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:
Anbefalt HRmax
184bpm
Tanaka (2001)
Gjennomsnitt av alle 6 modellene
183bpm
bruk denne hvis du er usikker
Seks publiserte prediktorer, side om side (±10–12 bpm typisk feilmargin)
| Fox / Haskell (1971) | 185 bpm |
| Tanaka (2001)Anbefalt | 184 bpm |
| Gellish (2007) | 183 bpm |
| Nes (2013) | 189 bpm |
| Gulati, kvinner (2010) | 175 bpm |
| Londeree & Moeschberger | 181 bpm |
| Gjennomsnitt av alle seks modellenesnittet av prediktorene over | 183 bpm |
- Vi anbefaler Tanaka (2001) fordi den ble re-utledet fra en metaanalyse av 18 712 personer og er mer nøyaktig på tvers av aldre enn den gamle regelen 220 minus alder, som har en tendens til å ligge for høyt for eldre utøvere.
- Formel-predikert HRmax har et standardavvik på rundt ±10–12 bpm, så to utøvere på samme alder kan skille seg med 20+ bpm. Bruk den bare som et utgangspunkt.
- For nøyaktighet, gjennomfør en maksimal feltetest (f.eks. en hard bakkedrag-økt eller en overvåket rampetest) og les av din faktiske HRmax fra enheten.
En PDF med resultatene dine, pluss en QR-kode for å åpne dem igjen senere.
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.