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About this tool
Find your max heart rate and five training zones in real bpm, using Tanaka or Karvonen, with the zone to actually train in.
The Heart Rate Training Zones gives you your estimated maximum heart rate and all five training zones in real beats per minute, using your choice of three max-HR formulas — Tanaka (208 - 0.7 x age), Fox (220 - age) or Gulati for women (206 - 0.88 x age) — and either percentage of max or the Karvonen heart rate reserve method. Pick a goal such as fat loss, endurance base, race speed or general health and it names the single zone to train in and the bpm window that goes with it. You can also override the estimate with a measured max from a lab or field test, and copy the whole zone card as text for your training log.
Open Heart Rate Training Zones on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter your Age and Resting heart rate (bpm), or tick I have a tested max HR and fill Measured max HR (bpm).
Pick a Max HR formula — Tanaka 208 − 0.7 × age, Fox 220 − age or Gulati (women) 206 − 0.88 × age — then a Zone method, % of max HR or Karvonen (HR reserve).
Choose Fat loss, Endurance base, Race speed or General health under Which zone should I train in?, then press Copy zone card.
Tanaka, Fox and Gulati side by side, each with a note on where it came from and who it fits.
Choosing fat loss, base, speed or health highlights the target zone and explains why that band and not another.
Your resting pulse is placed in a band from athletic to higher-than-ideal, and rates above 100 bpm are flagged.
Tanaka — 208 - 0.7 x age — is the default here because it comes from a meta-analysis of 351 studies covering more than 18,000 people and tracks measured maximums better across the age range. Fox (220 - age) was never derived by proper regression and overestimates in younger people while underestimating in older ones. For women, Gulati (206 - 0.88 x age), built from a study of over 5,000 women, is usually the better fit.
Zone 2 is 60-70% intensity — an easy, conversational pace you can hold for 45 minutes to 3 hours. It drives mitochondrial density, capillary growth and stroke volume, which is why it forms the bulk of endurance training. A common structure is roughly 80% of weekly time easy in Zones 1-2 and 20% hard in Zones 4-5.
Use Karvonen if you know your resting heart rate — it applies each percentage to your heart rate reserve (max minus resting) and adds resting back, so it adapts to your conditioning and produces higher, more realistic easy zones. Percentage of max is simpler but ignores resting rate entirely, which tends to set Zone 1 and Zone 2 too low for trained people.
The normal adult range is 60-100 bpm; under 60 is common in well-trained endurance athletes, 60-70 is good, 70-80 is average and above 80 sits at the top of normal. A resting rate persistently above 100 bpm is tachycardia and worth raising with a doctor, as is a resting rate that climbs steadily over several weeks without a change in training.