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About this tool
Calculate your maximum heart rate and target training zones for optimal fitness results.
The Heart Rate Zones Calculator estimates your maximum heart rate with the Tanaka formula — 208 minus 0.7 times your age — and turns it into five training zones in beats per minute. Enter age alone and the zones are plain percentages of max HR; add your resting heart rate and it switches to the Karvonen method, which works from heart rate reserve (max minus resting) so the numbers reflect your own conditioning. It is for runners, cyclists and gym users who want real bpm targets to program into a watch instead of a vague 'moderate effort'.
Open Heart Rate Zones Calculator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Uses 208 - 0.7 x age, which has a smaller error spread across adult ages than the old 220 rule.
Adding one number switches the maths to heart rate reserve, raising the low zones to realistic intensities.
Each band shows its bpm range alongside what it trains — recovery, endurance, aerobic, capacity or maximum.
This tool uses the Tanaka formula: 208 - (0.7 x age). A 40-year-old gets 180 bpm, a 30-year-old 187 bpm and a 55-year-old about 170 bpm. It is a population estimate with an individual spread of roughly 10 bpm either way, so a lab or field max test remains more accurate for you personally.
Karvonen works from heart rate reserve: target = ((max HR - resting HR) x intensity) + resting HR, so your resting pulse anchors the bottom of the scale. Straight percentage of max ignores resting HR entirely and produces lower targets — at 70% intensity a 40-year-old with a resting HR of 60 gets 144 bpm by Karvonen but only 126 bpm by percentage of max.
Zone 1 is 50-60% (recovery), Zone 2 is 60-70% (basic endurance and fat burning), Zone 3 is 70-80% (aerobic fitness), Zone 4 is 80-90% (performance capacity) and Zone 5 is 90-100% (maximum speed and power). Most endurance plans keep the large majority of weekly volume in Zones 1-2.
Count your pulse for a full 60 seconds first thing in the morning, before getting out of bed or drinking coffee, and average three consecutive days. Typical adult values are 60-100 bpm, with trained endurance athletes often in the 40s. If your resting rate is persistently above 100 or below 40 without training to explain it, raise it with a doctor.
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