CalcVitalsMaximum Heart Rate Calculator — Four Formulas
The famous formula says max heart rate is 220 minus your age: 190 bpm at age 30. Newer research formulas read a little more conservatively at older ages — Tanaka gives 187 at 30 and 173 at 50, where Fox gives 170. This page shows all four so you can see the uncertainty rather than hide it.
How it works
Maximum heart rate is mostly a birth certificate: it falls steadily with age, varies surprisingly little with fitness — training does not raise it; if anything, endurance athletes trend slightly low — and is substantially genetic. The formulas exist because measuring a true maximum requires an all-out effort most people should not improvise, so zones get built on estimates.
The Fox formula (220 − age) was never designed as science for individuals — it was a rough line through a handful of studies, popularised in the 1970s. Tanaka's 2001 meta-analysis of 351 studies produced 208 − 0.7·age, which behaves better at older ages: Fox progressively underestimates max in the over-60s, sometimes by enough to misplace training zones by a full band. Gellish and Nes offer similar corrections from large Norwegian and clinical datasets.
Practical advice: under 40, the formulas cluster within a few beats and any will do. Over 50, prefer Tanaka's figure for zone-setting. And at any age, if a formula's zones contradict your clear experience — you finish races at heart rates above your 'maximum' — your experience is right and the formula is wrong, for you.
The method
Fox: 220 − age. Tanaka et al. (2001): 208 − 0.7 × age. Gellish et al. (2007): 207 − 0.7 × age. Nes et al. (2013): 211 − 0.64 × age. All estimates carry ≈ ±10 bpm individual standard deviation.
Frequently asked questions
Can I increase my max heart rate with training?
No — it is set by age and genetics and declines about 0.7–1 bpm per year regardless. What training changes is how much work you can do at any given heart rate, which is the improvement that actually matters.
My heart rate went above my calculated max. Is the device broken?
Almost certainly not — about a third of people sit more than 10 bpm from the average formula. Your observed, genuinely maximal value (end of a hard race or test) is your max, whatever the formula says.
Is a high max heart rate healthier?
No. Max HR is not a fitness score; elite endurance athletes often have unremarkable maxima. Resting heart rate and VO2 max are the numbers that track fitness and health.