Fitness and Training Timers
Need a gym timer? Whether your favorite fitness routine is CrossFit, or the crazy pace of a HIIT workout, or any combination of interval training, the Tabata timing capabilities of our TimeMachines displays provide a powerful addition to your gym or studio. While any of our single-color displays can be set up in a Tabata mode for count-up or count-down timing events, the RGB displays can change colors throughout the program to queue your fitness crew - green for GO, red for REST, and the interval number in blue. In version 2.0 of TM-Timer (a free download available on Google Play or from the Apple App Store), the Tabata timer control feature was added to make multi-color options possible for the RGB displays. The workout time(s), rest time(s), display colors at various stages, the number of intervals, and an alarm (if installed) can all be customized to the specific needs of your application. This Tabata timer control program can run simultaneously on a single display, a few displays, or all of the displays on your network.
In the DEMO display above, the Tabata control program begins its first interval indicated in blue. The first round workout countdown begins at 30 seconds and the display is in green for GO. At the completion of the first workout interval, the alarm sounds and the 10 second countdown begins in red to indicate the rest period. The buzzer will sound at the completion of the rest period and the second interval will begin. The cycle continues for as many intervals as programmed. The TimeMachines Tabata Control program, coupled with the RGB displays, provides a simple, straight-forward way to visually communicate as much information as possible for any interval training program. This capability can be easily controlled using the TM-Timer application. Read on to see the simplicity of these controls, as well as the range of customizations that are possible from the length of the work/rest intervals in a given sequence, the number of intervals, the colors of the intervals and the timer events, and even the triggering of alarms if a buzzer is installed.
Tabata Controls with TM-Timer
Version 2.0 (or above) of TM-Timer is required to take advantage of the Tabata control for the RGB clock displays. Additional information on the application and how to install it can be found on the TM-Timer product page or the TM-Timer section of the documents page.
STEP 1: Upon opening TM-Timer, select the bottom button on the screen to "Query Timers." This should result in the display of all devices on this network that can be accessed for TM-Timer controls.
STEP 2: Select any and all of the displays that you wish to control for your presentation timer. In this instance, only the DEMO display was selected, and the other two displays will remain in their current clock mode. Selection of multiple devices provides simultaneous and synchronized control of all displays selected.
STEP 3: Select the menu “⋮” in the top left corner of the TM-Timer window to access the program control options for the displays selected. In this case, Tabata Controls will be selected.
STEP 4: In the Tabata Controls screen, the Work Time and Rest Time represent the length of the workout and rest periods respectively, in seconds, for each interval. The Intervals is the number of workout/rest rounds that you want repeated. Selecting the Enable Alarms will activate a buzzer at the start of every transition. If there is no buzzer installed through the relay connection of the display, selecting this control has no observable change to any function and the display will not emit any sound.
The default settings for the Tabata Controls can be seen on the TM-Timer screenshot shown in Step 4, and are what is reflected in the display animation at the top of this page. The Work Time is a 30-second countdown event in GREEN for GO. It is followed by a 10-second countdown event in RED to indicate REST. This workout/rest cycle will repeat for 3 intervals, which are displayed on the left side in BLUE and increment after each rest period until the full program has been completed. Because the alarms setting is enabled, a 2 second buzzer (if installed) will sound at the start of the Work Time, and another at the start of the Rest Time for every interval, and a final buzzer as the program is completed.
Although not specifically shown in the animation above, at the end of your program after the alarm sounds to indicate the end of the final rest period, the display immediately returns to clock mode and will display time in its configured display color.
While this is the most basic use of the Tabata shortcut using TM-Timer, there are additional ways to customize the program. This might include changing the colors of the workout and rest cycles. Creation of a workout with varying lengths of workout/rest intervals is also possible. There are both count-up and count-down features that can be utilized in a custom program creation. Also the length of the relay alarm triggered at each workout/rest transition can be adjusted from the standard 2 seconds, to a shorter or longer duration. There are limitless options if you want to create a more complex fitness program. Let's take a look at the easiest way to customize a fitness timer program starting with the shortcut Tabata Controls program.
STEP 5: Assuming that no other timer programs have been run, the Tabata Controls shortcut program will be in the active memory (RAM) of the clock. Select the ◀ in the top left corner from the Tabata Controls screen that you used in Step 4 to go back to the TM-Timer home screen where your clocks are queried. Then from the top left corner of the home screen, select the “⋮” to get to the timer control menu. Select Timer Programs.
STEP 6: From this screen, the individual steps from the shortcut program are visible. Customization of the program can be done from this window within your local TM-Timer app. You can select the “⋮” of any step to edit the existing step, insert or delete steps, etc.
STEP 7: The “⋮” on the right side of Step 1 is selected. This step may be edited, another step inserted ahead of this first step, or the color change step can be deleted so the Tabata countdown event begins in the original configured clock color.
STEP 8: Under the edit screen, the type of function for this step can be changed to an entirely different function, or the conditions of the existing Change Colors function can be changed. There are many function options that can be enabled in place of the Interval CountDown function, or inserted as a new step as necessary. See the Network Timer Clock Application page for more information on creating custom programs or the TM-Timer product page for the manual. Hit Save when the edits are completed.
STEP 9: Under the edit screen of Step 2, you can see the Interval CountDown Function is selected and the options that can be customized, including whether the event should trigger the interval to increment, the length of the interval, and whether or not to trigger an alarm at the start of the countdown events. In the default Tabata Controls program, the interval is incremented at the start of a Work Time countdown event, but not at the start of a Rest Time countdown event and the alarms are triggered at the start of each countdown transition.
STEP 10: Once the program is customized for your application, press Reset to send the updated settings information from the local app to the display. Press Start if you wish to begin running the new program.
TimeMachines RGB clock displays are a powerful addition for CrossFit, HIIT, or any gym or fitness studio!
If you wish to have this program stored in the clock so that others can access the program (not just on your local app), you will need to go back to the TM-Timer home screen by pressing the ◀ in the top left corner. Then select the “⋮” to get to the timer control menu. Select Save All Programs. This will send (and overwrite) all programs from your local TM-Timer app to the the selected clock(s).
If several different presentation timers are needed, it will be best to create them from scratch. From the TM-Timer home screen, select Timer Programs. Select one of the ten different program slots from the pull-down menu from the Timer Program screen. Then create and customize each of the unique programs that are needed for your applications.
Single-color and multi-color RGB TimeMachines displays models can all run the Tabata timer programs depending on their firmware. However the color options within the Tabata Controls program will have no effect on a single-color display color selections since those displays only contain one color of LED. The count down, count up, and alarm features will run identically in both single-color displays and the multi-color RGB display models. The Tabata Controls program was added within the following firmware packages for our displays:
- POE: V4.8 for serial number beginning with a "B", V5.1 for serial number beginning with a "C"
- WIFI: V2.5 for serial numbers beginning with a "B", V3.5 for serial number beginning with a "C"
To experience the full visual color capabilities of TimeMachines Tabata timer programs, select any RGB display and download TM-Timer for FREE!