Circuit & HIIT

What it is

Circuit & HIIT is a timer mode that runs your rounds and logs them at the same time, so your phone keeps the clock and the record together. HIIT is high-intensity interval training, which means short bursts of hard work with short rest in between. Eight rounds of 30 seconds on and 15 seconds off is the session this page uses.

How it works

Pick your exercises from the library.
Set the work time, the rest time, and the number of rounds.
Tap start.

Kinoku then moves through each exercise on its own, plays a countdown sound at every change, and logs each round as a set. Across those eight rounds your hands stay free, because nothing needs tapping while the clock runs.

Rest-pause and drop sets

A rest-pause set adds a short break and then a few more reps at the same weight. Kinoku counts down 15 seconds and asks whether you want another mini-set, and drop sets follow the same shape. Each cluster saves as a single group, so your history shows what you actually did rather than a row of unrelated sets.

Picking up where you left off

Phones die, screens lock, and an app gets swiped away by accident. Your circuit is still waiting when you open Kinoku again, with the timer back on the same round and no rounds lost. That matters most in the middle of those eight rounds, where starting from the top again would change the session.

Use cases

Interval work: 30s work and 15s rest, 8 rounds.
CrossFit-style workouts of the day: 21-15-9 with mixed exercises.
Cardio finishers: 5 rounds of burpees, kettlebell swings, and jump rope.
Bodybuilding giant sets: one muscle, three exercises, no rest, four rounds.

What the timer cannot see

The timer counts seconds and rounds, so it has no way of knowing whether your form held up in round seven or whether the rest you took was long enough. It starts the next round on schedule either way, and pausing or skipping one stays your call.

Part of Pro

The circuit timer is Pro. Without it you can still log every set, superset, and rest-pause cluster by hand, with no cap on any of them. What Pro buys is the timer running the rounds instead of your thumb, and whether that is worth paying for turns on how many of your sessions run to a clock.