This program is ideal for people who want to emphasize building muscle while cutting fat. The information below is simply introductory information for people who are just beginning to lift weights. The real meat of the information you need is found on the subpages "Lifting Program" and "Nutrition." Hover over the header to access the subpages.

People often hit a plateau because their muscles have gotten used to the program that they are doing. It is important to continually shock your muscles with something new. For example, if you are doing the "Strong and Lean" program, although you will stick with your core lifts every week, you ought to change up your auxiliaries every 2-3 weeks.​

Diet plays as big of a role in achieving your fitness goals as does your exercise. You can't achieve your fitness goals without maximizing both.

Exercises that engage multiple muscle groups are much more productive that single muscle group exercises (i.e. squats are much better than leg press).

Avoid static stretches before you lift. Instead, engage in motions that both stretch and warm up your muscles. Static stretches are important for after you lift.

High reps and low weight builds endurance. Low reps and high weight builds muscle mass and explosive strength. You should do a mixture of both.

Don't take steriods. Lift naturally. Always take protein (1 gram for every 2.2 lbs. of weight). Sometimes we take creatine and it works great and is safe (as long as you drink plenty of water). There are probably other helpful supplements out there but we can't endorse them because we haven't tried them.

Look for protein that lists "whey isolate" as the first ingredient. Avoid proteins that have several additives and lots of sugar.

Stretch regularly. Flexibility is important for overall athleticism as well as avoiding injury. The more flexible you are, the better.

Pay attention to your body. If something hurts, don't do it. Find an alternative exercise. You will know that you are doing an exercise correctly if you are feeling it primarily in the targeted muscle group.

Form is more important than the weight you do. Lots of guys cheat themselves out of gains  and get injured because they don't do the right form. Do the right form and the weight will come.

Some days simply are bad days. Try and figue out why and don't stress it.  Often people have bad days because either they don't eat enough, they eat the wrong thing, or they don't sleep enough. Other times bad days are just unexplainable. If you have a bad day (you are especially weak that day) don't get upset about it. Just push as hard as you can and the next day will be better.

Keep track of the weight and the reps that you do. You won't believe the growth that you experience. If you are just starting out or just getting back into it and you are the weakest guy in the gym (or possess 1/4  of the strength you used t0), don't worry about it. Everybody starts somewhere and you will soon be passing people up because you have a good program.

Once you have reached a certain fitness/weight level, it is much easier to return to that level. It takes much less time to return to where you were than to get to where you have never been before.