Heart Rate Zone Calculator
Free heart rate zone calculator: your five training zones in bpm from age — or personalised with resting heart rate via the Karvonen method.
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- ✓ Runs in your browser — nothing uploaded
- ✓ No sign-up
- ✓ Free, no limits
| Z1 | Very light — recovery | 95–114 bpm |
| Z2 | Light — base / fat burn | 114–133 bpm |
| Z3 | Moderate — aerobic | 133–152 bpm |
| Z4 | Hard — threshold | 152–171 bpm |
| Z5 | Maximum — VO₂ max | 171–190 bpm |
Age formulas estimate max HR with real scatter (±10 bpm is common); adding your resting HR makes zones personal via Karvonen. Anyone with a heart condition should get zones from a clinician, not a formula.
This heart rate zone calculator builds your five training zones in beats per minute. Enter your age and it estimates your maximum heart rate; add your resting heart rate and it switches to the Karvonen method, which anchors the zones to your personal heart-rate reserve instead of generic percentages — the difference between zones borrowed from a table and zones that fit you.
Worked example: at 30 with a resting rate of 60, max HR is about 190, so zone 2 — the easy aerobic base where most training time belongs — runs 138 to 151 bpm by Karvonen. The zones follow the standard five-band model: recovery, base, aerobic, threshold and VO₂-max efforts, each with its bpm range in the table.
Two limits worth knowing: age formulas miss real maximums by ±10 bpm or more (the Tanaka option, 208 − 0.7 × age, is the better-validated of the two), and beta-blockers or heart conditions make formula zones meaningless — get those from a clinician or a proper test. Your numbers stay in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
What are heart rate zones?
Five effort bands as percentages of your maximum (or of heart-rate reserve): Z1 recovery, Z2 easy aerobic base, Z3 moderate, Z4 threshold, Z5 maximal. Most endurance plans put the bulk of training time in Z2.
What is the Karvonen method?
It scales intensity across your heart-rate reserve (max minus resting) instead of raw max: target = resting + reserve × intensity. Two people the same age with different resting rates get genuinely different — and more personal — zones.
Is 220 minus age accurate?
It is a population average with wide scatter — individuals commonly sit 10+ bpm off it. Tanaka's 208 − 0.7 × age fits research data better, and a measured max from a field test beats both.
What heart rate is fat-burning?
Zone 2 — roughly 60–70% of max — burns the highest share of fat and builds the aerobic base. Higher zones burn more total calories per minute, so 'fat-burning zone' means proportion, not superiority.