Guides
Interval training, timed properly.
Protocols, the numbers behind them, and how to run each one on an iPhone without watching the screen.
Protocols
20 Seconds On, 10 Seconds Off: What Each Ratio Does
20 seconds on, 10 seconds off is a 2:1 ratio and 4 minutes of work. The common interval ratios, what each changes, and how to pick one before you set a timer.
16 Aug 2026
Boxing
Boxing Round Timer App: The 10-Second Warning
A boxing round timer app has to do more than 3 minutes on, 1 minute off. The bell, the 10-second warning, and what to check before you trust one on the bag.
16 Aug 2026
Buying
Gym Timer App: Rest, Interval or Circuit Timer?
A gym timer app does one of 3 jobs, and picking the wrong one is why yours annoys you. Rest between sets, fixed intervals, and circuits with named stations.
16 Aug 2026
Buying
Interval Timer Apps With No Ads, and How to Tell
An interval timer app with no ads is worth finding, because the ad lands at the interval change. What to read on the App Store page, and what ad-free costs.
16 Aug 2026
Apple Watch
Interval Timer for Apple Watch: The Built-In App
An interval timer for Apple Watch is already on your wrist. Here is how to build work and rest blocks in Custom Workouts, and where the built-in one stops.
16 Aug 2026
Buying
Seconds Interval Timer Alternative: What to Check
Looking for a Seconds interval timer alternative? What Seconds actually costs and covers, the 3 reasons people leave, and what to check in a replacement.
16 Aug 2026
Apple Watch
Tabata Timer for Apple Watch: Build 20/10 x 8 Free
The Apple Watch has no Tabata timer by name, but Custom Workouts builds one free in 5 minutes: 20 seconds on, 10 off, 8 rounds. Steps and limits.
16 Aug 2026
Protocols
AMRAP vs EMOM vs Tabata: What Each One Fixes
AMRAP locks the time and EMOM the work rate, while Tabata locks both. A side-by-side comparison of the 3 interval protocols, with the timer settings for each.
12 Aug 2026
iPhone
Best Interval Timer App for iPhone: 7 Criteria
How to pick the best interval timer app for iPhone: locked-screen accuracy, music ducking, warning cues, Live Activities, saved workouts and free tier shape.
12 Aug 2026
CrossFit
CrossFit Timer App: The 4 Clocks a WOD Needs
AMRAP, EMOM, For Time with a cap and Tabata are the 4 clock shapes a CrossFit session runs on. The work, rest and round values to type into a timer app.
12 Aug 2026
iPhone
Free Interval Timer App for iPhone: What Free Means
A free interval timer app for iPhone comes in 3 shapes: ad-supported, free with a paid upgrade, or one-time purchase. Here is what sits behind each paywall.
12 Aug 2026
Audio
Interval Timer That Doesn't Stop Your Music
How an interval timer app with music should behave: the music dips and never stops, what iOS does when 2 apps share the speaker, and a 1-minute test.
12 Aug 2026
iPhone
Workout Timer on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island
A workout timer on the lock screen has to survive iOS suspending the app. Here is the drift, worked through in rounds, and what Live Activities can do.
12 Aug 2026
iPhone
Does the iPhone Have a Tabata Timer?
Does the iPhone have a Tabata timer built in? Here is what the Clock app can do, what it cannot, and how interval timing actually works on iOS.
11 Aug 2026
EMOM
EMOM Timer: How to Set One Up and Actually Use It
A practical guide to the EMOM timer: what EMOM 20 means, how to set the intervals on your iPhone, rep counts that leave real rest, and tracking progress.
11 Aug 2026
HIIT
HIIT Timer for iPhone: Pick Your Work-to-Rest Ratio
Choosing a HIIT timer iPhone setup: work-to-rest ratios, a table of common structures, and why the countdown must come from the wall clock.
11 Aug 2026
Tabata
How to Set a Tabata Timer: 20/10 in 8 Rounds
How to set a Tabata timer in under a minute: 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest across 8 rounds for 4 minutes total. Plus the variations people run.
11 Aug 2026