A handy new health and fitness feature comes with watchOS 9 and iOS 16, available during and after workouts. Follow us to learn how to see heart rate zones on Apple Watch and iPhone, what they mean, how to see your maximum heart rate, manually change your zones, and more.
In watchOS 9, Apple Watch and iPhone automatically create your five heart rate zones based on the Heart Rate Reserve method. Maximum and resting values are updated automatically on the first day of each month.
Here’s how Apple describes the new feature:
“Heart rate zones are a percentage of your maximum heart rate and are automatically calculated and personalized using your health data. On Apple Watch, heart rate zones are presented in five segments, with effort levels ranging from light to increasingly intense. By monitoring your heart rate zone, you can make your training more effective and challenge yourself to improve your fitness.
How to See Heart Rate Zones on Apple Watch and iPhone
See heart rate zones during a workout
- Make sure you are using watchOS 9 on Apple Watch and your date of birth is also entered in the Health app on iPhone
- Start a cardio-focused workout like a run or ride a bike (Apple hasn’t shared exactly which types of workouts include heart rate zones, except for “cardio-focused” ones.
- Swipe down on the first training screen to see your heart rate and what zone it is in
See heart rate zones after a workout
- After a workout, go to the iPhone fitness app to view heart rate zone data
- Choose a workout from the main Summary screen or tap the rings or Show more to choose another date/workout
- Once you’ve chosen a workout, swipe down until you see Heartbeatfaucet Show more
You will now see the breakdown of the time you spent in each heart rate zone:
How to manually change your heart rate zones
Although heart rate zones are automatically added based on your age, height and weight, you can change them manually (usually for advanced athletes).
- Head to Settings > Training > Heart Rate Zones on your Apple Watch and choose Manual at the top
- Or on iPhone, go to the Apple Watch app > Training > Heart Rate Zones, then choose Manual at the top
How to see your maximum heart rate?
Going above your maximum heart rate is considered dangerous by medical professionals. To see your recommended maximum:
- Head to Settings > Training > Heart Rate Zones on your Apple Watch, swipe down to find your max heart rate
- Or on iPhone, go to Apple Watch app > Training > Heart Rate Zones, swipe down to find your max heart rate
What do heart rate zones mean?
Understanding your heart rate zones can be helpful in several ways. But some of the most common practical applications use heart rate training (rest properly or push yourself), targeting fat or carb burning heart rate zones, and outreach to people with health conditions. .
The Cleveland Clinic has a helpful article on understanding the type of calories you burn in different zones. It won’t correspond directly to the five heart rate zones with Apple Watch, but it’s a good place to start.
Use your maximum heart rate (details on research above) to determine the numbers from the calculations below:
- Zone of less intensity: You train at 50% to 60% of your maximum heart rate. At this point, 85% of the calories you burn are fat. The wrong side? You burn fewer calories overall than if you were training at a higher intensity. You are usually able to maintain this area for as long as possible.
- Temperate zone: You train at 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. About 65% of the calories you burn are fat.
- Aerobic zone: Working at 70% to 80% of your maximum heart rate puts you in the aerobic zone. About 45% of the calories you burn are fat. But you burn more calories overall compared to other heart rate zones. You usually hold this area for as little time as possible.
For heart rate training, the big idea is “to train your aerobic system without overloading your skeletal and muscular systems, says personal trainer Erin Carr.” Check out this article from Runner’s World for all the details:
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