Heart rate zone calculator
Updated 16 July 2026
Enter your age and this calculator estimates your maximum heart rate with the Tanaka formula (208 minus 0.7 × age), then splits it into the five standard training zones. Add your resting heart rate to get more personal zones using the Karvonen method.
Zone 2 is where most of your cardio time should sit if you train for general fitness: easy enough to hold a conversation, hard enough to build your aerobic base.
Estimated maximum heart rate
…
Enter your age to see your zones.
| Zone | Heart rate | How it feels | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 · Recovery | … | Very easy. Full conversation is comfortable. | Warm ups, cool downs, and active recovery days. |
| Zone 2 · Endurance | … | Easy. You can talk in full sentences. | The base zone. Most weekly cardio time belongs here. |
| Zone 3 · Tempo | … | Moderate. Short sentences only. | Sustained steady efforts of 20 to 60 minutes. |
| Zone 4 · Threshold | … | Hard. A few words at a time. | Intervals of 4 to 10 minutes near your lactate threshold. |
| Zone 5 · Maximal | … | Very hard. No talking. | Short intervals of 30 seconds to 3 minutes. |
How to find your heart rate zones
- 1 Enter your age Your age sets your estimated maximum heart rate using the Tanaka formula.
- 2 Add your resting heart rate (optional) Measure your resting heart rate first thing in the morning and enter it for personalised Karvonen zones based on your heart rate reserve.
- 3 Train by the zones Read the five zones and their beats per minute ranges, then use them to pitch each cardio session at the right effort.
How this is calculated
Your maximum heart rate is estimated with the Tanaka formula: 208 minus 0.7 × age, from a meta analysis of 351 studies covering more than 18,000 people. With age alone, each zone is a percentage band of that maximum.
If you add a resting heart rate, the calculator switches to the Karvonen method: zones become percentages of your heart rate reserve (maximum minus resting), added back on top of your resting rate. That personalises the bands to your current fitness rather than your age alone.
Any formula is an estimate. If you have measured your true max in a race or test, use that number instead; and if you take medication that affects heart rate, zones based on feel and the talk test are more reliable than any calculation.
Common questions
Why not use 220 minus age?
The 220 minus age rule is older and drifts badly for people over 40. The Tanaka formula (208 minus 0.7 × age) came from a meta analysis of 351 studies and tracks measured maxes more closely across all ages.
What does adding my resting heart rate change?
It switches the calculation to the Karvonen method, which works from your heart rate reserve (max minus resting). Two people the same age with different fitness levels get different zones, which is the point: fitter hearts have lower resting rates and earn wider zones.
What is Zone 2 training?
Zone 2 is easy aerobic work at roughly 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate, where you can still talk in full sentences. It builds mitochondrial fitness and endurance with minimal recovery cost, which is why endurance coaches put most weekly volume there.
My watch shows different zones. Which is right?
Watches use their own formulas and some estimate your max from workout data. Any consistent scheme works; what matters is anchoring easy days genuinely easy and hard days genuinely hard, not whose zone boundaries you borrow.
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