Muscle-Building for Skinny Guys
by Skinny Guys
We Help Hardgainers, Skinny & Skinny-Fat Guys Bulk Up
For the past ten years, we've specialized in helping so-called hardgainers, ectomorphs, skinny-fat, and regular skinny guys build muscle, get strong, and gain weight. People say it's a small niche. And they're right, it is. But give us a little more time. If this bulk goes according to plan, we'll soon be the biggest, most muscular 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 63 pounds. We also helped our other business partner, Jared Polowick, gain 50 pounds. Not all of the weight we gained was muscle, but the vast majority of it was, and all of us finished looking leaner than when we started.
And then we founded Bony to Beastly (for skinny men), Bony to Bombshell (for skinny women), and Outlift (for post-skinny lifters), where we've spent the past ten years helping over 10,000 skinny people build muscle, with clients ranging from MDs to RDs to PhDs, from college students to senior citizens, and from office workers to our Canadian Olympic rugby team.
The proof is in the protein shake, too. Check out these absolutely gnarly muscle-building transformations from guys doing the Bony to Beastly Program.
How to Build Muscle, The Skinny Way
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 so-called hardgainer, where no matter how much you eat, you find it nigh impossible to gain weight, we hear ya. We've got an article on why it's so hard for us to gain weight.
- If you've got an "ectomorph" body type, with thinner wrists and narrower shoulders, and you worry that you won't ever be able to become visibly strong, we had that same fear. Fortunately, we actually tend to build muscle pretty well, especially while making our newbie gains.
- If you're skinny-fat, getting bigger and smaller without ever getting leaner or stronger, we've been there, and we can help you escape the skinny-fat trap.
- Or if you're just a regular dude who wishes he wasn't quite so thin, we can help you bulk up. That's what we do best, and we do it better than anyone else.
People call us the Costco of muscle. You can find anything you want, but everything is in bulk. We write about things like how to eat more calories, how to eat a good bulking diet, how to lift for maximal muscle growth, and how to make homemade weight gainers. You know, topics that skinny guys are interested in.
On being a skinny dude:
- What's an Ectomorph? Is That Even a Real Term?
- How Much of an Ectomorph Are You?
- How Fast Should Skinny Guys Gain Weight?
On training for muscle size, strength, and aesthetics:
- A Skinny Beginner's Guide to Lifting Weights
- How to Build an Attractive, Aesthetic Physique
- How to Build Broader Shoulders
- How to Build A Thicker Neck
- How to Build A Bigger Chest
- How to Build Bigger Arms
- How to Build Bigger Forearms
- The Skinny Guy's Guide to Getting Abs
On eating for lean muscle growth:
- Is Intermittent Fasting Good For Gaining Muscle?
- Is Keto Good for Building Muscle?
- How Much Do Our Legs Impact Our Appearance?
On training at home:
- 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?
On fitness and health:
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 Bulking Articles
Survey Results: What Degree of Leanness & Muscularity Do Women Find Most Attractive?
We surveyed 423 women, asking them to rate varying degrees of muscularity and leanness in men, as well as asking them about their favourite muscle groups and ideal proportions. In this article, we’ll go over the results: What’s the most attractive amount of muscle for a man to build?Do women…
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Survey Results: What Does the Most Attractive Gay Male Body Look Like?
We surveyed 102 men attracted to men, asking them to rate varying degrees of muscularity and leanness. We also asked them which muscle proportions they found most attractive. Topics include: What’s the most attractive degree of muscle? What’s the most attractive body-fat percentage? Do gay men prefer more muscular upper…
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Is Turkesterone a Good Supplement for Building Muscle?
Is turkesterone a good supplement for building muscle? It’s been promoted everywhere lately—Joe Rogan, More Plates More Dates, Greg Doucette, and Vitruvian Physique have all talked about its benefits. The idea is that it can boost testosterone production, allowing us to build muscle faster and more leanly. But is there…
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Are Pre-Workout Supplements Good for Building Muscle?
We’ve seen some heated discussions about ingredients and dosages founds in pre-workout supplements. Does this particular brand have at least six grams of citrulline malate? Is it the correct ratio of citrulline to malate? Is there theanine alongside the caffeine to blunt the jitters? Are they using proprietary blends to…
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Are You a Non-Responder to Weight Training?
There’s no doubt that genetics play a role in building muscle. In fact, especially when looking at outliers, genetics can have an enormous impact. If two people do the same workout routine and eat the same bulking diet, one of those people might gain twice as much muscle. What’s more…
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Is Bulking the Best Way to Build Muscle?
Depending on who you ask, “bulking” has different connotations attached to it. For some, bulking is the way to gain muscle size and strength. For others, bulking is a foolish way to build muscle that results in needless fat gain. Which is it? To figure out if bulking is the…
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Should You Build A Dumbbell or Barbell Home Gym?
Let’s say you want to build muscle at home. You’ve got a few different options. You could use your body weight, but bodyweight workouts are painful and difficult. So maybe you decide to get some resistance bands, but they aren’t very good for building muscle. Exercise machines are good for…
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The Best Training Splits for Building Muscle
In this article, we’ll cover how often to train your muscles, how to spread those training sessions out, and which training splits are best for building muscle. There’s no one right answer. There are plenty of good training splits. We’ll go over the pros and cons of each so you…
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How Much Fat Should You Gain While Bulking?
One of the best ways to ruin a bulk is to be so scared of gaining fat that you avoid gaining 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…
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.
