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Target Heart Rate Calculator

Training zones from maximum or heart rate reserve.

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Your training zones

Every formula compared

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Maximum heart rate

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Key targets

Heart rate reserve—
Moderate (50–70%)—
Vigorous (70–85%)—
Aerobic threshold—

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Easy pace — where most training should live

Age-based maximums carry a standard deviation of around 10 to 12 beats per minute, so a measured maximum from a hard test or race beats any formula. If you have a heart condition or are new to exercise, get advice before training at high intensity.

Quick Tool Overview

The Target Heart Rate Calculator finds your maximum heart rate and the five training zones beneath it in beats per minute. It offers both the age-based estimate and the Karvonen heart rate reserve method, which uses your resting pulse to personalise the ranges.

What it does
Calculates maximum heart rate and five training zones
You give it
Your age, and optionally your resting heart rate
You get back
Five zones as beats-per-minute ranges with what each trains
Best for
Structuring cardio sessions and endurance training
Calculators Free, unlimited use No sign-up Runs in your browser

About the Target Heart Rate Calculator

Calculate your maximum heart rate and the five training zones that sit beneath it, in beats per minute. Two methods are offered: the simple age-based estimate, and the Karvonen heart rate reserve method, which uses your resting pulse and is the more personal of the two.

Zones exist because different intensities produce different adaptations. Easy work builds the aerobic base that everything else rests on, threshold work raises the pace you can hold, and short hard efforts develop peak capacity. Most recreational athletes spend too much time in the middle, where the work is hard enough to tire them but not hard enough to drive adaptation, which is exactly the mistake a zone table makes visible.

Key features of the Target Heart Rate Calculator

Two methods

The simple age formula, and the Karvonen reserve method that personalises zones once you supply a resting heart rate.

Tanaka as well as 220 minus age

The Tanaka formula fits measured data better, especially over 40, and is shown next to the familiar one.

Five zones, each explained

Recovery through to maximum, with the adaptation each zone actually drives rather than just a colour.

The fat-burning zone myth

The page explains why total energy matters more than the proportion of fat used at low intensity.

Instant, private and free

No account, and nothing leaves your browser.

How to use the Target Heart Rate Calculator

  1. 1

    Enter your age

    Maximum heart rate is estimated from it using the Tanaka formula, with the classic 220 minus age shown alongside.

  2. 2

    Add resting heart rate

    Optional. Supplying it switches on the Karvonen method, which personalises the zones to your fitness.

  3. 3

    Read the zones

    Five zones from recovery to maximum, each as a beats-per-minute range with what it trains.

  4. 4

    Check against a real session

    Compare the numbers to what you see on a monitor, and trust the monitor if a measured max differs.

Frequently asked questions

The familiar estimate is 220 minus your age. The Tanaka formula, 208 minus 0.7 times age, fits measured data better, especially for people over about 40.

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