Eight rounds of twenty seconds on and ten off land on exactly four minutes — the Tabata math this page is built around. Press start and 4:00 falls to zero while you sprint, steep, or boil. The same four minutes brews black tea to full strength and sets a soft-boiled egg. Whatever you set here stays on your device; the page keeps no record of it and asks for no account.
What a 4 Minute Timer Is Good For
One full Tabata block
Tabata is eight rounds of 20 seconds at maximum effort and 10 seconds of recovery, which totals four minutes to the second. Choose a single movement — air squats, burpees, kettlebell swings, or bike sprints — and hold true intensity through every work window. Dr. Izumi Tabata's 1996 study used this precise structure; the payoff depends on the efforts being genuinely all-out, not merely brisk.
Black tea at full strength
Black tea reaches its full body after four minutes in water just off the boil, roughly 200–212°F. Drop the leaves or bag in as you tap start, and lift them out the instant the alarm sounds — tannin keeps extracting the longer the leaves sit, and a minute past the mark is the difference between brisk and bitter.
Soft-boiled egg, set white
Four minutes in gently boiling water gives a large egg a firm white with a yolk that still flows. Lower it in straight from the fridge with a spoon once the water rolls, start the count, and lift it into cold water the moment the alarm rings to arrest cooking. Add fifteen seconds per egg above the first if you crowd the pan.
Rest between heavy sets
For low-rep strength work near your limit, phosphocreatine recovery favors longer rest, and four minutes sits at the top of that range for the heaviest sets of squats, deadlifts, or presses. Start the timer the moment you rack the bar so the rest is measured rather than guessed, and let the alarm, not restlessness, call the next set.
A speed-clean burst
Four minutes is enough to reset one room if you move without stopping: clear surfaces, straighten cushions, and run a quick pass with a cloth. Racing an alarm turns a chore into a sprint, and the fixed short window keeps you from drifting into a deeper clean you did not plan for.
Plank and core finisher
Stack a four-minute core finisher as a countdown: a front plank, two side planks, and a hollow hold, rotating on your own count while the clock falls. The fixed end keeps the set honest — you hold position until the alarm, not until it merely feels like enough.
How This Timer Works
The page loads ready at 4:00 — tap Start and it runs. Four alarm tones sit in the sound menu with a Test button beside them, so you can hear your pick at real volume before round one. Pause and Reset are single taps, and the browser tab carries a live countdown if you flip away mid-steep. Fullscreen blows the digits up for a gym wall or kitchen counter, while a wake lock stops a phone from dimming mid-Tabata. Timing is computed from the clock in your device, not from a loop that busy pages can slow, so 240 seconds means 240 seconds. When zero arrives, the tone loops until you hit Stop Alarm — and if you are out of the room past a minute, it quiets itself.
Keyboard shortcuts: Space starts or pauses, R resets, F toggles fullscreen. The countdown is anchored to your device's clock, so it stays accurate even if the browser throttles the tab in the background.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does switching apps or tabs stop the timer?
No. The countdown is pinned to your device clock, so leaving the tab or opening another app does not pause or slow it — when you return, the display already shows the correct remaining time. The tab title also counts down in the background, and a wake lock keeps the screen lit while the page stays in front.
Can I choose a different alarm tone?
Yes. The sound menu offers several tones, and the test button plays your pick at the current volume so you can set it before a round begins. When the four minutes end, the alarm repeats until you dismiss it; if it goes unanswered, a 60-second cutoff stops it so an idle tab never rings on.
Why is four minutes the standard Tabata length?
Because the protocol is fixed: eight intervals of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest multiply out to 240 seconds. The original research built the intensity around that exact structure, so shortening or padding it changes the stimulus. Run the full four minutes at true effort to match the method.
How do I keep eggs from overcooking after the alarm?
Cook to the four-minute mark, then move the eggs immediately into cold or iced water. Boiling water clings to a hot egg and keeps cooking the yolk for a minute after you lift it out; the cold plunge stops that and also loosens the shell, making a set-white, soft-yolk egg easy to peel.
Is four minutes long enough to warm up?
For a general warm-up before easy training, it is a reasonable floor: enough for light cardio and a few dynamic movements to raise your temperature and heart rate. Before heavy lifting or sprinting, treat it as the first stage and add specific ramp-up sets afterward rather than jumping straight to load.
Does the four minute timer work without internet after it loads?
Once the page has loaded, the countdown and alarm run locally in your browser, so a brief connection drop will not interrupt a set in progress. The page is a single lightweight file with no server calls during the count, which is also why it starts the instant you tap rather than waiting on a network round-trip.