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.

---

Special Announcement - I've Got a New Book and a New Site On The Way VERY Soon! Like Unique Training Info? You'll LOVE This Announcement! Coming soon to a computer near you!! My new book "Hybrid Training" and my new site "Powerful Training Secrets!" I'm going to reveal ALL my most powerful and best-kept training secrets. If you're tired of reading rehashed articles and wading through supplement ads in muscle magazines in search of new info, you've GOT to check this out...

From:
Nick Nilsson
Author and Publisher of BetterU News

If you're a fan of unique, useful and, above all, POWERFUL training information, I've got two announcements that are going to fire up your jets BIG TIME! I'm very excited about both of them and, after reading this, I know you will be too!

1. Eye-Opening New Book - "Hybrid Training" - Maximum Tension for Maximum Muscle!

After much preparation, I've got a brand new book on the way! It's called "Hybrid Training" and in it, I'll reveal how you can combine multiple forms of resistance (e.g. free weights, bands, cables, bodyweight) into SINGLE EXERCISES to keep MAXIMUM TENSION on the muscles at all times.

And why is this good? Because when you lose tension in the muscles, you INSTANTLY decrease the muscle-building potential of the exercise. With "Hybrid Training," your muscles get NO break in tension and you lose NO potential growth. Your muscles will almost literally EXPLODE with new growth and strength gains!

And I'm not kidding when I say the information in this book has the potential to SHATTER any muscle-building or strength plateaus you may be experiencing right now. It's been working for me like crazy!

Case in point...in the book, I'll tell you about the technique that I use that allows me to do FULL RANGE REPS of bench press with ONE HUNDRED POUNDS MORE than my regular maximum bench press. The first time you try it, you'll be hooked! It develops the muscles and connective tissue like nothing you've ever felt before.

This is some truly groundbreaking information and it's the first time I've ever put it into print.

Let me give you a quick example so you can get an idea of exactly how powerful this concept is...

Imagine you're doing a dumbell bench press. At the bottom of the movement, you get great tension on the pecs but as you press up to the top, the tension on the pecs dramatically decreases.

Now imagine a cable flye (using two low pulleys with a bench in between, doing a flye-type movement where you bring the handles together over top of your body). At the bottom of the cable flye, you get very little tension on the pecs...but as you come up to the top, you get TREMENDOUS tension on the pecs.

Finally, imagine doing BOTH of these exercises at the same time...you get great tension at the bottom from the dumbell press and great tension at the top from the cable flye.

We have TOTALLY elimintated the weak points of both exercises and placed EXTRAORDINARY tension on the chest. And, believe me, the pecs get NO break for the duration of the exercise. The continuous, full-range tension on the chest has to be felt to be believed.

This tension will result in EXCELLENT muscle gains very quickly. It's an emergency situation for the body and it responds FAST!

And in "Hybrid Training" you'll get exercises just like this for your ENTIRE BODY.

I can just imagine how many people will be cursing me (in a good way, of course!) when they try this exercises out for the first time :)

Available now!

Click here to read more about Hybrid Training

 

2. Unique New Membership Site - "Powerful Training Secrets"

To put it simply...I love new and innovative training techniques. My goal and my focus for many years has been to constantly develop unique and, above all, extremely effective training techniques that nobody has ever seen before in the gym.

And if you've been a subscriber to this newsletter for any length of time or have read any of my other books, you know that I'm not just making that up!

My new site "Powerful Training Secrets" is going to be a site for people who love new and unique training information (and the great results that come with it), just like I do. People just like you!

You see, for the past 16 years, I've been actively inventing, researching and testing and I've got volumes of notebooks literally PACKED with extraordinary new training information, covering exercises, intensity techniques, tricks, tips, supplements, nutrition, stretching, cardio and much more! This is information you CAN'T and WON'T find anywhere else - not in books, not on the Internet, not anywhere.

And I want to give it all to you.

When you sign up for a membership with the "Powerful Training Secrets" site, you're going to not only get that great information I've got tucked away in those notebooks, you're going to get all the NEW stuff I come up with, as I come up with it!

You'll get pictures, instructions, videos...a constant, neverending stream of new training ideas that will light a fire under you every single time you go to the gym.

You'll break plateaus, gain muscle and strength, learn fat-loss techniques and new exercises and, above all, you will be CONSTANTLY challenged to think outside the box when it comes to training. Because THAT is where the real results are!

Forget trying to find something new in the muscle magazines every month - I'll feed you a continuous diet of "Powerful Training Secrets" that will simply blow your mind!

And even this training information is just the start! I'm including other great stuff that I'll tell you more about when the site is ready to launch.

*** So keep your eyes open for "Hybrid Training" and "Powerful Training Secrets!" They'll be launching VERY soon and, as a subscriber to BetterU News, you'll be the first to know about it! ***

Available now!

Click here to read more about Powerful Training Secrets!

 

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

---

Training The Stretch - A Stretch Position Superset That Will Pile on Muscle Looking to gain maximum muscle? The stretch position of a muscle is the best place to start. With proper use, you can not only activate more muscle fibers, you may even be able to SPLIT your muscle fibers, making more of them - that means faster gains, more easily!

When it comes to training, all exercises are NOT created equal. If you're looking to gain mass, you know the squat is going to add a lot more muscle to your legs than a leg extension.

But did you know that focusing work on the greatest stretched position of a muscle can give you a similar advantage in muscle building?

Research has shown that placing high tension on muscles in their stretched position can have two extremely important effects on muscle building.

The first is greater activation of your muscle fibers - they fire in larger numbers, which is just what we need to build muscle. When you add tension to the muscle in the stretched position, you activate what is called the Myotatic Reflex (a.k.a. stretch reflex). It's a reflex designed to protect the joints when heavy loads are placed on the muscles in the stretched position. To try and protect the joint, the body activates more muscle fibers to try and get that load out of the stretched position.

More fibers worked means more fibers growing!

The second important effect of stretch-position training, while being a potentially VERY powerful one, is still only a theoretical one. Because while no human studies have confirmed this effect, numerous animal studies have demonstrated it reliably, showing overall muscle size increases in the order of 300% (which is HUGE).

The effect is "hyperplasia," which means muscle fiber splitting (compare it to "hypertrophy," which means muscle fiber growth). When high tension is placed on the muscle in the stretched position, a single muscle fiber may actually split into TWO muscle fibers in response.

More fibers in the muscle means more overall potential growth! If you have more muscle fibers, it's just plain easier to build muscle. Having more muscle fibers is most likely one of the reasons some people just build muscle faster than others.

So how do we train to maximize muscle growth from the stretched positions of muscles?

We're going to utilize a technique I've come up with that I call "Pre/Post-Exhaust Stretch Giant Sets." It's a fancy name for a technique that is as effective as it is challenging and, to be completely honest, downright painful. Just know right up front that this is NOT a technique you can coast through, but if you're ready for some serious results, get ready to dig in...

To demonstrate this technique, I will use the chest as an example. You're going to be doing two exercises - dumbell flyes and barbell bench press. But here's the key...you're not going to be doing the whole range of motion of either of them!

At the end of this article, I will also include a link to a video of this technique in action so you can see EXACTLY how it's performed.

Part one of this giant set is the Pre-Exhaust. Take dumbells you could normally do about 10 to 12 full reps of dumbell flyes with, lay down on a bench or Swiss ball and lower the dumbells down to the bottom, stretched position.

Now you're going to do partial, bottom-range reps of the dumbell flye exercise. Let the dumbells stretch your pecs at the bottom then, with a short, powerful movement, raise them up a couple inches. Now immediately bring them back down into the stretch position and hold, letting the pecs stretch. Perform as many reps as you can with this technique.

Part two of the giant set is continuous tension training. Immediately get up and move to the dip station (you can also use the bench press for this). When doing dips, normally just using bodyweight should be fine. If you're using the bench press, before you start the giant set, you should pre-set the bar with a weight that you can normally do 12 to 15 reps with.

When doing dips for chest, you should have your body in a half-moon position, hunching forward and setting your elbows out wide to the sides. Look down as you're doing the reps to keep the tension on the pecs.

With dips, lower yourself down ALMOST to the very bottom then push yourself back up ALMOST to the top. When doing bench press, unrack the bar and lower it to ALMOST the bottom position then, with no pause, press it back up to ALMOST the top position. With no pause, lower it back down to the same position as before.

What you are doing here is continuous tension training in the middle range of motion of the dip or the bench press. You're never getting a full stretch and you're never locking out. The pecs get NO rest during the entire set. Do as many reps as you can on the dips or the press then step down or re-rack the weight.

Now, if you thought the first two parts were hard, you're in for some fun...here's where it gets REALLY tough.

Go right back to the dumbell flyes, get back into position on the bench or ball (using the same dumbells as you were using before) and do ANOTHER stretch position partial set. This final post-exhaust set is going to really set off the alarm bells in your body!

So basically, the first set of partial flyes is going to take advantage of the increased muscle-fiber activation you get with a stretched-position exercise. Then, when you go into continuous tension pressing, more muscle fibers will be working under that continuous tension, increasing the results you get in terms of hypertrophy (fiber growth). Now, when we get to the final partial flye set, the goal is hyperplasia (fiber splitting). The muscle fibers are exhausted and pumped up with blood from the first two parts of the giant set. Now the high tension in the stretched position is going to be a serious emergency to the muscle fibers and (hopefully) induce splitting of the muscle fibers.

It's a tough giant set but, when you're done, you'll know that you had a great growth-producing set!

"Pre/Post-Exhaust Stretch Giant Sets" can be done with ANY bodypart, making it a very versatile technique. Here are some examples of exercises you can use with each bodypart:

Chest:
Any flye movement and any pressing movement

Back:
Dumbell pullovers and any rowing or pulldown movement

Shoulders:
Cable lateral raises or leaning dumbell lateral raises (leaning against a solid object with your working arm hanging down in front of you) and any pressing movement

Quadriceps:
Sissy squats and squats, split squats or leg press

Hamstrings:
Stiff-legged deadlifts and leg curls

Biceps:
Incline curls and any general curling movement

Triceps:
Any overhead tricep movement and dips or close grip presses

Calves:
Donkey calf raises and seated or standing calf raises

When incorporating this technique into your workouts, I would suggest doing no more than 3 or 4 of these giant sets for the back, chest or thigh muscles and no more than 2 or 3 for the other smaller muscles. It's also not a technique you should use every training session - maybe once every week or two for a bodypart. It's very intense and demands a lot of recovery energy. Be sure you give your body and muscles the fuel they need to take full advantage of this potential growth!

Give this giant set technique a try in your next workout and let me know how it feels!

To watch a video of this technique in action, use the following link:

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue46-stretch-superset.htm

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

---

Review - PurFoods - Get Proper Nutrition and Great Taste Delivered Right To Your Door! How to instantly defeat the dreaded reason of "not enough time" when it comes to cooking and eating healthy foods. PurFoods has the solution for you!

The one single greatest reason for not eating a healthy diet has to be "not enough time to shop for and prepare the food" And it's totally understandable! It often seems that this world is just not set up to encourage healthy eating. When you're on the run (as we so often are), the last thing available seems to be healthy food. I come up against the same problem regularly with my own eating habits!

So what would happen to the "no time" excuse if you had healthy food pre-prepared for you, ready when you are? And what if it's not only ready when you are, it's actually prepared by a gourmet chef and tastes great too?

The "no time" excuse would be a thing of the past.

Because not only is proper nutrition essential for your health, it's CRITICAL for getting the best results from your training, whether it be for fat-loss or muscle building.

Now, I'm always on the lookout for ANYTHING that can help with training, be it equipment, exercises, supplements or food. I think I've struck gold with this one!

I want to tell you about my experience with a company called PurFoods. PurFoods specializes in pre-packaged, healthy meals made with QUALITY ingredients (one of the biggest problems with the pre-packaged frozen meals you get at the grocery store is inferior-quality ingredients).

You see, a few weeks ago, I got an excited call from a friend of mine who is working with the company as a business consultant. He said "Nick, you've GOT to try this food...it's healthy AND it tastes great! Forget what the pre-packaged frozen stuff at the grocery store tastes like. This will blow you away!"

So I said "Sure, go ahead and send some along." I admit, I was a little skeptical. After all, I had eaten the pre-packaged grocery store meals before and they were okay but not great. How good could this other pre-packaged food be?

But I was excited at the same time, because I am notoriously lazy when it comes to food preparation - I always seem to run out of time for making healthy meals. And honestly, I'm not much of a cook myself and my wife always complains that when she cooks (and she cooks in large quantities), there's rarely food leftover. So quick, healthy food that I could grab on the go was something I was DEFINITELY interested in.

Well, the sample pack arrived a few days later (shipped in a sturdy stryofoam cooler, well-packed with ice to keep everything chilled). I opened it up and pulled out the sample meals...

- Denver Style Omelette with Turkey Ham, Cheddar Cheese and Peppers
- Chicken Salad w/ Raspberry Vinaigrette
- Turkey Pastrami Reuben Wrap
- London Broil With Pesto, Asparagus And Butternut Squash Mashed Potatoes
- Turkey Chili with Black Beans
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Turkey Ham and Brown Rice Salad
- Chicken Vesuvio (Chicken Breast with New Potatoes and Peas)

It was about lunchtime, so I opened up the Chicken Vesuvio meal. MAN, was it good! You could tell it was real chicken breast - it was tender, juicy and delicious. The potatos were very tasty and you could tell the peas were fresh. Very nice!

So how long did it take me to prepare my healthy lunch? Grand total: 2 minutes, including microwaving time. And, nutritionally, it sure beat the heck out of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I was getting ready to make...

The rest of the sample meals were equally delicious. Let me tell you, there is NO comparison with the frozen grocery store meals. It's like the difference between a slophouse and a steakhouse.

If you're someone who is constantly on the go and/or just don't have time to prepare healthy meals, you're going to LOVE this food. These meals are ready when you are, great tasting and, above all, will HELP you reach your training goals.

The menu selection is excellent, giving you plenty of options for what you'd like to eat. You can opt for a week-day plan, to cover you when you've got a busy work schedule but free weekends, or a 7-day plan, giving you food for every single day of the week.

The ONLY thing that might give you a bit of a pause is the price, but even when it comes to that, it's really a matter of perspective. For $24.95 per day, you'll get a full day's worth of meals, all packaged up and ready to go. And you get what you pay for - these meals are GOOD!

If you had to go out, buy the groceries, cook everything, package everything, etc. how much would it cost not only in money but in your time? For me personally, I've got so many other things going on, I just don't have the time to pre-make everything for good, healthy meals, even though I know I really should. The best of intentions often lead to peanut butter sandwiches :)

When you take into account fewer groceries that you're getting at the store and less eating out (which can be a HUGE expense), the PurFoods option starts really making a lot of sense.

If you're interested in learning more about PurFoods and what they have to offer, I definitely recommend checking out their website or calling for more information.

If you do decide to order by phone, be sure to mention the code "BetterU." If you don't, the regular price is $29.95 - when you mention "BetterU," THAT will get you the discount price of $24.95.

Check out PurFoods here now:

http://www.fitstep.com/goto/purfoods.htm

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

---

Secret Training Tip #891 - Leaning Wrist Curls - A Forearm BLAST Looking to increase forearm size and/or strength? Standard Wrist Curls are a good exercise. Find out how a simple change in body position will make them MUCH more effective.

The wrist curl is a very effective forearm exercise - it's a classic for very good reason...it works! But if there's one thing I've discovered in my years of training, there is ALWAYS a better way to do even the most common and effective exercises. The Wrist Curl is no exception.

To do this unique variation of the wrist curl, you're going to need two dumbells, a flat bench and another raised surface (it can be another bench, a chair, a machine or even the rails of a power rack - it should be the same height or a little higher than the bench you're using). I will use a chair as the example for this exercise.

Use a weight you could do about 12 to 15 reps with on regular dumbell wrist curls. Place the bench about 3 feet in front of the chair - when you see how the exercise is done, you'll be able to adjust how far apart you place the bench and chair. The bench should be perpendicular to the chair as you'll be doing the wrist curl exercise with your forearms across the WIDTH of the bench.

Stand between the bench and the chair - you should be facing the bench. Pick up your two dumbells. Rest your forearms on the bench with your palms facing up, and kneel down in front of the bench, just as though you were about to do a wrist curl. I prefer to set the forearms on the bench just far enough apart so that the dumbell ends are pressed together during the exercise. I find this helps increase the force you're able to generate during the exercise.

So now you're kneeling in front of the bench, your wrists are extended down and you're about to do a wrist curl. STOP! Here's the trick. You're going to set your feet up on that chair behind you!

When your feet are up on the chair, keep your body completely tight and straight. Let your bodyweight lean forward and down onto your forearms. Bend your elbows so that they are as bent as they can be and your entire bodyweight is leaning forward and supported on your forearms.

NOW start doing wrist curls. You'll find, with your forearms not only performing the wrist curl movement but also supporting your bodyweight AND with the elbows in the completely flexed position, your forearms will get a MUCH harder workout than with just plain wrist curls alone.

I recommend that you do this exercise with dumbells rather than a barbell simply because dumbells allow your wrists and forearms greater freedom of movement to not only find their best path for the exercise but also to increase the stabilizing requirement as you're leaning down onto your forearms. Barbells just lock you into the movement too much.

Use this exercise at the end of your workouts - don't do it first or your forearms will be exhausted and you won't be able to grip as well during your workout. It's a killer forearm exercises that takes full advantage of your biomechanics and anatomy to place greater tension on the forearm muscles.

Word of advice, don't try and do anything that requires any degree of fine motor control in your hands for at least a few minutes after you're done (like writing in a training log). Your forearms will be trashed and your handwriting will end up looking like mine on a good day!

To see pictures and a video of this exercise in action, use the following link:

http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue46-wrist-curls.htm

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

 

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