# Training Zone Thresholds

> The Training Zone Thresholds carries 6 published figures read from 4 sources' own pages, from 70 to 85 percent, read 17 October 2026.

Strength Standards Calc · https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/training-zone-thresholds/ · computed 2026-10-19

**Range of the published figures:** 70 to 85 % (range 70 to 85 %; 6 published figures; 4 of 12 sources read publish one).

4 of the 12 named sources read in full publish a figure; 8 publish none, read 17 October 2026.

## By band

| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| band moderate-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax | 70 % | 70 to 70 % | 2 |
| band vigorous-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax | 85 % | 85 to 85 % | 2 |
| band ACSM-hard-intensity-index-%-of-HRmax | 85 % | 85 to 85 % | 1 |
| band target-zone-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax | 85 % | 85 to 85 % | 1 |

## Every figure, with its source

One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read.

| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| [American Heart Association target heart rates](https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/target-heart-rates) | 85 % | vigorous-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax | 2026-10-17 |
| [Target heart rates for the development of cardiorespiratory fitness (PubMed record)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8133731/) | 85 % | ACSM-hard-intensity-index-%-of-HRmax | 2026-10-17 |
| [Johns Hopkins Medicine, understanding your target heart rate](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/understanding-your-target-heart-rate) | 85 % | target-zone-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax | 2026-10-17 |
| [Mayo Clinic, exercise intensity: how to measure it](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887) | 85 % | vigorous-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax | 2026-10-17 |
| [American Heart Association target heart rates](https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/target-heart-rates) | 70 % | moderate-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax | 2026-10-17 |
| [Mayo Clinic, exercise intensity: how to measure it](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887) | 70 % | moderate-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax | 2026-10-17 |

## The sentence each figure was read from (6)

- [American Heart Association target heart rates](https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/target-heart-rates), read 2026-10-17: "In time, you’ll be able to exercise comfortably at up to 85% of your maximum heart rate."
- [Target heart rates for the development of cardiorespiratory fitness (PubMed record)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8133731/), read 2026-10-17: "Further, the ACSM states that 55%, 70%, 85%, and 90% of maximal heart rate (HRmax) may be used as indices of these respective levels of % VO2max for the general population."
- [Johns Hopkins Medicine, understanding your target heart rate](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/understanding-your-target-heart-rate), read 2026-10-17: "Target heart rate is generally expressed as a percentage (usually between 50 percent and 85 percent) of your maximum safe heart rate."
- [Mayo Clinic, exercise intensity: how to measure it](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887), read 2026-10-17: "Vigorous exercise intensity: 70% to about 85% of your maximum heart rate."
- [American Heart Association target heart rates](https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/target-heart-rates), read 2026-10-17: "Target heart rate during moderate-intensity activities is about 50-70% of maximum heart rate."
- [Mayo Clinic, exercise intensity: how to measure it](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887), read 2026-10-17: "Moderate exercise intensity: 50% to about 70% of your maximum heart rate."

## Read in full, publishes no figure

- [ACSM physical activity guidelines](https://www.acsm.org/education-resources/trending-topics-resources/physical-activity-guidelines), read 2026-10-03: every candidate on the page was refused
- [NHS physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-guidelines/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults-aged-19-to-64/), read 2026-09-26: every candidate on the page was refused
- [CDC measuring physical activity intensity](https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/measuring/index.html), read 2026-09-19: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [ODPHP Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans](https://odphp.health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/physical-activity-guidelines), read 2026-10-17: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [WHO physical activity fact sheet](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [The Cooper Institute](https://www.cooperinstitute.org/), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [British Heart Foundation, staying active](https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/support/healthy-living/staying-active), read 2026-10-10: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Tanaka, Monahan and Seals, age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited (JACC)](https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/S0735-1097(00)01054-8), read 2026-10-03: read in full and no accepted figure on the page

## Methodology

Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 4 of the 12 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 8 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source for each breakdown it prices, in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences for one breakdown), so a page that gives figures for several breakdowns gives one for each and N counts 6 figures, never sentences; 40 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one row per authority per intensity band: the percentage of maximum heart rate or heart-rate reserve each body defines moderate, vigorous and threshold at, beside the maximum-heart-rate equation it applies (220-age versus Tanaka's 208-0.7xage versus Karvonen's reserve method). The figure nobody publishes is the SPREAD for one reader: how many beats per minute apart the AHA, ACSM, NHS and the two equations put 'zone 2' for the same 40-year-old - which is the honest answer to a question every incumbent answers with a single made-up number.

## Sources

- [American Heart Association target heart rates](https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/target-heart-rates) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ACSM physical activity guidelines](https://www.acsm.org/education-resources/trending-topics-resources/physical-activity-guidelines) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NHS physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-guidelines/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults-aged-19-to-64/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [CDC measuring physical activity intensity](https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/measuring/index.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ODPHP Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans](https://odphp.health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/physical-activity-guidelines) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [WHO physical activity fact sheet](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Target heart rates for the development of cardiorespiratory fitness (PubMed record)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8133731/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [The Cooper Institute](https://www.cooperinstitute.org/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Johns Hopkins Medicine, understanding your target heart rate](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/understanding-your-target-heart-rate) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Mayo Clinic, exercise intensity: how to measure it](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [British Heart Foundation, staying active](https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/support/healthy-living/staying-active) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Tanaka, Monahan and Seals, age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited (JACC)](https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/S0735-1097(00)01054-8) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)

## Cite or embed

- The Training Zone Thresholds carries 6 published figures read from 4 sources' own pages, from 70 to 85 percent, read 17 October 2026.
- 4 of the 12 named sources read in full publish a figure; 8 publish none, read 17 October 2026.
- Training Zone Thresholds, band moderate-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax: median 70 percent across 2 sources, read 17 October 2026.
- Training Zone Thresholds, band vigorous-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax: median 85 percent across 2 sources, read 17 October 2026.
- Training Zone Thresholds, band ACSM-hard-intensity-index-%-of-HRmax: median 85 percent across 1 source, read 17 October 2026.
- Training Zone Thresholds, band target-zone-upper-bound-%-of-HRmax: median 85 percent across 1 source, read 17 October 2026.

Cite as: "Strength Standards Calc Training Zone Thresholds", updated 2026-10-19, https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/training-zone-thresholds/.

CSV: https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/training-zone-thresholds.csv
JSON: https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/training-zone-thresholds.json
Embed (plain HTML, static link back): see https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/training-zone-thresholds/#median