Heart rate is the number of heart beats per minute; the times per minute that the heart contracts. Maximum Heart Rate (Max HR) is the highest number of times your heart can contract in one minute. Max HR is the most useful tool to be used in determining training intensities, because it can be individually measured or predicted.
The most accurate way of determining your individual maximum heart rate is to have it clinically tested (usually by treadmill stress testing) by a cardiologist or exercise physiologist. You can also measure it in field conditions supervised by an experienced coach. If you are over the age of 35, overweight, have been sedentary for several years, or have a history of heart disease in your family, clinical testing is recommended.
It has long been accepted as an approximation, that your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) starts out at 220 beats per minute and falls by one beat each year. Therefore, you can calculate your Maximum Heart Rate by deducting your age from 220. So a good estimate of Maximum Heart Rate for a 40 year old is 180 (220-40 (age)) and for a 20 year old is 200 (200-20).
However, the relationship is not perfectly linear and as we age, especially if we maintain a high level of fitness, our Maximum Heart Rate falls by less than one beat each year. A closer approximation is to accept the one year one beat rule until you reach 30. After 30 it is only .5 a beat per year. This may be summarized by the following formula.
Maximum Heart Rate equals:
(Age 30 or below)
220 - age
(Age above 30)
190 - (age-30)/2
For example, at age 50 the Maximum Heart Rate equals: 190-(50-30)/2=180 bpm
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