如何計算你的最大心率（以及為什麼220減年齡只是粗略估算）

The most common method is the formula 220 minus your age in years, which gives a rough population average, for example 190 beats per minute for a 30 year old. More refined formulas exist, including the Tanaka formula, 208 minus 0.7 times age, and the Gulati formula for women, 206 minus 0.88 times age, both of which tend to track measured values more closely than 220 minus age, especially past age 40.

Not for an individual. 220 minus age is a population average with a standard deviation of roughly plus or minus 10 to 12 beats per minute, meaning a formula estimate can be off by 20 or more beats for someone whose true max sits at either edge of the normal range. It is a reasonable starting point for setting training zones but should be adjusted once real data, like the highest heart rate hit during a hard effort, is available.

Using 220 minus age as a rough guide, typical estimated max heart rate runs about 200 beats per minute at age 20, 190 at age 30, 180 at age 40, 170 at age 50, and 160 at age 60, dropping roughly one beat per minute per year on average. Individual variation is large, so a fit 50 year old can have a true max well above the 170 estimate and a sedentary 30 year old can fall well below 190.

The Tanaka formula, 208 minus 0.7 times age, is generally considered more accurate than 220 minus age across a broader adult age range, particularly for people over 40, where 220 minus age tends to underestimate true max. For women specifically, the Gulati formula, 206 minus 0.88 times age, was derived from a female-only research cohort and tracks measured values better than either general formula. Even these are still population estimates, not a measurement of the actual max for any single person.

The most reliable way outside a lab VO2 max test is to look at the highest heart rate recorded during a genuinely maximal effort, such as the final sprint of an all-out interval session or the last minutes of a hard race, using a chest strap or wrist-based heart rate monitor that logs continuously. That observed peak, tracked over several hard efforts, is a far better personal reference point than any age-based formula, since it reflects your actual physiology rather than a population average.