How to find your heart rate zones
- Enter your Age.
- Add your Resting heart rate, counted for a minute after waking, to see Karvonen zones as well. If you have measured your maximum heart rate in a test, enter it too.
- Read your maximum heart rate and the beats per minute for each of the five zones.
The zones
| Zone | Effort | % of maximum | Feels like |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Very light | 50 to 60% | Warming up, an easy walk |
| 2 | Light | 60 to 70% | Easy, steady, you can chat |
| 3 | Moderate | 70 to 80% | Comfortably hard, short sentences |
| 4 | Hard | 80 to 90% | Breathing hard, a few words at a time |
| 5 | Maximum | 90 to 100% | All-out, only for short bursts |
For a 35-year-old, 220 minus age gives a maximum of 185, so zone 2 is 111 to 130 beats per minute. With a resting heart rate of 65, the reserve is 120 and Karvonen puts zone 2 at 65 + 120 × 0.6 = 137 to 65 + 120 × 0.7 = 149.
Measuring your own numbers
For a resting heart rate, count your pulse for a full minute after waking, before you get up, on a few mornings and take the average. A true maximum comes from an all-out test, best done with a coach or in a lab, and you should only try one if you are fit and healthy. If you know your real maximum, enter it and every zone is worked out from that instead of 220 minus age.