Am I in the Zone??

That depends on your goals and your heart…

Target Heart Rate is the best way to make your training effective.  Different zones can be used for different personal goals and different levels of fitness.

Your heart rate is the most accurate form of measuring exertion because it accounts for all aspects beyond the activity itself: the influence of stress, sleep, hunger, dehydration, temperature, and other factors that have an effect on your heart during exercise.

Find YOUR Zone

In order to make your workouts the most effective, you need to know what Zone reflects your own personal exercise goal.  That will tell you where your Target Heart Rate should be during exercise, and then you can track it to make sure it gets there.  You’ll need two pieces of information to find your Target Heart Rate: Resting Heart Rate and Age.

Use a Personalized Method

A VERY basic method to figuring out Target Heart Rate is 220 – Age x Zone%.  This is mostly how the machines at the gym work, and also how the color zones are designated on your fitness tracking watch. However, they are often incorrect because not everyone at the same age is in the same physical condition.  And your condition has a lot to do with how your heart works!

That’s why trainers use the Karvonen Formula, which will calculate YOUR personal Target Heart Rate.  It starts with a number that is unique and important: the Heart Rate Reserve.  Then we can multiply it by the Target Zone in which you want to exercise based on your goals.

The ZONES

Training Zones	Description	%  Heart Rate Max	Benefits/ Goals	Duration
1	Easy/Recovery	50-59	improves circulation, helps with heart recovery after exercise	80-120 minutes
2	Weight Control	60-69	improves the body’s efficiency at converting fuel to energy	40-80 minutes
3	Aerobic	70-79	improves aerobic conditioning and lung capacity, expands blood vessels	10-40 minutes
4	Anaerobic	80-89	increases high speed endurance and maximum performance	2-10 minutes
5	Max Effort	90-100	increases maximum performance and speed	Under 2 minutes

Determine which Zone is your goal, then work towards it.  Remember that we all have limitations, and that you can also increase your heart rate by making your exercise BIGGER, FASTER, or HEAVIER.  Duration won’t necessarily get your heart rate higher, but it can be a factor in making your heart stronger overall.

Here is a sample that I made for myself with the online calculator.  It gives my target heart range for each zone, which is quite handy once I know which Zones I want to work in!  I might use different Zones for different workouts too.

The MATH (or skip to the online calculator below)

Terms to know before you begin

• Max Heart Rate – the highest that your heart can pump
• Resting Heart Rate – your heart rate while you sleep or rest
• Heart Rate Reserve – variation from your resting heart rate to your maximum
• Desired Intensity Percentage – select % from a category in the Zones Chart above
• Training Zone – zones that challenge and develop your fitness for various goals
• Target Heart Rate – YOUR personal heart rate goal for each specific training zone

The FORMULA

The ONLINE CALCULATOR

If you don’t like math…but skip down to where it says Enter Data

Karvonen Heart Rate Calculator (topendsports.com)