Heart rate zone calculator
Maximum heart rate comes from the Tanaka formula 208 − 0.7 × age, and the zones from the heart-rate reserve method, which also uses your resting pulse — both are population averages that an individual maximum can miss by tens of beats.
- Fat burn (60–70%)
- 136–149 bpm
- Aerobic (70–80%)
- 149–162 bpm
- Anaerobic (80–90%)
- 162–174 bpm
Basis of the calculation
Maximum heart rate uses the Tanaka formula (208 − 0.7 × age), which is more accurate than the older 220 − age. Zones use the heart-rate reserve method, which accounts for your resting rate.
Rates and thresholds
- Maximum heart rate (Tanaka)
- 208 − 0.7 × age
- The older rule of thumb
- 220 − age
- Heart-rate reserve (Karvonen)
- maximum heart rate − resting heart rate
- Fat-burn zone
- resting pulse + 60–70% of reserve
- Aerobic zone
- resting pulse + 70–80% of reserve
- Anaerobic zone
- resting pulse + 80–90% of reserve
How do I work out maximum heart rate?
The Tanaka formula 208 − 0.7 × age is the common one today: at 30 it gives 208 − 21 = 187 beats per minute. The older 220 − age rule would give 190 and tends to underestimate the young and overestimate the old. Both are averages, not a maximum you have measured.
What do the heart rate zones mean?
Zones split effort into bands between resting and maximum pulse. For a 30-year-old with a resting pulse of 60, the maximum is 187 and the reserve is 127 beats; 60–70% of that reserve gives a zone of 136–149 beats per minute. The lower zone sustains for hours, the higher one for short repeats.
Can I trust zones calculated from age?
Not fully. Real maximum heart rate varies by ten beats or more between people of the same age, and some medicines — beta blockers among them — lower it markedly. If your pulse behaves oddly under load, or chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness appear, the answer is a doctor, not a calculator.
Related calculators
- BMI calculator
- Calorie calculator
- Ideal weight calculator
- Body fat calculator
- Pregnancy week calculator
- Ovulation calculator