EMOM Timer

An EMOM gives every minute the same shape: a burst of reps, then rest. The clock decides when each set starts, and your speed decides how much rest you get, so the workout paces itself. Finish quickly and you rest longer. Slow down and your rest shrinks.

Press Start above and the timer runs the whole session. It shows each minute's move with a picture and a form tip, and an AI coach from the FitCraft app calls out the next move, with beeps at 3-2-1, so you do not need to watch the screen. When your reps are done, tap Finished my reps and catch your breath until the next minute begins.

How the EMOM timer works

You set two things before you start, the level and the length, and every session then runs in the same order:

1. Warm-up, 1 minute. Easy mobility moves to loosen up. The warm-up is on by default, and a switch turns it off.
2. Get ready, 5 seconds. A short countdown before the first minute.
3. The EMOM, 10 to 20 minutes. Choose 10, 12, 16 or 20 minutes. The default is 10. At the top of each minute, do that minute's reps: 6 at Beginner, 8 at Intermediate, 10 at Advanced or 12 at Expert. Then rest for whatever is left of the minute. Four moves rotate, one per minute.
4. Stretch, 1 minute. The session always ends with a stretch, so the default Intermediate session takes 12 minutes.

At about 3.5 seconds a rep, the work takes about 20 to 40 seconds of each minute. Tap Finished my reps as soon as your reps are done. The seconds left in that minute become bonus XP, and finishing early in every minute earns the "Beat the clock" badge. If the minute runs out before you finish, the next minute starts anyway and you move on to the next move.

Each minute of work also earns XP: 10 at Beginner, 15 at Intermediate, 20 at Advanced and 25 at Expert, plus a combo bonus for unbroken minutes. Finishing the session adds 50 XP, and finishing with no skips adds 25 more. The moves come from the FitCraft app's workouts. Here are the moves and the reps per minute at each level.

EMOM meaning: every minute on the minute

EMOM is short for every minute on the minute. At the top of each minute you start a fixed amount of work, and whatever is left of that minute is your rest. If your reps take 30 seconds, you get 30 seconds of rest. The clock repeats for as many minutes as you set, and the next set always starts on schedule.

The point of the format is pacing. Because the work in each minute is capped, you cannot go out too hard and fade by the third minute. Because the next set starts on time, you cannot coast either. The rest built into every minute also keeps your reps clean, which makes EMOMs popular for skill practice as well as conditioning, as our EMOM glossary entry explains.

The same entry gives a rule of thumb: pick work you can finish in 30 to 40 seconds when you are fresh, so enough rest remains to hold your form through the last minutes. For conditioning, it suggests 12 to 16 minutes that alternate two moves. For strength or skill work, keep the reps low, around 2 to 5. If you are still working at second 50, the set is too big, so cut the reps. The levels on this timer follow the same idea: the work fits in about 20 to 40 seconds of each minute, with four moves instead of two.

AMRAP, short for as many reps or rounds as possible, turns the setup around. In an EMOM the work per minute is fixed and your rest changes with your speed. In an AMRAP the time is fixed, say 12 minutes, and you do as many rounds of a circuit as you can, so the amount of work becomes your score. Use an EMOM when you want steady pacing and clean reps, and an AMRAP when you want a number to beat next time.

What the research says about EMOM workouts

None of the studies cited on this page tested an EMOM workout, and none tested this timer. An EMOM is a way to organize interval training, short bursts of work with rest between them, so the closest evidence is research on intervals in general. It applies only as far as your EMOM resembles the workouts those studies used.

How hard you work decides what kind of workout an EMOM is. Our guide to HIIT at home defines HIIT as hard bouts at about 8 to 9 out of 10 effort, with enough recovery to hit that effort again. Work at 6 to 7 out of 10 is circuit training, which builds muscular endurance but is not HIIT. An EMOM can be either, depending on how hard you push the reps.

• Bodyweight intervals count. Machado et al. 2019 describe whole-body interval training built from calisthenics as an effective and safe way to improve fitness and body composition, across ages and populations. Every move on this timer uses your body weight.
• Short bursts help, and longer ones help more. Wen et al. 2019 pooled 53 randomized controlled trials. Work intervals of 2 minutes or more, more work per session and programs of 4 to 12 weeks produced the biggest gains in VO2 max, but intervals of 30 seconds or less still produced clear benefits over control groups. The work in each EMOM minute sits at the short end of that range.
• Intervals feel harder while you do them. Stork et al. 2017 reviewed 42 studies with 1,258 participants. People tended to feel worse during interval exercise than during continuous exercise, while their enjoyment afterward came out equal or better.

One limit is specific to EMOMs. At the higher levels the reps fill most of each minute, which leaves little rest. Our HIIT guide warns that 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest, repeated for many rounds without longer breaks, turns into a hard moderate-intensity workout rather than true intervals. Treat Advanced and Expert as tough conditioning, not true HIIT. If you want a plan that adds load over time, the free AI workout plan generator builds one.

Choosing your level, length and moves

Pick the level where you can finish every set with clean form and still have rest left in most minutes.

• Beginner, 6 reps a minute: sumo squats, incline push-ups, glute bridges and crunches. There is no jumping, and the incline push-ups need a sturdy chair, bench or counter. Start here if you are new to exercise or coming back after a break.
• Intermediate, 8 reps a minute (the default): push-ups, sumo squats, burpees and bicycle crunches. Push-ups move to the floor, and burpees bring in one jumping move.
• Advanced, 10 reps a minute: burpees, jump lunges, push-ups and plank jacks. Three of the four moves involve jumping, so choose it when impact feels fine on your knees and ankles.
• Expert, 12 reps a minute: burpees, jump squats, diamond push-ups and jump lunges. It leaves the least rest of any level.

Start with 10 minutes. At 12, 16 or 20 minutes, every move gets the same number of turns. At 10, the rotation stops partway through its third pass, so the first two moves get one more turn than the last two. Tap any move to swap it for another, for example to replace a jumping move.

Two checks tell you whether the level is right. By the end of each rest you should be able to speak a full sentence again, which is the talk test our HIIT guide uses. And if you are still working at second 50 in most minutes, the set is too big, so drop a level. Once you tap Finished my reps early in every minute and earn the "Beat the clock" badge, add minutes or move up a level. Change one thing at a time and keep each change for about two weeks, as our HIIT guide suggests for interval training.

How often to do an EMOM workout

US physical activity guidelines (Piercy et al. 2018) set a weekly target for adults of 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening activity on 2 or more days. A 10-minute EMOM three times a week adds up to 30 minutes, well short of the aerobic target on its own. Count it toward your week, and fill the rest with walks, easy cardio or longer sessions. The squats, push-ups, bridges and lunges are strength moves, so a session counts toward the muscle-strengthening part on the days you do it.

If you push the reps hard enough to count as HIIT, two or three sessions a week on days that are not back to back is plenty. That is the ceiling our HIIT guide gives, because each hard session carries a recovery cost and a fourth one tends to turn easy days into tired ones. When you want more, choose a longer EMOM before you add another hard day.

Who should check with a doctor first

This timer is meant for healthy adults. If one of these applies to you, change the plan or get advice first.

• New to exercise or returning after a long break. Start at Beginner for 10 minutes and rest whenever your form slips, even if that means cutting a set short. The next minute starts on time either way. Our guide to starting with zero fitness covers your first week.
• High blood pressure or heart disease. Talk to your doctor before you start. Hard intervals push heart rate and blood pressure close to their ceilings for short spells, as our HIIT guide explains.
• Joint pain or a current injury. Burpees, jump lunges, jump squats and plank jacks all involve jumping. If impact hurts, switch to a lower-impact level: Intermediate has one jumping move, burpees, and Beginner has none. You can also tap a jumping move to swap it. Our guide to exercising with joint pain and our low impact cardio guide have more no-jump options.
• Pregnancy or a recent birth. Ask your doctor or midwife which moves suit you and how hard to work, and stay off the jumping levels until they say yes. Our postpartum fitness guide covers getting back to exercise after pregnancy.
• Incline push-ups. Put your hands on something that cannot move, such as a kitchen counter or a heavy bench pushed against a wall.

If you feel chest pain, dizziness or sharp joint pain, stop right away.

Using it as a plain online EMOM timer

If you already have an EMOM planned, turn on Just the timer. The moves switch off, and you keep the beeps and the countdown for each minute. It runs in your browser, the screen stays awake where the browser allows it, and the timer keeps time if you switch apps, so a phone on the floor beside you is enough.

For a fixed work time instead of a rep count, the Interval Timer runs one-minute rounds of work and rest, and the Tabata Timer runs rounds of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off.

Related reading

References

1. Machado AF, Baker JS, Figueira Junior AJ, Bocalini DS. "High-intensity interval training using whole-body exercises: training recommendations and methodological overview." Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2019;39(6):378-383. doi:10.1111/cpf.12433
2. Wen D, Utesch T, Wu J, Robertson S, Liu J, Hu G, Chen H. "Effects of different protocols of high intensity interval training for VO2max improvements in adults: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials." J Sci Med Sport. 2019;22(8):941-947. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2019.01.013
3. Stork MJ, Banfield LE, Gibala MJ, Martin Ginis KA. "A scoping review of the psychological responses to interval exercise: is interval exercise a viable alternative to traditional exercise?" Health Psychol Rev. 2017;11(4):324-344. doi:10.1080/17437199.2017.1326011
4. Piercy KL, Troiano RP, Ballard RM, et al. "The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans." JAMA. 2018;320(19):2020-2028. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.14854

How this EMOM timer differs from other EMOM timers

Most EMOM apps and sites give you a clock and a beep: you set the minutes and bring the workout. This one also fills in the minutes. It picks four moves for your level, sets the reps, and shows each move with a picture, a form tip and a link to its exercise page. An AI coach from the FitCraft app calls out the next move, with beeps at 3-2-1 and one mute button. The Finished my reps button turns the seconds you have left into bonus XP, and finishing early in every minute earns the "Beat the clock" badge. Your badges, level, streak and best scores stay on this device. When you want the clock alone, Just the timer turns the moves off.