Heart Rate Zones
Your five training zones from age โ with the Karvonen method built in.
About this calculator
Enter your age and get your estimated maximum heart rate and the five standard training zones, colour-coded with what each is for. Add your resting heart rate and the zones switch to the Karvonen method โ anchored to your personal heart-rate reserve, which fits trained and untrained hearts better than raw percentages.
Using zones without fooling yourself
The two honest caveats first: max-HR formulas carry ยฑ10 bpm or more of individual variation (Tanaka's 208 โ 0.7 ร age fits populations slightly better than the classic 220 โ age, but your true max is yours alone), and wrist-watch heart rate lags and wobbles at high intensity. The training insight that survives the error bars: most people train too hard on easy days and too easy on hard days, living in zone 3 where neither adaptation is strong. The widely used 80/20 pattern โ most volume genuinely conversational in zone 2, the rest genuinely hard in 4โ5, intervals being the natural vehicle โ is what the zones are for. Measure resting HR before getting out of bed; a rising resting trend is also the classic early flag for under-recovery. Not medical advice โ symptoms belong to doctors.
Frequently asked questions
What is my max heart rate?
Formulas estimate it: Tanaka (208 โ 0.7 ร age) or the classic 220 โ age. Both carry ยฑ10 bpm of individual variation โ a hard hill sprint at the end of a workout reveals your real ceiling better than any formula.
What is the Karvonen method?
Zones computed from heart-rate reserve (max minus resting) rather than raw max: zone % ร reserve + resting. It personalises zones to your fitness, since a lower resting HR widens the reserve.
Which zone burns the most fat?
Proportionally, zone 2 โ but total calories matter more than fuel mix, and harder work burns more overall. Zone 2's real claim is different: it builds the aerobic base while staying easy enough to do a lot of.
Why is zone 2 supposed to feel so easy?
Because that's the point โ conversational pace builds mitochondria and endurance while leaving you fresh for the genuinely hard days. If you can't speak full sentences, you've drifted into zone 3.