220 Minus Age Max Heart Rate Calculator & Training Zones
Updated September 2026
The formula built into nearly every treadmill, fitness tracker, and heart rate monitor. Enter your age to get your estimated max HR and all 5 training zones.
Simple as it gets. Worth understanding the limits too.
Example: age 40 → 220 − 40 = 180 bpm.
Just want the number? Quick age lookup table (every age, 10–100) ▾
Age
220 Minus Age Max HR
10
210 bpm
11
209 bpm
12
208 bpm
13
207 bpm
14
206 bpm
15
205 bpm
16
204 bpm
17
203 bpm
18
202 bpm
19
201 bpm
20
200 bpm
21
199 bpm
22
198 bpm
23
197 bpm
24
196 bpm
25
195 bpm
26
194 bpm
27
193 bpm
28
192 bpm
29
191 bpm
30
190 bpm
31
189 bpm
32
188 bpm
33
187 bpm
34
186 bpm
35
185 bpm
36
184 bpm
37
183 bpm
38
182 bpm
39
181 bpm
40
180 bpm
41
179 bpm
42
178 bpm
43
177 bpm
44
176 bpm
45
175 bpm
46
174 bpm
47
173 bpm
48
172 bpm
49
171 bpm
50
170 bpm
51
169 bpm
52
168 bpm
53
167 bpm
54
166 bpm
55
165 bpm
56
164 bpm
57
163 bpm
58
162 bpm
59
161 bpm
60
160 bpm
61
159 bpm
62
158 bpm
63
157 bpm
64
156 bpm
65
155 bpm
66
154 bpm
67
153 bpm
68
152 bpm
69
151 bpm
70
150 bpm
71
149 bpm
72
148 bpm
73
147 bpm
74
146 bpm
75
145 bpm
76
144 bpm
77
143 bpm
78
142 bpm
79
141 bpm
80
140 bpm
81
139 bpm
82
138 bpm
83
137 bpm
84
136 bpm
85
135 bpm
86
134 bpm
87
133 bpm
88
132 bpm
89
131 bpm
90
130 bpm
91
129 bpm
92
128 bpm
93
127 bpm
94
126 bpm
95
125 bpm
96
124 bpm
97
123 bpm
98
122 bpm
99
121 bpm
100
120 bpm
220-Age Max HR
--bpm
Zone 2 Range
--bpm
★ Sweet Spot
Your training zones
Want a research-backed MHR estimate? Try the Tanaka formula. For more accurate zones that factor in resting HR, use the Karvonen calculator.
What Is the 220 Minus Age Formula?
The 220-minus-age formula estimates maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. It's the default behind nearly every piece of fitness equipment sold in the last 50 years.
Max Heart Rate = 220 − Age
The formula is often attributed to Samuel Fox and William Haskell, who referenced it in a 1971 paper on coronary heart disease and physical activity. But it was never formally derived from a controlled study. A 2002 review by Robert Robergs and Roberto Landwehr, "The Surprising History of the HRmax=220-age Equation", traced the equation back to a few early data sets, hand-fit without statistical rigor. It spread because it was simple and present at the right moment, not because it was validated.
That doesn't make it useless. For a rough estimate around age 30–45, it gets close. But past 50, the error compounds, and the zones it produces can push your training targets meaningfully below your actual physiology. Full breakdown of the formula's history and limits →
220 Minus Age vs. Tanaka: What Changes With Age
The two formulas give nearly identical results at 40. The gap widens steadily after that.
Age
220 Minus Age
Tanaka (208 − 0.7 × age)
Difference
30
190 bpm
187 bpm
+3 bpm
40
180 bpm
180 bpm
0 bpm
50
170 bpm
173 bpm
−3 bpm
60
160 bpm
166 bpm
−6 bpm
70
150 bpm
159 bpm
−9 bpm
At 70, the gap hits 9 bpm. Zone 4 on the 220-minus-age scale would sit 7–9 bpm lower than Zone 4 on Tanaka. For an older adult already training at a perceived-hard effort, that mistaken ceiling makes hard days feel impossible to hit and easy days look like threshold work.
Need Your Exact Age's Zone 2 Range?
Every age from 10 to 100 is in the quick lookup table at the top of this page. Or enter your age in the calculator above for instant Zone 1–5 ranges alongside your max HR.
Zone 1: Recovery (50–60%)
Active recovery, warm-ups, and cool-downs. Minimal training stress. Useful for clearing metabolic waste after hard sessions.
Zone 2: Aerobic Base (60–70%)
Fat burning, mitochondrial development, and aerobic base building. Conversational pace: you can speak in full sentences. This is where most of your training volume should live. How Zone 2 burns fat →
Zone 3: Aerobic Endurance (70–80%)
Sustained aerobic work that improves cardiovascular output. Moderate effort that stays manageable for 30+ minutes but noticeably harder than Zone 2.
Zone 4: Threshold (80–90%)
Lactate threshold training. Hard but sustainable for 20–40 minutes. Improves the pace you can hold for races or longer hard efforts. Limit this to 1–2 sessions per week.
Zone 5: Max Effort (90–100%)
All-out sprint intervals. Short bursts, significant recovery demand. No more than once a week for most people.
What 220 Minus Age Gets Right, and Where It Struggles
Simple and universal. The formula works reasonably well in the 30–45 range, but its error compounds as you age. Knowing both sides helps you use it correctly.
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One step
Subtract your age from 220. No constants, no lookup tables. You can calculate your max HR in your head mid-workout.
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Built into everything
Treadmills, fitness trackers, and apps default to this formula. The zones your gym equipment already shows you come from here.
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Drifts after 50
The formula assumes a 1 bpm annual decline. Actual decline is closer to 0.7 bpm. By 60, that's a 6 bpm underestimate of your true ceiling.
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Wide individual spread
Standard deviation is roughly ±10–12 bpm. The formula tells you the average. About one in three people lands more than 10 bpm away from it.
Both formulas carry individual variation of roughly ±10–12 bpm. No age-based formula eliminates that. If you have a directly measured peak heart rate from a recent race or hard all-out effort, use that over any formula. It will always be more accurate than an estimate.
Women have a more accurate option. The Gulati formula calculator was derived specifically from 5,437 women and corrects the systematic overestimate that 220-minus-age produces for female physiology.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the 220-minus-age formula and how to use it for training.
The formula estimates maximum heart rate as 220 minus your age. For a 40-year-old: 220 − 40 = 180 bpm. It's the formula behind nearly every treadmill, fitness tracker, and heart rate monitor. Simple to use and widely recognized, but it assumes heart rate declines 1 bpm per year, which overstates the actual rate of decline, especially after 50.
The formula carries a standard deviation of roughly ±10–12 bpm, meaning about one in three people has an actual max HR more than 10 bpm above or below the estimate. It also systematically underestimates max heart rate above age 40 because real age-related decline is 0.7 bpm per year, not 1.0. Neither 220-minus-age nor any other age-based formula is your measured maximum. They're population averages. Read the full accuracy breakdown →
The 5 zones as percentages of your 220-minus-age max HR:
Zone 1 (50–60%): active recovery and warm-up
Zone 2 (60–70%): aerobic base and fat burning
Zone 3 (70–80%): aerobic endurance
Zone 4 (80–90%): threshold training
Zone 5 (90–100%): max effort intervals
Zone 2 is where most training volume should stay. For a 40-year-old with a max HR of 180 bpm, Zone 2 runs 108–126 bpm.
Using 220 minus age:
Age 30: 190 bpm
Age 40: 180 bpm
Age 50: 170 bpm
Age 60: 160 bpm
Age 70: 150 bpm
Compare to the Tanaka formula: 187, 180, 173, 166, and 159 bpm respectively. The formulas converge at 40 but diverge meaningfully at older ages, with 220-minus-age producing lower (and less accurate) estimates past 50.
Both formulas estimate maximum heart rate from age alone. The key difference is the age coefficient. 220-minus-age assumes heart rate declines 1 bpm per year. The Tanaka formula (208 − 0.7 × age), derived from a 2001 meta-analysis of 18,712 subjects, found the actual decline is 0.7 bpm per year. The difference is small at 30, grows to 3 bpm at 50, and reaches 9 bpm by 70. For anyone over 50, Tanaka gives a notably more accurate ceiling.
220-minus-age describes a population average, not your personal maximum. Individual variation is roughly ±10–12 bpm, so exceeding the formula's ceiling during hard efforts is common and normal. For adults over 40, the formula also tends to underestimate true max heart rate because the actual age-related decline is shallower than the formula assumes. If you consistently hit heart rates above the estimate with no symptoms or distress, use your measured peak from a race or hard effort as your MHR instead of any formula.
The Karvonen formula is more accurate than any max-heart-rate-percentage method because it incorporates your resting heart rate into a heart rate reserve calculation. Two people of the same age with different resting heart rates have different fitness levels, but 220-minus-age percentage zones treat them identically. Use 220 minus age as a quick reference or starting point. For structured training, the Karvonen method gives you zones that actually reflect your individual cardiovascular fitness.
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Same Input, More Accurate Result
The Tanaka formula takes the same input, just your age, and applies the coefficient that a 2001 meta-analysis of 18,712 subjects actually measured. No extra steps, better numbers.
