Illustration of a skinny guy eating a big bowl of chili, one of the best bulking foods.

The Best High-Calorie Bulking Foods for Skinny Guys

If you’re trying to bulk up, what foods should you eat? The obvious answer is to eat high-calorie foods, making it easier to get into a calorie surplus. That’s true. But there’s a catch, especially if you’re trying to build muscle quickly, leanly, and healthfully.

We’ve been helping skinny guys bulk up for over a decade now. We’ve each gained over 60 pounds. Marco has studied under the top experts and worked with professional and Olympic athletes. Plus, there’s a rich bulking tradition we can draw wisdom from.

If you’re smart with your food choices, bulking becomes much easier. You’ll find it more comfortable to eat in a calorie surplus, build muscle faster, store less fat, have fuller muscles, better workout performance, and bigger muscle pumps.

A skinny guy bulking up and becoming muscular, illustrated by Shane Duquette.

What Makes a Food Good for Bulking?

You can bulk up with a wide variety of foods. You don’t need to eat a specific diet, you just need to eat enough good food. Even so, some foods make it much easier to bulk than others. They share a few common characteristics:

  • They have a high energy density. Foods with a higher energy have more calories per unit of volume. They take up less room in your mouth, allowing you to devour calories faster. They also occupy less room in your stomach, allowing you to eat more food before you run out of room. For skinny-stomached guys like me, that’s a huge boon.
  • They’re good for building muscle. Foods higher in protein, starchy carbs (or unprocessed sugars), and healthy fats are fantastic for building bigger muscles. Protein is the building block of muscle tissue, starchy carbs are the fuel our muscles use, and healthy fats keep our hormones running smoothly, telling our bodies what to do with these nutrients. Then there are fibrous and fermented foods, which improve our digestion. And foods that improve our blood flow, enhancing our muscle pumps and growth.
  • They’re good for our health. A good bulking diet is built out of nutritious foods. Think of whole or minimally processed foods, including lean meat, seafood, fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds, nuts, dairy, herbs, spices, and much more.

Not every good bulking food satisfies all three criteria. For example, carrots and spinach aren’t rich in calories or easy to digest, but they’re packed full of micronutrients, including nitrates, giving us bigger muscle pumps and increasing our rate of muscle growth (study). You could make a similar argument for garlic, which improves blood flow.

On the other side of the spectrum, consider white rice. White rice is stripped of its fibre, making it less nutritious than other whole grains, such as brown rice, oats, quinoa, and corn. However, it still retains some micronutrients and has a few key bulking advantages: it’s high in starchy carbs, easy to prepare, easy to eat, and quick to digest. As a result, it makes for a great side, especially if you’re having it along with some salmon and vegetables or perhaps under a bed of stir fry, picadillo, or vindaloo.

The Categories of Bulking Foods

A good bulking diet is wide, varied, and made up of balanced meals. A balanced meal combines different categories of foods, mixing protein, carbs, fat, fibre, and micronutrients into a delicious dish. Even better if that dish is easy to down and easier to digest.

  • Lean meat is high in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals. Leaner cuts are lower in saturated fat. Think of extra-lean ground meat, white fish, shrimp, and chicken breast.
  • Fatty fish is high in protein and rich in omega-3s (such as EPA and DHA). These omega-3s reduce inflammation and support our overall health. Think of salmon.
  • Eggs are high in protein and rich in healthy fats and micronutrients.
  • Fermented dairy is rich in protein, calcium, and probiotics. Probiotics are great for our digestion, which is key when bulking. Think of cheese, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, and kefir.
  • Other fermented foods are rich in probiotics, too. Think of sauerkraut, miso, natto, tempeh, kombucha, and kimchi.
  • Whole grains and legumes are nutritious starchy carbs. They’ll pump your muscles full of glycogen, improving your workout performance and supporting muscle growth. They’re also rich in soluble fibre, which regulates blood sugar, blood lipids, and digestion. Think of corn, quinoa, oats, beans, lentils, soybeans, peanuts, and brown rice.
  • Fruits and berries are rich in vitamins, minerals, fibre, phytonutrients, and antioxidants. They’re also a nutritious source of unprocessed sugar, giving us the energy to lift and grow. Think of bananas, mangoes, papayas, apples, pears, oranges, limes, and mixed berries.
  • Fibrous vegetables are pitifully low in calories but make up for it by being rich in fibre, along with wide range of micronutrients. Many are rich in nitrates, improving blood flow, giving you bigger muscle pumps, and increasing muscle growth. Think of carrots, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, beets, and peas.
  • Nuts and seeds are rich in healthy fats, protein, and fibre and packed full of micronutrients. Think of walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, and hemp seeds.
  • Herbs, spices, and garnish add flavour and nutrients to your meals. Many of them have interesting health benefits. Think of garlic, onions, diced tomatoes, pepper, turmeric, oregano, cilantro, mint, hot peppers, and soy sauce.
  • Sauces and dips are another way to add joy to your meals. Many of them are quite nutritious. Think of honey, mustard, nut butter, soy sauce, hot sauce, tahini, homemade mayonnaise, olive oil, vinegar, hummus, salsa, Tzatziki, and guacamole.
  • Oils have the highest energy density of any food. Extra virgin olive oil is great for drizzling on salads and veggies. Avocado oil is great for cooking with.
  • Coffee and tea are natural sources of caffeine and rich sources of phytonutrients. They’re quite healthy, provided you keep them away from bedtime.

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The Best Bulking Foods

If you have a large stomach and a fearsome appetite, pile your plate high with all kinds of nutritious foods. You don’t need to discriminate. However, skinny guys often have faster metabolisms and smaller stomachs, making it incredibly hard to eat enough food to gain weight. So, to help your bulk go more smoothly, let’s go over some of most popular and powerful bulking foods, many of which make it easier to eat more calories.

A man eating a big bulking diet to gain weight quickly. Illustrated by Shane Duquette.

Bulking Smoothies

Smoothies are arguably the best bulking food of all time, especially if your diet isn’t very good, and especailly you’re struggling to eat enough calories. Nutritionally, smoothies are perfect, blending together balanced mix of healthy foods. Blending those foods makes them calorically denser and easier to digest. Smoothies are like a mass gainer but more nutritious.

Here’s a simple recipe for a bulking smoothie:

  • A handful of mixed nuts (28g)
  • A cup of frozen mixed berries (140g)
  • A handful of spinach (30g)
  • A banana (118g)
  • A cup of non-fat Greek yogurt (245g)
  • A cup of water or milk (244g)

With water: 485 calories, 32g of protein.
With milk: 565 calories, 40g of protein.

For more, we have a full article on bulking smoothies.

Nuts, Peanuts & Nut Butter

Nuts have an incredibly high energy density, making them a great source of calories while bulking. They’re one of the healthiest sources of fats, they often contain some fibre, and the minerals found in nuts (such as magnesium) are great for testosterone production and muscle growth. As a bonus, you’ll usually get a few grams of protein.

  • Almonds
  • Walnuts
  • Cashews
  • Pistachios
  • Pecans
  • Macadamia nuts
  • Brazil nuts
  • Hazelnuts
  • Peanuts

Mixed nuts make for a great default. That way you get a wider variety of nutrients. An interesting tidbit about Brazil nuts is that they’re incredibly high in selenium. Some guys use them as a selenium vitamin, having two every day with breakfast. I’m one of those guys.

An easy snack is to slice up an apple and dip it into peanut or almond butter. You get nutritious carbs and fibre from the apple, and you get healthy fats and protein from the nut butter. It’s a surprisingly balanced bulking meal.

Dried fruits

Dried fruits are a fraction the size of regular fruits, yet they have just as many vitamins, minerals and fibre. In fact, if you compare dried fruit against fresh fruit by weight, dried fruit contains about 3.5 times the amount of fibre, vitamins and minerals as fresh fruit.

Trail Mix

Trail mix is my favourite bulking food. It combines the many benefits of mixed nuts with the benefits of dried fruits, creating an absolute muscle-building masterpiece. Now, I know this will sound crazy, but I find trail mix much more enjoyable to “drink” than to eat. I put my trail mix in a cup and sip on it. (I still chew it, of course.)

Muesli cereal (trail mix + milk)

Muesli, like trail mix, is a blend of several bulking foods. It’s usually made by mixing together oats, grains, nuts, dried fruits. You can add some milk or a milk alternative and eat it like cereal.

Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate is a great source of healthy fats, minerals, and antioxidants, making it a wonderfully healthy bulking food. It’s also calorically dense and easy to digest, which will help us gain weight. Chocolate is also rich in a compound called epicatechin, which helps to dilate blood vessels and improve blood flow, producing a similar effect to pre-workout supplements like L-citrulline. (Prunes do this as well.)

Bulking tip: add dark chocolate chips to your trail mix, muesli, or greek yogurt with berries.

Bananas

Bananas are one of the most calorically dense fruits, and they’re also a great source of prebiotics, which is important for keeping your digestive system running smoothly. Here’s how to add them to your bulking diet:

  • Have them as a side with breakfast.
  • Blend them into your smoothies.
  • Have them as a pre-workout snack.
  • Add banana slices to your muesli or Greek yogurt.

Milk

Milk is one of the most famous bulking foods of all time. It’s a convenient source of calories and protein and rich in calcium, zinc, selenium, magnesium and many other nutrients. Milk is also mysteriously anabolic, with some studies showing it accelerates muscle growth (study, study). It’s unclear why.

Illustration of a gallon of milk (GOMAD)

Milk is also easy on the appetite and passes through our digestive systems fairly quickly, freeing up more room for more food. Skim milk has about 375 calories and 36 grams of protein per litre. Whole milk has 630 calories and 32 grams of protein per litre. That means if you added a litre of milk into your diet, you could expect to gain 0.5–1 pound per week.

Greek yogurt (and Cottage Cheese)

Greek yogurt is high in protein and a great source of probiotics. It works well in smoothies, can be added to cereal, and makes for a great snack. You can get the full-fat or low-fat varieties. I get the low-fat varieties because I already get plenty of fat from fish, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and cheese.

Cheese

Cheese is high in calories, contains a decent amount of protein, and makes food far more flavourful. Some cheeses, such as parmesan, are also rich in probiotics, making them great for your digestive health. Parmesan can be added to almost any savoury meal to intensify flavour, boost calories, and strengthen your digestive system.

Kefir

Kefir can be made by fermenting a grain in milk. The fermentation process eats up some of the sugars in the milk, leaving probiotics in its place. This makes kefir higher in protein than milk, and better for your digestion than yogurt.

Olive Oil (And Other Oils)

A single tablespoon of olive oil contains 120 calories. It has a number of health benefits, too, largely stemming from its high antioxidant content (study). When I realized how nutritious and calorically dense it was, I started taking shots of olive oil before bed. These days, I much prefer drizzling olive oil on my veggies.

Illustration of how much space different foods take up in the stomach.

Rice

Rice is the cheapest bulking food. A cup of cooked rice contains around 200 calories. Brown rice is higher in protein and fibre, whereas white rice is cheaper and easier to digest. Both have their advantages. I eat both, but I usually buy brown.

Bulking tip: rice makes a great bed for curries, stir-fries, picadillo, and even chili, which are incredible bulking meals.

Illustration of a bowl of white rice.

Oats

Oats are similar to white rice. They’re another type of whole grain. However, oats are more filling and nutritious, making them less popular with skinny bulkers, more popular with beefy cutters. Still, if you have room for them in your stomach, they’re rich in a fibre called beta-glucan, which is fantastic for our heart health.

Illustration of a bowl of oatmeal.

Ground Meat

Meat is high in protein and nutrient-rich but also chewy and sinuous, making your meals slower and more difficult. That’s where ground meat comes in. It has all the same nutrients with none of the hassle. It also comes in the extra-lean variety, freeing up more room in your diet for healthier types of fat. Ground meat is one of the main ingredients in chili con carne, one of the most powerful bulking meals.

Salmon (and Other Fatty Fish)

Salmon is high in protein and rich in healthy fats, including EPA and DHA. Moreover, it’s quite easy to chew and digest, making it one of the healthiest and least filling protein sources. Many health experts recommend eating two servings of fatty fish per week. Salmon is great for that.

Leafy Green (and Carrots)

Leafy greens and carrots barely contain calories, yet they still rank as a top-tier bulking food. They’re great for our general health, our immune systems, and our digestive systems. So if we think about a longer-term approach to bulking, they can certainly help.

Perhaps more interestingly, foods high in nitrates—such as spinach, beets, and carrots—improve the “pump” we get from hypertrophy training, slightly increasing our rate of muscle growth (study). This effect is as powerful as what you’d get from pre-workout pump supplements, but it lasts all day and has numerous health benefits.

Garlic

Garlic is low in calories but profoundly healthy. It releases sulphur compounds when we chop, crush, or chew it. That’s why it’s notorious for causing bad breath. However, those same sulphur compounds are also incredibly good for us (study).

  • Garlic improves blood flow, which is great for our heart health. It also adds to the pump benefits from leafy greens (study, study).
  • Garlic is a potent prebiotic, fostering better digestive health.
  • One study found that daily consumption of garlic reduced the incidence of getting a cold by 63% compared to the placebo group (study).
  • Another study found that garlic helps us recover from colds almost twice as fast (study).

get sample recipes—smoothie, snack, & homemade protein bar

3 free bulking recipes

The Final Word

The best bulking diet is wide and varied, with many different nutritious foods. Even better if those foods are quick to prepare, easy on the appetite, and and smooth to digest. We’ve tried to give you some ideas but feel free to expand upon them.

Photo showing the Bony to Beastly Bulking Program for Skinny and Skinny-Fat Guys

Alright, that’s it for now. If you want more muscle-building information, we have a free bulking newsletter for skinny guysIf you want our foundational bulking program, including a 5-month full-body workout routine, diet guide, recipe book, and online coaching, check out our Bony to Beastly Bulking Program. Or, if you want a customizable intermediate bulking program, check out our Outlift Program.

Shane Duquette is the founder of Outlift, Bony to Beastly, and Bony to Bombshell, each with millions of readers. He's a Certified Conditioning Coach (CCC), has gained seventy pounds, and has over a decade of experience helping more than ten thousand naturally thin people build muscle. He also has a degree in fine arts, but those are inversely correlated with muscle growth.

Marco Walker-Ng is the founder and strength coach of Outlift, Bony to Beastly, and Bony to Bombshell. He's a certified trainer (PTS) and nutrition coach (PN) with a Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences (BHSc) from the University of Ottawa. He has over 15 years of experience helping people gain muscle and strength, with clients including college, professional, and Olympic athletes.

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22 Comments

  1. Kyle Martinez on September 29, 2019 at 9:42 am

    Fantastic info! I’ve definitely failed bulks by gaining too much fat from eating a lot of things I don’t see on this list (juice, pasta, chips, etc). Would it be worth seeing the negative impact of the foods not listed and thus should be AVOIDED during a bulk?

    • Shane Duquette on September 29, 2019 at 10:55 am

      Thanks, Kyle 🙂

      Pasta is quite similar to white rice in that it’s a starch that gets broken down into glucose, which is then used for energy. However, if we drive ourselves into a large calorie surplus, there’s usually some fat in our diets as well, which is easily stored as body fat. So more calories of any kind—including starchy carbs—can certainly cause us to gain fat. That’s more from eating an overly large calorie surplus, though, not from to eating too many starchy carbs. In fact, starchy carbs tend to help us build muscle MORE leanly.

      Fruit juice is trickier, as it contains fructose along with glucose. Fructose can indeed make it more likely for us to store body fat. However, we’d need to consume quite a lot of fructose for that to become a problem. If we’re having a pint of fruit juice along with our meals, I think we’d be just fine. It’s just not something we’d want to consume in extreme quantities.

      Chips are fairly high in fat, and consuming a high-fat and high-calorie diet will absolutely make it harder to build muscle leanly. Chips are heavily processed and deep-fried, too. I definitely wouldn’t put them on a list of good bulking foods. I eat them sometimes, but they’re more of a treat than a staple.

      I’d guess that the reason you gained a lot of fat while bulking was more fundamental than this. Perhaps an overly large or inconsistent calorie surplus, too little protein, too little sleep, or a workout routine that wasn’t great for stimulating muscle growth. It’s always hard to say without knowing more details.

      Almost everyone who successfully bulks up goes through a bad bulk where they gain too much fat. It’s a good learning experience and almost a rite of passage for us skinny guys. I mean, I’ve certainly done it.

  2. Jason Jacques on September 29, 2019 at 5:12 pm

    Great article, Shane!

    I figured I’d see Olive Oil on here. I always mention it to guys as a good way to increase caloric intake. And it’s considered to be one of the healthiest fats available (but you have to be careful what you’re getting – ideally single-origin otherwise it can be cut and processed with other oils).

    I kind of had a laugh thinking of the shot of olive oil before bed. But that is a good way to test your Olive Oil. Oleocanthal is what you want to have your EVOO rich in, which also causes that burning sensation in the back of the throat. If your Olive Oil tastes greasy and doesn’t have that sensation, then it’s probably not a good quality oil. If it tastes more grassy and has you coughing – you have yourself a good EVOO!

    Definitely love making some healthy salads and using them as a shuttle for calories from EVOO.

    Anyways, great tips on all the other foods as well. You’ve outlined some awesome foods to build a solid grocery list for bulking my friend!

    • Shane Duquette on September 30, 2019 at 9:22 am

      An olive oil shop opened up in our neighbourhood a little while back, and my wife and I sampled all the different varieties. You’re totally right. The olive oils that were the highest in oleocanthal were the most intense.

      I’ll admit that I didn’t love the flavour of it. I’m just not used to it yet. But we bought it anyway. We figured we may as well try to acquire the taste.

  3. Francisco on September 30, 2019 at 11:39 am

    Good article Shane. But I’ve read about milk and some nuts (high in omega 6) that can lower testosterone.

    Something we should be aware of? Or just ignore it?

    • Shane Duquette on September 30, 2019 at 1:15 pm

      Ah, that’s interesting. I haven’t heard of that. Where’d you read about it?

      • Francisco on September 30, 2019 at 1:38 pm

        Here. Christopher Walker has a lot of videos focused on testosterone. I think his channel is pretty interesting. Maybe it can help you when writing new articles.

        • Shane Duquette on September 30, 2019 at 5:07 pm

          Excellent, thank you 🙂

          So, first of all, my specialty is bulking, not testosterone. However, the testosterone specialist Dr Robin Bhavsar, MD, wrote an article for us about optimizing our testosterone production while bulking. What’s important about it is that it’s almost entirely focused on the big picture: eat a good bulking diet, lift heavy weights, sleep well.

          Regarding this video about how nuts affect testosterone, Christopher Walker’s main argument seems to be that polyunsaturated fats are bad for testosterone production. That statement is missing some context. He doesn’t give any guidelines as for what’s considered too little, ideal, or too much. And besides, I can’t really comment on the testosterone aspect. However, when it comes to bulking, diets very high in polyunsaturated fats seem to cause leaner muscle growth than diets overly high in saturated fats (study). Christopher is saying that monounsaturated fats are the preferred source of fat, not saturated fat, but the studies he’s referencing say that monounsaturated and saturated fats have the same impact on testosterone. So my takeaway is that whatever effect these fats are having on testosterone likely isn’t enough to have a big effect on our rates of muscle and fat gain.

          Now, to be clear, I’m not saying that we should get a disproportionate number of calories from polyunsaturated fats. If I recall correctly, most health institutions recommend consuming a balanced intake of fats, with around 1/3rd coming from saturated fats, 1/3rd coming from monounsaturated fats, and 1/3rd coming from polyunsaturated fats. And then your total fat intake while bulking will probably be something like 20–30% of your overall calories.

          Finally, nuts have a variety of fats in them, and those fats are unprocessed. Most of these studies are looking at people consuming processed vegetable oils. I’m not sure we can really infer that this would apply to people eating nuts in the first place.

          Anyway, my opinion is that we don’t need to micromanage our fat intakes, but rather to focus on eating a varied diet made up mostly of unprocessed foods. Now, is it possible that consuming a thousand calories of walnuts every day isn’t ideal? Certainly. And although that might sound extreme, that kind of thing can definitely happen while bulking. When we’re consuming all these extra bulking calories, sometimes we wind up accidentally consuming absurd amounts of certain foods. That’s why we generally recommend mixed berries, mixed nuts, trail mix, and so on. That’s going to give you a better shot at eating a balanced diet even while adding tons of extra calories into your diet.

          As for milk, our article on milk actually does touch on the effects that milk has on our hormones (thanks to Brad Dieter, PhD, in that case).

          Does that help / make sense?

          • Francisco on September 30, 2019 at 7:42 pm

            Yeap, makes sense. Everything in excess is bad, but if diet is balanced should not make an impact on testoterone.

            However, if small changes can be done (like eating macadamia nuts instead of almonds or walnuts). I’ll do it. I’m 45 so always looking ways to keep T high.

            Going to read your article about milk. Thanks for your reply 🙂



  4. Victor on October 11, 2019 at 9:42 pm

    Great info Shane! One question: how much muscle vs. Fat would someone typically gain during bulking?

    • Shane Duquette on October 12, 2019 at 9:47 am

      Hey Victor, that depends on whether someone is trying to gain muscle quickly or leanly. It also depends on how new they are to lifting. And on a slew of other factors: the quality of their workout program and diet, their consistency, their sleep, their genetics, stress, and so on.

      Sometimes we see guys losing fat as they build muscle. Other times they gain fat in a similar proportion to their current body-fat percentage (e.g. a guy at 15% body fat gaining 15% fat as he bulks), which makes them appear leaner as they bulk. Most of the time people do gain a noticeable amount of fat while bulking, though, especially if they’re bulking aggressively. In that case, I think so long as at least half their gains are muscle, it’s a successful bulk. Some guys want to bulk more leanly than that, though, and that’s fine. It’s just a bit slower. Depends on what people want.

      We’ll be publishing an article on lean bulking versus aggressive “bear mode” bulking next week, I hope 🙂

  5. hbs on October 14, 2019 at 2:26 pm

    What is your take on (sugary) cereal like corn

    Thanks !

  6. […] filling meal. Maybe there’s a less filling meal that provides more calories and nutrients or less filling snacks that we can have between our bigger […]

  7. […] got a ton of other examples of great bulking foods […]

  8. Ray Powell on January 13, 2020 at 11:50 am

    This article is very helpful, I’m currently a 135lb 6’2” person, and your articles are helping me put together a diet. I’ve got some Great Value (walmart) brand olive oil and for some reason it says it has zero calories per serving? I was wondering if you knew why it would say that if olive oil in fact is calorie rich?

    • Shane Duquette on February 8, 2020 at 7:43 am

      Yeah, that must just be a mistake on the label. Does it say 0 grams of fat, too? Or maybe there’s no oil in your olive oil. If that’s the case, I wonder what that mysterious liquid is.

  9. MI on February 21, 2020 at 11:58 pm

    Shane, great article. However another quick comment from me. Did you see this study yet on protein, mTOR pathway, macrophages, unstable plaques, and atherosclerosis?

    Does this mean working out to gain muscle should rely on eating as little extra protein as possible to reduce the risks? I’m very skeptical of that, or the idea that a man can get away with like 60-70 grams of protein per day, and that it’s somehow sufficient for muscle gain (or conservation during cutting). The study was in mice, and not humans as well, and showed certain protein sources high in certain amino acids may actually be the issue, rather than protein itself. I feel like I’m pulling my hair out thinking about all this.

    • Shane Duquette on March 2, 2020 at 4:35 pm

      Hey MI, it sounds like this research is still pretty early. I’m not an expert in this, so I mean, for all I know it’s possible.

      Anecdotally, I have a genetic predisposition for heart disease called familial hypercholesterolemia, and last time I saw my heart specialist he didn’t mention any issue with me eating a fair amount of protein. Between lifting weights, eating a better diet, trying to get better sleep, and everything else that bulking involved, all markers of my heart health have improved dramatically over the past ten years. It doesn’t seem like my aiming to eat around a gram of protein per pound bodyweight per day these past ten years stopped my heart health from improving. But like I said, I can’t say for sure.

      When trying to gain muscle, eating at least 0.8 grams of protein per pound bodyweight per day seems to produce the fastest and leanest muscle gains. When cutting, aiming for a full gram per pound seems best. But on the other hand, we can build muscle without everything being optimal. And even if we lose muscle while cutting, it’s very easy to regain any lost muscle.

      What I do with these scary new studies is just wait. They’ll do more research. We’ll get a clearer idea with time.

      I’m sorry I can’t give a more definitive answer.

  10. […] that minor inconvenience, though, milk can be fantastic for building muscle. In fact, there are a ton of great bulking […]

  11. Adhi on June 2, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    Hey Shane,
    I’m an Indian teen guy and have been trying hard to bulk Up as I’m really skinny (I ‘m 5’11 and I weigh only 103 pounds)…can Yoga be used as a substitute for exercises which r necessary to gain muscle?
    Also, I have been trying really hard but find it difficult to squeeze in so many calories as I have a really small appetite.. Any help?

    • Shane Duquette on June 3, 2020 at 11:13 am

      Hey Adhi, yoga is a perfectly fine way to do some relaxing exercise, but it doesn’t challenge the strength of our muscles enough to provoke robust muscular adaptations. To build muscle, I recommend some form of resistance training. Building muscle will be easiest if you can get some free weights—adjustable dumbbells, a barbell and weight plates, or a gym membership—but you can build muscle with bodyweight training, too.

      And if you’re having trouble eating enough calories, you’d probably like our article about how to eat more calories 🙂

      I hope that helps, and good luck!

  12. Pablos on July 20, 2021 at 5:45 am

    Hey Shane, and everybody else who is reading this.

    Have you ever come across anyone who would experience aches and pains after eating rice? I am talking pain in feet/heels, especially. That is what appears to happen to me. I figured this out after two or three years going from one doctor to another and coming up short with answers as to why I experience this debilitating pain. There were days I could not even stand on my feet.

    It is a bummer, really, as I would like to put on some mass (have been underweight for the longest time ever) and now, hitting 40, the time is running up on me 🙂

    Cheers!

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