Workout timer for CrossFit

The WOD changes every day; the way it is timed does not. Four formats cover almost everything a box puts on the board — here they are, and here is why the clock has to be readable without crouching over it.

Round counter built in. Nothing to configure, nothing to install.

What is a WOD?

WOD is short for Workout of the Day: the session of the day, the same one for everybody in the box, written up on the board by the door. It changes daily, and that is the point — you do not follow a personal programme, you do what is posted.

For choosing a timer, the contents matter less than you would think. Pull-ups, kettlebells or the rower, it makes no difference: what drives the settings is the shape of the WOD — is the time fixed, or is the work? The benchmark sessions break down the best known ones.

The four formats of a box

Which timer format for a CrossFit WOD? Four are enough to cover very nearly everything that goes on the board. The name of the session changes every day, its timing structure does not: recognising which of the four is in play means the timer is already set.

• AMRAP The time is fixed, you count the rounds.
• EMOM One set at the top of every minute.
• For Time Fixed work, timed to the finish.
• Intervals Work then rest, both imposed.

Why readability wins on the floor

Why does a workout timer need to be readable from a distance? Because you are not holding it. The phone is flat on the floor, two metres away, and you read it out of the corner of your eye between two repetitions — out of breath, head down, sometimes outdoors in full sun.

A timer with thin digits on a pale background does not survive that. The session screen is therefore a saturated block of colour filling the frame with ultra-bold white digits, no gradients and no faded opacity. The phase colours have measured contrast ratios, all at least 5.27:1, and the hierarchy comes from size and weight, never from a shade of grey.

Three cues, and no more

The timer sounds three cues, and only three. A beep on each of the last three seconds of the countdown, so you can look up at the right moment. One cue at the start of every round. One cue when the session ends.

Nothing else: no halfway announcement, no reminder every ten seconds, no spoken countdown. A timer that sounds constantly stops being information — you learn to ignore it, and then you miss the one that mattered. Three spaced cues are recognisable by ear without looking at the screen, which is exactly the point.

Do you need a paid app to time a WOD?

No, and nothing would justify one. A workout timer needs no server at all: the formats, the offline behaviour and the install on your phone fit entirely inside the browser. Round & Rest is free, with no account, no sign-up and no ads.

In practice: the page opens, gets set and starts without creating anything. Added to your home screen it then runs with no network — which matters as much in a basement box as it does outdoors. Your settings stay on the device.

The benchmark sessions

A handful of WODs have first names and turn up everywhere. Fran is 21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups, For Time. Cindy is a twenty-minute AMRAP of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats. Helen is three timed rounds of a 400 m run, 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pull-ups. Chelsea is Cindy as an EMOM: the same circuit at the top of every minute, for thirty minutes. Murph chains a 1.6 km run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and a 1.6 km run back.

Three formats for five sessions. The benchmark WOD page breaks each one down and opens the timer already set for it.

Or set the format and the duration however you like.

The other pages

• Benchmark WODs Fran, Cindy, Helen, Chelsea, Murph.
• HYROX Eight runs, eight stations, one roxzone.
• Tabata Twenty seconds on, ten off, eight times.