Max Heart Rate Calculator / Heart rate recovery
Heart Rate Recovery Calculator
Enter your heart rate at the end of exercise and 1 or 2 minutes later to see how quickly your heart recovers.
Your result
Enter your numbers and press the button. Your result appears here.
How heart rate recovery is measured
Heart rate recovery is how much your heart rate drops in the first minutes after you stop exercising. A faster drop reflects a healthy nervous system.
Recovery = peak heart rate − heart rate 1 (or 2) minutes later
A 1-minute drop of 12 bpm or less after an upright cool-down was linked with higher risk in a study of 2,428 adults (Cole 1999). For 2 minutes the cut-off is 22 bpm.
Maximum and target heart rate by age
| Age | Max (220 − age) | Moderate 50–70% | Vigorous 70–85% | Max (Tanaka) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 200 | 100–140 | 140–170 | 194 |
| 25 | 195 | 98–136 | 136–166 | 190 |
| 30 | 190 | 95–133 | 133–162 | 187 |
| 35 | 185 | 92–130 | 130–157 | 184 |
| 40 | 180 | 90–126 | 126–153 | 180 |
| 45 | 175 | 88–122 | 122–149 | 176 |
| 50 | 170 | 85–119 | 119–144 | 173 |
| 55 | 165 | 82–115 | 115–140 | 170 |
| 60 | 160 | 80–112 | 112–136 | 166 |
| 65 | 155 | 78–108 | 108–132 | 162 |
| 70 | 150 | 75–105 | 105–128 | 159 |
| 75 | 145 | 72–102 | 102–123 | 156 |
| 80 | 140 | 70–98 | 98–119 | 152 |
Beats per minute. Moderate and vigorous ranges follow the American Heart Association.
Common questions
Is 220 minus age accurate?
It is a rough average. Real maximums vary by 10 to 12 bpm either way. Tanaka and Gulati formulas are closer for many adults.
When should I see a doctor?
If your resting rate is often above 100 or below 50 with dizziness, fainting, chest pain or breathlessness, or if your pulse feels irregular.
Do medicines change these numbers?
Yes. Beta blockers and some other heart medicines lower heart rate, so age-based targets do not apply. Ask your doctor for a target.
Sources
- American Heart Association. Target heart rates chart; All about heart rate.
- Tanaka H, Monahan KD, Seals DR. Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited. J Am Coll Cardiol 2001;37:153–156.
- Gulati M et al. Heart rate response to exercise stress testing in asymptomatic women. Circulation 2010;122:130–137.
- Karvonen MJ et al. The effects of training on heart rate. Ann Med Exp Biol Fenn 1957;35:307–315.
- Cole CR et al. Heart-rate recovery immediately after exercise as a predictor of mortality. N Engl J Med 1999;341:1351–1357.
- Uth N et al. Estimation of VO2max from the ratio between HRmax and HRrest. Eur J Appl Physiol 2004;91:111–115.