What are heart rate zones?

There are five heart-rate zones based on the intensity of your work out and they’re calculated based on your own personal maximum heart rate. Each heart rate zone is a percentage of your maximum heart rate.

For example, if you’re exercising in heart rate zone 1, you’ll be working out at 50%-60% of your maximum heart rate; zone 2 is 60%-70% of your maximum heart rate; zone 3 is 70%-80%; zone 4 is 80%-90%; and zone 5 is 90%-100%.

You can use online heart rate trackers or your fitness watch/tracker to calculate your maximum heart rate, which is different for everyone.

When you’re doing low heart-rate training the idea is to keep your heart rate within zones 1 or 2. You can measure this on any good fitness watch or on a dedicated HRM strap. Or, simply keep your heart rate low by doing a lower-intensity workout like yoga or pilates.

The different heart rate zones affect different areas of fitness – aerobic and anaerobic – and a good workout plan will usually include exercise within different zones.

Why you should add low heart-rate workouts to your training plan and how to do it