Do your Garmin heart rate zones feel wrong?

Check how your zones are set before changing them. The zone system, heart rate value, sport and recording can all affect what you see.

Start with these checks

1. Find the method used for your zones: maximum heart rate, heart rate reserve, or a threshold value from a test or estimate. Heart rate reserve is the gap between resting and maximum heart rate.
2. Check the heart rate value used to set the zones and where it came from.
3. Check the settings for the sport you recorded.
4. Look at the heart rate trace for unusual gaps or spikes.

Compare the same system

Zone numbers are labels. A number in a three-zone model will not mean the same thing as the same number in a five-zone model. Different ways of setting zones can give different boundaries.

If you have test results

Check the sport, units and method in the report. Ask the tester how the zones should be applied. Do not change unrelated settings simply to force the chart into a preferred shape.

Make one clear change at a time

Keep a record of what changed and why. Check the device instructions and ask for help if you are unsure. A zone setting is a training aid, not a medical assessment.

Sources and further reading

• Garmin: lactate threshold

Keep reading

• Training zones explained
• Use test results

Make sense of your sessions in the app