Muscle-Building for Skinny Guys
We Help Hardgainers, Skinny & Skinny-Fat Guys Bulk Up
For the past 12 years, we've specialized in helping skinny guys build muscle, get strong, and gain weight. People say it's a small niche, but if this bulk goes according to plan, we'll soon be the biggest community on the internet.
I'm Shane Duquette, and I gained 55 pounds in a little over two years. I was lucky. I had the help of my business partner, Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS, PN, a naturally thin strength coach who'd already gained 60 pounds. We also helped our other business partner, Jared Polowick, gain 50 pounds.
We're the founders of Bony to Beastly (for skinny men), Bony to Bombshell (for skinny women), and Outlift. We've helped over 10,000 skinny people build muscle, with clients ranging from college students to senior citizens, MDs to PhDs, and office workers all way the way up to college, professional, and Olympic athletes.
The proof is in the smoothie, too. We consistently get the best bulking transformations on the internet. Check out these muscle-building transformations from guys doing the Bony to Beastly Program.
Bigger, Stronger, & Fitter
Bony guys are defined by their scaffolding. We're here to help you fill out that frame with muscle, reaping all the long-term health and fitness benefits as you bulk up.
- Maybe you're a "hardgainer," where no matter how much you eat, you can't gain weight. You aren't crazy. There's genetic variation in stomach size, appetite, and metabolism. Many of us are genetically predisposed to thinness. We need to find a diet that suits us.
- Maybe you're an "ectomorph," with thinner wrists and narrower shoulders, worried your frame can't support muscle growth. We had that same fear. It isn't true. Thin guys tend to be able to build muscle faster than other body types.
- Maybe you're skinny-fat, getting bigger and smaller without ever getting leaner or stronger. That's frustrating. You're one of the rare few who eats the right amount of food, yet it's being stored as fat instead of muscle. We need to reverse that, and we can.
We're the Costco of muscle. You can find anything you want, but everything is in bulk. We write about how to eat a healthy weight-gain diet, how to train for muscle size, and how to live a lifestyle that supports muscle, strength, and overall fitness.
If you want us to walk you through the entire process of bulking up, check out our Bony to Beastly Program. We'll teach you everything you need to know, including diet, training, and lifestyle. We'll answer all your questions, give you feedback along the way, and support you through every step of the process. Your results are fully guaranteed.
We've also written hundreds of free articles about how to build muscle, eat a good diet, and live a healthy lifestyle. Feel free to drop a comment. I answer all of them.
Thin Genetics
Thin guys often have different genetics, giving us different struggles and goals and influencing how we eat, lift, and live.
- Why is it so Hard to Gain Weight?
- Do Skinny People Have Faster Metabolisms?
- How to Eat More Calories
- How to Know If You're Skinny
- Is the Ectomorph Body Type Real?
- What Is Skinny Fatness?
- The Best Skinny Fat Workout, Diet, and Lifestyle
- Should Skinny Guys Use Mass Gainers?
The Art of Bulking
The only way to get bigger is to gain weight. The best way to gain weight is to prioritize muscle growth—to bulk. Nobody knows bulking better than we do.
- How to Bulk
- What's Dirty Bulking?
- What's Clean Bulking?
- What Are Newbie Gains?
- How to Build Muscle FAST
- How to Build Muscle LEANLY
- What's the Best Way to Bulk Up?
- How Long Should You Bulk For?
- How Many Calories Should You Eat?
- What Bulking Results Can You Expect?
- How Much Fat Will You Gain While Bulking?
- How Fast Should Skinny Guys Gain Weight?
- Why Aren't You Gaining Weight in a Calorie Surplus?
- The Best Muscle-Building Programs for Skinny Guys
How to Train Your Muscles
One of the best ways to improve your results is to improve your training. The more muscle growth you can stimulate, the more calories your muscles will gobble up, leaving fewer to store as body fat. We'll show you how to stimulate more growth.
Plus, you may want to develop a certain muscle. Perhaps you're tired of having a thin neck, lanky arms, or a small chest. The best way to develop a specific muscle is to train it. We'll show you how.
- The Best Workout Routine for Skinny Beginners
- The Full-Body Workout Guide
- The Best Workout Splits for Building Muscle
- How Many Reps to Do Per Set
- How Long to Rest Between Sets
- How Often to Lift Weights
- How Fast to Lift & Lower Weights
- How to Build Broader Shoulders
- How to Train Your Side Delts
- How to Build a Thicker Neck
- How to Build a Bigger Chest
- How to Build a Bigger Back
- How to Build Bigger Arms
- How to Build Bigger Forearms
- How to Build Bigger Abs
How to Eat a Good Diet
It isn't hard to learn about how to eat a nutritious diet. However, most of that advice is for overweight people struggling to lose weight. We have the opposite problem. We need an abundant diet that's rich in calories and nutrients, supporting our health and muscle growth.
- How to Eat a Good Bulking Diet
- The Best Bulking Meals & Recipes
- How to Improve Digestion While Bulking
- How Many Calories Does it Take to Gain Weight
- The Best Bulking Foods
- How to Make a Healthy, High-Calorie Bulking Smoothie
- How Much Protein Should You Eat at Breakfast?
- Is Intermittent Fasting Good For Building Muscle?
- Is Keto Good for Building Muscle?
How to Build Muscle at Home
Gyms are great, but you can build just as much muscle at home. I've bulked with adjustable dumbbells in my small apartment. Now I lift weights in my barbell home gym. In a pinch, you can even bulk with bodyweight workouts. You can use whatever you have, but be smart about it.
- How to Build a Dumbbell Home Gym
- How to Build a Barbell Home Gym
- How to Build Muscle with Bodyweight Workouts
- Calisthenics vs Weights for Building Muscle
- Are Resistance Bands Good for Building Muscle?
How to Improve Your Appearance
I know, I know. We're supposed to work out to develop our inner beauty and fortitude. But it doesn't hurt to look great while we do it. Most of the advice on the internet is either politically correct or distorted by the manosphere. That's why we've consulted with the top attractiveness researchers and conducted our own surveys.
How to Get Leaner, Fitter & Healthier
All of our articles consider health and fitness. We're not in the bodybuilding or powerlifting scene. We're part of the fitness industry. We're natural lifters who want to be strong, fit, and healthy. Still, there are two things naturally thin guys need to know:
- Should You Do Cardio While Bulking?
- Can Cardio Kill Muscle Gains?
- How to Maintain Your Gains After Bulking
- Is Bulking Healthy?
- How to Cut
Muscle-Building Supplements
Supplements are overrated but helpful. We don't sell supplements or use any affiliate links, keeping our supplement recommendations as unbiased as possible.
- The Best Muscle-Building Supplements for Skinny Guys
- How Well Does Creatine Actually Work?
- The Creatine Guide for Skinny Guys
- Can Collagen Help You Build Muscle?
- How Much Protein Powder Can You Have Per Day?
- The Best Time to Have a Protein Shake
Kick back, relax, and enjoy some moderately heavy reading. We'll teach you everything you need to know to go from lean to mean, from stick to thick, from Bony to Beastly.
Our Recent Articles
How We Went From Skinny to Muscular (+70 Pounds of Muscle)
Jared and I were skinny graphic designers. We didn’t know anyone who ate a good diet, lifted weights, or exercised. We didn’t know anyone fit or muscular. But I was clinically underweight and suffering from early signs of cardiovascular disease, and Jared had crippling tendonitis that prevented him from working…
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Is Intermittent Fasting Good for Bulking & Building Muscle?
Intermittent fasting is popular for weight loss. But what if you’re a skinny guy trying to bulk up? Can you use intermittent fasting to build muscle faster or more leanly? After all, intermittent fasting raises growth hormone production, which purportedly helps with muscle growth; it increases insulin sensitivity, which could…
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The Best Bulking Programs for Skinny Beginners in 2024 (Reviewed)
In this article, we’re reviewing the five best bulking programs for skinny beginners. To get this list, we started by surveying our readers, the vast majority of whom have successfully bulked up. They’re naturally skinny, they’ve tried different bulking programs, and they know firsthand what worked for them. From there,…
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The Best Side Delt Exercises Are Weird Lateral Raises
The overhead press is the best overall shoulder exercise. If you want a minimalist workout routine, that’s all you need. If you really want to build bigger side delts, though, it pays to include an exercise that trains them directly. Lateral raises are the best exercise for your side delts,…
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Should You Lift More Weight or Do More Reps to Build Muscle?
The top search result for this question is wrong, and it’s bugging me. There’s this old myth that heavier weights are better for building muscle while lighter weights are better for gaining endurance. That’s not quite right. Both low-rep and high-rep sets can be equally good for building muscle. Anywhere…
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How Much Fat Will You Gain While Bulking?
One of the most common bulking mistakes is to be so scared of gaining fat that you fail to gain weight. If you’re 130 pounds, the only way to get up to 180 pounds is to gain weight. There’s no other path there. You have to bulk. But bulking is…
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The Skinny Guy’s Guide to Building Bigger Abs
It’s common for skinny guys to be lean and still not have abs. That’s because there are two parts to having good muscle definition: body-fat percentage and muscle size. Our body fat percentage is fine, but our abs aren’t big enough. If you try to search for information about how…
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Do You Need to Bulk to Build Muscle?
Bulking is when you eat in a calorie surplus to give your body the nutrients it needs to grow. Not everyone needs to start by bulking. If you’re a skinny-fat or overweight beginner, you can get the energy you need from your extra body fat. The problem with bulking is…
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What is Bulking Season?
Bulking season is the time of year when you intentionally gain weight to support muscle growth. It’s part of a long tradition of setting aside certain parts of the year for performance and other parts of the year for improvement. There’s a surprising amount of wisdom in that tradition. It’s…
Read MoreIf none of these articles tickle your fancy, we've got dozens more.
Or if you're ready to start building muscle, check out our bulking program.