FR Join the betaJoin

Your 7 heart rate zones

Three questions, your seven zones in beats per minute, and your heart beating in each one so you can feel the difference.

When you wake up, still lying down: count your pulse at the wrist for 30 seconds, then multiply by 2. Your watch shows it too.
The highest number your watch has ever shown at the end of an all-out effort. Otherwise, we estimate it from your age, give or take about ten beats.
See my zones ↓
Max HR184bpmestimated from your age
Resting HR60bpmtypical value

“~” means estimated, not measured

Your 7 zones

    Tap a zone to see it beat

    Your heart, at the rate you pick

    Change your heart rate—
    How it's calculated
    1. The questions: your age, your resting heart rate and your max heart rate, the three numbers the heart rate reserve method needs. Anything you don't enter is estimated, and marked “~”.
    2. Your max HR, if you don't know it: 208 − 0.7 × your age, rounded to the nearest beat (H. Tanaka, K. Monahan, D. Seals, “Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited”, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2001: 351 studies, 18,712 people). More accurate than “220 − age”, but it's an average: your real max HR can be about ten beats off.
    3. Your resting HR, if you don't know it: 60 beats per minute, the typical adult value the Cadevia app also uses until it has a measurement.
    4. Your zones: the heart rate reserve method (M. Karvonen, E. Kentala, O. Mustala, Annales Medicinae Experimentalis et Biologiae Fenniae, 1957). Your reserve is your max HR minus your resting HR. The top of each zone is your resting HR plus a share of that reserve, rounded to the nearest beat: 55% for zone 1, 70% for zone 2, 80% for zone 3, 87% for zone 4, 93% for zone 5, 97% for zone 6; zone 7 goes all the way up to your max HR. Each zone starts one beat above the one below.
    5. The same as in the app: these seven boundaries, names and colors are the ones on the Zones screen of the Cadevia app, with the same rounding. With the same numbers, the app gives you exactly the same zones.
    6. What you feel in each zone: cues from the “talk test” (R. Persinger, C. Foster et al., “Consistency of the talk test for exercise prescription”, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2004): as long as you can talk comfortably, you're below your threshold.
    7. The beating heart: it really beats at the rate you pick, one beat every 60 ÷ HR seconds; the “1 s” marker gives the scale. The shape of the trace is a drawing, not your ECG.
    8. The limits: heat, altitude, fatigue, dehydration and some medications (beta blockers) shift your heart rate, and it lags behind on a short effort. These are guides, not walls. If you have a health condition, check with a doctor before training hard.

    Frequently asked questions

    How do I calculate my heart rate zones?

    With the heart rate reserve method (Karvonen): your max HR minus your resting HR gives your reserve, and the top of each zone takes a share of it (55, 70, 80, 87, 93 and 97%). These are the zones of the Cadevia app, to the beat.

    How do I estimate my max heart rate?

    With the Tanaka formula (2001): 208 − 0.7 × your age. It's more accurate than “220 − age”, but your true max HR can differ by about ten beats.

    How do I measure my resting heart rate?

    In the morning when you wake up, still lying down: count your beats for 30 seconds and multiply by 2. A watch also measures it during the night.

    Which zone is easy endurance?

    Zone 2: you breathe easily and can hold a conversation. It's where most of your training hours should go.