Calculate your maximum heart rate and the 5 training zones based on age.
Training by heart rate keeps your effort honest — easy days stay easy, hard days stay hard. This calculator maps out your five heart-rate zones from your age or a measured maximum.
It first estimates your maximum heart rate (a common formula is 220 minus your age, so about 190 for a 30-year-old), then sets zones as percentages of it: Zone 1 is 50–60%, up to Zone 5 at 90–100%. For that 30-year-old, Zone 2 (fat-burning, 60–70%) is roughly 114–133 bpm.
Most endurance training should sit in the lower zones, with short bursts higher up. Zones make it easy to pace long runs, structure intervals and avoid overtraining.
The simple formula is 220 minus your age. It is a rough average — individuals vary by 10–15 bpm — so if you know your true max from a test, enter that for more accurate zones.
Most training should be easy, in Zones 1–2, to build an aerobic base. Zones 3–4 improve threshold, and short efforts in Zone 5 build top-end fitness. A mix, weighted towards easy, works best.
No, the appropriate zone depends on your goal and fitness level.