Max Heart Rate Calculator | By Age, With Heart Rate Zones
Estimate your max heart rate by age with four published formulas, or enter a measured value, and get your five heart rate training zones in bpm.
- Estimated max heart rate (Tanaka)
- —
| Formula | Max heart rate |
|---|---|
| Tanaka (2001)208 − 0.7 × age | — |
| HUNT (Nes et al. 2013)211 − 0.64 × age | — |
| Gellish et al. (2007)207 − 0.7 × age | — |
| 220 − age220 − age | — |
| Zone | Description | Heart rate |
|---|---|---|
| I-1 | Very light | — |
| I-2 | Fairly light | — |
| I-3 | Somewhat hard | — |
| I-4 | Hard | — |
| I-5 | Very hard | — |
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How the calculator works
Enter your age in whole years. The calculator works out your max heart rate with four published formulas and shows the working for each of them:
- Tanaka: 208 − 0.7 × age. The formula comes from a meta-analysis of 351 studies with 18,712 subjects in all, cross-validated in a laboratory study of 514 healthy subjects (Tanaka, Monahan and Seals, J Am Coll Cardiol 2001). This is the formula the calculator uses as its estimate.
- HUNT: 211 − 0.64 × age. The formula is based on 3,320 healthy men and women who took a maximal exercise test in the fitness part of Norway's Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) in 2007–2008 (Nes et al., Scand J Med Sci Sports 2013).
- Gellish: 207 − 0.7 × age. The formula is based on 908 maximal tests of 132 people followed over 25 years (Gellish et al., Med Sci Sports Exerc 2007).
- 220 − age. The most widely used formula, attributed to Fox et al. (1971) (Sarzynski et al., Am J Hum Biol 2013).
For a 40-year-old, Tanaka gives 208 − 0.7 × 40 = 180 beats per minute, HUNT 185.4, Gellish 179 and 220 − age 180. The working is exact, and the numbers are rounded to whole beats only when they are shown. The heart rate zones are worked out from the unrounded value.
If you have measured your max heart rate, enter it in the second field. The zones are then worked out from the measured value, and the four formulas stay on screen for comparison.
Why a measured max heart rate beats a formula
The formulas give an average for people of the same age, but max heart rate varies a lot from person to person. The standard error of estimate (SEE) says how far from the measured max heart rate an estimate typically lands:
- HUNT formula: 10.8 beats per minute among the HUNT participants (Nes et al. 2013).
- Tanaka: 11.4 beats per minute among 762 sedentary participants in the HERITAGE Family Study (Sarzynski et al. 2013).
- 220 − age: 12.4 beats per minute in the same HERITAGE study.
The HERITAGE authors worked out that about 95% of the estimates fall within ±22 beats per minute of the measured max heart rate. If your own max heart rate is higher or lower than the formula, every zone shifts with it.
That is why Olympiatoppen, whose intensity scale guides Norwegian athletes and coaches, recommends knowing your own max heart rate rather than estimating it from age. The test it describes is three 3-minute intervals with 2 minutes of active rest, where the intensity rises with each interval and the last one ends at maximum effort. Heart rate is measured with a chest strap, and the highest value is your max heart rate. Olympiatoppen recommends testing at least once every three years, and in each type of exercise you train a lot in, because max heart rate varies with the activity (Olympiatoppen's intensity scale, p. 25).
Heart rate zones on Olympiatoppen's intensity scale
The calculator divides your max heart rate into the first five zones of Olympiatoppen's intensity scale (the I-scale), version 2 from 2024. The bounds are percentages of max heart rate, and the talk test describes how much you can say while training in the zone (Olympiatoppen's intensity scale, table 1, p. 3):
| Zone | Description | Percent of max heart rate | Talk test |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-1 | Very light | ~55–72% | Can speak effortlessly. |
| I-2 | Fairly light | ~72–82% | Can speak in longer sentences relatively effortlessly. |
| I-3 | Somewhat hard | ~82–87% | Can speak in short sentences. |
| I-4 | Hard | ~87–92% | Can say a few words or very short sentences. |
| I-5 | Very hard | ~92–100% | Can say one or two words at a time while breathing heavily. |
With a max heart rate of 180, I-1 is about 99–130 bpm and I-5 about 166–180 bpm. The scale also has zones I-6 to I-8, but for those Olympiatoppen says heart rate is not applicable for guiding intensity, so the calculator shows no heart rate bounds there.
Olympiatoppen calls the scale guidance. It is intended to guide athletes and coaches and is not a definitive answer for every situation and individual. The same athlete can perceive the same heart rate differently in different types of exercise, and Olympiatoppen recommends that athletes and coaches build their own I-scales, adapted to the athlete and the type of exercise (pp. 3–4).
Frequently asked questions
Is max heart rate different for men and women?
Not in the two largest studies behind the calculator. Tanaka et al. found that the relationship between age and max heart rate was the same for men and women (2001), and the HUNT study found no evidence that gender changed the relationship with age (Nes et al. 2013). The calculator therefore uses the same formulas for everyone.