Your maximum heart rate
Five formulas side by side — Fox, Tanaka, Gellish, Gulati, Nes — and the gap between them.
Your estimated max heart rate (Tanaka)
184bpm
- Fox (220 − age)
- 185 bpm
- Gellish (2007)
- 183 bpm
- Nes (2013)
- 189 bpm
- Spread between formulas
- 6 bpm
All these formulas are off by about 10 beats for any one person. A supervised maximal exercise test remains the only measurement.
By age
The formulas diverge most at the extremes of age.
| Formula | Age 20 | Age 30 | Age 40 | Age 50 | Age 60 | Age 70 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox (220 − age) | 200 | 190 | 180 | 170 | 160 | 150 |
| Tanaka (2001) | 194 | 187 | 180 | 173 | 166 | 159 |
| Gellish (2007) | 193 | 186 | 179 | 172 | 165 | 158 |
| Nes (2013) | 198 | 192 | 185 | 179 | 173 | 166 |
Your heart rate zones
The five training zones, from this max heart rate.
- Tanaka (2001), 208 − 0.7 × age, drawn from a meta-analysis: the formula used.
- Gellish (2007), Gulati (2010, built on women) and Nes (2013) give other opinions; Fox (220 − age) remains the best known and least accurate.
- The spread between formulas is shown: it tells the uncertainty of an age-based estimate.
Sources
- Tanaka et al. (2001) — Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited
- Gellish et al. (2007) — Longitudinal modeling of the relationship between age and maximal heart rate
- Gulati et al. (2010) — Heart rate response to exercise stress testing in asymptomatic women
- Nes et al. (2013) — Age-predicted maximal heart rate in healthy subjects: the HUNT fitness study
Frequently asked questions
That formula was never validated on a large population, and it underestimates the max heart rate of older people.
With a supervised maximal exercise test, or a progressive effort to exhaustion after a good warm-up, wearing a chest strap.
Very little: it mostly depends on age. Training lowers your resting heart rate.
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