Where the numbers come from
Age-based zone charts start from an estimate of maximum heart rate. Two formulas dominate. The classic one, 220 minus age, has been on gym walls for fifty years. The Tanaka formula, 208 minus 0.7 times age, comes from a larger analysis and drifts less at higher ages. Both describe population averages: for any individual, the real maximum can sit substantially above or below the estimate, which is why the charts below are starting points, not verdicts.
Estimated maximum heart rate by age
20 years: 200 bpm by the classic formula, 194 by Tanaka.
30 years: 190 and 187.
40 years: 180 and 180, the age where the formulas agree.
50 years: 170 and 173.
60 years: 160 and 166.
70 years: 150 and 159.
Notice the divergence after fifty: the classic formula assumes a steeper decline than the data supports, which quietly shortchanges older members, exactly the population most likely to be training by the chart.
Zones by age, using the five-zone model
Apply the standard percentages, zone 2 at 60 to 70% of max, zone 4 at 80 to 90%, to the Tanaka estimate and you get, as examples: a 30-year-old trains zone 2 around 112 to 131 bpm and zone 4 around 150 to 168; a 50-year-old, zone 2 around 104 to 121 and zone 4 around 138 to 156; a 70-year-old, zone 2 around 95 to 111 and zone 4 around 127 to 143. What each zone actually trains, and how to coach it, is the subject of heart rate training zones explained.
The margin of error, stated plainly
Individual maxima scatter widely around any age formula, commonly by ten beats or more in either direction. Two members of the same age can have genuinely different maxima, and medications, notably beta blockers, shift heart rate response entirely, formula zones do not apply there without medical guidance. An age chart is the right way to start a first session; it is the wrong thing to still be using unmodified after two months of data.
From the chart to the person
Use the talk test as a cross-check. If "zone 2" leaves a member unable to speak in sentences, the estimate is off, regardless of what the wrist says. The same calibration logic runs through zone 2 training.
Let real data correct the formula. A member repeatedly touching the top of their theoretical range without distress has a higher real max; adjust upward. Systems that record every session make this drift obvious within weeks.
Watch the numbers that improve. Maximum heart rate is driven largely by age and individual physiology and is not a fitness metric you should expect to increase with training, but the heart rate at a given pace falls with fitness, and recovery speed improves. Those are the age-independent progress markers worth showing members, alongside resting heart rate.
Why clubs should still love the chart, used honestly
Personal zones are the great equaliser of mixed-age classes: the 65-year-old and the 25-year-old can train side by side in the same relative zone, visibly, fairly, on the same screen, which is the mechanism explored in group heart rate training. The age chart is merely the first draft of that fairness. Start members there, personalise with data, and the screen does the rest. To see personalised zones running live across every age in the room, speak to an expert.