Curious about your target heart rate?

People often ask me about target heart rate and how they should calculate it. I found this fab chart that will show you by age your target heart rate zone (50-85%) and maximum heart rate (100%).

Age                   Target HR Zone 50–85%           Average Maximum HR 100%
20 years            100–170 beats per minute            200 beats per minute
25 years            98–166 beats per minute              195 beats per minute
30 years            95–162 beats per minute              190 beats per minute
35 years            93–157 beats per minute              185 beats per minute
40 years            90–153 beats per minute              180 beats per minute
45 years            88–149 beats per minute              175 beats per minute
50 years            85–145 beats per minute              170 beats per minute
55 years            83–140 beats per minute              165 beats per minute
60 years            80–136 beats per minute              160 beats per minute
65 years            78–132 beats per minute              155 beats per minute
70 years            75–128 beats per minute              150 beats per minute

And to determine if you are "in da zone," get a heart rate monitor. I guarantee results if you get into your THRZ at least 4 times a week for 30-60 minutes. Here are some good ones that I think you will love.

Omron HR-100C Heart Rate Monitor

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor

Polar F6 Women's Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Pink Coral)

Fitbit Tracker

 The Biggest Loser bodybugg ® System Includes 12-Month Online Subscription

Chart courtesy of Beachbody.com

Must-Have Fitness Gadget: Fitbit

OMG! OMG! OMG! I MUST have this new gadget called a Fitbit.

One of my sweet Zumba ladies showed me hers after class last week and I was just in love.

It was like the first time I tried Nutella - love at first bite (or bit in this case). It's that good.

So a Fitbit is like a heart rate monitor/pedometer/calorie counter/sleep monitor combo. Seriously!

So according to the site: "The Fitbit accurately tracks your calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled and sleep quality. The Fitbit contains a 3D motion sensor like the one found in the Nintendo Wii. The Fitbit tracks your motion in three dimensions and converts this into useful information about your daily activities.
You can wear the Fitbit on your waist, in your pocket or on undergarments. At night, you can wear the Fitbit clipped to the included wristband in order to track your sleep. Anytime you walk by the included wireless base station, data from your Fitbit is silently uploaded in the background to Fitbit.com"

Fitbit.com" has a free members area where you can track calories and see reports of your calorie burn, activity level and sleep quality.

It is sort of iPod-ish in it's docking station to charge and appearance. I bet Apple wishes they had thought of this...

And, the best part? It's super tiny and doesn't require any sort of armband to wear. I'm in love. My current heart rate monitor gets all stinky and nasty because I have to wear this stretchy elastic piece around my torso. And you have to hand wash it. Who has time to hand wash? Not me. I am lucky to get two loads of laundry done a week.

The cost is $99 + shipping.

They are currently back-ordered for a couple weeks. The site says that if you order now it will ship on September 30. Oh Fitbit", you better believe I will have one! Big, big, big hint dropping to Ad man. Ad man are you reading this? Dropping hints like crazy here...

Put it on your Christmas list, birthday list or just because list. This is a must have for anyone who loves fitness (or even if you don't and wish you did)!

Off to hand-wash...[insert dramatic sigh here].