ACSM: The standard approach. The American College of Sports Medicine estimates maximum heart rate as your age subtracted from 220. Max = 220-Age
Cooper Adaptation estimates maximum heart rate as
half your age subtracted from 205. Max=205-age/2. If you're an elite marathoner,
then add 5 or 10 beats per minute to this max.
Modified Approach estimates the maximum by
subtracting 80% of your age from 214. Max = 214 - 0.80(age)
Maffetone's method uses the 180-Formula. This isn't your maximum heart rate, but an
estimate of your maximum aerobic heart rate (MAHR=180-Age). MAHR is the upper
end of a recommended aerobic training zone. The lower end is 10 beats below
that. If you've been in the groove for 2 years, no adjustments are
necessary. But shift the entire zone downward by 10 if you're recovering from
illness, down by 5 if you're just getting back into it, and up by 5 if you've
been making progress in your training for over 2 years.
Karvonen approach takes into account your current level of fitness as
indicated by your resting heart rate. Your resting heart rate is subtracted
from your estimated max (typically based on the ACSM approach) to get a
"heart rate reserve" (HRR) value. Training zones are based on
percentages of this HRR plus your RHR. The lower the value of your
RHR, the larger your HRR i.e. you have a wider range in
your training zone to work with. Compared with the other approaches
based only on age, these HR training zones seem more consistent with my
perceived feelings for light, moderate, and heavy intensity efforts.
Sark approach takes into account your weight as well as your age. Half of
your age, and 1% of your weight are both subtracted from 210. If your a male,
then 4 beats per minute are added to this max. Max = 210 - (age/2) -
0.01(weight) + 4. Note that the weight factor will typically add
between 1 and 2 bpm. The additional 4bpm for males makes this come
close to the numbers used in the "modified" approach. But this subtracts 50% of your age value rather than 80%.
While the predicted max of this approach seems high, the recommended training
zones here feel like they map well with perceived intensity for light,
moderate and heavy efforts.