At the beginning of 2026 I experienced a creeping guilt about my lack of fitness. I had been overly sedentary for 2-3 years.

When I used to work out, I tended to do so at home, in my bedroom. Gyms aren't as peaceful, there are more hormones flying about, and I can't listen to the radio out loud. I used a Nike app for one workout, and the others I kept in scrappy notes on my phone.

Part of the reason for my predicament was that when I did last work out, I suffered with shin-splints. I was wary about kicking them off again, and thought it would be a good idea to add a shin-splint mitigation workout to my routine. I couldn't remember what I used to do, so I asked Claude, who provided me with a plausibly sensible list of exercises, reps, and rest periods.

I went for it, but found it really frustrating having to pick my phone up all the time to remember what I was supposed to be doing, and how long to set my timer. I just wanted an analogue experience - someone to tell me what to do. There is surely an app for this I thought. An app where I can just enter in some steps, and some rest periods, tap "GO", and it will shout at me. I still think there is surely an app for this, but I couldn't find one.

So, I remained sedentary for another week and made a workout timer that did what I want:

I can type in what I want (jumping jacks | 30s for thirty seconds of them, jumping jacks | 30 for thirty of them), press "START", and it barks me through my workout. It will remember your workout when you revisit the page, and it won't interfere with any radio or Spotify. Give it a go if you'd like. I'd be thrilled if someone used it.

My own experience: very good, probably excellent, certainly the best of the two workout timers I have used.