Timer · preset of interval timer
30/30 interval timer
Thirty seconds of work, thirty seconds of rest, ten rounds. An even split that suits almost any movement and needs no pacing experience.
Open the full interval timer to change anything this preset fixes
The timer
- Work
- 30s
- Rest
- 30s
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
- 9:40
- Working
- 5:00
- Periods
- 20
- 01ReadyGet ready0:10
- 02WorkWork0:30
- 03RestRest0:30
- 04WorkWork0:30
- 05RestRest0:30
- 06WorkWork0:30
- 07RestRest0:30
- 08WorkWork0:30
- 09RestRest0:30
- 10WorkWork0:30
- 11RestRest0:30
- 12WorkWork0:30
- 13RestRest0:30
- 14WorkWork0:30
- 15RestRest0:30
- 16WorkWork0:30
- 17RestRest0:30
- 18WorkWork0:30
- 19RestRest0:30
- 20WorkWork0:30
·
0:00
How it works
An even thirty on and thirty off is where most people should begin with intervals. Equal work and rest means you recover almost fully between rounds, so the tenth round can be close to the first, and effort is the only variable you have to manage.
The forgiveness is the point. A 45/15 punishes a fast start by round four; 30/30 lets you find a pace over the first two rounds and hold it. That makes it the right split for learning what a repeatable hard effort actually feels like.
Ten rounds runs ten minutes and gives five minutes of work. On a rower that is a common test set. On kettlebell swings it is roughly a hundred and fifty reps, which is plenty.
Progress by adding rounds first. Twelve, then fifteen, then twenty at the same ratio. Only when twenty rounds is repeatable should the rest come down, because cutting the rest changes what the session trains rather than just making it longer.
Questions
- Is 30/30 hard enough to be worth doing?
- Yes, if the thirty seconds of work is genuinely hard. An even split forgives a bad pace, which makes it useful rather than easy, and ten rounds of real effort is a complete conditioning session.
- How many rounds should I run?
- Ten to start, which is ten minutes. Add rounds before you cut the rest, because a longer session at the same ratio is a smaller jump than the same session at a harder one.
- What should I do in the thirty seconds?
- Anything you can hold a steady rate at. Rowing, bike sprints, kettlebell swings and burpees all work. Complicated lifts do not, because half the period goes on setting up.