Which max heart rate formula is most accurate?

The classic 220 minus age formula overestimates for young people and underestimates for older people. Tanaka (208 minus 0.7 times age) and Gellish are generally more accurate across a wide age range, but every formula carries a standard error of roughly 10 to 12 beats per minute.

What is the Karvonen method?

Karvonen uses heart-rate reserve, which is maximum heart rate minus resting heart rate. A target intensity is resting rate plus a percentage of that reserve, which personalises training zones better than a flat percentage of max heart rate.

Why do the formulas disagree?

Each equation was fitted to a different population and study design, so they weight age differently. The spread you see between Fox and Tanaka at your age reflects that genuine uncertainty in predicting max heart rate from age alone.

Should I use these for training zones?

They are a reasonable starting point, but a measured max from a maximal test or a known race effort is far more reliable. If your training feels mismatched to the predicted zones, trust your perceived effort and a measured max instead.

Is a higher max heart rate fitter?

No. Maximum heart rate is largely genetic and declines with age; it is not a measure of fitness. A lower resting heart rate and a faster recovery after exercise are far better indicators of cardiovascular fitness.

Maximum Heart Rate Calculator

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Maximum heart rate underpins every percentage-based training zone, but there is no single agreed formula to predict it from age. This calculator runs five published equations side by side so you can see the spread and pick a sensible working figure.

How it works

Each formula estimates max heart rate (HRmax) from age in years:

Fox      HRmax = 220 − age
Tanaka   HRmax = 208 − 0.7 × age
Gellish  HRmax = 207 − 0.7 × age
Nes      HRmax = 211 − 0.64 × age
Inbar    HRmax = 205.8 − 0.685 × age

If you enter a resting heart rate, the Karvonen method gives a target zone from heart-rate reserve:

reserve = HRmax − resting
target  = resting + intensity × reserve

Example and tips

For a 40-year-old, Fox gives 180 bpm while Tanaka gives 180 and Nes gives about 185 — a spread of several beats. At age 60 the formulas diverge more, with Fox reading 160 versus Tanaka’s 166. Treat any single number as an estimate with a margin of about 10 to 12 bpm, and prefer a measured max from a hard race or test when you have one.