SportCircuit Tools

Heart rate zone calculator

Five heart rate zones from your threshold, or your maximum and resting heart rate.

Work them out from

bpm, from a recent test or hard race effort

Sport

bpm. A measured value is best

Used only if maximum is blank

bpm, measured on waking

Your zones will appear here.

These zones are estimates, not medical advice. If you have a heart condition, check with your doctor first.

How to get your numbers

Threshold heart rate, running

After a good warm-up, run 5 km all-out but evenly paced. Take your average heart rate from about 3 minutes in to the finish, and multiply it by 0.98.

Threshold heart rate, cycling

Take your average heart rate from a 20-minute all-out test and multiply it by 0.95. It usually sits lower than your running number, so use the one for your sport.

Maximum heart rate

The highest reading you've seen at the end of a hard race or a hard hill session is a good guide. An estimate from your age can be well out either way, and a chest strap reads more reliably than a wrist sensor.

Resting heart rate

Take it just after waking, before you get up, on a few mornings, and use a typical reading.

Got your numbers? Put them on your Garmin, Wahoo or COROS

Only do hard tests when you're fit and well. If you have a heart condition or any doubts, check with your doctor first.

How this is worked out

From threshold heart rate

Each zone is a percentage of your threshold heart rate, rounded to the nearest beat. Running: Zone 1 is up to 85%, zone 2 is 85 to 89%, zone 3 is 89 to 94%, zone 4 is 94 to 99%, and zone 5 is above 99%. Cycling: Zone 1 is up to 81%, zone 2 is 81 to 89%, zone 3 is 89 to 93%, zone 4 is 93 to 99%, and zone 5 is above 99%. These are the zones we coach with.

From maximum and resting (Karvonen)

Each boundary is (maximum - resting) x percentage + resting. Zone 1 is 50 to 60% of that range, then 60 to 70%, 70 to 80%, 80 to 90% and 90 to 100%.

Maximum from your age

If you give your age instead of a maximum, we estimate it with Tanaka's formula: 208 - (0.7 x age). It is only an average, and can be well out for one person.

Why other calculators differ

There is no single standard for training zones. Calculators differ in how many zones they use, where they draw the lines, whether a percentage is of speed or of pace, and what test they count as threshold. Two can both be sensible and still give noticeably different numbers. Pick one set and stick with it, so your training stays consistent.