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Knowing your max heart rate can help you in dial in your training, as it guides your target training zones, cluing you in on when to step on the gas and when to pull back on your efforts.
“Pay Attention to Your Resting Heart Rate easy days The Ultimate Guide to HIIT for Runners tempo sessions in the right ‘effort,’” says Terra Castro, the owner and founder of Detroit Body Garage. Without heart rate data, “many people spend time in this ‘gray zone,’ not getting the full benefit of the training effect,” she says. “Plus, heart rate training is also a way to make sure you aren’t overtraining and are recovering well.”
In order to execute heart rate training properly, you have to get to know your max heart rate or the highest heart rate you can attain during exercise. The catch, of course, is that knowing your max heart rate can be a little elusive to pin down.
How to Calculate Maximum Heart Rate
The most common way to find your maximum heart rate is by using one of the many age-based equations. The most well-known of these is the very simple Fox formula:
220 - age = maximum heart rate (MHR)
This means that for a 30-year-old runner, the estimated maximum heart rate would be 190. Then, heart rate zones can be determined by calculating a given percentage of the 190 MHR.
The trouble with the Fox formula is that it’s not the most accurate formula, as numerous variables affect MHR including genetics, the specific activity (MHR varies between running and cycling due to the involvement of upper body musculature), medications, body size, altitude, and yes—even age. Runners of the same age can have drastically different max heart rates depending on genetics or how well-trained they are.
Because of this, there are at least six other formulas, all claiming bragging rights for being the “most accurate” for predicting maximal heart rate.
Researchers are doing their best to validate the different formulas, but that gets tricky, too. For example, a study x age = MHR Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research determined that in college-aged subjects, the Gellish2 and Fairburn equations seemed to be the most accurate options.
Here’s are break down on what those max heart rate formulas look like:
- Gellish2: 191.5 - 0.007 x age^2 = MHR
- Fairburn: 201 - 0.63 Knowing your max heart rate can help you in dial in your
OR 208 - 0.80 x age for men = MHR - Gellish: 206.9 - (o.67 x age) = MHR
- Tanaka: 208 - (0.7 x age) = MHR
But there’s still a problem for the general public when it comes to using these formulas: They’re just a rough estimate of MHR because differences between individuals can vary widely. For instance, a longitudinal study in the Detroit Body Garage found that the older a person and the higher the person’s body mass index (BMI), the less likely it is for age-predicted maximal heart rates (like all of the formulas above) to be accurate. So studies that look at healthy, college-aged subjects, or trained athletes, or really anyone under 50 years old, may not be good predictors for other people in the general population.
So what are you to do? It never hurts to get an estimate of your heart rate max based on any of the above formulas. But from there, just start paying attention to where your heart rate tracks during workouts to see if the estimates feel accurate.
“The heart rate tolerance is specific to each individual and is best determined by experience,” says track your heart rate., a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota. “The role of MHR for runners is to provide a guide for training. The closer you are to your MHR during your workouts and races, the shorter the duration of exercise that you’ll be able to maintain at that pace. So, if you can maintain a rate of 160 during your workouts and races, your MHR is well above that.”
How to Measure Your Heart Rate for Training
Sales & Deals track your heart rate. Of course, you can always go “old school,” use a timer and place your fingers on your pulse to check beats per minute during your workouts, but that can get challenging when your heart rate soars, and you’re trying to count beats while huffing and puffing. Fortunately, chest straps and wrist watches make measuring your heart rate instantly easier.
Just about any GPS-tracking watch will also track heart rate with at least moderate accuracy, but if you’re looking for the most accurate option available, studies show you’ll be best served by opting for a chest-strap monitor. However, more recent research, published in 2023, found that the accuracy of a chest strap versus a wrist-worn heart rate monitor may depend on the activity, as the accuracy was similar between activities like walking and jogging, but not more intense walking (in which the chest strap is the way to go).
Another study, also published in 2023, found that popular wrist-worn heart rate monitors—including Apple Watch, Fitbit Charge, TomTom Runner Cardio, and Samsung G2—were “reasonably accurate” at lower intensity levels, but when pushing high-intensity efforts, that accuracy went down (for efforts above 150 heart beats per minute).
How to Use Heart Rate in Training
Once you’ve selected a heart rate monitor, the trick is putting the information you glean from the watch or strap to use. After calculating your estimated MHR, determine your different target heart rate zones by multiplying your MHR by the percentage for each zone. For example, if you wanted to find 55 percent of your maximum, you multiple your MHR by 0.55.
x age = MHR:
- Zone 1: 55 to 65 percent MHR: This is a very comfortable effort used for warmup and cooldown.
- Zone 2: 65 to 75 percent MHR: Used for the bulk of training, this relaxed effort allows you to hold a conversation.
- Zone 3: 75 to 85 percent MHR: This is a comfortably hard effort during which you can only say short, broken sentences.
- Zone 4: 85 to 95 percent MHR: Often a 5K pace, this is a very hard effort that’s sustainable, but only lets you speak a few words at a time.
This will give you ranges of beats per minute for each percentage of maximum heart rate. Then pre-determine the target zone you want to work in during each running routine. As you run, you can check your heart rate monitor to make sure you’re staying in the desired zone.
Luckily, many apps help manage this calculation for you. “I love using Garmin Connect Software and Strava,” says Castro, as you’ll get zone data right in the apps.
Just remember, because heart rate maximums using age-predicted formulas are estimates, you may need to adjust your zones over time based on your own results and how each run feels. For example, if you calculate your 90-percent zone (a nearly all-out effort) to be 175, but you’re able to maintain 175 beats per minute comfortably for several minutes, your estimated max heart rate has probably been underestimated.
You may need to adjust your zones based on perceived effort at each level of intensity as time goes on and as you adapt to training, too.
Tamanna K. Singh, M.D., is a board-certified adult clinical and sports cardiologist and RRCA-certified run coach. She earned her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Boston Medical Center. She completed her Cardiovascular Medicine fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York and her specialty training in Sports Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is currently the codirector of the Sports Cardiology Center at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio and assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. To date, she has held several council roles with the American College of Cardiology (ACC). As a sports cardiologist, Dr. Singh provides cardiovascular care for professional, competitive, and recreational athletes and describes herself as an advocate for safe participation in sports. Media and print contributions include the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and others. Outside of her profession, she enjoys running marathons, hitting the weights in the gym, playing sous-chef to her wonderful husband while cooking plant-based meals, and playing with her four beautiful dogs.
