One round
| Exercise | Reps |
|---|---|
| Knee Push-up | 5 |
| Abdominal Crunch | 10 |
| Squat | 15 |
Pro program
A beginner circuit workout at home: 10 minutes against the clock
Your First Circuit is a 10-minute AMRAP for people starting out: 5 knee push-ups, 10 crunches and 15 squats on a loop, as many rounds as you can. There are no levels: it's a test you repeat every few weeks to beat your own score. No equipment, and the camera counts every rep and moves you on to the next exercise by itself.
The workout, exercise by exercise
Nothing unlocks here. Your score is completed rounds plus the leftover reps of the round you were in: 5 rounds + 12 reps. And since a round is 30 reps, that score also reads as one total, which is what makes two attempts comparable: 162 reps beats 5+8 and loses to 6 full rounds.
The workout is here in full. Inside the app, this benchmark is part of Tatakae Pro.
How it works
Ten minutes and a clock. Five knee push-ups, ten crunches and fifteen squats, then start over until time runs out. All it takes is a thumbs up to start the clock: from then on the app counts every rep and moves you on to the next exercise as soon as you hit the number.
Everything counts. The round you’re halfway through when time runs out adds its reps to your score, so the last seconds are worth as much as the first.
Why 5, 10 and 15
The hardest exercise gets the fewest reps. Knee push-ups come first and there are only five, crunches sit in the middle and squats close the round: they’re almost active rest for your arms before you go back down.
It’s the same shape as The Hero Circuit, and not by accident. Thirty reps per round make the score easy to read and compare, and the day you move up to the twenty-minute one the format will already feel familiar.
Where to put the phone
Side on, on the floor or at chair height, about two or three meters away. You need to fit in full lying down for the push-ups and crunches, and standing up for the squats, without ever moving the phone. Before you start, lie down and stand up once to check you stay in frame.
How to beat your score
Don’t go out flat out. The first two rounds feel easy and the bill arrives in the fourth: pick a pace you can hold for all ten minutes and don’t change it until the last one. Split the push-ups before you need to, not after.
And repeat it patiently. One score every two or three weeks, with real training in between, goes up far more than trying every day on legs still tired from the day before.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds is a good score?
Three or four rounds is a normal first attempt if you're starting from zero. Getting to five or six is a solid score. Past eight, the format has become too easy for you and it's time for something harder, like Total Burn, or The Hero Circuit if you have a bar.
What if I can't do 5 knee push-ups in a row?
Split them. Three, a short pause, then two more. The clock keeps running either way, so a brief pause almost always gets you more rounds than grinding until your arms give out. If they're still too much, First Steps starts one step earlier, with your hands on a chair.
How often should I repeat it?
Every two or three weeks. It's a test, not your everyday workout: the training you do in between, with The Forge or First Steps for example, is where you improve, and this circuit just tells you whether it worked.
Why is there no plank?
Because the score adds up reps, and a plank is measured in seconds. A plank block can't be added to your squats without the score losing its meaning. The plank has its place in First Steps and in the 2-minute plank program.
How is this different from The Hero Circuit?
The shape is the same: three exercises of 5, 10 and 15 reps, on a loop against the clock. This one is half as long, swaps the pull-ups and push-ups for knee push-ups and crunches, and needs no bar. It's built so that the first time you train against a clock isn't also the first time you hang from a bar.
Train Your First Circuit without keeping count
The whole workout is above, and it never changes. What the app adds is the clock and the count: it times the 10 minutes, counts every rep, moves you on to the next exercise on its own, and remembers the score you have to beat next time.
iPhone · No wearables, no sensors