Heart rate zones by age: how to find your target range

What are heart rate zones?

A heart rate zone is a band of beats per minute that matches how hard your body is working. The zones are built from one number, your maximum heart rate, which is the fastest your heart can beat. Each zone is a percentage of that number.

MedlinePlus describes two bands. For moderate-intensity exercise, build up to 50% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. For vigorous exercise, build up to 70% to 85%.¹ It adds that when you first start, you should aim for the lower number for your age and work toward the higher one as you get fitter.¹

Other sources slice the scale differently. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) puts moderate intensity at 65 to 75 percent of maximum heart rate and vigorous intensity at 76 to 96 percent.⁴ Both are correct for their own definitions, and the gap is covered below. The point to keep: a zone is a convention, not a biological boundary.

How do you calculate your target heart rate?

The method has three steps and needs only your age. MedlinePlus says to subtract your age from 220 to get your approximate maximum heart rate, then multiply by 0.5 and 0.85 to get the target range.² The ACSM writes the same idea as target heart rate equals (220 minus age) times the percentage you want.⁴

1. Find your maximum. Subtract your age in years from 220.²
2. Pick the intensity. Use 50% to 70% for moderate exercise and 70% to 85% for vigorous exercise.¹
3. Multiply. Multiply the maximum by each percentage, written as 0.50, 0.70 and 0.85.²⁴
4. Round to whole beats. Heart rate is counted in whole beats per minute.

A worked example at age 40

Maximum: 220 minus 40 equals 180 beats per minute. Moderate zone: 180 times 0.50 is 90, and 180 times 0.70 is 126, so 90 to 126. Vigorous zone: 180 times 0.70 is 126, and 180 times 0.85 is 153, so 126 to 153. The whole target range is 90 to 153, which matches the figure MedlinePlus lists for a 40-year-old.¹

If you are 53, use the same steps: 220 minus 53 is 167, and 167 times 0.50 is 83.5 and 167 times 0.85 is 141.95. That rounds to about 84 to 142. The NHLBI suggests picking the closest age in its table when you do not want to calculate, which for 53 means the row for 55.³

Heart rate zone chart by age

Read the chart as a starting point. Two people of the same age can have different true maximum rates, and the table cannot see that. It also says nothing about your resting heart rate. For typical resting values, see the guide to normal resting heart rate.

Why do sources give different zones?

Three institutions in this guide use three sets of percentages. None is wrong. They answer slightly different questions.

A shared idea runs through all three: you do not have to push hard to benefit. The NHLBI says that getting into the zone does not mean pushing yourself to the limit, and that while walking briskly or jogging you should be able to keep up a conversation without trouble.³

The talk test and the 0 to 10 scale

Heart rate is only one way to judge effort. The CDC states that in moderate-intensity activity you can talk but not sing, and in vigorous-intensity activity you cannot say more than a few words without pausing for breath.⁷ It also describes a 0 to 10 effort scale, where moderate is a 5 or 6 and vigorous begins at a 7 or 8.⁷ Both need no equipment, and both still work on days when a number looks off.

How reliable is 220 minus age?

It is the most used shortcut, and it is an average. Tanaka and colleagues pooled group averages from 351 studies covering 18,712 subjects and found that maximum heart rate fit the equation 208 minus 0.7 times age. A laboratory check in 514 healthy adults gave 209 minus 0.7 times age.⁵ The authors concluded that the older equation underestimates maximum heart rate in older adults.⁵

A second study looked at 31,090 adults sent for treadmill testing. Ahmed and colleagues found that 197 minus 0.8 times age fit women and 204 minus 0.9 times age fit men, and that the traditional formula overestimated peak heart rate by 12 beats in women and 11 beats in men on average.⁶

At age 60 the simple formula gives 160. The pooled equation gives 166, and the sex-specific ones give 149 and 150. A 17-beat spread at one age is the real limit of any chart: your own maximum could sit anywhere in or beyond that spread. That is why the effort scale and the talk test belong next to the number, not behind it.

Medications, health conditions and heart rate zones

Some medicines change the heart's response to exercise. The NHLBI states that a few high blood pressure medicines lower the maximum heart rate and thus the target zone, and it advises people who take them to tell their doctor their target zone and ask whether the activity plan needs adjusting.³

The same booklet lists reasons to check with a doctor before raising activity: being over 50 and not used to moderately energetic activity, a heart condition, chest pain within the last month, a parent or sibling with early heart disease, any other chronic problem, a tendency to lose balance or become dizzy, extreme breathlessness after mild exertion, or taking any type of medication.³ MedlinePlus likewise advises people with diabetes or heart disease to talk to a provider before starting an exercise program.¹

If you take a medicine that affects your heart rate, treat the chart in this guide as general information only. Ask your doctor what range or effort level suits you.

How to check your heart rate during exercise

MedlinePlus suggests taking a brief break and counting the beats you feel for 10 seconds, then multiplying by 6. At the wrist, place the index and middle fingers on the inside of the opposite wrist below the base of the thumb. At the neck, place them beside the Adam's apple.¹ The NHLBI adds that you should take your pulse immediately after finishing, and that if you fall below the zone you can move a bit faster next time, while above it you should slow down.³

Example: 25 beats in 10 seconds is 25 times 6, or 150 beats per minute. A 40-year-old with a zone of 90 to 153 is inside it. For a step-by-step pulse method, see how to measure your resting heart rate.

What an optical sensor adds and what it does not

Wrist bands and watches read pulse by shining LED light on the skin and analyzing the reflection. A systematic review of 10 studies with 469 participants found that four reported lower accuracy in darker-skinned people, four found no effect and two were mixed, and the authors called the evidence inconclusive.⁸ Treat live numbers during hard or jerky movement with caution, and compare against the pulse you count yourself now and then. The guide to wrist versus chest strap heart rate goes deeper.

A zone number is also not a recovery score. After training, how fast your heart rate falls matters too, covered in heart rate recovery.

Frequently asked questions