Calculate Your Target Heart Rate
Use the target heart rate calculator to find your heart rate zone during physical activity.
Each zone is a range of heart rates for one kind of effort, from very light to maximal. Your numbers depend on your max heart rate and, if you add it, your resting heart rate.
Keep reading to learn more about this handy heart rate tool.
Example: age 40, zone 2 on max heart rate
108 to 125bpm
Zone 2 (light) for you is 108 to 125 bpm, 60 to 70% of your max heart rate from the Tanaka formula.
This is an estimate: a formula typically misses the true max by about 11 bpm either way, so a measured max beats any formula. Enter your own details above to replace this example.
Max heart rate
180 bpm
Tanaka 2001 formula. AHA target zone, 50 to 85% of max: 90 to 153 bpm.
Zone 2 on heart rate reserve
132 to 143 bpm
Your watch may use this basis instead; it reads 24 bpm higher at the start and 18 at the end.
Peak fat burning, on average
about 111 bpm
Across 300 adults, fat burning peaked at 61.5% of max on average. How much fat each person burned varied widely, mostly for reasons the study could not explain. Fat loss follows the calories you burn over the week, not the zone. Calories at your heart rate
The five zones most heart rate watches use: a training convention, not limits measured in you. Filled: zone 2.
| Zone | On max heart rate | On reserve |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 1Very light, 50 to 60% | 90 to 107 | 120 to 131 |
| Zone 2Light, 60 to 70% | 108 to 125 | 132 to 143 |
| Zone 3Moderate, 70 to 80% | 126 to 143 | 144 to 155 |
| Zone 4Hard, 80 to 90% | 144 to 161 | 156 to 167 |
| Zone 5Maximum, 90 to 100% | 162 to 180 | 168 to 180 |
- CaloriesHeart rate calorie calculatorHow many calories a workout burns at your average heart rate.
- TrainingZone 2 trainingOur guide to easy aerobic training.
- FitnessVO2 max calculatorEstimate your aerobic fitness from a field test.
Your max heart rate comes from the Tanaka 2001 formula: 208 minus 0.7 times your age, which gives 180 bpm. Each zone is a range of percentages of that max, as the zone table shows.
Sources: Tanaka 2001; Nes 2013; Abdelmoneim 2015; American Heart Association; Swain 1997; Polar heart rate zones; Venables 2005; Melanson 2009; NCHS resting pulse 2011
Why is Your Target Heart Rate Important?
The intensity at which you perform a physical activity is an important component of getting in shape, achieving your performance goals, or engaging in physical movement, in general.
Johns Hopkins cardiologist Seth Martin, M.D., M.P.H. defined target heart rate zone perfectly in simple terms… “Think of it as the “sweet spot” between not exercising hard enough and overexerting.”
Benefits of aiming for a specific heart rate zone include:
Improving cardiovascular endurance and overall fitness
To build up your cardio fitness, especially if you want to get better at one or various faster-paced activities, you will have to turn up the intensity and keep it there for the required duration.
Conditioning comes from building up the heart and gradually increasing activity.
“A higher heart rate is a good thing that leads to greater fitness,” says Johns Hopkins cardiologist Michael Blaha, M.D., M.P.H.
Your goals, what you’re trying to achieve, or the effort you are willing to put forth all play a role in how you approach your activities.
Keep in mind though, that, as with anything, if you want to get better at something, you have to be consistent and approach your activities based on your specific goal/s, also known as specificity.
Not everyone is interested in doing super-intense workouts. For some, a short and light jog, fast walking, or maybe even a rope jumping session is more appealing.
Each activity involves a level of intensity and you can ensure you’re getting the most out of your efforts by monitoring and maintaining your heart rate.
Prevent overstressing your heart
When it comes to physical fitness, not everyone is at the same level. In other words, you are not going to be able to run as far as a long-distance runner in the same amount of time if you don’t train for it.
But then there are things like medical conditions that prevent some people from being able to do very high-intensity activities or exercises/workouts.
That’s why it’s recommended to have an idea of your optimal heart rate range and aim to perform somewhere within that zone.
Burn calories and lose fat
Exercise adds to the calories you burn. Fat loss follows the balance between what you eat and what you burn over the week, whatever zone you train in.
Of course, you could simply eat fewer calories and not exercise to lose weight, but then you won’t get the benefits of exercise.
Moving your body at a decent intensity also raises the calories you burn for a while after you stop, known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).
Plus, activity helps to stave off disease and keep your body healthier which plays an important role in weight management.
Really, there are many benefits of being active.
Resting Heart Rate
Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute when your body is at rest. The calculator does not need it for zones on max heart rate; zones on heart rate reserve do.
The fitter you are, the lower your resting heart rate will be on average because your heart doesn’t have to work as hard.
But other factors such as age, medications, etc can also affect resting heart rate.
If you are not sure how to take your pulse, don’t worry, it’s simple. There are a few different ways that you can check your heart rate.
Here are the different common methods to measure your pulse or heart rate:
- Place your index and middle finger on the inside of your opposite wrist against the radial artery and count the number of pulses per minute.
- Place your index and middle finger on the neck against the carotid artery and count the number of pulses per minute.
- Use a heart rate monitor/device or fitness tracker.
- Rate how hard the effort feels (RPE, rate of perceived exertion). It does not measure your pulse, but it is a useful guide to effort when you can’t check it.
To take your pulse at the radial artery:
If using the index and middle fingers of the left hand on the right wrist
- Place the tips of your index and middle fingers just below the crease of your wrist on the right side of the forearm tendon.
Count the numbers of pulses in one minute and that is your resting heart rate.
If using the index and middle fingers of the right hand on the left wrist
- Place the tips of your index and middle fingers just below the crease of your wrist on the left side of the forearm tendon.
Count the numbers of pulses in one minute and that is your resting heart rate.
How To Use The Target Heart Rate Calculator
Using this handy tool is very simple. Only your age is required.
Here are the steps to use the calculator.
- Enter your age and pick a max heart rate formula. Tanaka is the default.
- Add your resting heart rate if you want zones on heart rate reserve. You can type it or count your pulse for 30 seconds.
- If you measured your max in a hard test or race, enter it. It replaces the formula. You can also add a threshold heart rate from a 30-minute test.
- Choose how to show the zones (% of max, % of reserve or threshold test) and the zone to show.
- Press Work out my heart rate zones.
The Results
Now it’s time to evaluate your results and explain how the calculator works.
The calculator gives your max heart rate and how far a formula can miss it, five training zones on max heart rate (and on heart rate reserve if you add a resting rate), and Friel’s run zones if you add a 30-minute threshold test.
Maximal heart rate is defined as the greatest number of beats your heart can do during physical activity.
The traditional rule subtracts your age from 220. The calculator starts from the Tanaka formula, 208 – 0.7 x age, fitted on 18,712 people, and also offers Nes, Gulati (for women) and 220 minus age. The example below uses the traditional rule.
So, for example, let’s say you’re 29 years old. You’ll subtract 29 from 220: 220 – 29 = 191. Your maximal heart rate is 191.
Heart rate zones are five bands of effort: 50 to 60%, 60 to 70%, 70 to 80%, 80 to 90% and 90 to 100%. The calculator applies them to your max heart rate and, when you add a resting heart rate, to your heart rate reserve as well.
For zones on heart rate reserve, the calculator uses the Karvonen, or heart rate reserve (HRR), formula.
Karvonen formula: target = resting heart rate + intensity x (max heart rate – resting heart rate).
First, you have to find HRR. To do this, subtract resting heart rate from maximal heart rate.
So, using the same example from before, you’ll take 191 (max heart rate) and subtract 68 (resting heart rate): 191 – 68 = 123. Your HRR is 123.
The Karvonen formula takes HRR and multiplies it by a percentage range of physical activity intensity. So, let’s use 50% intensity, the lower end of zone 1, as an example.
123 (HRR) x 50% or .50 (intensity) = 61.5
The last step is to add the resting heart rate.
61.5 + 68 = 129.5 beats per minute (bpm)
With 220 minus age, a 29-year-old with a resting heart rate of 68 has a max of 191, and 50% intensity on heart rate reserve is 129.5 bpm, which the calculator rounds to 130. With the Tanaka default, the max is 188 and the same point is 128 bpm.
What Are The Best Activities To Get Your Heart Rate Up?
While physical activity is very much a preference-based category, we can certainly recommend workouts and methods that’ll get your heart pumping.
Here’s a list of great activity choices with lots of great information and pre-planned workouts that you can try.
- High-intensity interval training
- Steady-state cardio
- Circuit training
- Powerlifting programs
- Calisthenics training
- Complexes
- Tabata workouts
- Jumping rope
- Short and intense workouts
- Prison workouts
- MMA workouts
- Metcon (metabolic conditioning) workouts
- EMOM (every minute on the minute) workouts
- Viking workouts
- Zombie apocalypse training
- Assault bike workouts
- Workout games
- Walking at a brisk pace
- Sports
- Whatever physical activity you enjoy doing!
You can also learn how to structure your own workouts using this helpful guide.
Wrapping Up
Well, there you have it! By paying attention to your heart rate during physical activities, you’ll ensure that your efforts are not in vain.
While the heart rate calculator will help you find your target heart rate zone, fitness trackers or pulse monitoring devices are great tools to check that your heart rate stays in the zone you’re aiming for.
To get results, you should be training with appropriate intensity and consistently. You don’t want to do too little but you also want to be sure that you are not pushing yourself too hard as this is unhealthy.
We hope you found this calculator and information helpful for your active lifestyle!
