Work out the heart rate zones to aim for when you exercise, from your age or tested maximum and your resting heart rate.
Maximum heart rate is the highest number of beats per minute your heart can reach during hard exercise. Resting heart rate is your pulse when you are calm, ideally measured on waking. Heart rate reserve is the gap between the two. The best way to find your maximum is a supervised stress test, so most people estimate it from age. The common Haskell and Fox rule is 220 minus your age, while the Tanaka and Nes formulas were fitted to larger groups and can suit some ages better.
Zones based on a percentage of the maximum alone ignore how fit you are. The Karvonen method adds your resting heart rate: it takes a percentage of your heart rate reserve and adds the resting rate back. For a maximum of 190 and a resting rate of 70, the reserve is 120, so 70% of the reserve is 84 and the target is 154 beats per minute. Moderate aerobic exercise is usually placed at 50% to 85% of the reserve, and training zones are given in steps of 10%.
You can also judge effort by how hard exercise feels. The Borg scale runs from 6, no effort, to 20, maximum effort, and the modified Borg CR10 scale from 0 to 10. When you enter a resting heart rate, the calculator matches each rating to a heart rate between your resting and maximum rates. Without a resting heart rate it falls back to simple zones as a share of your maximum heart rate.
Estimate your maximum heart rate, such as 220 minus your age. Then take the percentages of the maximum that fit your goal, for example 50% to 85% for aerobic exercise. With a resting heart rate, use the Karvonen method for a more personal result.
Target heart rate equals the heart rate reserve times the intensity, plus the resting heart rate. The reserve is the maximum heart rate minus the resting heart rate.
Most adults have a resting heart rate between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Fitter people often have lower rates, and a measurement taken after waking is the most reliable.
None is exact. Haskell and Fox is the simplest, and Tanaka and Nes were fitted to larger studies. A tested maximum is more reliable than any formula.
Both rate how hard exercise feels. The Borg scale runs from 6 to 20 and was designed to line up with heart rate, while the CR10 scale runs from 0 to 10 and is easier to use.
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