Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) Coach

Routine plan

{{ stepsCount }} steps · {{ presetLabel }}

Tense {{ tense_s }}s Relax {{ relax_s }}s Rest {{ rest_s }}s Sides {{ sidesLabel }} {{ strainTargetLabel }} Active plan locked

Preset:

Choose Standard 16, Quick 8, Mini 6, or Custom before starting.

Tense duration:

Enter seconds per muscle-group tense phase; typical range is 5-10.

Relax duration:

Enter seconds for relaxing after each contraction; longer values slow the routine.

Rest between groups:

Enter seconds of rest between groups; 0 moves directly onward.

Sides:

Choose Split for left/right practice or Both together for a shorter routine.

Strain target:

Choose gentle, moderate, or firm effort; avoid painful contractions.

Countdown:

Enter seconds before the first guided contraction starts.

Audio beeps:

Use 0-100%; current level appears beside the slider.

{{ audio_volume }}%

Beep frequency:

Enter Hz for the beep tone; 400-900 is a practical range.

Beep duration:

Enter milliseconds per beep; minimum 40 ms.

Speak step names:

Turn on for spoken group and phase cues when speech synthesis is available.

Vibrate on phase:

Turn on for vibration at tense, relax, rest, release, or scan boundaries.

Prevent screen sleep:

Turn on for longer routines; browser support varies.

Easing:

Choose Sine, Linear, or Ease-in-out for the ring motion feel.

Release breath:

Enter 0-20 seconds after each relax phase.

Body scan:

Enter 0-30 seconds for the post-group scan phase.

#	Muscle group	Side	Tense (s)	Relax (s)	Release (s)	Rest (s)	Scan (s)	Step total (s)	Focus cue	Copy
{{ row.idx }}	{{ row.group }}	{{ row.side }}	{{ row.tense }}	{{ row.relax }}	{{ row.release }}	{{ row.rest }}	{{ row.scan }}	{{ row.total }}	{{ row.cue }}

#	Phase	Group	Start	Elapsed (s)	Duration (s)	Copy
{{ r.idx }}	{{ r.phase }}	{{ r.group }}	{{ r.startLocal }}	{{ r.elapsed.toFixed(2) }}	{{ r.duration.toFixed(2) }}
No data yet. Start a session.

Load bucket	Seconds	Share	Clinical note	Copy
{{ row.label }}	{{ formatNumber(row.seconds, 2) }}	{{ formatNumber(row.share, 1) }}%	{{ row.note }}

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Muscle tension is one of the easiest stress signals to miss because it often builds quietly. A clenched jaw, raised shoulders, tight hands, shallow breathing, or braced legs can feel normal after a long day. Progressive muscle relaxation, usually shortened to PMR, makes those patterns easier to notice by pairing a brief, deliberate contraction with a clear release.

The word progressive matters. PMR does not ask the whole body to relax on command. It moves through one muscle group at a time so the contrast between effort and release is easier to feel. The contraction should be controlled and pain-free, then released all at once while attention stays on the change in sensation. Over time, that repeated contrast can help a person recognize tension earlier and choose a calmer response before it spreads.

PMR is commonly used for stress management, bedtime settling, and body awareness practice. It can sit beside breathing exercises, sleep hygiene work, therapy homework, or general relaxation routines, but it is not a diagnosis, cure, or measure of mental health. Its practical value comes from repeatable pacing: a known body map, a steady tense-relax rhythm, enough recovery time, and a clear reason to skip any area that hurts.

A simple progressive muscle relaxation loop from tense to release to noticing the difference.

A useful PMR routine is not judged by how hard the muscles are squeezed. It is judged by whether the sequence stays comfortable enough to repeat and slow enough for the release to register. Many guides describe holding tension for only a few seconds, then relaxing for longer. Some routines work from the feet upward, others from the face downward, and shorter versions combine muscle groups once the contrast feels familiar.

Effort should stay moderate. A deliberate contraction is enough; pain, cramping, or breath-holding is a sign to reduce effort or skip the area.
Order helps attention. A body map prevents the practice from becoming a vague attempt to relax everything at once.
Recovery time changes the feel. Longer release, rest, or scan periods make the routine slower and may be better for bedtime or anxious tension.
Practice changes usefulness. PMR is a skill, so a first session may feel mechanical before the contrast becomes easier to recognize.

PMR also has boundaries. Deliberately tensing muscles can be the wrong choice for an injured area, a recent surgery site, severe back problem, muscle spasm, or a pain condition that flares with contraction. Emotional discomfort can also arise during relaxation practice for some people. In those cases, stopping, switching to a gentler relaxation method, or asking a qualified clinician is more appropriate than pushing through the sequence.

How to Use This Tool:

Choose the body map, timing, and cues before pressing Start. Once a run begins, the active plan is locked so a session is not changed halfway through by an accidental slider move.

Select Preset. Standard 16 gives the full sequence, Quick 8 and Mini 6 combine regions for shorter sessions, and Custom uses the standard map with your timing and cue choices.
Set Tense duration, Relax duration, and Rest between groups. The summary should update the total time, step count, and phase badges as you type or move the sliders.
Choose Sides. Split (L/R) practices paired limb groups separately, while Both together combines left and right sides to shorten the plan.
Set Strain target as a reminder of intended effort. Choose gentle or moderate for most practice, and treat firm as an upper label rather than a reason to strain.
Add a Countdown if you want setup time before the first tense phase. The countdown runs before the guided muscle-group timing.
Open Advanced when you want cues or slower recovery: audio beeps, beep pitch and duration, spoken step names, vibration, screen wake lock, ring easing, release breath, and body scan.
Press Start and follow the ring, phase label, muscle group, remaining seconds, and progress bar. Use Pause for an interruption, Skip to move past an uncomfortable phase or group, and Stop to clear the active run.

If Start is disabled, check that the selected plan has at least one step and that the enabled phases add up to more than 0 seconds. If an entry changes after you type it, it has been clamped to the visible range, such as 1 to 30 seconds for tense time, 1 to 60 seconds for relax time, or 0 to 30 seconds for body scan.

Interpreting Results:

The headline routine time describes the planned guided phases for the current body map. It changes when the preset, side mode, tense time, relax time, rest time, release breath, or body scan changes. The setup countdown is separate, so the time from pressing Start can be slightly longer than the displayed routine total.

Body Map Plan is the planned sequence before the session starts. Run Timeline is the record of phases that have actually completed or been stopped during the current run. Compare those two tables when you need to confirm whether the live session followed the intended plan.

Routine Mix shows how planned seconds are divided across tense, relax, release, rest, and scan phases.
Phase Burden Audit groups the plan into tension load, recovery load, decompression cues, and session setup.
JSON gathers the current inputs, planned body map, runtime state, and timeline for later review or sharing.

A larger recovery share is not proof that the session worked better. It only means more seconds were assigned to relax, release, rest, or scan phases. The most important checks are comfort, steady breathing, pain-free contraction, and whether the timeline reflects the practice you meant to complete.

Technical Details:

PMR timing is a repeated sequence problem. Each step visits one muscle group and runs the enabled phases in the same order: tense, relax, optional release breath, optional rest, and optional body scan. The body map determines the number of steps. The phase durations determine the length of each step.

Side handling is applied before the timing calculation. Symmetrical limb groups can become separate left and right steps. Central groups such as face and jaw, chest, abdomen, and shoulders stay single steps. Starting a session freezes the current step order and phase order for the active run, which keeps the live timer consistent even if the editable fields would otherwise change.

Formula Core:

The planned routine duration is the current step count multiplied by the seconds assigned to one guided step. Optional phases add 0 seconds when their controls are set to 0.

s_{step} = s_{tense} + s_{relax} + s_{release} + s_{rest} + s_{scan}

s_{routine} = N \times s_{step}

s_{run} = s_{countdown} + s_{routine}

Here N is the current step count after the preset and side mode are applied. With Standard 16, Split (L/R), 7 seconds tense, 20 seconds relax, 5 seconds rest, and no release breath or body scan, one step is 32 seconds. The routine is 16 x 32 = 512 seconds, or 8 minutes 32 seconds. A 3-second countdown makes the full start-to-finish run 515 seconds.

Preset and side mode effect on PMR step counts
Preset	Both sides together	Split left/right	Practical effect
Standard 16	10 steps	16 steps	Full body map with separate paired limbs when split.
Quick 8	8 steps	12 steps	Combined regions shorten the pass while still allowing left-right limb practice.
Mini 6	6 steps	8 steps	Largest muscle-group combinations for the shortest guided map.
Custom	10 steps	16 steps	Uses the standard body map with custom timing and cue settings.

The phase audit converts the same timing plan into categories that are easier to compare. Tension load is active contraction time. Recovery load combines the phases where the muscles are released or attention is settling. Decompression cues are the optional release-breath and body-scan seconds. Session setup is countdown time before the first contraction.

PMR timing validation ranges
Setting	Minimum	Maximum	Timing effect
Tense duration	1 s	30 s	Contraction seconds added to every step.
Relax duration	1 s	60 s	Release seconds added to every step.
Rest between groups	0 s	30 s	Optional transition time after each group.
Release breath	0 s	20 s	Optional post-relax exhale-settle phase.
Body scan	0 s	30 s	Optional check-in after each muscle group.
Countdown	0 s	60 s	Setup time before the guided routine begins.

The ring, progress bar, beeps, spoken names, vibration, and wake-lock request are cues. They do not measure muscle force, breathing, heart rate, sleep quality, or relaxation depth. The auditable outputs are the planned body map, timing math, chart shares, phase audit, JSON, and completed timeline rows.

Responsible Use Note:

PMR planning is informational and should not replace professional medical or mental health advice. A timer can organize practice, but it cannot decide whether deliberate muscle contraction is safe for a specific body, injury, or condition.

Skip painful, injured, recently operated, cramped, or medically sensitive areas.
Stop the run if tensing increases pain, panic, dizziness, breath-holding, or emotional distress.
Use Strain target as an intention label, not as measured force or clinical intensity.
Browser speech, vibration, audio, and wake-lock behavior depend on device support and permissions.
The routine plan, timeline, and JSON are generated in the browser; copy or download actions happen only when you choose them.

Worked Examples:

Default full pass. Standard 16 with Split (L/R) creates 16 steps. With 7 seconds tense, 20 seconds relax, 5 seconds rest, and no optional release or scan phases, Routine Mix shows 112 seconds of tense time, 320 seconds of relax time, and 80 seconds of rest time. The routine total is 8 minutes 32 seconds before the countdown.

Short reset between tasks. Quick 8 with Both together, 5 seconds tense, 15 seconds relax, and 0 seconds rest creates 8 steps and 160 planned seconds. The shorter map fits a small break, but it gives less room to compare left and right limb sensations.

Slower bedtime pacing. Mini 6 with Both together, 5 seconds tense, 20 seconds relax, 3 seconds rest, 4 seconds release breath, and 10 seconds body scan creates a 42-second step. The routine total becomes 252 seconds before countdown, and Phase Burden Audit shows more recovery load because release, rest, and scan time are included in every step.

Out-of-range correction. If Tense duration is typed as 45 seconds, the value is clamped to the 30-second maximum. Recheck the summary badges and the Body Map Plan row totals before pressing Start, because that corrected value is what the live session will use.

Discomfort during a group. If calves cramp during a firm split-side run, use Skip or Stop, then lower Strain target, shorten Tense duration, or leave that area out of practice. The timer is a cueing aid, not a reason to continue a painful contraction.

FAQ:

Does Custom let me enter my own muscle list?

No. Custom uses the standard body map and lets you adjust timing, side mode, strain target, release breath, body scan, and cue settings.

Why does Quick 8 sometimes show more than 8 steps?

Quick 8 has 8 base groups, but Split (L/R) separates paired limb groups. With split sides, Quick 8 becomes 12 steps and Mini 6 becomes 8 steps.

Why did my typed number change?

Timing and cue fields are clamped to their allowed ranges. For example, tense time cannot go below 1 second or above 30 seconds, and beep duration snaps to 10 ms increments between 40 and 500 ms.

Can PMR treat insomnia, anxiety, or pain?

PMR may be used as a relaxation or stress-management practice, but the PMR coach does not diagnose or treat a condition. Use professional guidance for persistent sleep problems, anxiety, pain, trauma symptoms, or medical concerns.

Do I need audio, speech, or vibration cues?

No. The visual ring, phase label, group name, remaining seconds, and progress bar are enough for a silent session. Beeps, spoken names, vibration, and screen wake lock are optional browser features.

What should I export after a session?

Use Body Map Plan for the intended schedule, Run Timeline for what happened during the active run, Routine Mix for phase shares, Phase Burden Audit for timing categories, and JSON when you need the full structured record.

Glossary:

PMR: Progressive muscle relaxation, a practice that alternates deliberate muscle tension with release and awareness.
Tense phase: The short contraction period for the current muscle group.
Relax phase: The release period after contraction, used to notice the change in sensation.
Body map: The ordered list of muscle groups used for the routine.
Release breath: An optional exhale-settle phase after the relax phase.
Body scan: An optional check-in after a muscle group before the next group begins.
Strain target: The selected effort label, such as gentle, moderate, or firm; it is not measured force.

References:

Relaxation Techniques: What You Need To Know, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, June 2021.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Whole Health Library.
Progressive muscle relaxation, NHS inform, 09 December 2025.
Relaxation techniques: Try these steps to lower stress, Mayo Clinic.
Efficacy of Progressive Muscle Relaxation in Adults for Stress, Anxiety, and Depression: A Systematic Review, Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 2024.