Long ago, in a land not unlike this one, people lifted weights and ate right because they could plainly see the benefits offered. Others also saw the benefits and could plainly see great big mountains of cash waiting to be scooped up into their open arms.

Throughout the history of the Iron game people have endeavoured to sell fitness to other people and there's nothing wrong with that, heck I do it myself; the problem is that people have for just as long been selling products that have little or nothing to do with fitness, and a huge amount to do with marketing.

I am not going to name any names in this article, I do not wish to invite litigation and lawsuits from greedy minds. Instead I will simply outline five marketing strategies that many of these products have in common and allow the reader to deduce for themselves when something is "too good to be true".

1. Claims of Universality

It is pretty obvious that different people, with different goals and at different times will require different training and nutrition and yet many scams involve a claim of universality. They claim to be the "best way" for "everyone...all the time". There is no one best way for everyone.

Quality training and nutrition is all about constructing the best possible regimen for a particular person at a particular time. Scams of this nature include canned programs, selling instruction in particular methods of exercise regardless of individual goals and the selling of certain nutritional products.

Any time someone offers you a pre-written program as being the "best way" to accomplish any number of disparate goals get yourself some exercise by running away from them as fast as possible. Yes, certain techniques do tend to bring about certain results and I have no quarrel with those that offer free general information, indeed I do it in "No Bull", on my website and elsewhere.

What's wrong is charging people for this kind of information under the pretense that it is "personal training". It's not. I write articles for an audience, in this case The Bulls. I express my opinion based on the facts as I can best interpret them. I also provide one to one coaching. As I am sure Mick can testify offering one to one coaching is a whole different ball game from writing general articles.

Any time you see something along the lines of "exercise method X produces great results for everyone, all the time" be immediately suspicious. Most of the time these products and classes are suitable for at least some folks, but there is no one method that is the "best" for all. That's why one to one work is so much more complex than writing general articles.

2. Claims of unique results from use of a product

This technique is often hidden under a marketing blurb six miles long but any time you get the impression that you are being told that buying a particular product is the "only way" to attain certain results then clutch your wallet tight and make your escape.

There are many ways to attain physical fitness and few of them involve the necessity of buying specific products or paying to attend specific exercise classes. Many specific exercise classes are sold under this pretense, with marketing to indicate that they are "the best" or "the fastest" or even "the only" way to attain a good level of basic fitness. They are not, and many other methods would often be as or more effective at a lesser financial cost to the user. Use your noggins Bulls!

3. Celebrity or Athlete endorsement

Why does celebrity endorsement EVER work? It has absolutely no right to but the fact remains that for reasons unknown to me people would rather buy a product based on celebrity use than buy a product based on sound research or actual worth. What qualifications does a celebrity have that entitles them to recommend a particular product to the public? Absolutely none.

Typically they have no more knowledge or understanding of the product they endorse than a layperson and furthermore they are being paid handsomely to coerce you in to buying it. The whole process is utterly disgusting and even if the product were a useful one I'd still buy it elsewhere simply to avoid my purchase being mistakenly attributed to the celebrity endorsement. YUK!

Onto the athletes, who often have at least some knowledge of the product they are peddling. A quick question...If a certain world renowned basketball player with his own line in footwear was forced to play basketball in his bare feet, could you beat him? Of course not ! He might eventually get a blister or two but he'd still whip you on the court. The obvious implication is that the players' great performances don't come from his choice in footwear. I'm sure well designed footwear has a part to play, but it is a small part compared to work ethic and sensible training.

The same goes for food supplements or even drugs that are touted along the lines of "I am having my best season ever and it's all down to Product Z". A more accurate statement would be "I am having my best season ever and its all down to hard work, intelligence, diligence and application. By the way, I also use Product Z / drugs / whatever." This important distinction ties in with the fourth scam.

4. "No effort required"

"Just take Product Z and then lie on the couch whilst you miraculously fulfill your athletic potential". Phrased like that it doesn't sound too likely does it? But this exact seem meaning is conveyed in advertisements all the time. Learn to look out for people making promises of great returns for no outlay of effort from you. Everything that is worthwhile requires some degree of effort, and that includes physical fitness.

Unfortunately I see this a lot on the "boards" online regarding steroids. All too often a newbie will see roids as an effort free way to get to the top in no time at all. Wake up and smell the enanthate folks! Training, nutrition and rest will always be the basis of strength and development, not drugs, not food supplements nor anything else.

5. The Advertorial

This is a scam in which the advertisement is presented as being an unbiased article on nutrition, fitness or anything else, often from a "respectable" source. The first part covers some topic related to the product, or outlines a long standing "problem"...the second part provides a solution to the problem that is, surprise surprise, a product that the source just happens to have for sale.

Page after page of info about the horrors of having an arse as hairy as a Persian rug followed by a tag line for "Mick's Cheek Wax", you know the kind of thing. Many of the popular fitness and bodybuilding magazines now give over more pages to this kind of advertising than any other. Sure, the product itself can sometimes have worth, but when the salesman goes to such lengths to disguise their adverts they really don't deserve your money.

All of these scams stem from a marketing driven approach to product design. In this approach the first question asked is "Can we sell it?" If the answer is "yes" then the team swings in to action, a target market is defined and the marketing war begins...regardless of whether the product has any worth.

Honourable vendors approach first the question "does the product have worth?" If the answer is "yes" then the next question is "who does it have worth to" and from there on a market is defined and the product is sold on the basis of its worth to that market. It is never sold simply on the basis that people will buy it.

Oftentimes unscrupulous companies dream up products specifically to appeal to a given market sector. Some one at the top of the company picks up the phone and calls down to marketing..."Guys, 18 year old kids have a lot of disposable income these days...what can we make that we can sell to them?".

Marketing looks at the research and says "18 year old kids are prone to buying things on impulse and are looking for fast results with little outlay of effort" so now they have a marketing strategy. This process goes on until eventually, last of all, they get round to designing the product itself. This process is utterly backward and often results in the product being sold by one of the above approaches.

I hope this has given you some idea at what to look out for when considering making a lifting related purchase, whether a supplement or anything else. Don't be swayed by advertising, seek out information from sources that have nothing to do with the product in question and then make a purchasing decision based on FACTS, not hype.

Look to people that are willing to give over there time and effort to you BEFORE you invest in a product or service, look for dedication and reliance upon the product itself, whatever it might be. Good luck making sensible future purchases and as always...caveat emptor, "let the buyer beware".