Hey there! I’m Aaron, a full time Hypertrophy and Lifestyle Coach! I just met @Mark X and he urges me to share my wealth of knowledge! So let’s start with the basics! Building muscle can be complicated but the goal is to make it as streamlined and easy as possible! There are many factors that come in play when we work to build muscle such as what kind of programming we do, the intensity of our work and most importantly our rest! So, let’s break down what actually goes into our training and what why we are doing it this way! Why is muscle important? As exercise became more popularized throughout the years, the research and focus within fitness has only increased, bringing to light the NEED for muscle. For the average person, muscle is used to increase metabolism, bone density/health, and increased life span. Not to mention the activity of intense resistance training has shown increases within mobility, improvement of quality of daily life (carrying groceries, quality time with one's kids and daily movement), and stress management/mood control! Intensity When it comes to our intensity within our training, we must make sure we are pushing our best within the prescribed rep ranges! When we are working through an exercise, we want to make sure we are going to a degree of fatigue that makes our reps slow down involuntarily amongst our presses, pulls, extensions and curls! We also want to push close to muscular failure, or about 1-2 reps shy of no longer being able to do that certain exercise for that set! (ex. of ugly face for my rep) This is the most uncomfortable portion but an incredibly important part of our muscle building formula! (Now you do not have to look like me, but it absolutely is necessary to get a little ugly with it) Progressive Overload One of the best factors when it comes to making sure we are making PROGRESS is advancing our challenges in some way or form. Now I must mention this is to come once form is GOOD, not perfect but good; Once form is complete and you feel comfortable, then you can stack on the difficulty!