FREE Fitness Articles For Your Website! Increase your site traffic now! Use the professionally-written fat loss, muscle-building and exercise articles you find in the BetterU News Archive FREE on your website. Click here for details

NOTE: All articles in BetterU News are written by Nick Nilsson -
http://www.fitstep.com/ unless otherwise credited.

---

How Fat Loss Pills Can Make You Fatter What the diet industry doesn't want you to know can have serious long-term effects on your health and bodyfat levels.

There are many good supplements on the market today that are extremely effective for fat loss. Fat loss is big business and this has fueled tremendous developments in technology. There are more high-quality fat burning products out there now than ever before.

Properly used, these supplements can make a big difference in your fat loss efforts, helping you reach your goals far quicker.

Improperly used, however, fat burning supplements can actually make you fatter, no matter how effective they are! In fact, the more effective a supplement is, the worse off you could be!!

To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using supplements to help lose fat. I'm all for it. The main problem with fat loss supplements lies with how people use them (and how they are told and encouraged to use them).

Armed with the knowledge in this article, you will learn exactly what you can do to break the diet pill cycle and keep the fat off for good.

The Big Secret

The diet pill and fat loss drug industry is built on ignorance: not theirs, yours.

Many of these companies bank on that fact that people generally don't know a whole lot about fat loss or supplements. They are in the business of selling shortcuts to you so that you don't have to know anything about fat loss. The reason for this is simple: if people knew a lot about fat loss, they wouldn't need fat loss products anymore and the companies would go out of business.

As backwards as it seems, the diet industry can only stay profitable by keeping people fat.

Look at the typical business. They do their best to keep customers coming back to them. That's how they make money. Why would the diet industry be any different? If you lose fat and maintain that fat loss you won't need to lose fat anymore. You won't be their customer anymore!

As little business sense as it makes, the ideal situation would be to have companies that are dedicated to the goal of losing customers. If they do their job, you will lose fat and keep it off and never need them again! As a personal trainer, my goal has always been to train people so thoroughly that they don't need me anymore.

Is this sort of reform going to happen in the diet industry? Not likely. But there is something you can do to stop the cycle (you are doing it right now): LEARN!

How Fat Loss Pills Can Make You Fatter

The bottom line is...fat loss pills work. This is both the best thing about them and the worst thing about them.

When you take a good fat burning supplement, you lose a lot of fat, you feel better about yourself and you are happy, right? This is the best thing about fat loss supplements.

The worst thing about these supplements is that because they work so well, you don't have to change your eating or exercise habits to accomplish your goals. You get results simply by taking a little pill.

Does this phrase sound familiar: "Eat whatever you want and still lose weight!"

Here's the scenario: you take the pills and you lose all the weight you want. What happens when you stop taking the supplement once you've reached your goals? Since you haven't had to change your eating or exercise habits, you regain the weight. Then you buy their pills again and start the same cycle again! It is very similar to the yo-yo diet syndrome of weight loss and regain.

How do you break this cycle? The solution is very simple though it may not be glamorous or easy: you learn to eat properly and you exercise regularly.

When you remove your dependence on fat loss pills to lose fat (through education, nutrition and exercise), you free yourself to use them to enhance your efforts, not anchor them. You will be able to lose your extra fat and keep it off without having to depend on fat loss pills to make it happen.

For more information on fat loss and how to accomplish it through exercise and nutrition, I recommend the following articles, available in the BetterU News Archive:

1. What Do You Mean Low-Intensity Training Isn't The Best For Fat Burning?

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue7.htm

2. 10 Things You Can Do To Lose Fat Without Even Trying

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue10.htm

3. I Didn't Realize How Important Protein Was For Fat Loss Until I Discovered Something That Blew My Mind...

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue6.htm

4. Seven Quick Tips To Speed Up Your Metabolism and Burn Fat Faster

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue17.htm

Want more articles like this? Subscribe to BetterU News now!

---

ANNOUNCING AN AMAZING WEIGHT LOSS RESOURCE WEBSITE REVEALS...Why Almost Everyone Is Dead Wrong In The Way They Diet To Lose Body Fat The approach you're using to lose body fat may not only be ineffective, it might be damaging your metabolism and even making you fatter! I'm confident that I've discovered an easier, better and more natural way to burn fat faster -- Not by a few percent, not by 50%, not even by 100%, but by up to 300% or more! Click on the following link to find out how: http://www.fitstep.com/goto/burnfat.htm

---

Mind Games - Powerful Mental Strategies For Getting More Reps Out Of Every Single Set You Do Want to learn how to take your body further than you ever thought possible? Your mind is the real key to achieving unbelievable results.

Peak performance is a state of mind. No matter how prepared your body is, if your mind is not functioning at the top of its game, your performance will suffer.

This is true of any sport and extremely true in weight training. Your muscles may do the actual work, but what is sending the message to do that work? Your mind!

There are many techniques you can use to help your mind push your body far beyond what you may believe you're capable of. These mental tricks can help you get more results out of every single set you do.

1. Rewards

Say you're finishing the last few reps of a set. It's starting to hurt and you're ready to quit. Imagine someone just offered you a million dollars to get one more rep. You would find a way to get that rep. Use other offers that would motivate you to keep going, e.g. pizza if you're on a diet.

2. Ghost Spotters and Lighter Weight

Imagine someone spotting you. Imagine this ghost spotter helping you finish that rep. You can always try imagining the weight is less than it actually is, too.

3. Magnetic Force

If you're doing dumbell presses, imagine they are two powerful magnets that are irresistibly drawn to each other. If you're curling, imagine your eyes as magnets attracting the bar towards them. If you're benching, imagine the bar being repelled by your chest. This technique is especially useful on that last, slow rep. It will help you squeeze a little extra out to finish the rep.

4. Chopped-Up Sets

Here is a trick you can use to get the most out of high rep sets.

When the going gets tough, start doing consecutive small sets of five reps. When you can't get five reps, do sets of three reps. When three reps seems impossible, convince yourself to do just two more reps. When you can't do sets of two, tell yourself just one more rep. Keep trying to get just one more rep until you can't move.

Breaking it up like this will allow you to get many more reps than counting straight through one big set. You can do this right from the start as well. If you are doing a set of fifteen reps, do a set of five, another set of five, a set of three, then a set of two.

5. Pain Management

Pain tolerance is a big factor in weight training intensity. The more pain you can take, the harder and longer you can push.

A good way to fight pain is to tell yourself that it is not your pain; it is somebody else's. It sounds crazy but it works.

You can also try the Corsican Twin technique. Imagine the pain you are going through is being felt by someone you don't like. The more you put yourself through, the more punishment they take.

It also helps if you're a little masochistic. Really hard trainers learn to love the pain (remember, we're not talking injury pain but hard work pain).

6. Self-Reprimand

To push harder, you may want to try self-reprimand, i.e. telling yourself how lazy you are, how small and weak you are. You should react by vigorously trying to prove yourself wrong.

7. Self-Praise

Self-praise is also good. Tell yourself how big and strong and powerful you are and how this weight is child's play.

8. The Little Voice In Your Head

Reprogram the little voice in your head. Most people have a little voice in their head that warns them not to do things that may seem unreasonable or threatening, e.g. you better not do that or you'll hurt yourself, you can't lift that much, this hurts, let's quit. This voice can undermine your confidence to lift extremely heavy weight or get those last few reps.

Reprogram your little voice to tell you things like: that felt pretty good, let's add more weight or you can do another rep. Don't get too out of control but don't be scared. You can usually do more than you think you can and you never know until you try. Don't automatically assume you'll never accomplish anything or you never will.

9. Unreasonable Goals

Set almost unreasonable but achievable goals for yourself. Say for example, you know you can curl 50 pounds for ten reps. Set the goal of twelve reps and fight madly to get those twelve. It gives you the incentive to improve.

10. Competitions

Have competitions with a training partner or with yourself. Whoever gets the most reps with a certain weight or percentage of bodyweight has to buy dinner. Challenge yourself to break personal bests and reward yourself when you do. This type of competition can dramatically increase intensity.

11. Explosive Imagery

Just before a set, put images of explosive power in your head, e.g. rockets, artillery, a stampede, explosions, etc.

This form of imagery will start up your adrenaline and give you a little extra kick in the pants to get your set going. Imagine this explosive power rocketing the weights you are using.

12. Mind In Muscle

Try to put your mind in the muscle you're working. Try to consciously fire the muscle fibers.

13. Contact

Getting a spotter to just touch you and not push can give you extra force. This is partly psychological and partly physical. The contact of body's energy fields can actually give you a little extra lift. It is not all in your head and it is not all quackery. It does work.

14. Ratcheting

When the going gets tough, imagine your muscles as ratchets; stopping, redoubling the force, pushing a little more, stopping, redoubling, etc.

15. Positive and Negative Stimuli

When doing exercises where you are pushing something away from you, e.g. bench, imagine the bar as a negative stimulus (somebody you don't like, a chainsaw, etc.). When doing exercises where you are pulling something towards you, imagine the bar as a positive stimulus (somebody you do like, a chocolate cake, etc.).

16. Donald Duck

If you find your inner voice speaking negatively, change the voice so it sounds like Daffy or Donald Duck. You won't be inclined to take it so seriously.

17. Enjoy It

Learn to enjoy the pain. Eat it up.

18. Borrow Energy

Borrow energy from other people. This can be done before a set or when the going is getting tough. Using a mirror or looking directly, look at someone squarely in the eyes. Give them a smile or a nod or a psychotic grin and imagine yourself drawing energy from them. At that point, two people are focusing their energy on the set. You may or may not make friends with this one.

19. Mentor

Imagine you have a mentor or someone you are trying to impress standing over you and watching as you do your set. Imagine they are encouraging you and pushing you harder and harder.

20. Threats

Threats can also work. If someone put a gun to your head and said "do three more reps," you would find a way to get those reps. Imagine this situation to get those reps.

Give some of these techniques a try in your next workout. I guarantee you'll take yourself far beyond where you've gone before!

Want more articles like this? Subscribe to BetterU News now!

---

Secret Training Tip #318 - Squatting Cable Curls This amazing exercise combines the best parts of three different biceps exercises to deliver rapid muscle-building results.

The biceps are the showpiece muscles of your physique. Well-developed biceps really stand out. To maximally develop the bicep muscles, you need to apply tension to them in three distinct areas of their range of motion (if you are familiar with Steve Holman's "Positions of Flexion" training, you'll recognize these areas). Most bicep exercises work only one area at a time. The Squatting Cable Curl exercise you are about to learn works all three at once!

The first area is the stretch position. This position is worked in exercises that place the most tension on the muscle when it's stretched. This could be dumbell flyes for the chest or, for the biceps, incline curls. The body position of the incline curl (you lying on an incline bench with your arms hanging straight down) puts a stretch on the biceps muscle at the start of the movement.

The second area is the mid-range. This is basically just the middle of the movement. Exercises that have most of their tension placed in the middle of the movement work the mid-range. For the biceps, this could be standing barbell or dumbell curls. You'll notice that they are hardest when you are halfway through the movement (90 degree bend in the elbows).

The third area is the contracted position. Exercises that have the majority of their tension when the muscle is contracted, such as concentration curls for the biceps, work this third area.

Taken separately, each of these three areas contributes to full development of the muscle. For example, if you wanted to do a bicep routine based on this theory, you could do one set of incline curls, two sets of barbell curls, then one set of concentration curls. This routine would ensure you are working all three tension-areas of the bicep.

But what if I told you there was an exercise you could do that would work all three of these areas at once? Each of the three movements I referred to above lose tension in the biceps at some point because of gravity and the positioning of the resistance. There is zero tension in the biceps at the bottom of the concentration curl. This factor decreases the effectiveness of the individual exercise.

The Squatting Cable Curl solves this tension-loss problem neatly and easily. First, I'll explain how to do it, then I'll tell you exactly how and why it works.

---

How To Do It:

To do this exercise, you will need a low pulley and a curl bar attachment (it can be the straight or cambered bar). There will be a link to pictures of the exercise at the end of the article.

Attach the bar to the low pulley and set a weight that is somewhat less than what you'd use for standing cable curls.

Squat all the way down (with your butt down on your heels) and grasp the bar with a regular curl grip. Rest the top sections of your forearms on the tops of your knees. Take a small step back so that the plates on the weight stack are raised up (you need to have tension at the bottom of the movement). You are going to be using your knees then your elbows as the pivot points for this exercise.

When your arms are straight in this position, you should notice that your biceps are getting stretched. The weight is pulling foward and down while your knees are bracing your arms. This movement does require a bit of balance, especially when you are first getting used to it.

Start the curling movement, rolling your forearms up and over your knees. This rolling pivot point changes the angle of tension on the biceps all the way through the movement.

As your forearms roll up and over the top of your knees, the pivot point will then move to your elbows. This will again change the angle of tension of the exercise.

Continue the movement, curling the bar up as close to your face as possible. Squeeze the biceps hard at the top. You should feel an extremely powerful contraction at this point as your biceps have had tension on them for the entire movement. To increase the feeling of the contraction, you can lean your body back somewhat (as though you are about to roll backwards).

Now reverse the sequence, rolling your forearms up and over your knees again. Get a stretch at the bottom (with your arms completely straight and the weight pulling on the biceps) then repeat.

---

How and Why It Works:

The Squatting Cable Curl works by using the cable and your body parts and positioning to apply variable tension to the biceps. It applies tension to the biceps during all three areas of the movement: stretch, mid-range and contracted positions.

At the very beginning of the movement, when your knees are pushing your elbows up and the weight is pulling your hands down, you are getting a strong biceps stretch. By applying tension to the biceps, i.e. curling the weight, you hit the stretch area.

As your forearms roll over your knees, the biomechanics of the movement change. You are now applying direct tension in the mid-range of the exercise. The best part is, because you are rolling your forearms over your knees, the angle of pull is constantly changing. This means you are getting direct tension on the many different angles of the mid-range area.

When you come to the point where your forearms roll completely off your knees and you begin pivoting from your elbows only, you are focusing on the contracted position. At this point, you can maximize the tension of the contraction by consciously squeezing the biceps hard and pulling the bar as close as you can to your face.

One of the bonuses of this exercise is the fact that your arms are braced against your legs throughout the movement. This effectively prevents any cheating due to body or arm movement. This bracing forces strict form, which makes the biceps do all the work in the exercise.

---

Conclusion:

The "evolving-tension" movement covers all three of the major areas of muscular tension at once. Your biceps get no break from the work at any point in the movement. This continuous tension during all angles and phases is an extremely effective way to build the biceps.

To view demonstration photos of this exercise go to:

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue20-biceps.htm

Want more articles like this? Subscribe to BetterU News now!

---

You Know You're a Dedicated Trainer When... Take a humorous look at what being a dedicated trainer is all about...you may recognize yourself!!

1. If, on a job application, under "Previous Employment," you've listed weight training and under "Hobbies" you've listed your actual previous employment.
2. If you've ever made yourself so sore that it either takes you a full minute to sit on the toilet or you have to fall down onto it.
3. If you've been banned from an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant.
4. If you've ever broken a bone and tried to "train around it."
5. If you're buying a home and the first thing you look for is where your training equipment will go (not how big the kitchen is or if there's a furnace or running water or anything like that).
6. If you've ever mentally calculated the protein content of a piece of your own birthday cake.
7. If you'd vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger regardless of of his views, policies or even what he's running for.
8. If everybody you know asks you to help them when they move because you can lift heavy things.
9. If Navy Seal training "looks like fun."
10. If you've ever had to scratch your nose in the middle of a set and you've used the weight to scratch it.
11. If you've brought skinless chicken breasts to a rock concert instead of beer.
12. If you can remember your One Rep Max for 76 different exercises but you can't remember your family and friends birthdays.
13. You've kept an old vitamin bottle for 12 years because it "brings back memories."
14. If your fridge has more than 6 cartons of eggs in it at any given time.
15. If, when you travel, you pack an extra bag just for your supplements.
16. If your marriage vows include the words "for better or for worse or for pre-contest dieting."
17. If your idea of a good leg workout is one where you work them so hard you can't take two steps without falling down after a set.
18. If you use the squat rack more for squats than you do for barbell curls.
19. If your spotter is yelling "It's all you!" and it actually is.
20. You do bicep curls with your grocery bags as you bring them in.
21. You mix tuna into your cereal to get more protein.
22. If you need to go to therapy if you miss two workouts in a row.
23. If the thought of lifting a car sounds perfectly reasonable to you.
24. If you've ever set a 45-pound plate on your lap and used it as a TV tray for eating dinner.
25. If you set your alarm to wake up in the middle of the night to drink a protein shake.
26. If you don't even have to set your alarm anymore to wake up in the middle of the night to drink a protein shake.
27. If you've ever wrapped the calorie counter on a cardio machine back around to zero.
28. If you've ever had to add extra weight to a machine because there's just not enough weight on it for you.
29. You mix protein powder into your condiments.
30. If you're regularly the very first, very last, or only person in your gym.
31. If you've laughed at any single one of the items in this article because it describes you perfectly.

Want more articles like this? Subscribe to BetterU News now!

---

Massive Muscle Gain FAST!! You Can Increase Your Strength An Amazing 25% in Only 4 days! What does this mean for you? -The potential for extraordinarily rapid gains in strength and muscle mass (how does adding 50 lbs to your bench press in 3 weeks sound?). How is that possible? -With Specialization Training. How do I know it's possible? -Because I did it and you can too! Go to http://www.fitness-ebooks.com to learn how to put this incredibly effective information to work for you! Nick Nilsson Author of "Specialization Training"

Want More Powerful Fitness Information? Read another issue of BetterU News now!