Target Heart Rate is based on which factors?

• A. Age and resting heart rate
• B. Weight and height
• C. Dietary intake
• D. Recent sleep

Answer: (A)

Target heart rate is determined using heart rate reserve, which combines two key inputs: your age and your resting heart rate. Your age helps estimate your maximum heart rate (often approximated by 220 minus age), which sets the upper end of the range. Your resting heart rate provides the baseline from which effort is added through the heart rate reserve calculation. In the common method, you subtract resting heart rate from the estimated max heart rate to get the heart rate reserve, then add a percentage of that reserve back on top of the resting rate to hit your target zone.

Other factors listed don’t directly set the target rate. Weight and height don’t determine your heart rate zone calculations, and dietary intake isn’t used to calculate THR. Recent sleep can influence how your heart rate behaves moment to moment, but it isn’t a primary input in the standard THR formulas. So age and resting heart rate are the factors that best explain how target heart rate is determined.