Pregnancy Exercise Heart Rate Calculator

Looks up an age- and fitness-based moderate-intensity heart-rate zone from the Canadian pregnancy guideline, alongside the equivalent RPE 12–14 ('somewhat hard') window. The talk test is the primary intensity guide; heart rate is a rough secondary check.

Mottola MF et al. (2018) Canadian Guideline for Physical Activity throughout Pregnancy; ACOG Committee Opinion 804 (2020).

Pregnancy raises resting heart rate and blunts its response to effort, so these ranges are deliberately conservative estimates — a ceiling to stay under, never a target to reach for.

Anyone without medical clearance to exercise, or with a pregnancy complication or contraindication. This is educational and is not a substitute for advice from your doctor or midwife.

For most people with an uncomplicated pregnancy, regular moderate exercise is safe and beneficial — but you must get clearance from your doctor or midwife first, because individual circumstances and contraindications vary. This tool is educational and never a substitute for that advice.

Modern guidance has moved away from strict heart-rate limits toward perceived effort. This calculator gives a conservative moderate-intensity heart-rate range by age and fitness as a rough secondary check, but the talk test should be your main guide.

If you can carry on a conversation while exercising, you're at an appropriate moderate intensity. If you're too breathless to talk, ease off. It's simple, needs no device, and is the primary intensity guide recommended for exercise in pregnancy.

Stop and contact your provider for vaginal bleeding, fluid leaking, regular painful contractions, chest pain, calf pain or swelling, dizziness, headache, shortness of breath before exertion, or reduced fetal movement. When in doubt, stop and check in.

Pregnancy raises your resting heart rate and changes how it responds to effort, so standard formulas overestimate a safe zone. The ranges here are deliberately conservative and should be treated as a ceiling, never a target to push toward.