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 give us a little more time. If this bulk goes according to plan, we'll soon be the biggest niche 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 skinny strength coach who had 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 (for post-skinny people). We've spent the past 12 years helping over 10,000 skinny people build muscle, with clients ranging from college students to senior citizens, from MDs to PhDs, and from office workers to professional athletes.
The proof is in the protein shake, too. Check out these muscle-building transformations from guys doing the Bony to Beastly Program. We consistently get our clients the same results we did. Sometimes better.
Bigger, Stronger, Fitter & Healthier
If you've been surfing the world wide web, searching for how to build muscle as a naturally skinny dude, hoping to find community, muscle, and everlasting abs—welcome! That's what we're all about.
- If you're a "hardgainer," where no matter how much you eat, you can't gain weight, we get it. We're the same.
- If you're an "ectomorph," with thinner wrists and narrower shoulders, worried you won't ever become visibly strong. We had that same fear.
- If you're skinny-fat, getting bigger and smaller without ever getting leaner or stronger. We've been there.
- Or if you're a regular dude who wants to build muscle, we can help you bulk up. That's what we do best.
We're the Costco of muscle. You can find anything you want, but everything is in bulk. We write about how to eat more calories, how to eat a good weight gain diet, and how we should lift to gain muscle size.
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?
- How to Eat More Calories
- How to Know If You're Skinny
- Is the Ectomorph Body Type Real?
- The Guide for Skinny-Fat Guys
- 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.
- What is Bulking?
- What Are Newbie Gains?
- What Bulking Results Can You Expect?
- How Fast Should Skinny Guys Gain Weight?
- How to Build Muscle FAST
- How to Bulk LEANLY
- 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.
- A Skinny Beginner's Guide to Lifting Weights
- The Full-Body Workout Guide for Beginners
- How to Build Broader Shoulders
- 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
- How to Improve Digestion While Bulking
- The Best Bulking Foods
- Is Intermittent Fasting Good For Building Muscle?
- Is Keto Good for Building Muscle?
- The Best Muscle-Building Supplements for Skinny Guys
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 Muscle with Bodyweight Workouts
- How to Build a Dumbbell Home Gym
- How to Build a Barbell Home Gym
- 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 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:
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
What Is Dirty Bulking? Beginner Guide
There are countless weapons lifters wield against the skeletal armies of atrophy. One such weapon is the “dirty bulk.” It disregards standard nutritional recommendations, using whatever means necessary to get into a calorie surplus. Usually, that means eating plenty of junk food. We’ve dirty bulked in the past. We’ve had…
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Does Flexing Build Muscle? Yes, But It’s Not What You Think
I came across this fascinating story about Charles Atlas years ago when I was writing an article about training for muscle size. If you don’t know, we’re a muscle-building site for skinny guys, and Charles Atlas was the first person to mass-market a workout program specifically designed to help skinny…
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Does Collagen Help Build Muscle? A Quick Research Overview
Collagen is a popular “anti-aging” supplement for maintaining skin elasticity, keeping our joints strong, and helping our connective tissues recover. So far, the research has shown that collagen does indeed offer all of those benefits, in a small way—probably (study, study). Lifters often run into nagging aches and pains in…
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Does Cardio Kill Muscle Gains?
Cardio can kill muscle gains. We’ve known this for many decades. It’s common knowledge among lifters and has been proven in peer-reviewed studies. Most recently, a study found that cardio cut muscle growth in half. We’ll go over the nuance of that study in a moment. However, if you’re clever,…
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How Many Calories Do You Need to Gain Weight? (With Calculator)
You’ll often hear that the number of calories you need to gain weight depends on your age, sex, height, weight, activity level, and metabolic health. That works well if you’re overweight like everyone else. It works less well if you’re starting off thin and trying to become muscular, neither of…
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Maintenance Training Volume: How Many Sets to Maintain Muscle?
The other day, I wrote an article about Reverse Bulking, my favourite method for maintaining gains after bulking. The idea is to keep lifting weights, keep eating a good diet, and keep living a healthy lifestyle, but to start listening to your appetite again. Most naturally thin guys tend to…
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Reverse Bulking: How to Maintain Your Gains After Bulking
Reverse bulking is for people who are sick of eating so much food but want to maintain the gains they made while bulking. I haven’t seen this discussed anywhere else, which is strange, given how well it works. I’ve been using this method on myself and clients for over a…
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What is Bulking?
Bulking is often derided as a foolish way of building muscle. That’s true on average. Most people are already overweight. The last thing they need is more weight. On the other hand, if you’re underweight, weak, or skinny, bulking is the best way to bulk up. Even if you aren’t…
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How to Build an Attractive Physique
Most men want to have an attractive physique. Few know exactly what that means. When they guess the degree of muscularity women prefer, they’re off by thirty pounds (study). Many have a deeper misunderstanding, failing to connect their appearance to their fitness and strength. Some shun attractiveness, mistakenly thinking it’s superficial.…
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.
