Find cardio training zones for recovery, endurance, tempo, and high-intensity intervals.
Overview
Target heart rate zones help you match effort to workout goals, from easy aerobic sessions to VO2-focused intervals.
Using heart-rate reserve (Karvonen method) with resting heart rate usually provides more personalized zones than age-only formulas.
Steps
Used to estimate maximum heart rate.
Measure in the morning before activity.
Use age-based max heart rate estimate.
Select target intensity as percentage of reserve.
Tool returns lower and upper target beats per minute.
Assign zones to recovery, base, tempo, and interval days.
Math
HRmax = 220 - age; THR = ((HRmax - HRrest) x intensity) + HRrest
Karvonen uses heart-rate reserve (HRmax - HRrest) and scales it by target intensity, then adds resting rate back.
Worked cases
HRmax=185; THR=((185-60)x0.60)+60 = 135
Target HR: 135 bpm
THR=((185-60)x0.70)+60 = 147.5
Target HR: about 148 bpm
HRmax=192; THR=((192-55)x0.82)+55 = 167.3
Tempo target: about 167 bpm
Why use this
Questions