Maximum Heart Rate Calculator

How to Use the MHR Calculator

To use our maximum heart rate simulator, enter the requested data in the form.

First, enter your age and, secondly, enter your heart rate when you are at rest.

Once you have entered all the data, click on “Calculate” and our calculator will do the rest, giving you the result in a matter of seconds.

If, on the other hand, you want to learn how to perform this operation, we have prepared a small mini-guide where we explain how to do it step by step.

What is Heart Rate

Heart rate is defined as the number of beats the heart makes during one minute; its own unit of measurement are beats per minute or pulses per minute (bpm).

This changes naturally according to various factors, such as age, the activity being carried out, and the physical conditions of an individual.

There are also pathological conditions that increase or decrease the frequency of heartbeats with more or less serious consequences.

What are the Most Common Average Values

According to age, the following values can be considered “normal”:

• From 80 to 180 beats per minute for newborns.
• From 80 to 100 beats per minute for children.
• From 70 to 120 beats per minute for adolescents.
• From 60 to 90 beats per minute for adults.

The frequency changes according to the time of day (after eating it is always much higher, whereas at night it decreases), but also excessive stress or strong physical activity can increase the beats per minute.

What is Maximum Heart Rate and How is it Calculated

The maximum heart rate is the maximum number of beats the heart makes during one minute when you are exposed to physical activities that require a great effort.

If you walk fast, your heart can reach an MHR between 60% and 70% of the total possible.

There are two methods to calculate the maximum heart rate.

The Astrand Method

First, the known as Astrand method according to which we simply have to subtract the age from 220.

Astrand Formula

• MHR = 220 - Age

Application Example

Let's imagine that a 38-year-old person wants to calculate their maximum heart rate, to know it, we must subtract 38 from the number 220, and it will give us a result of 182 beats per minute (bpm).

If we want the heart rate of that person to stay within a reasonable range for exercising, we simply have to calculate how much is the range in which their heart rate should be maintained, which is between 60% and 75% of their maximum frequency.

In this case, this 38-year-old person should move in a range of 109 to 137 beats per minute.

This method provides us with a quick and quite effective formula to calculate the recommended beats, but there is another one that, although it is more complicated, gives us an extra level of precision and reliability.

The Karvonen Method

This method was described by the Finnish doctor Martti Karvonen, who made important contributions in the area of sports physiology.

As a result of his research, the idea of the importance of monitoring heart rate during exercise emerged, even leading to the production of heart rate monitors to measure heart rate.

This method also takes into account the resting heart rate, that is, the beats per minute, which you will have to calculate when you wake up in the morning.

Karvonen Formula

• TargetHR = [(MHR – RestHR) x %Intensity] + RestHR

Application Example

Let's continue imagining that 38-year-old person, who has discovered that they have a resting heart rate of 60 beats per minute.

According to this formula, you must subtract the resting beats from your maximum heart rate (found with the Astrand method), whose result is, in this case:

• 182bpm-60bpm=122bpm

Now we will extrapolate this data (the subtraction of the MHR minus the resting heart rate (RestHR), in this case 122bpm) and apply the previous percentages (60% and 75%), obtaining 73bpm and 92bpm respectively.

Now you must add the RestHR, in this case 60bpm.

This way you will obtain the appropriate pace at which the heart should beat when doing physical activity, which will give us a result of a frequency of 133bpm to 152bpm.

What is the Maximum Heart Rate Used For

If you are doing physical activity, the heart and your body in general need more oxygen than usual.

For this reason, the beats increase and the MHR is reached when the oxygen produced by the heart under basal conditions is not enough to feed the muscles.

Above those previously calculated beats, the muscles begin not to receive enough oxygen and therefore perform as they should.

How to Know How Many Times the Heart Beats Each Minute

If you are resting or taking a breath and want to know if you are moving within the correct beats, you will have to measure your pulse.

To do this, place two fingers (the index and middle finger) under the wrist, with the palm of your hand facing you, on the side where the thumb is and right there above the artery located there, place your fingers and count the beats for one minute.

You can also place these two fingers on one side of your trachea and feel the beats there.

That is the manual way to do it, you can always opt to wear a heart rate monitor that indicates it for you.

Final Considerations

The MHR will also depend on numerous factors, such as fatigue, diet, or whether the individual in question is a smoker or not.

Therefore, if two different people of the same age perform one of the two previously mentioned tests, surely these two individuals will have a different heart rate when they are at rest, but even so, the results will never be 100% accurate to the reality of both.

Attention: If you want to know your maximum heart rate 100% accurately as information to perform an adequate exercise, we advise you to put yourself in the hands of a specialist and perform a stress test with all the guarantees.

Therefore, take the results obtained by the MHR simulator as indicative.

Finally, remember that you should never run out of breath during workouts, if it happens, stop and rest, especially if you start to notice pain or sharp pains in your abdomen or head.

If the material we have provided has been useful to you, share it on your social networks, so all your contacts can know their MHR and act accordingly.

If you find deficiencies in the calculator or errors in the article, do not hesitate to let us know through the contact form, thus you will contribute your grain of sand to this community of calculators and simulators for free.

Recommended Bibliography

• Mayo Clinic. (2018). Can you sing while exercising?. [online] Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/es-es/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887.
• wikipedia.org. (2018). Martti Karvonen. [online] Available at: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martti_Karvonen.
• Karvonen MJ, Kentala E, Mustala O. The effects of training on heart rate; a longitudinal study. Ann Med Exp Biol Fenn. 1957;35(3):307-15.
• Cristancho H, Otalora J and Callejas M. Expert system to determine the maximum heart rate in athletes with risk factors. Rbme. 2016(10) 19.23-31

MD Katiuska Ríos Calderón

Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from UCLA. Specialized in Gynecology and Reproduction. Subspecialized in Endocrine Gynecology and Climacteric.

Dr. Katiuska Ríos Calderón holds a degree in Medicine from the Universidad Centr... Read more »