Originally Posted by
base2
220-(your age) is a rule of thumb, back-o-the-napkin, wives-tale for untrained sedentary persons. Dubious but not with out value. Conventional wisdom puts your max at 185bpm. Absent other factors that would be a reasonable number to set your zones by.
Problem is that could be miles out for any individual. For me it would indicate a max HR of 165 bpm, while my real max is actually 193 bpm.
There's only one reliable way to set your max HR and that is to go out and hit it!