Cardio
Heart Rate Training Zones Explained
Complete guide to understanding training zones and how to use them to optimize your cardio workouts.
Read Article →❤️ Heart Rate & Training Zone Calculator
Calculate your maximum heart rate and personalized training zones to optimize your cardio workouts. Uses both age-based and Karvonen formulas.
Your Heart Rate Zones
Maximum Heart Rate
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Your estimated maximum heart rate (bpm)
🎯 Your Training Zones (% of Max HR)
Zone 1: Recovery
-- - -- bpm (50-60% Max HR)
Light activity, easy breathing, can hold a conversation. Perfect for warm-ups, cool-downs, and active recovery.
✓ Benefits
- Improves blood flow without stress
- Promotes recovery between hard workouts
- Ideal for beginners and older adults
- Builds aerobic base safely
Zone 2: Aerobic
-- - -- bpm (60-70% Max HR)
Light to moderate effort, slightly elevated breathing, can still talk but not sing. The "sweet spot" for building fitness.
✓ Benefits
- Improves cardiovascular fitness
- Burns fat as primary fuel source
- Sustainable for long distances
- Enhances aerobic capacity over time
Zone 3: Tempo / Lactate Threshold
-- - -- bpm (70-80% Max HR)
Moderate to hard effort, heavy breathing, talking becomes difficult. Builds speed and endurance.
✓ Benefits
- Increases lactate threshold
- Improves pace and speed
- Increases calorie burn
- Bridges gap between easy and hard work
Zone 4: VO₂ Max
-- - -- bpm (80-90% Max HR)
Hard effort, very heavy breathing, speech is broken up. Improves maximum oxygen utilization.
✓ Benefits
- Increases VO₂ max (oxygen capacity)
- Improves aerobic power
- Increases heart stroke volume
- Allows faster recovery between intervals
Zone 5: Anaerobic / All-Out
-- - -- bpm (90-100% Max HR)
Maximum effort, can't hold conversation, only sustainable for short bursts. Maximum intensity sprinting.
✓ Benefits
- Builds anaerobic capacity
- Increases speed and power
- Maximum calorie burn
- Improves competitive performance
💡 Weekly Training Distribution (Recommendations)
- Zone 1-2 (Easy): 70-80% of training time → Build base, recovery
- Zone 3 (Tempo): 10-15% of training time → Build speed
- Zone 4-5 (Hard): 5-10% of training time → Maximum effort workouts
⚠️ Most people do too much Zone 3-5 work. Focus on Zone 2 training for aerobic base building.
Quick Tips
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