What does AMRAP mean?

As many rounds as possible. You set a time cap, pick a list of exercises, and repeat that list until the clock runs out. Your score is the rounds and reps you finished.

Why is there only one clock?

Because the rest is yours. An AMRAP does not schedule recovery, so there is nothing to count except the cap, and every timer that adds intervals to an AMRAP has turned it into a circuit.

How long should the cap be?

Between ten and twenty minutes for most sessions. Under ten and pacing barely matters. Past twenty, the effort drops to something you could hold all day, which is a different kind of training.

Should I pick a hard or easy round?

Easy enough to repeat without stopping. A round you can finish unbroken at minute two but not at minute fifteen is the right size.

Timer

AMRAP timer

One countdown from your time cap to zero. As many rounds as possible inside it, with the rest entirely yours to take.

The timer

Time cap

min

Lead-in

Stations, one per line

Named stations appear on the clock as they come up. Leave it as it is to run one unnamed block.

The clock runs fullscreen and keeps the screen awake. It needs JavaScript, so with scripting off the plan below is the whole session written out.

Total: 20:10
Working: 20:00
Periods: 2

01ReadyGet ready0:10
02WorkAMRAP20:00

How it works

An AMRAP is one clock counting down and a short list of exercises you repeat until it hits zero. Nothing schedules your rest, so the only decision in the whole workout is how hard to go and when to breathe.

Set the cap, list the movements if you want them on screen, and start. The timer counts down in full view with a beep in the last three seconds, and it names your round list underneath so nobody has to remember what comes third.

Twenty minutes of five pull-ups, ten push-ups and fifteen squats is the best known example. A fit person finishes fifteen to twenty rounds. The number itself is the score, which is what makes an AMRAP worth repeating six weeks later.

Round size is the setting that matters, and most people get it wrong in the same direction. A round that takes ninety seconds fresh will take three minutes by the end, so the session becomes a long slow grind with three breaks per round. Pick a round short enough to finish without stopping, then repeat it honestly.

Pacing an AMRAP is a skill, and the first few attempts will be too fast. Aim to run the second half at the same rate as the first. If your round ten is slower than your round three, you started too hard, and the total suffers more than the early rounds gained.

Questions

What does AMRAP mean?: As many rounds as possible. You set a time cap, pick a list of exercises, and repeat that list until the clock runs out. Your score is the rounds and reps you finished.
Why is there only one clock?: Because the rest is yours. An AMRAP does not schedule recovery, so there is nothing to count except the cap, and every timer that adds intervals to an AMRAP has turned it into a circuit.
How long should the cap be?: Between ten and twenty minutes for most sessions. Under ten and pacing barely matters. Past twenty, the effort drops to something you could hold all day, which is a different kind of training.
Should I pick a hard or easy round?: Easy enough to repeat without stopping. A round you can finish unbroken at minute two but not at minute fifteen is the right size.