Heart Rate Zone Calculator | Karvonen Formula | Target Training Zones

Your heart rate is one of the most important vital signs and a key indicator of your cardiovascular fitness. This calculator uses the scientifically-backed Karvonen Formula to determine your personalized target heart rate zones for exercise based on your age and resting heart rate (RHR).

Understanding your specific heart rate training zones allows you to exercise more effectively, ensuring you’re working at the right intensity for your specific fitness goals – whether that’s improving cardiovascular endurance, maximizing fat burning, building athletic performance, or recovery training.

Your Personalized Heart Rate Training Zones

The Karvonen Formula calculates your heart rate reserve (HRR) by subtracting your resting heart rate from your estimated maximum heart rate. Your target heart rate zones are then calculated as percentages of your HRR, added to your resting heart rate. This creates truly personalized training zones that account for your current fitness level.

Why Training in the Right Heart Rate Zone Matters

Training in specific heart rate zones helps you achieve fitness goals more efficiently while reducing the risk of overtraining or undertraining. Different heart rate zones serve different training purposes:

• Zone 1 (50-60% of HRR): Recovery and warm-up Perfect for active recovery, warm-ups, cool-downs, and beginners
• Zone 2 (60-70% of HRR): Fat burning and endurance building The optimal zone for fat metabolism and building aerobic base
• Zone 3 (70-80% of HRR): Cardiovascular improvement Develops aerobic capacity and endurance
• Zone 4 (80-90% of HRR): Anaerobic threshold training Improves lactate threshold and high-intensity performance
• Zone 5 (90-100% of HRR): Maximum effort training Develops maximum performance and speed (used sparingly)

How to Measure Your Resting Heart Rate Accurately

For the most accurate heart rate zone calculations, measure your resting heart rate first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. Count your pulse for 60 seconds, or count for 30 seconds and multiply by 2. Take measurements for several consecutive days and use the average for the most reliable result.

The Karvonen Method Advantage for Heart Rate Training

While simple age-based formulas exist, the Karvonen method accounts for individual differences in fitness level by incorporating your actual resting heart rate. This provides more personalized and effective training zones that adapt as your fitness improves over time.