Tabata timer 30/10 x 8
30 sec work, 10 sec rest, 8 rounds. 5 min 20 sec total. Starts with a 10 sec get-ready count.
Space start/pause R reset Esc stop
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30 sec work, 10 sec rest, 8 rounds. 5 min 20 sec total. Starts with a 10 sec get-ready count.
01
What this one is for
Thirty on, ten off is a 3:1 ratio, which makes it harder than the protocol everyone calls hard. Five minutes and twenty seconds total, and the ten seconds is genuinely only enough to put something down and pick it up again. Do not come here first.
The reason to run it is pacing discipline. With this little rest you cannot sprint round one and survive; you have to pick an output you can repeat eight times, which is a more useful skill than one heroic round followed by seven bad ones. Rowers, cyclists and anyone with a race pace to find will recognise the lesson.
Movements that suit it are cyclical and low-skill: erg, bike, skipping, jogging on the spot, wall balls if your form is solid. Save the barbell for something with more rest.
02
Good for
- Pacing practice: find an output you can hold eight times
- Erg and bike intervals with almost no recovery
- Skipping rope blocks where the rest is just a rest of the wrists
- Progressing on from 30/15 once that stops being hard
03
How it runs
30 sec work, 10 sec rest, 8 rounds. 5 min 20 sec total. Starts with a 10 sec get-ready count. Press Start, or hit Space. The digits turn green while a work block runs and grey on rest.
Sound is on by default: a rising pair for work, a falling pair for rest, a tick for the last three seconds and a three-note finish. Mute with the speaker button. The screen stays on while the timer runs and the tab title shows the time left.
Change anything in Settings under the timer. The last setup you used on this page is remembered in your browser.
Questions people ask
- Why is this harder than 20/10?
- Ratio and volume. You do 50 percent more work per round with the same rest, so the ratio goes from 2:1 to 3:1 and the total work goes from 160 seconds to 240. The original is harder if you hit the original intensity, which almost nobody does.
- Can I use a barbell for this?
- Only for something simple you can rack and unrack fast, and only at a weight you can move with ten seconds of thinking time. Ten seconds is not enough to reset a loaded lift safely, so most people should pick a machine or a bodyweight movement.
- What if round six falls apart?
- You went too hard early. Run it again a few days later at an output you think is slightly too easy and see where you land. If it still falls apart, go to 30/15 and come back.