Formula for calculating maximum heart rate found to be wrong for women

This picture is of a cake I ate  tonight; red velvet of course. I thought it was appropriate to do  a” heart” post after this dessert.

Heart rate, maximum heart rate, and percentage of maximum heart rate are metrics I have used for years to determine how much to push myself during a workout; i.e. intensity.  I have always heard 220 minus my age is maximum, and I try to train at 85% of that number.  This puts my max at 188 and my target rate right at 160.

The good news is I have been doing it right, but my wife hasn’t.  According to a new study by Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, women have been calculating the number wrong, resulting in a measurement that is too high.  This seems to be good news right?  Especially if you struggle to keep your heart rate in this zone.

Here is what they say: The commonly used formula subtracts a person’s age from 220. But based on the data collected in the Chicago study, the right formula for calculating a woman’s maximum heart rate is a little more complicated: 206 minus 88 percent of a woman’s age. So for my wife, who is a staggering two days younger than me, her max would be 177.  Her training rate at 85% of that = 150.  A 10bpm difference from the original goal.

I’m not sure how massive of a difference this is but over time the new formulation may really add up to a larger gap.  And still, 10bpm over the course of a one or two hour run is surely noticeable. I expect the impact this study has on women will depend on how much stock they put in heart rate monitoring, and how closely they are willing to pay attention to it.