# Walking heart rate zone calculator

> A brisk walk should lift your heart rate to 64 to 76% of its maximum, the moderate-intensity zone. Your maximum is roughly 208 minus 0.7 times your age, so for a 40-year-old it’s about 180 beats a minute, and a brisk walk 115 to 137. Enter your age for yours.

- URL: https://www.getstepup.app/tools/walking-heart-rate (the calculator runs there, in the browser, and sends nothing anywhere)
- Updated: 2026-10-17

## What heart rate counts as a brisk walk?

Exercise guidelines ask for 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity, and for heart rate that’s 64 to 76% of your maximum. From 77% up is vigorous: a fast walk up a hill, or a jog. Below 64% still counts as moving, but it’s light.

## How is maximum heart rate worked out?

The old rule is 220 minus your age. A 2001 analysis of 351 studies found it underestimates the maximum of older adults, and that 208 minus 0.7 times your age fits better, for men and women alike. This tool uses that, and shows the old rule beside it. Either is an average: your own maximum can be 10 beats or more either side.

## How do I check mine on a walk?

Wear an Apple Watch or a chest strap, or stop, find the pulse at your wrist, count the beats for 10 seconds and multiply by six. Without either, there’s the talk test: at a moderate pace you can talk, but not sing. Cadence is another check: about [100 steps a minute](https://www.getstepup.app/tools/pace-converter) is brisk.

## When doesn’t this apply?

Some heart and blood pressure medicines, beta blockers especially, hold your heart rate down, so the zones here will be too high. If you take them, or have a heart condition, ask your doctor what to aim for. More on what a walk does for your heart is in the [Effort](https://www.getstepup.app/metrics/effort) explainer.

## In StepUp

StepUp's Effort metric shows how hard your walks are for your heart, from the heart rate your Apple Watch records.

## Questions

### What is a good heart rate while walking?

For a brisk walk, 64 to 76% of your maximum: about 115 to 137 beats a minute at 40, and 106 to 126 at 60.

### Is 220 minus age accurate?

Only roughly, and less so as you get older: at 60 it gives 160, where the newer formula gives 166.

### Why doesn't my heart rate go up when I walk?

If you're fit, an easy walk may barely lift it: walk faster or find a hill. Some medicines keep it down, too.

## Sources

- [Garber CE et al. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining fitness in apparently healthy adults (ACSM position stand). Med Sci Sports Exerc, 2011](https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e318213fefb)
- [Tanaka H, Monahan KD, Seals DR. Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2001](https://doi.org/10.1016/S0735-1097(00)01054-8)
- [CDC: Measuring physical activity intensity](https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/measuring/index.html)