How to Calculate Your Target Heart Rate Training Zone

Why Use Heart Rate Zones?

Your heart rate can tell you how hard your body is working during exercise. By training within specific heart rate zones, you can:

• Improve cardiovascular fitness

• Exercise safely and effectively

• Track your progress over time

• Stay motivated and goal-focused

Everyone's ideal training zone is different. It depends on your age, resting heart rate, fitness level, and health condition.

To make it easy, we’ve built a free Heart Rate Zone Calculator for you here:👉 Calculate My Heart Rate

🧮 What Is the Heart Rate Calculator?

Our online tool uses your age and resting heart rate to estimate your target training zones, using the formula that's right for you and your medical condition – a safe, reliable method widely used in cardiac rehabilitation and sports training.

The calculator provides an estimate to help you identify:

• Warm-Up and Cool-Down Zone (Rest – 40%)

  A gentle range to start and finish exercise sessions.

  
  

• Aerobic Training Zone (50–70%)

  Where most moderate-intensity cardiovascular activity happens. Perfect for walking, cycling, or dancing at a steady pace.

  
  

• Anaerobic or High-Intensity Zone (70–85%)

  A higher effort zone, usually suitable only for experienced individuals. Always check with your healthcare provider before working in this range.

💡 How to Use the Calculator

1. Visit the Tool:

   Go to Calculate My Heart Rate

   
   

2. Enter Your Details:

   Add your age, resting heart rate (count your pulse at rest for 60 seconds), if you are on a beta-blocker, and if you have ever been diagnosed with heart failure.

   
   

3. View Your Zones:

   Following submission of the quiz, you will receive a print-out from one of the team direct to your email address.

   
   

4. Apply It in Your Sessions:

   Use your personalised zones to pace yourself during workouts. Aim for the aerobic zone most often, unless advised otherwise.

🔁 What Do the Numbers Mean?

Your results may look similar to this:

Match with How You Feel:

Alongside these numbers, we also use the Borg RPE Scale (6–20) – a tool to rate how hard you feel you're working. Your aerobic zone typically feels “somewhat hard” (12 – 14 on the scale), where you can still talk but feel slightly out of breath.

✅ Safety Tips

• Always start with a warm-up and end with a cool-down

• Don’t aim for the high zones unless you’ve been advised it's safe to do so

• Monitor how you feel – numbers help, but your body knows best

• Stop immediately if you feel chest pain, dizzy, or unwell

• Recalculate your zones if your age, medications, or health status changes

📘 FAQs

Q: What’s a resting heart rate and how do I measure it?

A: Your resting heart rate is how many times your heart beats per minute when you are completely at rest. Measure it first thing in the morning by counting your pulse for 60 seconds on your wrist or neck.

Q: I take medication that affects my heart rate – should I still use this tool?

A: If you’re on beta-blockers or other heart rate-lowering medications, your target heart rate zone may differ. Our training zone calculator takes this into account. Any heart rate calculation will always be an estimate unless performing a maximal exercise test, so please speak with your GP, cardiologist, or Clinical Exercise Physiologist for individualised guidance.

Q: Should I train at the top of my zone every session?

A: No. It’s best to vary your intensity. Spend most of your time in the aerobic zone, and only occasionally push higher – if it’s safe to do so.

Q: How often should I recalculate my zones?

A: Recalculate if your age increases, your resting heart rate improves with fitness, or your health condition changes.

Q: Can I still use this if I don’t wear a heart rate monitor?

A: Yes. You can train by how you feel using the Borg RPE scale. Aim for a level of exertion where you can still talk but feel challenged.

Q: My cardiac rehabilitation team have provided me with a training zone, which shall I use?

A: While our method is accurate, your cardiac rehabilitation team may have estimated your training zone following a sub-maximal / maximal exercise capacity test. This method is more accurate than calculating from resting heart-rate. If you have performed a test, this estimate may have higher accuracy.

🔗 Related Reading

Want to understand your heart rate session print-out in more detail?👉 How to Read Your Heart Rate Session Printout

🏁 Ready to Get Started?

Try the tool now and take control of your heart health with confidence:👉 Calculate My Heart Rate

You’ll learn how to pace your workouts, stay safe, and gradually build fitness over time — all based on what your own heart is telling you.

This blog post was written by Jamie Pickett, Clinical Exercise Physiologist, with AI assistance.