The lovely and talented Fitsugar is hosting a big giveaway: one lucky commenter will power-walk, run, cycle, row, or cardio kickbox away with an F11 Polar Heart Rate Monitor. The F11 is a hot little model that can track your progress, spur you to new fitness heights, and help you find and stay at the cardio sweet spot during your workouts. Plus this monitor takes no interference from anyone, so you won'thave to worry about mixing signals with other monitor users in your spin class. You have until Friday, August 31 at 5 p.m. PT to enter, and all you have to do is go here and comment on the post. Um, just one time. Don't get all crazy and try and stack the comments in your favor. The winner will be chosen randomly. Geez, my heart rate is through the roof just thinking about it, cuz I sure hope it's me...

When you're working out, do you ever notice those hard-core gym fanatics seem to all have heart-rate monitors on? No? Maybe it's just my gym. But I see them so much that I've started to wonder whether I need one.

Heart rate monitors aren't a bad investment, but as fitsugar points out, they're usually more for keeping track of your workout than your heart. You know those heart-rate charts they have all over the gym? Well, in a nutshell, they're telling you what your heart rate should be at depending on what you're aiming for. For cardio-vascular conditioning, your heart-rate should be a bit higher than if, say, you're trying to burn fat. So the heart rate monitor helps you monitor that, and it's a heck of a lot easier than trying to count your pulse while your running on the treadmill.

I don't think I'll be buying one anytime soon, since all the machines seem to have one anyway. What about you?