Zoladz Method: Simple Heart Rate Training Zones

The Zoladz method gives you five heart rate training zones from a single number: your maximum heart rate (the highest number of beats per minute your heart can reach). Subtract 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10 beats to get five target heart rates, then build a five-beat zone around each one. Below: how to set your target heart rates, turn them into zones, a worked example, how to use the zones on a heart rate monitor, a calculator that does the sums, and how to load the zones onto a GPS watch.

Once you start running with a heart rate monitor, the first question is which numbers to aim for, and most systems bury you in formulas before you've run a step. I've coached runners for over 20 years, and this is, in my view, the most sensible place to start, because there is nothing to get wrong except the one number you begin with.

The method is associated with Jerzy Zoladz, a Polish exercise physiologist, and it works from your max heart rate for running alone. Don't know how to establish yours? Click here.

Step 1: Establish Your Target Heart Rates

From your maximum heart rate, you're working towards five target heart rates. Here's how each one is calculated:

Target Heart Rate	Formula
Target Heart Rate 1	Max Heart Rate − 50 beats
Target Heart Rate 2	Max Heart Rate − 40 beats
Target Heart Rate 3	Max Heart Rate − 30 beats
Target Heart Rate 4	Max Heart Rate − 20 beats
Target Heart Rate 5	Max Heart Rate − 10 beats

Here's the thing — you can't hold a single fixed heart rate while you're running. Your heart doesn't work like that. That's why you train to zones instead, which is what Step 2 covers.

Step 2: Use the Target Heart Rates to Establish Target Zones

The lower end of the zone is:
Your target heart rate minus five beats.

The higher end of the zone is:
Your target heart rate plus five beats.

So your five heart rate training zones look like this:

Zone 1: Target Heart Rate 1, minus and plus five beats.

Zone 2: Target Heart Rate 2, minus and plus five beats.

Zone 3: Target Heart Rate 3, minus and plus five beats.

Zone 4: Target Heart Rate 4, minus and plus five beats.

Zone 5: Target Heart Rate 5, minus and plus five beats.

It's straightforward maths — but an example makes it far clearer. On to Step 3.

Step 3: Let's Just Look At An Example

Take a younger runner aged 20–30 who may have a maximum heart rate of 195. Once upon a time, that was me. Nowadays, I'm hitting a max heart rate somewhere between 175 and 180.

Anyway, back to our younger runner. With a max heart rate of 195, the target heart rates according to Zoladz are:

Target Heart Rate 1 = 195 - 50 = 145

Target Heart Rate 2 = 195 - 40 = 155

Target Heart Rate 3 = 195 - 30 = 165

Target Heart Rate 4 = 195 - 20 = 175

Target Heart Rate 5 = 195 - 10 = 185

And the heart rate monitor zones are:

Zone 1: 140 to 150 beats per minute (bpm)

Zone 2: 150 to 160 bpm

Zone 3: 160 to 170 bpm

Zone 4: 170 to 180 bpm

Zone 5: 180 to 190 bpm

Step 4: Knowing How to Use the Heart Rate Monitor Training Zones

Zone 1 is what I use for most of my long runs and for recovery runs.

Zone 2 is my easy run pace.

Zone 3 is my tempo run pace.

Zone 4 is my interval pace.

Zone 5 I barely touch in training. Only at the very end of a session when I decide to go flat out.

One more thing I nearly forgot. A zone equivalent to steady state pace sits across the top of Zone 2 and the bottom of Zone 3 — more or less marathon pace, maybe a touch slower. I call that Zone 2 1/2. With a max heart rate of 195, it runs from 155 to 165 bpm, which is what the calculator below shows as its extra zone. There was a period when steady state running fell out of fashion — it was either easy or fast, with little in between. With the growing popularity of the Norwegian training method, steady state running is making a real resurgence. That's a good thing. Mid-long runs at steady state pace are excellent training for longer distance races of 10k and up.
One judgement call worth making here: the Zoladz shortcut lands in the same ballpark as Karvonen's heart-rate-reserve zones for many runners. Neither is exact, because both start from an estimated max heart rate. Use whichever you've got the numbers for. Where they're most likely to pull apart is at the extremes of rest heart rate. If yours is unusually low — common in well-trained runners — or unusually high, I'd recommend also running the Karvonen method and comparing both sets of zones before you settle on one.

Step 5: Using an Easy Calculator to Establish Your Own Heart Rate Monitor Training Zones

As you can see, the calculations for your Zoladz heart rate monitor training zones aren't difficult at all.

That said, I've added a Zoladz Heart Rate Training Zones Calculator to this page for your convenience. Give it a try — just enter your maximum heart rate and press the "click me" button.

Zoladz Method Calculator

Enter your maximum heart rate

Press the button, don't click Enter

Zone 1: to

Zone 2 : to

Zone 3 : to

Zone 4 : to

Zone 5 : to

Extra Zone Zone 2 1/2 : to

The other widely used heart rate monitor training approach is the Karvonen Heart Rate Monitor Training Method. Unlike Zoladz, Karvonen uses both your maximum heart rate and your rest heart rate.

I prefer Zoladz. It's simpler — you only need one number.

I've done quite a bit of testing across all kinds of paces and heart rate ranges. The Zoladz zones line up well with my pace. In other words: even though the Zoladz method is simpler, it's accurate enough to do the job. That's why I go Zoladz.

Getting Your Zones Onto a GPS Watch

Working out five zones on paper is one thing. Getting them onto your wrist is another.

Most GPS watches let you enter custom heart rate zones — separate from whatever the device estimates on its own. On a Garmin, that setting sits under heart rate zones, where you switch from automatic to manual and type in your five Zoladz boundaries. Coros and Polar keep it under their training or sport profile settings. Apple Watch handles it through the Fitness app's heart rate preferences.

Beware: a watch's auto-estimated zones use the manufacturer's own formula — not Zoladz. Don't assume the two match. Enter your numbers by hand.

Step 6: Further Reading

Now that you've got your Zoladz zones sorted, here are a few pages I'd recommend exploring next:

Running Training - The running training section of this site covers a lot of ground — especially the different running speeds and how they help you improve. A good starting point is the running workouts page, or the page on How to Improve Your Running.


Running Max Heart Rate - For the Zoladz method to work, you need to establish your maximum heart rate. This page tells you exactly how to do that.

I hope this page helped you.

And before I forget — check out the Heart Rate Monitor Training page for a lot more on how to train properly with a heart rate monitor.

Some Other Pages You May Like

Home > Running Training > Heart Rate Training for Runners > Zoladz Method

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