Calculate Your Maximum Heart Rate
Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) Calculation
What does maximum heart rate mean?
It is the highest number of heartbeats per minute that the heart can achieve during maximal effort.
Heart rate (HR).
Monitoring heart rate during exercise provides a safe way to control intensity during aerobic exercise.
How can you measure your heart rate?
During training, we can briefly stop the athlete and check their heart rate in two ways:
a) from the radial artery, by placing the first two fingers below the base of the thumb on the inner side of the wrist
b) from the carotid artery by placing the first two fingers on the side of the neck, next to the “Adam’s apple”, in the groove formed on the side of the neck.
Attention: As soon as we stop training, measure the heart rate immediately, because heart rate changes very quickly.
Counting for 10 seconds is more accurate than counting for 15 seconds.
When you measure heart rate for 10 seconds, multiply by 6 to find the heart rate per minute.
How can you calculate maximum heart rate?
There are several methods for calculating maximum heart rate.
Some methods are scientifically reliable and fairly accurate, providing data with greater accuracy. Of course, there are also easier methods for calculating maximum heart rate.
A very old method of calculating MHR is based on the common formula of 220 minus the exerciser’s age.
220 – Age = Maximum heart rate
e.g. 220-31 =189
This method does not provide accurate results for athletes with a high level of fitness or for older people.
Why should we calculate maximum heart rate?
When we know our maximum heart rate, we can easily set the right training intensity in order to achieve our training goals more easily. Training intensity is divided into different levels based on heart rate. There are five different levels, starting from very light intensity and reaching maximum intensity. Intensity levels are calculated as percentages of maximum heart rate.
Therefore, to define your personal zones, you must first determine your maximum heart rate (MHR).
For example, when we want to train in zone 4, intensity is at 81 to 90% of maximum heart rate. To use this zone in training, we must first know our MHR.
Training zones table:
Conclusion you can use the above equation to calculate your maximum heart rate and set your training intensity easily and simply!
Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) Calculation
Author: Kyriaki Mitrou
Sources :
1. www.maximumfitness.gr
2. www.polar.com/blog/calculate-maximum-heart-rate-running/
3. www.polar.com/blog/running-heart-rate-zones-basics/
