6:40 in the morning, rug pushed aside, phone propped against the sofa leg reading 11:00. That is the length of a 5BX session — the Royal Canadian Air Force routine that packed a whole workout into eleven minutes flat — and it is also a far more honest espresso warmup than the three minutes your machine's ready light claims. The same countdown covers a core circuit, a kid's morning routine, or eggs on the stove. Everything runs on your device: no account, no install, nothing stored about you. At zero, the alarm rings until you answer it.
What a 11 Minute Timer Is Good For
The eleven minutes the RCAF engineered
In 1961 the Royal Canadian Air Force published 5BX, five exercises Bill Orban timed to fill exactly eleven minutes: two for the first, one each for the next three, and six for the running in place at the end. No equipment, no gym, which is why it worked at remote stations and works now in a hotel room. Start the countdown, follow your chart level, finish when the alarm does.
The eleven minutes Cambridge found in the data
A 2023 analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, from the University of Cambridge's MRC Epidemiology Unit, pooled 196 studies covering more than 30 million adults and landed on a number: 11 minutes a day of moderate activity — 75 minutes a week — tracked with a 23% lower risk of early death compared with doing none. Brisk walking counts. The guidelines still ask for double that, but this is the stretch of the curve where the payoff is steepest. Set it when you leave the building and walk until it rings.
Espresso, after the ready light lies
The ready light on a single-boiler machine comes on in three to five minutes, and it only means the water is hot. The brass group head and portafilter are still cold, and they are what the shot actually touches. Lock the portafilter in, start the countdown, and pull a blank shot near the end. Eleven minutes is a real floor — far better than the light — though a heavy E61 group will want closer to thirty.
The school run, turned into a race
Kids negotiate with an adult; they do not negotiate with a clock on the counter. Eleven minutes covers the two-minute toothbrush, socks and shoes, the coat, and the bag — with slack for the sock that has gone missing. Show the digits, name the finish line, and let the countdown be the one issuing deadlines. The alarm means shoes on, not "nearly".
A core circuit with no rest to spare
Eleven stations at a minute apiece lands exactly on 11:00; so does twenty-two at thirty seconds if you prefer shorter efforts. Plank, dead bug, hollow hold, side plank left, side plank right, mountain climbers, bird dog, glute bridge, flutter kicks, Russian twists, plank again to finish — that is the eleven. Prop the phone where you can read it from the floor; the wake lock keeps the screen lit, so you are not tapping it awake with a sweaty hand halfway through a plank.
Eleven minutes on the cushion
Kundalini practice assigns fixed lengths to a kriya — three minutes, eleven, thirty-one, sixty-two — and eleven is the common daily commitment. The claims attached to each length are traditional rather than clinical, but the structure is useful regardless: a set duration removes the question of when to stop, so the only decision left is to sit down. Start the countdown, put the phone face down, breathe.
Eggs, pasta, and the eleven-minute shelf
Eleven minutes at a bare simmer, eggs lowered into water already boiling, sets the yolk through: firm at the edge, still moist and yellow dead center rather than the chalky, grey-ringed thing you get past thirteen. Plenty of dried pasta shapes print the same number on the box. Start the countdown when the eggs go in, not when you think of it, and let the alarm find you wherever you have wandered.
How This Timer Works
There is nothing to configure. The clock is fixed at 11:00 — 660 seconds — so the start button is the entire interface, with pause and reset beside it and the remaining time mirrored into the tab title. Pick an alarm tone and test it first. Fullscreen scales the digits to across-the-room size, and a wake lock holds the screen on. The end time is anchored to your device clock rather than counted tick by tick, so switching tabs or locking the phone cannot drift it. At zero the alarm repeats until dismissed, cutting out after 60 seconds if nobody answers.
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 the timer keep running if my screen locks or I switch tabs?
Yes. Normally the screen will not lock at all — the page requests a wake lock so the display stays lit for the full eleven minutes. If it does go dark, or you switch to another tab, nothing drifts: the countdown is anchored to your device's clock, not to a tick counter the browser can throttle. It resurfaces knowing exactly how much time has passed, and the alarm still fires on schedule.
How loud is the alarm, and how long does it keep ringing?
It plays at whatever your device volume is set to, in the tone you pick from the sound menu — the test button plays that same tone at that same volume beforehand, so there are no surprises from across the room. When the countdown hits zero it repeats rather than sounding once, so a single missed ring costs nothing. If nobody dismisses it, it stops on its own after 60 seconds; an abandoned tab never rings forever.
What is the 5BX plan, and why eleven minutes?
5BX is a bodyweight routine Dr. Bill Orban designed for the Royal Canadian Air Force, published in 1961 for airmen posted to stations with no gym. Five exercises, timed: two minutes for the first, one each for the next three, six for the aerobic finisher — eleven minutes, by construction. Six charts of twelve levels each let you progress by adding reps rather than time. The booklet sold in the millions and the length never changed.
Is eleven minutes of exercise a day actually enough?
Enough for what, is the honest answer. A 2023 review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge's MRC Epidemiology Unit, pooled data on more than 30 million adults and found 11 minutes a day of moderate activity — 75 minutes a week — associated with a 23% lower risk of premature death. That is an association from observational data, and it is a floor rather than a target: the standing guidelines ask for 150 minutes a week. More is better; eleven is where the curve starts bending.
Is eleven minutes long enough to warm up an espresso machine?
It depends on the machine, and eleven is a minimum rather than a promise. The ready light is not the signal: it comes on in three to five minutes and tracks boiler water, not the brass group head your shot touches. Eleven minutes gets a small boiler most of the way there. A Gaggia Classic is usually quoted at fifteen to twenty; a Rancilio Silvia longer, with more brass to bring up to temperature; an E61 group, thirty. Lock the portafilter in and pull a blank shot first.
Why can't I change the duration?
Because the page is one timer, not a timer app. Fixed at 660 seconds means no picker, no last-used value, no chance of starting 1:10 when you meant 11:00 — you land here from a search for eleven minutes and press one button. If you need a different length, that is a different page. Pause and reset are still here for interruptions; the duration is the only thing nailed down.