Loading page
About this tool
Brisk-walk heart rate targets from your age and resting pulse, using ACSM intensity bands plus matching steps-per-minute cadence goals.
This calculator turns your age and resting pulse into the beats-per-minute bands that separate a stroll from a genuinely brisk walk, using the ACSM intensity classification and either percentage of maximum heart rate or the Karvonen heart rate reserve method. Maximum heart rate is estimated with the Tanaka formula (208 minus 0.7 times age), with the classic 220-minus-age and the women-specific Gulati equation offered for comparison. Each zone also carries a steps-per-minute cadence target, so you can hit the right effort without a chest strap.
Open Heart Rate Zones for Walking on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Switch between percentage of maximum heart rate and Karvonen heart rate reserve, which accounts for your fitness.
Every zone lists steps per minute from the CADENCE-Adults research, usable with any step counter.
Tanaka, the classic 220-minus-age, and Gulati's women-specific equation, with a note on when each fits.
Aim for the moderate zone, 64 to 76 percent of your maximum heart rate — about 115 to 137 bpm for a 40-year-old with an estimated maximum of 180. Total calories burned matter more than the zone, so a longer walk at a comfortable pace beats a short one at a punishing pace you cannot repeat.
About 100 steps per minute is the accepted threshold for moderate intensity in healthy adults, which for most people is roughly 5 km/h or a 12-minute kilometre. The simplest field check is the talk test: you can speak in full sentences but could not comfortably sing.
It is convenient but imprecise — it tends to overestimate maximum heart rate in younger adults and underestimate it after about 40. The Tanaka equation, 208 minus 0.7 times age, fits adult populations better, though any age-based estimate carries a standard deviation of roughly 10 bpm for an individual.
Heart rate reserve (the Karvonen method) is the better choice if you know your true resting heart rate, because it scales the zones to your own fitness rather than to age alone. Percentage of maximum is simpler and is what most fitness watches display by default, so pick one method and stay consistent rather than mixing the two.