Find your heart rate training zones. Pick the Karvonen method (factors in your fitness) or standard formula. Know when you're burning fat, building endurance, or pushing your threshold.
| Zone | Name | % Range | Heart Rate | RPERate of Perceived Exertion: how hard it feels on 1-10 scale. | Talk Test |
|---|
Based on your goal:
| Zone | Karvonen (HRR) | Standard (% Max) | Difference |
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Use these when you don't have a heart rate monitor:
| RPE | Zone | Description | Can Talk? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Zone 1 | Very light | Can sing |
| 3-4 | Zone 2 | Light | Full sentences |
| 5-6 | Zone 3 | Moderate | Short phrases |
| 7-8 | Zone 4 | Hard | Few words |
| 9-10 | Zone 5 | Maximum | Can't talk |
| Age | Max HR | Zone 2 (60-70%) | Zone 3 (70-80%) | Zone 4 (80-90%) |
|---|
This calculator shows your training zones. You need your age and resting heart rate.
Two methods: Karvonen and Standard.
Karvonen uses your Heart Rate Reserve (max minus resting). It accounts for fitness. Fitter people have lower resting rates—the formula factors this in. More accurate, but you need to measure your resting HR.
Standard is simpler. Just percentages of your max. Works for most people. Doesn't account for fitness differences though.
Do this first thing in the morning.
Before you get out of bed, lie still for five minutes. Count your pulse for 60 seconds—fingers on your wrist or neck, not your thumb. Do this several days and average the results.
Your resting rate tells you a lot about fitness and recovery. If it's 5-10 bpm above normal one morning, your body hasn't recovered. Rest or train easy that day.
Back to CalculatorZones are heartbeat ranges. Each range triggers different body adaptations.
Most people mess this up. They go too hard on easy days, not hard enough on hard days. Everything ends up in the middle—the "gray zone" problem.
Zone 1 is easy recovery. Zone 5 is all-out. Everything in between has its purpose.
Know your zones and you'll know exactly when you're burning fat, building endurance, or pushing your threshold. No more guessing.
Back to CalculatorMax HR's the highest your heart can beat during all-out effort.
Classic formula: 220 minus your age. A 35-year-old gets 185 bpm. Simple but can be off by 10-15 beats for many people.
Better formulas exist—Tanaka (208 - 0.7 × age) or Gulati for women (206 - 0.88 × age). Still estimates though, since genetics plays a huge role.
Max HR varies wildly between people. Two 35-year-olds in similar shape can differ by 20 bpm. Training doesn't change your max much—it's mostly genetic. Your max also drops about 1 beat per year after 30, which is normal aging and doesn't mean you're losing fitness.
Want your actual max? Get tested at a sports medicine clinic. Or field test yourself—but only if you're healthy and experienced.
Field test: warm up thoroughly, push progressively harder for 3 minutes, then sprint all-out for 1-2 minutes. Your peak rate is your max.
Don't do this if you have heart issues. Stop immediately if you feel chest pain or dizziness.
RHR's your rate when completely at rest. Measured in the morning before getting up.
Normal: 60-100 bpm. Athletes: 40-60 bpm. Some elite cyclists and runners have RHRs in the 30s. Lower is better because a stronger heart pumps more blood per beat, so it doesn't need to beat as often. Though if you're below 40 bpm without being an athlete, see a doctor.
Lots of things affect RHR beyond fitness—stress, poor sleep, dehydration, illness, caffeine. If your morning RHR's up 5-10 bpm from baseline, something's off. Maybe you need rest. Maybe you're fighting a cold.
You can improve RHR with training. Most people drop 5-15 beats after several months of regular aerobic exercise.
Karvonen uses Heart Rate Reserve—max minus resting. This reserve represents your heart's working range. Fitter people have lower resting rates—the formula accounts for this.
Formula: Target HR = ((Max - Resting) × %Intensity) + Resting
Example: max of 185, resting of 60. That's a reserve of 125 bpm. For Zone 2 at 60%: ((185 - 60) × 0.60) + 60 = 135 bpm. For 70%: ((185 - 60) × 0.70) + 60 = 147.5 bpm. Zone 2 is 135-148 bpm.
Two 35-year-olds, same max of 185. Person A is fit with RHR of 50. Person B is sedentary with RHR of 75. Karvonen gives them different zones—131-149 vs 141-162 bpm. That 10-13 bpm gap reflects their fitness difference. Standard method gives them identical zones, which makes no sense given their fitness difference.
Bonus: as you get fitter and your RHR drops, Karvonen auto-adjusts your zones lower. That's the main reason to use this method.
Straight percentages of max. No resting rate needed.
Formula: Target HR = Max × %Intensity
Example: 35-year-old with max of 185. Zone 2 (60-70%): 185 × 0.60 = 111 to 185 × 0.70 = 130 bpm.
Only advantage: no morning pulse checks required. Just need your age.
It treats everyone the same, though. A fit person and unfit person get identical zones if they're the same age. For someone with average fitness and RHR (60-75 bpm), this works fine. At the extremes—very fit or very unfit—it's less accurate.
Good enough for casual exercisers but not precise enough if you're training seriously.
Very easy—barely above walking pace. You can sing while doing it. Feels too easy to be useful, but that's the point. Use for warm-up, cool-down, recovery between hard sessions. Promotes blood flow without stress. Safe for daily movement.
Duration: 30-90 minutes for recovery. Always spend 10-15 minutes here before harder workouts.
Spend most of your training time here—60-70% of total weekly volume. Comfortable, sustainable pace. You can speak in full sentences but not sing.
Called "fat burning" because 60-70% of calories come from fat at this intensity. More important: Zone 2 builds your aerobic engine. Mitochondrial density increases. Your body learns to use fat as fuel.
Duration: 30-120+ minutes. Low injury risk. You can do a lot of it, which is exactly what you want from a foundation zone.
Moderate intensity. "Comfortably hard." Breathing noticeably elevated. Short phrases only.
The trap: this is the gray zone. Not easy enough for recovery, not hard enough for gains. Most people train here by default. Keep it to 10-15% instead.
Zone 3 works for tempo workouts, but go easier (Zone 2) or harder (Zones 4-5) most of the time.
Hard. You're at lactate thresholdWhere lactate accumulates faster than your body clears it.. Few words only. Breathing is heavy.
Builds speed and improves your threshold and VO2 maxMaximum oxygen your body can use during intense exercise.. Translates directly to better race performance.
Duration: 10-40 minutes. High stress on your body. Requires 48+ hours recovery.
Limit to 1-2 sessions per week. Just 5-10% of weekly volume. Not for beginners.
All-out effort, unsustainable beyond a few minutes. You're gasping and can't speak. This maximizes VO2 max and anaerobic capacity while developing top-end speed. Extremely demanding—only use in short bursts of 30 seconds to 5 minutes max.
Recovery: 48-72 hours. High injury risk if overused.
Should be 0-5% of weekly training. Most recreational athletes don't need regular Zone 5 work.
Back to CalculatorProven approach used by elite athletes: 80% at low intensity (Zones 1-2), 20% at high intensity (Zones 4-5). Minimize Zone 3.
Elite runners, cyclists, and rowers all train this way. They go easy most of the time, then hit it hard occasionally. That's how you get better.
Easy days work because they let your body adapt. Your aerobic system develops best with high volume, low intensity. And you're fresh enough to push hard when it counts.
Compare that to what most people do: moderate effort all the time. Too hard to recover properly, not hard enough for real adaptations. You end up chronically fatigued with slow progress.
Make easy days actually easy. Use your monitor to enforce discipline. Make hard days genuinely hard. Trust the science—it works.
Zone 2 gets called the "fat burning zone"—you'll see it marked on cardio equipment. At this intensity, about 70% of calories come from fat. Seems like the best choice for weight loss, but there's more to consider.
Higher intensities burn more total calories per minute. Even though a smaller percentage comes from fat, the total fat calories can be equal or higher.
Zone 2: 200 total calories. 70% from fat = 140 fat calories.
Zone 4: 350 total calories. 40% from fat = 140 fat calories.
Same fat calories burned. But Zone 4 burned 150 more total calories.
High-intensity exercise also creates "afterburn"—elevated metabolism for hours after. Zone 2 doesn't.
Best strategy for weight loss? Mostly Zone 2 (sustainable, low injury risk, you can do lots) plus occasional Zones 4-5 (higher calorie burn, metabolic boost).
Total calorie burn matters most.
Most people treat every workout like a race, or they let easy days drift into Zone 3. They believe harder is always better. It's not—chronic moderate-to-hard training leaves you perpetually tired and unable to perform well on quality days. Progress stalls.
Make easy days truly easy (Zones 1-2) instead. Then you can make hard days genuinely hard.
Your training partner's Zone 2 is 145 bpm. Yours is 125 bpm. That doesn't mean you're less fit or that you should speed up to match them. Everyone's zones are individual, based on unique max, resting rate, and fitness level. Train your zones, not someone else's.
Some people make the opposite mistake—following their heart rate blindly even when RPE and how they feel say something's wrong. If your Zone 2 heart rate feels like Zone 4 effort, something's off. Maybe dehydration, poor sleep, stress, illness. Don't be a slave to the monitor. Pay attention to how you feel.
Using 220-minus-age without questioning it is risky since the formula can be off by 10-15 bpm for many people. If your true max is 200 but you're using 185 from the formula, all zones will be too low and you'll think you're doing hard Zone 4 intervals when you're actually in Zone 3.
Morning resting rate 5-10 bpm above normal? Your body's telling you it hasn't recovered.
Either from previous training, fighting illness, or dealing with stress.
Training hard these days often leads to poor performance, prolonged fatigue, or illness. Instead, make it an easy day or rest completely.
Hard training breaks you down—that's the point. Rest and recovery make you stronger. Skip recovery and you just pile up fatigue and damage without getting the adaptations.
Zones 4-5 require 48+ hours recovery. Even multiple Zone 3 sessions become too much without easy days mixed in. Monitor RHR, sleep quality, and how you feel.
Back to Calculator60-100 bpm for most adults. Athletes often have 40-60 bpm. Lower usually means better fitness.
First thing in the morning before getting up. Lie still for 5 minutes, then count your pulse for 60 seconds.
Karvonen accounts for fitness level through resting rate, making it more accurate. Standard is simpler but less personalized.
Every 3-6 months, or when your resting rate changes by 5+ bpm.
Recommended for accurate training. Chest straps are most accurate. Wrist monitors work fine for most people.
No. Zone 5 is maximum effort and needs 48-72 hours recovery. Most people should do Zone 5 work once or twice a week at most.