Calculate your personalized target heart rate range for exercise using the Karvonen method, which factors in your resting heart rate for a more individualized result.
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The Karvonen method calculates target heart rate using your heart rate reserve (the gap between your maximum and resting heart rate), rather than a flat percentage of max heart rate alone: Target HR = ((Max HR − Resting HR) × Intensity %) + Resting HR. Max heart rate is estimated as 220 minus your age.
This matters because two people of the same age share the same estimated max heart rate, but if one has a resting heart rate of 55 (very fit) and the other 75 (less fit), their heart rate reserves, and therefore their target ranges for the same relative effort, are meaningfully different.
For example, a 30-year-old with a resting heart rate of 65 bpm has an estimated max heart rate of 190 bpm and a heart rate reserve of 190 − 65 = 125 bpm. At a 50-85% intensity range, the target zone is ((125 × 0.50) + 65) = 128 bpm on the low end and ((125 × 0.85) + 65) = 171 bpm on the high end.
Our Heart Rate Zone Calculator uses the simpler method of taking a flat percentage of estimated max heart rate directly, based only on age. This calculator uses the Karvonen (heart rate reserve) method instead, which additionally factors in your resting heart rate, generally considered a more personalized and accurate approach, particularly for people whose fitness level differs notably from average.
Using a resting heart rate measured after coffee, exercise, or stress, rather than a true resting reading taken first thing in the morning before getting out of bed, this can meaningfully skew the heart rate reserve.
Treating the 220-minus-age max heart rate estimate as exact, actual max heart rate varies by individual and this formula is a population average.
Training in the same intensity zone for every session, varying intensity across the week (mostly lower zones with some higher-intensity work) is generally more effective than staying in one zone constantly.
Measure your pulse first thing in the morning, before getting out of bed, over a full minute, for several days and use the average, this gives the most accurate resting heart rate rather than a single reading taken during the day.
50-70% is generally considered light to moderate intensity (good for beginners or recovery), 70-85% is moderate to vigorous (common for general fitness and cardiovascular training), and above 85% is high intensity, typically used for shorter, more advanced interval training.
The Karvonen method accounts for your individual resting heart rate, giving a more personalized target range. Two people with the same max heart rate but different fitness levels (and therefore different resting heart rates) will get different, more individually appropriate target ranges under Karvonen than under a flat max-heart-rate-percentage method.
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