Runner's Web

Heart rate Training Zone Calculator

Estimate your heart-rate zones for easy running, anaerobic threshold (AT) and VO2 Max workouts.

Instructions
Enter your age and resting heart-rate. Select your gender.
Enter your maximum heart-rate if you know it - otherwise leave that field blank and it will be estimated as follows: (208 - .7 * age) Press "Calculate".
The training zone values are calculated using the Karvonen formula:
Heartrate = ((Max HR-Resting HR)*%X/100)+Resting HR. (where %X =%MAX, e.g. 60)

Age
Resting HR
Maximum HR
Easy(60-75%)
AT(85-90%)
VO2 Max(90-100%)
Male Female

Maximal heart rate generally declines with age from about 220 beats per minute in childhood to about 160 beats per minute at age 60. This fall in heart rate is fairly linear, decreasing by approximately 1 beat per minute per year. There is no strong evidence to suggest that training influences the decline in maximal heart rate. It should be remembered that individuals of the same age may have quite different maximal heart rates-therefore it is more accurate to calculate this value by undergoing a stress-test than by using an age-related formula.

On the other hand, resting heart rate isgreatly influenced by endurance training.

The typical adult has a resting heart rate of about 72 bpm whereas highly trained runners may have readings of 40 bpm or lower.

In a study published in the March issue of The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Seals and his colleagues devised a new formula: maximum heart rate equals 208 minus 0.7 times age. They used published studies involving 18,712 healthy people and data from 514 healthy people they recruited. Their formula gives much higher average maximum heart rates for older people, with the new and old heart rate curves starting to diverge at age 40.