There are only 2 things you have to get right when trying to build muscle mass. They are training and nutrition. All other aspects of trying to build muscle are not nearly as important.

But which one is more important for building muscle; is it training or nutrition? Well, if all your bases are covered in regards to proper nutrition and getting your needed calories, then training becomes the most important catalyst for muscle growth.

Heavy weight training is the only way to force your body into building muscle. Your body will not waste any of its energy on building or maintaining muscle tissue that isn't needed.

That's why if you stop lifting for a while, you lose the muscle mass you once had. Your body has no reason to keep this extra muscle mass, since it takes energy (calories) to maintain it. The human body is very good at conserving energy it doesn't need to use.

That's why you have to keep lifting progressively heavier weight over time; to keep forcing your body to build muscle.

Aerobic exercise won't build muscle, only heavy, intense training will. You must stress the muscle to the point of failure for the body to cause an adaptive response of building muscle.

Weight training needs to be brief and intense. Doing any more reps or sets than needed to stimulate muscle growth will result in overtraining.

Now, as far as nutrition goes, that alone will not make up for the lack of heavy training or the overtraining that you do in the gym.

Training and only training leads to muscle growth. You need to train hard and then get the proper rest. Only after training does nutrition play a vital role.

All that's needed for nutrition to build muscle is a well-balanced diet that includes high protein, moderate carbs, and low fats.

If you feel that you've been overtraining, the first thing you should do is take a week off from all lifting. You need to rest and recover from the overtraining you've been doing.

Once you feel back to your strong, energetic self, start to train with a high intensity program that lasts no longer than 45 minutes.

Do just 1 or 2 muscle groups per workout, using only 2 exercises and 2 heavy sets for each. Again, keep intensity high, since this is the biggest factor towards building muscle.

Support this muscle building process with proper nutrition. Eat 5 to 6 smaller meals each day, using quality protein and complex carbs as the majority of your calories.

If you follow these 2 steps of intense weight training and proper nutrition, you'll soon be building more muscle than you ever have in the past.

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