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Peloton Strive Score: How to set (more accurate) heart rate zones

The Peloton Strive Score is a newest personal metric to help evaluate your effort during each class. The Strive Score is based entirely on how long you spend in each heart rate zone. Since your heart rate zones are based on your max heart rate (MHR), it’s in your best interest to have the most accurate estimation of your MHR in your profile settings. While Peloton gives you an estimated max heart rate based on your age, it can be very inaccurate. So here are a few methods that you can use to get a more accurate MHR to set more accurate heart rate zones.

Peloton uses the old and outdated “220 minus your age” formula to determine your maximum heart rate. If you think this more than 50-year-old formula has deep scientific backing or reasoning, you would be wrong. Although groups like the CDC, American Heart Association, and Mayo Clinic continue to promote it, no legitimate scientific data was used to create or support it.

So if you want more accurate heart rate zones for your Peloton Strive Score, the easiest method is just to use a more updated and accurate formula. So instead of taking the “220 minus your age” formula that Peloton uses, you could try using either the Tanaka or the Fairburn equation instead.

Tanaka Formula
208 – (0.7 x age)

Fairburn Forumula
Women: 201 – (0.63 x age)
Men: 208 – (0.8 x age)

Keep in mind that these formulas are just estimations, and can still be inaccurate since max heart rate can vary substantially from person to person. In fact, for 5-10% of the population, these formulas can be off by as much as 24 beats per minute.

Some Great Heart Rate Monitors for Peloton:

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Avatar for Colin Jenkins Colin Jenkins

Colin lives in Ventura, CA where he runs a Strength & Conditioning facility. If you have suggestions for fitness tech that you’d like to see covered or reviewed, feel free to send info over to colin@9to5mac.com