Exertion score

How exertion is calculated

1. Your heart-rate zones. Pulse Coach uses your Apple Watch heart-rate zones where iOS makes them available. Otherwise it estimates your maximum heart rate with the Tanaka formula (211 − 0.64 × age) and splits it into five standard zones by percentage of max heart rate.
2. Weighted minutes. Every heart-rate sample from your Apple Watch is put into a zone. Each zone up counts roughly twice as much as the one below, so 10 minutes near your max adds far more load than 10 minutes of walking.
3. A 0–10 scale. The weighted total is compressed onto a 0–10 curve, so the first hour of easy movement moves the number quickly and very hard days flatten out near the top instead of running off the scale.

Where a workout has Apple’s own time-in-zone data, Pulse Coach uses it.

Today’s target range

Your exertion target depends on this morning’s recovery score:

Recovery	Target exertion
High (67–100)	5–8
Moderate (34–66)	3–6
Low (0–33)	1–3

Your training goal shifts the range. Peak raises the ceiling by one point, and Recovering lowers both ends by one. Building and Maintaining keep the standard range.

Why it matters

Recovery tells you what you can absorb. Exertion tells you what you actually did. Pairing the two keeps hard days hard and easy days easy. That’s the pattern linked with steady progress and fewer overreaching slumps. See signs of overtraining.