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Heart Rate Zone Calculator
Get five heart rate training zones in beats per minute, personalized with your resting heart rate. Enter your age and resting pulse; the calculator uses the Karvonen heart-rate-reserve method and lets you estimate your maximum or enter one you have measured.
- Zone 1 · very light (50–60%)
- 120–132 bpm
- Zone 3 · moderate (70–80%)
- 144–156 bpm
- Zone 4 · hard (80–90%)
- 156–168 bpm
- Zone 5 · maximum (90–100%)
- 168–180 bpm
- Maximum heart rate
- 180 bpm
- Heart rate reserve
- 120 bpm
Your training zones
| Zone | Intensity (% of reserve) | From (bpm) | To (bpm) |
|---|
Saved setups
Save a set of inputs you reuse — your usual rate, your loan, your room sizes — and load it back in one tap.
Your recent calculations
Results you calculate here are kept on this device so you can come back to them.
Formula
How to use it
- Enter your age.
- Enter your resting heart rate, counted for a full minute soon after waking.
- Choose how to set your maximum heart rate — an estimate, or a value from a test or hard race.
- Read the beats-per-minute range for each of the five zones.
Worked examples
Age 40 with a resting heart rate of 60 (Tanaka maximum of 180)
- Maximum heart rate
- 180 bpm
- Heart rate reserve
- 120 bpm
- Zone 1 · very light (50–60%)
- 120–132 bpm
- Zone 2 · light (60–70%)
- 132–144 bpm
- Zone 3 · moderate (70–80%)
- 144–156 bpm
- Zone 4 · hard (80–90%)
- 156–168 bpm
- Zone 5 · maximum (90–100%)
- 168–180 bpm
Age 30 with a resting heart rate of 50, using 220 − age
- Maximum heart rate
- 190 bpm
- Heart rate reserve
- 140 bpm
- Zone 2 · light (60–70%)
- 134–148 bpm
- Zone 4 · hard (80–90%)
- 162–176 bpm
What the zones are for
Zone 1 (50–60% of reserve) is warm-up and recovery. Zone 2 (60–70%) is easy aerobic work you can hold a conversation in, and where most endurance training is done. Zone 3 (70–80%) is steady, moderately hard effort. Zone 4 (80–90%) is around threshold: hard, sustainable for tens of minutes. Zone 5 (90–100%) is short, near-maximal intervals.
Karvonen versus percent of maximum
Simple zone charts take a percentage of maximum heart rate. The Karvonen method takes the percentage of the gap between resting and maximum, then adds resting back on, so a fitter person with a lower resting pulse gets appropriately different zones. The numbers come out higher than straight percent-of-max zones.
Age-based maximums are averages; an individual’s true maximum is often 10 beats or more higher or lower. Some medicines, including beta blockers, lower heart rate and make these zones unsuitable.
This is an estimate for general information, not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or other qualified clinician before making health decisions based on it.
Questions people ask
What is my zone 2 heart rate?
With the Karvonen method it is resting heart rate plus 60–70% of your reserve. For a 40-year-old with a resting rate of 60 and an estimated maximum of 180, zone 2 is 132 to 144 bpm.
How do I find my resting heart rate?
Count your pulse for 60 seconds while lying still just after waking, before caffeine. Averaging a few mornings gives a steadier figure. Most adults fall between 60 and 100 bpm; trained endurance athletes are often lower.
What is heart rate reserve?
The difference between your maximum and resting heart rates. With a maximum of 180 and a resting rate of 60, the reserve is 120 bpm.