more cost 4.6% of performance on average in the 2016 review. After training is a good time for the full routine.
How often should I stretch?
ACSM says at least 2 to 3 times a week, and daily stretching works better. The 2018 review suggests at least 5 days a week.
American College of Sports MedicineStretching and Flexibility Guidelines Update, 18 March 2021, archived copyInternational Journal of Sports MedicineThomas et al., 2018, Int J Sports Med 39(4):243 to 254, PMID 29506306
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
