Hello, I have been going to the gym for about a month and a half now, I'd like to add a little lean mass, but mostly get cut, or ripped. What workout do you suggest? should I go heavy with less reps, or light with more reps?
I'm also taking whey protein, and hydroxycut, how much will these supplements help and how fast will they help?

Whey protein is great for creating a fast response in positive nitrogen retention. Whey protein is perfect during the day when you can eat every 2-3 hours. It is not, however, the best type of protein for long term (5-6 hour) nitrogen retention. So, before you go to bed you should consume a casienate based protein powder (Met-Rx) so your body will continue making progress even as you sleep.

Hydroxycut works very well but you should not be on a "stimulant based" fat burner for more than 2 weeks at a time. Then, you should come off for 2 weeks before starting again. You just don't want your body's adrenal system to become fatigued, which can happen with these types of supplements. Training hard and eating good is much more effective in the long run!

Now, here is a response I wrote for one of our members that had a very similar question. It will help to answer your question about less weight and more reps or heavier weight and less reps. It's long but it explains a lot of things. Thanks, Dan

Response:
Ah, the question of higher volume training verses lower volume training. I believe this topic will be debated literally as long as people lift weights for the aspect of developing mass, size, and strength. The debate will continue forever because there is no definitive response. What works for one person may not work for another. So, you have one guy talking about how huge he got when he did one of the latest high volume programs while the other guy swears by the high intensity and lower rep workout he just finished. Both of these guys had success with their programs but they will not continue to have success if they believe that their way is the only way. There is not “one way” of training. Even “my way” is not the best way if you constantly do one of my programs over and over again. The key is variation, periodization, and yearlong training organization. Let me continue.

It is true that some of the best "mass" programs are those that actually focus a large amount of time on strength and power exercises or phases of training. These are the workouts you have been reading about in all those magazines the last two years. This is nothing new. I have been training for over 20 years and have done, not just read about, just about every program out there. I have weighed over 300 pounds with 22 inch arms and I have been 240 pounds with 5% bodyfat. I am also a strength coach. My job is writing programs and training people 12 hours every day (pretty cool, huh!). My point with all of this ranting is that I’ve been around the iron block a few times and would not put something in my programs by accident. But what you and just about every motivated bodybuilder or weight lifter must eventually realize is that you can’t just look at a couple of weeks of a program and determine if it is good or not by how closely it resembles your idea of what is the “right way”.

From a technical standpoint, these lower rep mass workouts are characterized by both an exercise standpoint (squats, deadlifts, bench presses etc.) and from a volume and intensity standpoint (4-8 reps at 70-90% intensity ranges). Incidentally, this particular set, rep, and intensity example actually covers two classic phases of training appropriately named the Strength and Power Phase (4-6 reps at 80-90%) and the General Strength Phase (6-8 reps at 79-80%). Both the exercises and the sets and reps are important, however, it is the volume and intensity parameters, not the specific exercises that are truly the most important factors in these or any programs.

Overloading a muscle by progressively increasing the intensity or weight (which is the key element to these low rep mass programs) is one of the two most important factors in overall development! The other important "growth factor" comes from a volume standpoint, which I'll explain here in a minute. Specifically, the strength and power phase elicits a muscle growth response by stimulating an increase in the contractile proteins, actin and myosin. This gives your muscles a more dense, thick, and mature development. But, as important as training within these heavier phases is for muscle development, it's still only half the picture. Read on.

My Strength and Power programs will definitely overload your muscles with the use of these and much heavier phases of training. The Bodybuilding programs will provide for this overload as well going as low as 6 reps at 80-85%. But, unlike the Strength and Power programs, the Bodybuilding programs will also push higher repetition sets or "flush" sets in combination with the classic strength and power sets. These flush sets have repetitions in the 10-20 range and will push as much blood as possible into the muscles. This explains our second "growth factor". The increased volume creates a growth response by forcing the muscle cell to adapt to this greater workload and subsequently store greater amounts of glycogen (and water). Many people call this process “cell volumizing”. This type of muscle hypertrophy or growth can actually provide for the visually largest mass increases.

Think about these last two paragraphs for a minute. Now, think about somebody that always trains with heavy weights similar to those explained in the strength and power phase. This would be the classic power lifter who is usually very strong but not necessarily overly large. But, their muscles are strong, thick and dense. As stated above, training with heavier weights creates this type of response. Now, think about a bodybuilder. Bodybuilders generally train with less weight and higher volumes. Again, as stated above this brings about a different type of hypertrophy or cell volumization. One that creates much larger increases in muscle size. However, and this will be the most important thing that I will reiterate in this dialogue, is that the best bodybuilders, and those with the most mass, are those that engage in classic higher rep hypertrophy phases as well as lower rep strength and power phases. I have accounted for the use of both of these phases in my Bodybuilding Programs.

Now, as I mentioned in the beginning of this response, it is best not to stay on one program and do it over and over again. Let me give you an example of how to cycle your program for the best results. This is actually a yearlong training organization. It is the key to long term (and overall) success.

Your training year needs to be broken down into (4) three-month cycles. Three months or 12 weeks is a great segment of time to really maximize a physical goal like strength or size. Here is an example of a great yearlong training schedule:

1st Macrocycle (1st 6 weeks) – 4 Day Strength and Power EXPRESS program
(2nd 6 weeks) – 4 Day Bodybuilding Mass EXPRESS program.

2nd Macrocycle (3 Months) – 4 Day Strength and Power Advanced program

3rd Macrocycle (1st 6 weeks) – 5 Day Bodybuilding Mass EXPRESS program.
(2nd 6 weeks) – 3 Day Strength and Power EXPRESS Advanced

4th Macrocycle (3 months) – 6 Day Bodybuilding Mass Program

This yearly schedule takes into account specific preparation phases, strength and power cycles, bodybuilding hypertrophy cycles, resting phases, etc.

Now, organizing your training into a whole year may be hard to do for the less motivated among us. But, if you think about it, every top bodybuilder or strength athlete cycles their training into yearly phases that are broken down into specific macrocycles. Most people who are not strength coaches or trainers will still be familiar with these macrocycles by the names "Off-Season", "Pre-Season", and "In-Season".

I believe this cycling and yearlong training organization is truly the best way to maximize your potential and ability to gain mass. I hope I have given you an understanding of why one way of training is never the best way and the value of organizing good programs together for truly creating the greatest results.