Heart Rate Zone Calculator for Women
Enter your age to get an estimated maximum heart rate and five training zones in beats per minute. You can use a formula built from data on women, and add your resting heart rate for zones that fit you more closely.
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Your pulse when you wake up. Leave it empty if you do not know it.
Maximum heart rate formula
Enter your age to see your heart rate zones.
This is general information, not medical advice. It cannot take your own health history into account. For anything that worries you, speak to a doctor, midwife or pharmacist.
How it works
First the calculator estimates your maximum heart rate. The women's formula is 206 minus 0.88 × age. It comes from a study of 5,437 healthy women by Gulati and colleagues, published in 2010. The standard formula is 220 minus age, which came mostly from studies of men and tends to give women a number that is too high.
Without a resting heart rate, each zone is a straight percentage of your maximum: 50 to 60%, 60 to 70%, 70 to 80%, 80 to 90% and 90 to 100%.
With a resting heart rate, the calculator uses the Karvonen method, also called heart rate reserve: target = resting + intensity × (maximum minus resting). This takes your fitness into account, because a lower resting heart rate leaves a larger reserve to work with.
What it cannot tell you
- Any formula based on age is an estimate. Your real maximum heart rate can be 10 or more beats above or below it, so treat the zones as a guide and also go by how hard the effort feels.
- Some medicines change heart rate. Beta blockers lower it, so these zones will not fit you. If you take heart or blood pressure medicine, are pregnant or have a heart condition, ask your doctor what heart rate to train at.
- Stop exercising and get medical help if you have chest pain, feel dizzy or faint, or are unusually short of breath. Call your local emergency number if chest pain does not ease when you rest.
- The women's formula was built from women aged 35 and over. It is less tested in younger women.
Apps that do this for you
A calculator answers once. These apps keep track over time. Compare all women's fitness apps.
ALO Wellness Club
A yoga and fitness class app: on-demand yoga, Pilates, strength and meditation, formerly Alo Moves
Bodylura
A women's workout app: guided programmes, meal plans and a food tracker from trainer Anna Victoria
Every Mother
A core and pelvic floor exercise app: programmes for pregnancy, postpartum and later life stages.
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Common questions
The maximum heart rate formula for women is 206 minus 0.88 × age. For a 40-year-old woman that gives about 171 beats per minute, against 180 from the older 220 minus age rule. It comes from a 2010 study of more than 5,000 women published in the journal Circulation.
The five heart rate zones are bands of effort from 50% to 100% of your maximum heart rate. Zone 1 (50 to 60%) is very light, zone 2 (60 to 70%) is light, zone 3 (70 to 80%) is moderate, zone 4 (80 to 90%) is hard and zone 5 (90 to 100%) is maximum effort. Each zone is 10 percentage points wide.
Zone 2 is 60 to 70% of your maximum heart rate. For a 40-year-old woman with an estimated maximum of 171, zone 2 is about 102 to 120 beats per minute. In zone 2 you can still talk in full sentences.
The Karvonen formula sets a target heart rate from your heart rate reserve, which is your maximum minus your resting heart rate. Target = resting + intensity × (maximum minus resting). For a maximum of 180 and a resting rate of 60, 70% intensity is 60 + 0.7 × 120 = 144 beats per minute.
Measure your resting heart rate when you wake up, before you get out of bed. Count your pulse at your wrist or neck for 60 seconds, or read it from a watch or fitness tracker. Take it on a few mornings and use the average.