Heart Rate Zone Calculator
Estimate your maximum heart rate and get five training zones in beats per minute – by % of max, Karvonen or the Olympiatoppen scale.
Age formulas only estimate maximum heart rate – people of the same age typically differ by about 10 bpm either way. Not medical advice: talk to a doctor before hard training if you have a heart condition.
About this tool
Estimate your maximum heart rate from your age (Tanaka’s 208 − 0.7 × age or the classic 220 − age) or enter one you have measured, then get five heart rate zones in beats per minute. Choose zones as a percentage of maximum, the Karvonen method based on heart rate reserve, or the Norwegian Olympiatoppen intensity scale. The moderate and vigorous ranges used in exercise guidelines are shown too.
Frequently asked questions
Tanaka’s 208 − 0.7 × age comes from a 2001 analysis of 351 studies with 18,712 people and was confirmed in a lab study of 514 adults. It gives the same result as 220 − age at 40 (180 bpm), but at 70 the old formula is about 10 bpm too low: 150 versus 159 bpm. A measured maximum beats both.
Multiply your maximum heart rate by the zone percentages. With a maximum of 180 bpm, zone 2 (60–70%) is 108–126 bpm and zone 4 (80–90%) is 144–162 bpm. These are the five zones Polar uses: 50–60, 60–70, 70–80, 80–90 and 90–100% of maximum.
It adds your resting heart rate: target = (max − resting) × intensity + resting. For a 25-year-old with a maximum of 195 and a resting pulse of 65, 60–70% gives 130 × 0.6 + 65 = 143 to 130 × 0.7 + 65 = 156 bpm. Zones come out higher than with % of max, especially at low intensity.
The American Heart Association uses 50–70% of maximum heart rate for moderate exercise and 70–85% for vigorous exercise. For a 50-year-old with an estimated maximum of 220 − 50 = 170 bpm, moderate is 85–119 bpm.
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