My take on Obama winning the Nobel goes like this:

"Obama I'm Proud of you and Imma' let you finish, but that Nobel midaswell of been mine!"

How To Use A Heart Rate Monitor To Find Your Fat Burning Zone

How to Calculate Your Fat Burning Zone Heart Rate

When you’re trying to lose weight and getting regular exercise a lot of people get disheartened by their lack of progress. I’ll admit I’ve suffered from this as well. You work out, work out, work out, you’re eating healthily, drinking loads of water, you should be losing weight!

So where’s it all going wrong?

Ever heard of ‘heart rate zones’?

When you’re working out your heart rate increases, and the harder you work out, the higher the heart rate. However there’s a point where you stop burning fat and start increasing your aerobic capacity. Now that’s not normally a problem, unless you’ve only just started trying to lose weight.

If you’re working out 3-4 times a week and you’ve actually gone above your fat burning zone then you’re going to start getting disheartened with your workout regime as you’re not losing any weight, so what do you do….you work out 5-6 days a week and end up either burning yourself out or getting the shits to the point where you quit the whole thing.

And that’s why you need a heart rate monitor.

Before you actually buy, or at least start using, a heart rate monitor you need to work out your fat burning heart rate zone. So how do you do that? Well it’s actually quite simple, here’s how you do it;

220 (max hr*) – 33 (age) = 187

187 – 70 (resting hr) = 117

117 x 65% = 76 bpm (low end of fat burning heart rate zone) and 85% = 100 bpm (high end of fat burning heart rate zone)

So my fat burning heart rate zone is between 76 bpm and 100 bpm.

*hr is heart rate

This formula is some times referred to as the Karvoven formula, or at least a derivative of it.

How Do I Use a Heart Rate Monitor? -- powered by eHow.com

How to Calculate Maximum Heart Rate and Training Zone Heart Rate

1. Step1

   First, calculate your maximum heart rate, MHR, by subtracting your age in years from 220. For example, a 31 year old has a maximum heart rate of 220 - 31 = 189 beats per minute.
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   NOTE: There are 3 alternative formulas for maximum heart rate, each very similar to the one above. As yet, there is no universally accepted MHR formula, but here are the other 3 in case you are interested. (A = age in years)
   
   1st alt MHR = 205.8 − (0.685)A
   2nd alt MHR = 206.3 − (0.711)A
   3rd alt MHR = 217 − (0.85)A

2. Step2

   Next, figure your resting heart rate, RHR. When you wake up in the morning, count your pulse for 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to find the beats per minute. (Alternatively, count for 20 second and multiply by 3)
   
   For our example, let's say our person has a RHR of 60 beats per minute.

3. Step3

   Now, use the Karvonen formula to determine your training zone heart rate. The training zone is a range that tells you how fast your heart should be beating when you are working out at a 60%-85% intensity level. The upper end is given by the equation
   
   Upper End = (0.85)MHR + (0.15)RHR
   
   and the lower end is given by the equation
   
   Lower End = (0.60)MHR + (0.40)RHR

4. Step4

   For the person in our example with MHR = 189, and RHR = 60, the upper end of the training zone heart rate is
   
   (0.85)189 + (0.15)60 = 170 bpm
   
   and the lower end is
   
   (0.60)189 + (0.40)60 = 137 bpm
   
   So when his heart rate is between 137 and 170 beats per minute during a workout, he is exercising at an intensity level of 60%-85%.

5. Step5

   To find your target heart rate for an arbitrary intensity level "i" (expressed as a decimal) use this formula:
   
   (i)MHR + (1-i)RHR
   
   For instance, if the person in our example wanted to know what his heart rate would be at a 72% exercise level, he would compute
   
   (0.72)MHR + (0.28)RHR
   
   which yields
   
   (0.72)189 + (0.28)60 = 153 bpm
   
   So his heart will beat at a rate of 153 beats per minute in a 72% intense workout.

Top Fitness Myths Demystified

When it comes to getting in shape, losing weight and toning up, the conventional wisdom can sometimes be a little weak. Jan Wyche, a certified personal trainer with Chelsea Piers Sports Center gives you the real skinny on some of the most common fitness myths out there.

Myth 1: Stretching is Essential

Research shows that stretching before exercise actually increases your chance of getting injured and may decrease your workout performance. According to Wyche, the best way to prepare your body for physical activity is with a three to five minute warm-up of easy walking, light cycling or gentle movement.

Myth 2: Muscle Turns Into Fat

"Fat and muscle are two totally separate types of tissue. They aren't interchangeable," says Wyche. People get fat when they stop working out because they continue to eat the same amount but burn off fewer calories. As a result, their unused muscles grow soft while they simultaneously gain excess body fat.

Myth 3: Stay Skinny With Diet Alone

You can lose weight simply by cutting back on calories. But combining exercise with diet will help you lose weight more quickly. More importantly, it will help you keep the pounds off permanently. The majority of participants in the National Weight Control Registry (a survey of thousands of people who have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for years) report that a consistent exercise program is one of their key weight maintenance strategies.

Myth 4: Long and Slow to Zap Fat

Wyche claims that the so-called "fat burning zone" is about as real as 'The Twilight Zone.' "The workout that burns as many calories as possible, whether it's long and slow or fast and furious, is the best workout for fat burning and weight loss," she advises.

Myth 5: Lose Before Lifting

Actually, if you're truly serious about losing weight, lifting weights two to three times a week is a must. "Building muscle helps maintain your metabolism even while you're resting and will help you slim down," Wyche notes. When you combine diet with cardio exercise only, you tend to lose a lot of muscle mass; weight training helps preserve muscle so more of your weight loss is truly from fat.

Myth 6: High Reps Rule

Choose a weight you can lift at least eight times keeping good form but no more than 15 times without your muscle feeling the challenge. If you can do more reps than that, the weight you're using isn't heavy enough to give you results. And, as Wyche points out, decreasing body fat will help you see the shape of the muscles underneath.

Myth 7: Crunch Away Ab Flab

There's no such thing as spot reducing -- that is, you can't magically zap the fat from an area by exercising it. Wyche says that you could do 5,000 crunches a day and still not see any improvements until you burn the layer of fat over your ab muscles, which is done by trimming your diet and burning more calories through cardio exercise.

Myth 8: Beef Up to Gain Muscle

"The body uses protein, carbs and fat to build muscle," Wyche notes. Any excess protein you eat beyond what your body needs will simply be expelled through your urine or stored as body fat. Your best bet is to eat a balanced diet that includes a variety of vitamins and minerals and enough calories to build strong, shapely muscles.

Save the Boobies Controversy

A crop of breast cancer awareness PSAs are using D-cup cleavage to capture the attention of young women. One ad, which features a long-legged female flaunting her ample breasts in a bikini as onlookers ogle, contains the tagline, "You know you love them…it's time to save the boobs." Another PSA, called the "Yoplait Pledge," refers to the breasts as "cheechees," "hooters" and "tatas." Are these clever marketing strategies that deliver a life-saving point, or do they disrespect women's bodies? The answer depends on who you ask.

Even if the ads aren't successful in prompting women to schedule a check-up or look for lumps, the PSAs do seem to have scored a win in one regard: The ads have young women buzzing about the issue. Amy Landesman, 39, a training director for a non-profit in Manhattan, says the ads are perfect for reaching the under-40 crowd. "I do not find them offensive, and in fact, they're a refreshing change from some of the somber, scare tactic ads that are popular now," she says. "The PSAs are fun and playful, and they have a hip, Gap-like quality to them. If there is a controversy around these ads, I think that is a little silly."

The "Save the Boobs" PSA began as the video promo for an event to raise funds for Rethink Breast Cancer, a Toronto-based charity that supports cancer research and education. Veejay Aliyah Jasmine Sovani, co-host of Canada's "MTV Live," is the buxom brunette showcased in the ad. She is also the creative director of the spot -- one she invented just days after she learned that her cousin had been diagnosed with breast cancer. "Instead of making breast cancer awareness month about an old grandma getting a mammogram and making it clinical, I thought, 'let's be real with it,'" says Sovani in a behind-the-scenes clip about the ad's creation, "Let's make it very MTV, because the truth is that we all love boobs, so let's celebrate boobs and save the boobs."

Martha Stewart - Halloween

Is it just us, or does Martha Stewart look a little pale? The expert crafter and media maven posted some behind the scenes pics from her special Halloween photo shoot on her blog. Click to see how Martha get her creep-tastic look! Shots were taken digitally so the team could see the photos while on the set.

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize - Are you kidding me??

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a stunning decision that comes just eight months into his presidency. The Nobel committee recognized Obama's efforts to solve complex global problems including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said.

And it has me scratching my head and asking WTF??

As the recent SNL skit so perfectly pointed out the man really hasn't accomplished much of anything in his first 9 months. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Really? Are you kidding me? We have two political houses in chaos here in the United States and for all the hoo-hahing about "reaching across the isle" we've seen very little of it. And talk about back-peddling has the world gone completely mad and nobody not really see it?

Now don't get me wrong, I would be more than happy to support such a nomination say years from now when there is a proven track record of service BUT this man didn't even finish his first term as Senator before being elected President and has really NO experience in world affairs. I would really like to go up to my boss today and say "Hey, just because I'm me why don't you make me a director or executive producer. I have really no experience at those positions BUT I can really talk good and look good in a suit and while were at it why not give me an EMMY and OSCAR to boot because well I deserve it."

I just wonder what kind of message we send to not only young Americans but the rest of the world when someone can bounce onto the world scene and not do anything different than Presidents of the past and get an award for it. And how about the scientists, poets, humanitarians and many others who are effecting the world on a daily basis? Why is he any better than them? They at least have a life time record of service and not just a 9 month stint in an office.

What are your thoughts?