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Quick answer: Estimate max heart rate with the Tanaka formula: 208 minus 0.7 times your age. A 40 year old gets about 180 bpm, more accurate than the old 220 minus age rule. Use the calculator below for your max and all five training zones in bpm.
Measure resting heart rate first thing in the morning, before coffee, for the most accurate zones.
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Max heart rate is estimated with the Tanaka formula, 208 minus 0.7 times age, published from a meta-analysis of hundreds of studies and consistently more accurate than the classic 220 minus age, which drifts badly for adults over 40. If you enter a resting heart rate, zones use the Karvonen method, which maps percentages onto your personal heart rate reserve and fits real fitness levels better.
Any formula carries a margin of about plus or minus 10 bpm because true max is genetic and varies between individuals of the same age. A field test or lab test measures it directly; for everyday training, the estimate plus how the effort feels works well.
| Zone | Intensity | What it trains |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | 50 – 60% | Recovery, warm-ups, easy days |
| Zone 2 | 60 – 70% | Endurance base and fat oxidation; conversational pace |
| Zone 3 | 70 – 80% | Aerobic fitness; comfortably hard |
| Zone 4 | 80 – 90% | Threshold; sustained hard efforts |
| Zone 5 | 90 – 100% | Peak power; short intervals only |
Percentages of max heart rate (or heart rate reserve with the Karvonen method). Most training plans put 80 percent of weekly time in Zones 1 and 2.
Max heart rate falls with age at everyone’s pace, fit or not; training does not raise it. What training changes is how much work you produce at every heart rate below max, and how quickly you recover. A lower max at 60 than at 30 is physiology, not decline in fitness.
Two 40 year olds share an estimated max of 180, but if one rests at 50 bpm and the other at 75, identical percentage zones would feel completely different. The Karvonen method fixes this by working from heart rate reserve, the span between resting and max, which is why entering your resting rate is worth 30 seconds.
The most common training error is living in Zone 3: too hard to build efficient base, too easy to force top-end adaptation. Polarized training research supports roughly 80 percent of time in Zones 1 to 2 and 20 percent in Zones 4 to 5, with Zone 3 as a supporting role, not a home.
Beta-blockers cap heart rate well below formula values, making percentage zones meaningless; train by effort and your prescriber’s guidance instead. Heat, dehydration, caffeine, and poor sleep all push heart rate up at the same effort, so expect zone drift on hot days.
The research-preferred estimate is the Tanaka formula: 208 minus 0.7 times your age. At 30 that gives 187 bpm, at 50 it gives 173. The older 220 minus age rule is simpler but increasingly inaccurate past age 40, underestimating for older adults.
Using Tanaka: about 194 bpm at 20, 187 at 30, 180 at 40, 173 at 50, 166 at 60, and 159 at 70. Individual genetics put a real spread of roughly plus or minus 10 bpm around each figure, so treat these as anchors rather than limits.
Max heart rate is the highest number of beats per minute your heart can reach during all-out effort. It is set mostly by age and genetics, not fitness. Training zones are defined as percentages of it, which is why an accurate estimate matters for structured workouts.
Formulas get you close: Tanaka (208 minus 0.7 times age) is the best-validated simple option. For a measured value, a supervised graded exercise test is the gold standard, and hard hill-repeat field tests come close for healthy trained people. Wearables estimate it from workout history with mixed accuracy.
For most sessions, 60 to 80 percent of max: a 40 year old with a 180 max would sit between 108 and 144 bpm. Easy days belong at 50 to 70 percent and hard interval work at 80 to 95 percent in short bursts. If you cannot speak a sentence, you have left the easy zones.
For your safety
Important: Formula estimates carry a margin of about plus or minus 10 bpm. If you take beta-blockers or other heart-rate-affecting medication, have a heart condition, or are returning to exercise after a long break, get personal guidance before training to zones. Stop and seek care for chest pain, unusual breathlessness, or dizziness during exercise.
Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
