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About this tool
Maximum aerobic function heart rate ceiling and training zone from the Maffetone 180-minus-age method.
The MAF 180 Formula, devised by Dr Philip Maffetone, produces a maximum aerobic function heart rate: subtract your age from 180, then adjust by −10, −5, 0 or +5 beats depending on illness, injury history and how long you have trained consistently. The result is a ceiling for aerobic base work, not a target to chase, and the training band is the 10 bpm immediately beneath it. This calculator applies the category rules and the age-65-plus allowance, then converts a MAF test run into pace per kilometre and per mile so you can track aerobic progress month to month.
Open MAF 180 Training Zone 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.
The four health and training modifiers, the 65-plus allowance and the fixed 165 bpm for under-16s are all built in.
Each step of the calculation is listed, so you can see exactly which adjustment produced your number.
Converts distance and time into pace per km, per mile and average speed for repeat testing at the same heart rate.
Take 180, subtract your age, then apply one adjustment: −10 if recovering from major illness, surgery or on regular medication; −5 if injured, regressing, getting more than two colds a year, or returning after a break; 0 if you have trained consistently at least four times a week for up to two years; +5 if you have trained more than two years with steady improvement and no injury. A 38-year-old in the third group gets 180 − 38 = 142 bpm.
It is a maximum. Aerobic base sessions are run at or below it, with the training band conventionally set as the 10 bpm just underneath — 132 to 142 bpm for a 142 bpm ceiling. Going above it for part of a run is what the method is specifically designed to avoid.
Every three to four weeks. Warm up for 15 minutes, then cover the same course at the same MAF heart rate and record the time. If pace is improving at an unchanged heart rate, aerobic function is improving; if it stalls or slows, the usual causes are too much high-intensity work, poor sleep, or under-recovery.
That is the intended effect — the formula deliberately sets a conservative ceiling so training stays below the point where fat oxidation drops off. Many runners have to walk hills for the first few weeks. It is a coaching heuristic rather than a lab-validated threshold, so if the number seems wildly wrong for you, a lactate or gas-exchange test with a sports physician gives a personalised answer.
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