RhythmFitDownload

title: Cadence pattern description: How a beat-by-beat array becomes a 3-1-3 tempo-strength rep.

Cadence pattern

Tempo-strength training has a tempo. A 3-1-3 push-up is "down for 3 counts, hold 1, up for 3" — every count is a beat, every beat is a cue. Cadence patterns are how RhythmFit speaks that rep.

The format

A cadence pattern is a list of strings, one entry per beat. Non-empty strings are spoken on that beat; empty strings are silent beats (the metronome still clicks, the coach just doesn't talk).

For a 3-1-3 push-up — 3 counts down, 1 hold, 3 counts up, total 7 beats per rep:

["Down", "",     "",     "Hold", "Up",   "",     ""]
  beat1  beat2  beat3   beat4   beat5  beat6   beat7

You hear: "Down … … … Hold … Up … … …" — exactly four words across seven seconds.

Why BPM is locked to 60

For tempo-strength blocks, RhythmFit forces BPM to 60. That makes 1 beat = 1 second — the pattern's length is the rep duration in seconds. A 7-entry pattern is a 7-second rep. A 5-1-3 deadlift (["Down","","","","","Hold","Up","",""]) is 9 seconds.

This is enforced inside the Block initializer — if you author a tempo block at any other BPM, it's coerced to 60 before the workout runs. The reason is correctness: at 90 BPM, a "5-count eccentric" would no longer be 5 seconds, and the cue would mean something different to every user.

Common patterns to copy

| Movement | Pattern | Total | | --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | | 3-1-3 push-up | ["Down","","","Hold","Up","",""] | 7 s | | 4-1-1 squat | ["Down","","","","Hold","Up"] | 6 s | | 5-1-3 deadlift (slow ecc.) | ["Down","","","","","Hold","Up","",""] | 9 s | | 2-0-2 bench press | ["Down","","Up",""] | 4 s | | Isometric hold (5 s) | ["Hold","","","",""] | 5 s | | 1-1 jump rope (call-respond)| ["Tick","Tock"] | 2 s |

How to author a tempo block

  1. Create a block, phase = work or learning

    Manually or via AI Create. rest and cooldown phases don't use cadence patterns.

  2. Set the cadence pattern in the block editor

    The editor exposes a per-beat input row. Empty cells = silent beats. You see the total seconds calculated at the bottom of the row.

  3. BPM auto-locks to 60

    You can't override this. If you tried via the JSON share format, RhythmFit coerces on import.

  4. Set duration as a multiple of the pattern

    For 5 reps of a 7-second pattern, set the block to 35 seconds. The engine loops the pattern automatically — you don't write out 35 beats.

How cadence words get spoken

Cadence words ("Down", "Up", "Hold") are spoken on the beat by the on-device system voice — synthesis is instant, so there's no cache or network to warm and the first rep's cue lands on time.

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