Heart Rate Zone Calculator
Find your training heart rate zones using the Karvonen method.
What is the Heart Rate Zone Calculator?
Training "zones" are heart rate ranges tied to specific training effects — easy recovery, fat burning, aerobic conditioning, or maximum effort. This tool calculates them using the Karvonen method, which accounts for your resting heart rate rather than just your age.
Why resting heart rate matters
The simpler "220 minus age" method only estimates your maximum heart rate and ignores fitness level entirely. The Karvonen method instead uses your heart rate reserve (max heart rate minus resting heart rate) as the base for every zone, which means two people of the same age but different fitness levels (and therefore different resting heart rates) get meaningfully different, more personalized zones.
The formula
Estimated max heart rate = 220 − age. Each zone's target = ((Max HR − Resting HR) × zone%) + Resting HR.
How to use it
- Enter your age and resting heart rate (measured first thing in the morning, before getting up, for the most accurate reading).
- Use the resulting zones to guide effort level on a heart rate monitor during training.
The 220-minus-age estimate for max heart rate has a documented margin of error of plus or minus 10–12 beats per minute for any given individual — a real max-heart-rate test (or a few hard interval sessions tracked over time) will always be more accurate than this population-average formula.
Want the "why" behind this tool? Read Why Your Resting Heart Rate Changes Your Training Zones.