Finding Your Maximum Heart Rate
What max heart rate is, why the 220 minus age rule is shaky, and how to estimate or field-test yours. Includes a six-formula calculator.
Your maximum heart rate (HRmax) anchors every heart-rate zone. Get it wrong by 10 beats and every zone shifts by 5–10 bpm.
What max heart rate is
HRmax is the highest your heart can beat during all-out effort. It is largely genetic, drifts down slowly with age, and is not a measure of fitness.
You can't train your max heart rate up. Its only job is to anchor your zones.
Estimate it in five seconds
The 220 − age rule is easy to remember but was never derived from solid data. It runs high for older athletes and low for some younger ones. Tanaka (208 − 0.7 × age) is more accurate. Drop your age in below to see six published formulas side by side:
Anbefalet HRmax
184bpm
Tanaka (2001)
Gennemsnit af alle 6 modeller
183bpm
brug denne, hvis du er i tvivl
Seks publicerede prædiktorer, side om side (±10–12 bpm typisk fejlmargin)
| Fox / Haskell (1971) | 185 bpm |
| Tanaka (2001)Anbefalet | 184 bpm |
| Gellish (2007) | 183 bpm |
| Nes (2013) | 189 bpm |
| Gulati, kvinder (2010) | 175 bpm |
| Londeree & Moeschberger | 181 bpm |
| Gennemsnit af alle seks modellermiddelværdi af prædiktorerne ovenfor | 183 bpm |
- Vi anbefaler Tanaka (2001), fordi den er genudledt fra en metaanalyse af 18.712 personer og er mere præcis på tværs af aldre end den gamle 220 minus alder-regel, som har tendens til at ligge højt for ældre atleter.
- Formelforudsagt HRmax har en standardafvigelse på cirka ±10–12 bpm, så to atleter på samme alder kan afvige med 20+ bpm. Brug det kun som udgangspunkt.
- For præcision skal du lave en maksimal feltprøve (f.eks. en hård bakkeintervalsession eller en superviseret ramptest) og aflæse din rigtige HRmax fra enheden.
En PDF med dine personlige resultater, plus en QR-kode til at åbne dem igen når som helst.
Test it for real
A field test beats any equation. After a thorough warm-up:
- Run or ride 2–3 minutes hard uphill.
- Recover briefly, then go again, building to an all-out final 30 seconds.
- The highest number you see is close to your true HRmax.
Maximal effort, not for beginners. Stop if you feel unwell. One good test lasts years, since HRmax drops only about 0.7 bpm per year.
Then build your zones
- Heart-rate zone calculator: the standard %HRmax 5-zone split.
- LTHR zones: anchor to lactate-threshold heart rate instead.
- Max heart rate calculator: the six-formula tool above.