Heart Rate Zone Calculator: Karvonen Formula Training Zones

Generic heart rate zones are built for the average person your age. Are you average?

Use this target heart rate calculator to find your personalized training zones.

Your resting heart rate is best measured first thing in the morning. It takes 60 seconds, and it's the number that makes your zones personal.

1
Wake up naturally
Before your alarm goes off if possible. Avoid caffeine, stress, or sudden movement, since these all raise your HR temporarily.
2
Stay lying down
Don't sit up or get out of bed yet. Place two fingers lightly on the side of your neck or the inside of your wrist.
3
Count for 60 seconds
Count each beat for a full minute. That number is your resting heart rate in bpm. The AHA calls 60–100 bpm normal for adults.
4
Enter it above & calculate
Plug your number into the Resting HR field for zones tailored precisely to your cardiovascular fitness.
💡 No measurement yet? Leave the field blank and the calculator uses 60 bpm as a starting estimate. Come back tomorrow morning with your real number for personalized zones.

Max HR (est.)
—bpm
Heart rate reserve
—bpm
Your training zones

Taking a beta-blocker or another heart rate medication, or in cardiac rehab? These zones won't fit you. Medication lowers both your resting and max heart rate, so ask your care team for a target range.

Log today's resting HR and track how your fitness improves week over week Recalculate with different inputs

Which Zone is for You?

Your goal determines your zone. Pick the one that matches where you are and what you're working toward.

🔥
The Weight Loss Seeker

Lose weight without burning out

● Zone 2 · 60–70%

Most people run too hard and wonder why the scale won't budge. Zone 2 is easy enough to repeat several times a week, and weight loss comes down to the calories you burn over the whole week. That means longer sessions without the crash, and less recovery needed between them.

→ Keep it conversational. If you can't hold a sentence, slow down.
🚴
The Weekend Warrior

Get ready for race day

● Zone 2–3 · 60–80%

You've got a 10K, a sportive, or a charity ride coming up. You don't need to train like a pro. You need to be consistent. Mix Zones 2 and 3 to build a solid aerobic base and sharpen your endurance without wrecking your weekdays.

→ Keep most sessions in Zone 2, and add 1 or 2 harder sessions a week as your event gets closer.
🏆
The Performance Athlete

Raise your threshold

● Zone 4 · 80–90%

Zone 4 is where lactate threshold improvements happen. Intervals here raise your threshold over time, so a pace that used to wreck you becomes one you can sustain. It's specific, hard work with a measurable payoff.

→ Limit Zone 4 to 1–2 sessions per week. More than that and recovery becomes the limiting factor.
Not sure where to start? Four weeks in Zone 2. It builds the aerobic base that makes every other zone more effective, and it's where elite athletes spend most of their time.

What is the Karvonen Formula?

This Karvonen formula calculator builds your training zones from your heart rate reserve, the gap between your max and resting heart rate, so your fitness shapes your zones as well as your age. The method is also called the Heart Rate Reserve method.

Percent of heart rate reserve tracks how hard your body is working more closely than percent of max heart rate. In a 1997 study of 63 adults, Swain and Leutholtz found that percent of heart rate reserve matched percent of oxygen uptake reserve almost one to one, while percent of max heart rate did not. Your zones are still only as good as the max heart rate underneath them, so a measured max, or one from a better formula, improves the result.

Target HR = Resting HR + (Intensity% × (Max HR − Resting HR))
Max HR = 220 − Age
Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) = Max HR − Resting HR

Prefer age-based zones without resting HR input? The Tanaka formula calculator is more accurate than 220-minus-age, especially after 40. Women have a dedicated option in the Gulati formula calculator, derived from 5,437 female subjects. The 220-minus-age calculator is also available if that's what you need.

Understanding Your Zones

Zone 1 (50–60%)

Active recovery and warm-up. Easy effort, ideal for rest days and building aerobic foundation.

Zone 2 (60–70%)

Aerobic base building. The "conversational" pace, and where most of your training should be. How fat burning changes across zones →

Zone 3 (70–80%)

Aerobic endurance. Moderate effort that improves cardiovascular efficiency and stamina.

Zone 4 (80–90%)

Lactate threshold training. Hard, sustainable effort that raises your anaerobic threshold over time.

Zone 5 (90–100%)

Maximum effort. Short, all-out intervals for peak speed and power. Use sparingly.

Swimming? Your max heart rate runs about 12 bpm lower in the water. Get your swim zones →

Why Use the Karvonen Formula?

Most heart rate calculators give everyone the same zones. The Karvonen method gives you yours, calibrated to your cardiovascular fitness as well as your age. See how the Karvonen formula works, step by step.

🎯

Precision over guesswork

By factoring in your resting heart rate, Karvonen zones shift as you get fitter, so your Zone 2 stays matched to your current fitness.

🔥

Train at the right intensity

Most people train too hard on easy days and not hard enough on hard days. A personalized Zone 2 gives you a clear ceiling for easy sessions, so the hard ones get your full effort.

💪

Easy days that feel right

Percentage-of-max calculators set Zone 2 lower than Karvonen does, often by 15 bpm or more. When easy days feel too easy, people speed up and drift into Zone 3. A Zone 2 built on your resting heart rate gives you a range you can hold.

📈

Track real progress

As your cardiovascular fitness improves, your resting HR drops. Recalculate every 4–6 weeks and watch your zones shift. It's a built-in record of your progress.

Karvonen Method

Heart Rate Reserve

  • Accounts for resting HR
  • Adapts as you get fitter
  • Reflects true cardiovascular load
  • Used by coaches & sports scientists
Simple % of Max HR

Age-Only Formula

  • Ignores individual fitness
  • Static, never updates
  • Same zones for everyone
  • Often 15+ bpm below Karvonen zones

220-minus-age calculator → · Tanaka calculator →

Who benefits most?

🏃 Runners 🚴 Cyclists 🏊 Triathletes 🏋️ Strength athletes 🧘 Anyone wearing a HR monitor 📉 Weight loss seekers 🩺 Longevity-focused individuals
Your Fitness Progress
Log your resting HR weekly and watch the trend

What was your resting heart rate this morning?

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about training zones and how to use them.

This calculator uses the Karvonen formula (the heart rate reserve method) and is free, with no signup required. Enter your age and resting heart rate to get 5 personalized training zones instantly. Unlike calculators that only ask for age, it factors in your resting heart rate too, which ties your zones to your fitness as well as your age. You can also enter a custom Max HR from the Tanaka, Nes, Gulati, or Oakland Nonlinear formula for an even more precise result.
220 minus age only accounts for age and carries a margin of error of roughly ±10–12 bpm. The Karvonen formula on this page also factors in your resting heart rate, which reflects your actual cardiovascular fitness rather than only your birthday. For an even better starting number, calculate your max heart rate with the Tanaka formula instead of accepting the 220-minus-age default, then enter that into the Max HR field here. See the full comparison in our 220 minus age formula guide.
A healthy resting heart rate for adults is 60–100 bpm. Athletes and highly fit individuals often see 40–60 bpm. A lower resting heart rate generally indicates more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness. Check yours on the same morning each week, since the trend over several weeks tells you more than any single reading.
Zone 2 is low-intensity aerobic exercise at 60–70% of your heart rate reserve. You can hold a full conversation at this pace. It's popular because it builds mitochondrial density and improves cardiovascular efficiency without the recovery cost of harder zones, and it's easy enough to repeat several times a week. Elite endurance athletes spend roughly 80% of their training time at this kind of low intensity.
The Karvonen formula uses your Heart Rate Reserve (HRR), the difference between your max and resting heart rate, to calculate personalized zones: Target HR = Resting HR + (Intensity% × HRR). Because it incorporates your resting HR, a fit person with a low resting HR gets different zones than an unfit person of the same age. Percent of heart rate reserve also tracks oxygen use more closely than percent of max heart rate.
The calculator defaults to 220 minus age when the Max HR field is left blank. You can override it by entering your own value, such as a measured peak heart rate from a race or hard effort, or a result from a formula like Nes (211 − 0.64 × age) or Tanaka (208 − 0.7 × age). A custom value produces more accurate Karvonen zones because your real ceiling replaces the population-average estimate.
Measure it first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. Place two fingers on the side of your neck or inside your wrist. Count beats for 60 seconds. Repeat for 3 consecutive days and average the results. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or intense exercise the night before. Most modern fitness watches can measure it automatically during sleep for even more accuracy.
Fat burned per minute peaks at a moderate effort, around 62% of max heart rate in a study of 300 adults, which is a bit easier than Zone 2 (60–70% HRR) for most people. For weight loss, total calories burned over the week matter more than which zone burns the most fat. Zone 2 is easy enough to repeat several times a week, and harder zones burn more calories per minute, so a mix works best: mostly Zone 2, plus 1 harder session a week. How fat burning changes across zones →
Recalculate every 4–6 weeks, or whenever your resting heart rate changes by 3+ bpm. As cardiovascular fitness improves, your resting HR drops, and your zones shift to match. A 45-year-old who drops their resting HR from 72 to 58 bpm over 6 months will have meaningfully different training zones.
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