Estimate a personalized exercise heart-rate range using your age and resting heart rate with the Karvonen method.
This calculator estimates a general training range. Medications, heart conditions and individual fitness levels can change an appropriate exercise heart rate.
Most target heart rate calculators use only your age. This one uses the Karvonen method, which also accounts for your resting heart rate — and that makes the result personal. Two people the same age can have very different zones if one is fit and one is not, because the fit person’s heart idles lower.
The calculation runs in three steps:
This calculator uses 50% for the bottom of the zone and 85% for the top, giving a general training range rather than a single narrow band.
Max heart rate = 220 − 40 = 180 bpm
Heart rate reserve = 180 − 60 = 120 bpm
Lower bound = (120 × 0.50) + 60 = 120 bpm
Upper bound = (120 × 0.85) + 60 = 162 bpm
So the training zone is 120–162 bpm. Notice how the resting rate lifts the whole zone: a simple “50–85% of max” calculation would have given 90–153 bpm, which for this person would feel far too easy at the bottom end. The Karvonen reserve method is why the two approaches disagree.
Resting heart rate is a rough fitness gauge. A typical adult rests at 60–100 bpm; trained endurance athletes often sit at 40–60 bpm. As fitness improves, the heart pumps more blood per beat, so it needs fewer beats at rest — resting rate falls, the reserve grows, and the same percentage effort produces a higher target zone. That is why re-entering your resting heart rate every few weeks keeps the zones honest as you get fitter.
| Intensity (Karvonen) | Zone | What it feels like | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50–60% | Light / recovery | Easy, full conversation | Warm-ups, recovery days, beginners |
| 60–70% | Fat-burning / Zone 2 | Comfortable, can talk in sentences | Base endurance, long steady sessions |
| 70–80% | Cardio / tempo | Breathing hard, short phrases | Improving cardiovascular fitness |
| 80–90% | Hard / threshold | Very hard, few words at a time | Intervals, race-pace work |
| 90%+ | Peak | All-out effort | Short sprints, experienced athletes only |
The percentages above are Karvonen (reserve-based) figures, so they will not match tables built on “percent of max” — the reserve method shifts every band upward, especially for fit people with low resting rates.
This calculator estimates a general training range for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Medications, heart conditions, and individual fitness levels can change an appropriate exercise heart rate. See the American Heart Association’s target heart rate guidance and talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have cardiovascular risk factors.
Maintained by Live Fitness Check. Last updated: August 9, 2026. How we test our calculators .
Estimates an exercise target-heart-rate range from age and resting heart rate.
The calculator uses age-based maximum-heart-rate estimation and the heart-rate-reserve approach configured in the live calculator to calculate training zones. The calculation uses age and resting heart rate.
Medications, heart conditions and individual fitness can substantially alter safe exercise heart-rate targets. Use the number as an estimate and consider professional advice when the result may affect health, treatment, pregnancy, nutrition, exercise safety or another important decision.
