How Long Does it Take to Gain 20 Pounds of Muscle As a Skinny Guy?
Obe is a student in studying commercial aviation. He’s married, naturally skinny, and he spends his free time playing soccer and watching movies. A little over 5 weeks ago, he started doing our Bony to Beastly Program. He isn’t doing anything crazy, he’s just following a conventional bulking routine:
- He’s following a weight training routine, doing 3 full-body workouts per week, and training for muscle size (hypertrophy training). It takes him about 3 hours per week, all told.
- He’s eating enough protein to maximize his rate of muscle growth. Around a gram of protein per pound bodyweight per day. He used protein powder to make that easier.
- He’s eating enough calories to gain weight. Every night, he makes sure that he’s hit his calorie target. And he’s gaining weight quickly, so that’s a lot of extra calories. He doesn’t have to gain weight this quickly, but he’s taking advantage of his newbie gains, bulking very aggressively.
His routine isn’t anything wild. Just 3 workouts per week. And although we recommend creatine, he isn’t using it. He’s just taking a multivitamin and fish oil. Every week, he gained 4 pounds. It only took him 5 weeks to gain a full 20 pounds, and without any visible fat gain.
A lot of us so-called “ectomorphs,” hardgainers, and skinny-fat guys assume that we have bad muscle-building genetics, but that’s rarely the case. We can often gain weight quite quickly and leanly. Let’s talk about how to do that, and how long it will realistically take to gain 20 pounds.
Obe’s 20-Pound Bulking Transformation
A little over five weeks ago Obe joined the program:
Whats up everyone! My name is Obe and I’m a student. I’m 5’11 and currently weigh 135. I’m freaking stoked to be part of this program as I’ve always been skinny. The most I’ve ever weighed is 140. I hope to be at 150-160 and be healthy as well as faster and stronger.
Obe
Here’s his before photo:
And here are his “before” measurements:
- Weight: 134 pounds
- Biceps: 12 inches
- Shoulders: 41 inches
- Waist: 27.5 inches
- Thighs: 19.2 inches
Fast forward 5 weeks:
“Started week 5 today. At this point I have to buy all new pairs of pants, all my pairs tight and can no longer stretch in them, even ripped a pair last week! I know it sounds dumb but it’s a sick feeling! Below are my results, couldn’t be more proud. As you can see I did not go up in waist size this time. What I did was not go over the calories and match as closely as I could and ate a lot more greens this week. Specifically beets, avocados & spinach. I’m certain that had something to do with my waist staying the same.”
Obe
Here are his progress photos:
Here are his “after” measurements:
- Weight: 154 pounds (+20 pounds)
- Biceps: 13.8 inches (+1.8 inches)
- Shoulders: 46 inches (+5 inches)
- Waist: 32.5 inches (+5 inches: so much food in there!)
- Thighs: 22.4 inches (+3.2 inches)
How Did Obe Build Muscle That Fast?
After posting his before photo in the coaching community, he read through the eBook, watched the exercise tutorials, and did his first workout. He came home, started eating more calories and eating more protein. And that’s it. No crazy tricks, no strange gimmicks, nothing out of the ordinary.
To get exceptional results, he didn’t need to do anything weird or unconventional. Quite the opposite. He just did everything normally, properly.
That doesn’t mean it was easy, though. It can be hard. Doing the workouts can sometimes mean lifting weights even when you’re feeling sore, or tired, or unmotivated. Eating enough calories often means fighting against fullness, and that can really suck. And eating enough protein often means spending more money on food or protein powder.
The point isn’t that gaining 20 pounds is easy, the point is that it’s something you can do with totally conventional bulking methods.
How Long Does it Take the Average Skinny Guy to Gain 20 Pounds?
Now, here’s the catch. Not everyone builds muscle this quickly or leanly. In fact, if the average skinny guy tried to gain four pounds per week, he’d be gaining quite a lot of fat. Obe is a bit of an outlier.
We’ve helped a lot of guys gain weight quickly. Some guys, especially if they’re starting out fairly lean and skinny, can gain weight very fast without gaining a noticeable amount of fat. Here’s another popular example, GK:
I’ve done it myself, too. I’ve gained 20 pounds in two months, and then after that, I gained another 20 pounds in three months:
I also helped my roommate gain 27 pounds in four months:
Crazy, right? I remember reading about how to build muscle at the time, and everyone was saying that gaining weight this quickly was a horrible idea. They were recommending that we gain a pound per month, tops, or we’d just get fat. But we were gaining 5+ pounds per month and we weren’t getting fat.
Here’s an article about how we did it. But again, there’s no real secret. We bulked up conventionally. It’s just that because we were starting off so quickly, we were able to gain weight more quickly and leanly than the average person.
But not everyone can build muscle that quickly. It really depends. We need to see how it’s going, and then adjust accordingly. In our experience, though, after helping over 10,000 skinny people build muscle, is that it takes the average skinny guy around 20 weeks to gain 20 pounds.
Summary
Everyone is different, and everyone builds muscle at a different rate. The good news is that us skinny guys are further away from our genetic muscular potential, and so we tend to build muscle quite fast, especially at first. This early period of rapid growth is referred to as “newbie gains.”
If we leverage our newbie gains, in our experience, most of us can gain 20 pounds in 20 weeks without gaining a noticeable amount of fat. That’s what we aim for in our program. But if you want to play it safe, gain weight more slowly, and avoid the risk of gaining unwanted fat, then you can do that, too. You can control how quickly you gain weight by controlling how many calories you eat.
Shane Duquette is the co-founder and creative lead of Outlift, Bony to Beastly, and Bony to Bombshell, and has a degree in design from York University in Toronto, Canada. He's personally gained sixty pounds at 11% body fat and has nine years of experience helping over ten thousand skinny people bulk up.
Marco Walker-Ng is the co-founder and strength coach of Outlift, Bony to Beastly, and Bony to Bombshell, and is a certified trainer (PTS) with a Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences (BHSc) from the University of Ottawa. His specialty is helping people build muscle to improve their strength and general health, with clients including college, professional, and Olympic athletes.
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Awesome!! He’s cute 🙂 keep going Obe!
Crushing it!
This is inspiring stuff! I am a 23 year old skinny Irish ectomorph… after seeing the changes he has made I will definitely be trying this out! Thank you!
Glad to hear it Conor. Hope you decide to join us!
Hi guys super interested, just wondering if you offer a payment plan option! I am a student on a fixed income but this seems exactly what I have been looking for years!
For sure! Sent you an email with details 🙂
Hey Shane, I’d like to get some details on that payment plan as well if possible 🙂 (I’m a student as well).
Right on—I’ll shoot you an email 🙂
Hey! I didn’t know about the payment plan! I was wanting to try this program but have been short on money as well (you guessed it; student). If I could get that info, that’d be amazing! So far I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about it, so I’d love to give it a try.
Right on Andrew, I’ll shoot you an email.
Shane, I have to say I’m in this same category. Do you mind passing one of those emails along?
For sure! I’ll shoot you an email now 🙂
Could you please send me an email aswell regarding the payment plan?
Hey Noan,
We got your email, and we sent the details. We hope you decide to join us!
I was wondering if i could get details on the payment plan as well Shane, thanks!
For sure! Sent ya an email.
Hi! I’m really interested on that payment plan as well. It would be awesome if you could mail it to me. Thanks in advance.
For sure.
Hey Shane,
The payment plan option sounds great to me. Could you e-mail me the details? Thanks!
Done!
Very interested aswell! Would get on board if you could email me payment plan options aswell? Like most Im a student aswell
Right on — email sent 🙂
hey guys! this looks freakin amazing! Only problem is that i’m a chick! lol. I’m not trying to get all ripped and become the chick from terminator. Just dying to gain weight. i’m 5’7 and 95lbs. I used to blame it on teenage hormones but ….seeing as i’m 30 now, I figured my only hope was waiting for the metabolism to crap out. If i try this would it work as well to remove some training and just get plumper? (yes i said plumper) or would i need to go balls to the wall and pick bones or muscle? thanks!!!
You would come out looking pretty rad … in a womanly kind of way. Our program is only for men though, as we’ve got plenty of guys posting private before/after shots. We keep all that tush hush hush so they can wow you ladies when they roll out their buns to the beach.
We tested it out on a woman though, and after she did an absolutely unbelievably amazing job of it, we decided to beta test a strength training and weight gain program for naturally thin women:
http://www.bonytobombshell.com
Check it out 🙂
“And he gained 4 pounds of muscle a week 5 weeks in a row.”
As soon as you put that, this article lost ALL credibility. A physical impossibility.
I don’t know why you’d bother posting this trying to give false hope to people out there.
Never mind – I noticed you’re trying to sell people something. So you’ve decided to fully lie about it in order to get people’s money.
If anyone truly believes that someone can put on 20lbs (lean) in 5 weeks, you need to do some research. A quick Google search will prove this all wrong.
Hey Jonny, it’s not common, but definitely possible! I’ve gained 20 pounds in 5 weeks back when I was starting out (newbie gains) or recovering lost muscle (after recovering from having my wisdom teeth taken out). Jared gained 30 pounds in a little over 30 days (including the 8 from creatine). We’ve had a couple other members pull out similar numbers, too.
Why do you think it’s impossible?
He’s saying it’s impossible to gain 4 pounds of “muscle” in a week. Gaining 4 lbs in a week, possible, but a good deal of that is going to be fat and water.
This is great mate! Is this all in ebook or do you have hard copies? Can you send that payment plan my way as well. Thanks
Sent!
Great article. Very inspiring.
Shane, possible you can send me details for the payment plan?
Thank you.
Glad you like our stuff man. For sure! I’ll shoot you an email now 🙂
HAHAHA 100% fucking bullshit. Show me some proof it was 5 weeks, otherwise you can stick this article up your ass.
I gained 100 pounds of pure muscle and lost 100 pounds of fat at the same time in 7 days and won mr. Olympia afterwards.
Why aren’t you all heavy and muscular if it’s that easy? In your another article you wrote that every man wants to be big, it’s in our genes. It would be more reasonable to have at least one big man on your team haha. Sad.
Can i get the payment plan?
For sure. I’ll shoot you an email 🙂
Hi BtoB guys,
Would your program work for someone who was once skinny, but now not so much? I work out about 8 times a week, mostly doing P90x, so i have some muscles, but i find i dont gain enough. I’m also struggling to get rid of my midsection, which has been a problem since university. I’m 5’7″, 161 lbs, and 39 years old.
Just wondering what your program can do for me…
Thanks!
Hey Darren,
Solid strength training and dieting works for everyone, but our program really is geared at ectomorphs. Now, some ectomorphs hold onto fat more easily than others, and skinny fat guys do just great on our program. So we’re a great fit for skinny and skinny-fat guys.
At 5’7 and 161 it’s hard to say. Why don’t you email me a photo at us@bonytobeastly.com and we can see what’s up 🙂
it is a joke? there is no differences on the pics
Im sure you’re sick of this by now but could I get some info about the payment plan too? haha much rather get started in this then wait.
Hey Joey, really sorry I missed this! It came in right as we got a ton of comments on another article and it got pushed back to another page. I’ll shoot you an email right now 🙂
And psh – we’re not sick of it at all!
Kind of funny how the comments of this article wound up though 😉
For most people, it’s going to to be 20 lbs in the first year. 20 in 5 weeks? Not typical or likely.
Yeah, Obe got really tremendous results! We typically see 8-12 pounds gained in that timeframe.
Gaining 20+ pounds in a year as a beginner is very very achievable for pretty much everyone, given proper training and nutrition. In fact, I would be very surprised if a skinny guy couldn’t gain 20+ pounds within just a few months 🙂
Hi Shane, firstly great site, lots of good quality info and inspiring stories. Having been inspired I’m now looking to join in and was wondering if I could get the details for your payment plan? Can’t wait to get started and get beastly before my summer holidays!!
Keep up the good work,
cheers.
Tom
Glad to hear it man – I just got/responded to your email. Stoked to see what you can do with the program 🙂
Hey Shane. Greeting from Denmark!
Could you also forward the mail about the payment plan to me?
I can wait to get started on the program!
For sure! 🙂
Hi Shane,
I have done a lot of reading on your site and am very interested in giving the program a shot. Would you be able to send me information on the payment plan? I would really appreciate it!
For sure – I’ll shoot you an email 🙂
Hi Shane, For all the naysayers and haters, I think you owe it to them and other subscribers to clarify that many ecto’s are seriously underweight, so many of your subscribers and probably you, gained mass just to get to the weight that you ought to be, then you can use the normal calculations of weight gain going forward. I think it’s not beyond reason, with the right diet and exercise for a hard gainer to gain 20 pounds in a year FROM the weight that they ought to naturally be at. If they are also 20 pounds underweight, then a 40 pound gain isn’t out of the question. There are several web sites that discuss (in great detail) the amount of weight a person can gain, and what their potential could be – I think this would be a great addition to your website. I was slightly underweight when I bought the e-book. Since then, I’ve been eating like a horse and doing just dead lifts (with a hex bar), chins, dips, dumbell shoulder presses… twice a week. I’ve gained 15 pounds in just a couple of months! My bodyfat has increased, from around 10% to 13.5% too, but I can still see my abs.
That’s a really good point, David. You’re very correct – continuing to gain at a pace like this wouldn’t be sustainable. You’d soon need to start making more “normal” progress of maybe a pound per week, then half a pound, then a pound per month, etc. Some very advanced guys are thrilled to gain a couple lean pounds per year.
Then you’ve got situations like ours. I saw Jared gain 33 pounds in just a few weeks by combining 8 or so pounds of creatine gains, a bunch of new muscle, more contents in his intestines, and more glycogen storage. When you’re a beginner and you’re very skinny the gains you can make are pretty remarkable. In the few months after that he gained “just” another dozen pounds – a much much slower but still very rapid pace. He’s just begun bulking again and it’s taken him a good few months to put on a dozen or so more pounds.
We see the same thing in our program. It’s common for guys to gain 5-20 pounds in the first five weeks, with most guys gaining around 10. In the second five weeks it’s common to see guys gain 5-10 pounds. In the third period of five weeks more like 3-5 pounds. Etc. Over the course of the program this will add up to 20-30 pounds … but the biggest gains come the quickest.
I think it’s also important to keep in mind that there are exceptions to the calculations you see. I emailed Casey Butts, author of “Your Genetic Potential” (one of the most respected books about this stuff), a while back wondering how I’d managed to get more muscular arms (my weakest point) than his book said were physically possible for a guy with wrists as narrow as mine. He said that because I was SO ectomorphic … I fell outside of his calculations and that my potential was actually much higher.
We play by different rules sometimes, at least at first.
(And congrats on the gains! Good work, man.)
Hi Shane,
I was wondering if you could send me the information about the payment plan. I appreciate it!
Thanks,
James
Sure can 🙂 I’ll send it your way now.
I’m seventeen and I need a quick way to gain weight. I try eating everything and I am still 130 pounds at 6 foot. Do you think that this program would help me? I want to at least gain 20 pounds..
Absolutely! Helping skinny guys who struggle to gain weight finally gain weight is our specialty 🙂
Hi Shane!
I am super impressed with all the success on this site, I too am ectomorphic weighing in at 134lbs and and 6ft 0 at 26 years of age
I am slightly unique when it comes to this program as I will be attempting to do it with a tweaked version of your nutrition plan as I am a vegetarian(personal reasons) and have been my entire life .
I have lost hope as a result of my diet and being told it is impossible with the situation I am in when it comes to weight gaining. ie being a vegetarian and an ecto,
However I would love to see if there is a way I can make this work for me.
If possible let me know what I can do moving forward
Hey David,
As a vegetarian you actually wouldn’t need to modify the program at all, since we don’t really recommend strict one-size-fits-all meal plans in the first place. We explain the fundamentals so you can build an approach to nutrition that suits your schedule/preferences/values, then provide a ton of examples so that you aren’t left wondering how it all comes together, and then coach in person to fill in any gaps / answer any personal questions.
Anyone telling you it’s impossible to build muscle as a vegetarian is simply wrong. Frankly, it’s hardly even more challenging, what with all the plant and dairy protein sources out there and how accommodating grocery stores and restaurants are becoming. (Vegan is a little trickier, but still very very doable.) It’s even easier as a skinny guy, because we get to consume so many calories. The one thing with plant-based sources of protein is that they’re high in calories from carbs (legumes, grains, etc) and fats (seeds, nuts, edamame). For most people that sucks… but for the 3% of people trying to build muscle and gain weight—us skinny ectomorphs—those extra calories are a blessing!
We’ve got lots of vegetarian members and lots of vegetarian recipes too, and you’d fit right in 🙂
(We even covered the vegetarian/vegan question in our FAQ, since we get asked the question so often!)
Hey Shane that sounds awesome!
i would be down to give this a shot! 🙂 is there any chance you could send me more information about the payment plan for it? or are we looking at a full payment option as being the only option i have?
kind regards,
For sure. I just shot you an email about our payment plan 🙂
Hey, this is brilliantly mind-boggling, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers. I’m a 6 foot 3 17 year old weighing in at a startling 137 pounds and this program has definitely grasped my attention. I am on the fence about the payments and how steadfast you have to remain with nutrition and gym membership. If those payment plans are still accessible, I’d be more than grateful to get some more info on that. Thanks!
For sure 🙂 Shot you an email!
Hey Shane – super interested to join. Please tell me more about this payment plan ;).
Sent ya an email 🙂
Hey Shane I’m looking into the program super excited about it. Could you shoot me over the payment plan details?
For sure 🙂 Sent!
Hey there, I’m really excited about trying this program out. You guys seem to really know what you are talking about, and I can identify with how you were before you started this. Could you send me information about the payment plan please?
Hey Billy, glad to hear it. I’ll send you the info now 🙂
Hey guys, I’ve been checking in on the website a lot lately. All the articles and content is great. I’m really keen to sign up to the program and give it a go, but I’m in the same boat as far as money goes. If you could offer any kind of payment plan I would really appreciate it.
Hey Zac, I’ll shoot you an email now 🙂
Hey Shane, I’ve subscribed to get the first chapter a few days ago, is that supposed to take awhile? And could you send me that payment plan? Thanks
Hey Will,
Thanks for letting us know. It should be instant. Gmail will automatically put any email with an unsubscribe link into the ‘Promotions’ category so it could be in there. But I emailed you the chapter and the payment plan info anyways 🙂
Hello. Can you also send me information on the Payment Plan? Thank You.
For sure, Al. Sent 🙂
For a good couple months now I’ve been nearly obsessed with the idea of adopting your program, after pretty much breaking down with frustration over my weight and not being able to find a solution. Been a long time coming, but now I’ve finally hit a wall and need to conquer it. What’s most frustrating is I do actually have the appetite of a beast (and eating right, so that’s covered), but the physique of Slenderman (6’4 and 135-140 lbs, not a good ratio). Even my friends are astonished by the amount of food I cram in with ease; I’ve even completed eating challenges and gotten my name up next to pro bodybuilders – and I’m hungry pretty much every waking hour. You can imagine the feeling when a person takes a glance at my appearance and tells me to “eat something”. Thankfully I haven’t had a violent outburst yet. My mind has even lead me to the (hopefully) false suspicion of possibly having an illness of some sort which eats at any gain I possibly make, but it’s really my metabolism that’s a big factor there. And the fact that my work-out habits are so minimal. Weight-wise the “best” I’ve ever been was in my teens at 189,6 lbs, but man, I was the epitome of skinnyfat. Seeing pictures of myself from that time period just plain disgust me. Since then my diet has gradually become much better all around and I’ve leaned down so much I now have actual muscle definition, on the little I have in me. But it’s far from what I aspire to be.
After gaining knowledge of my body type (I fit every aspect of the ecto criteria), I’ve followed with taking in all and every bit of info you guys have put up here (or anyone, anywhere for that matter), but haven’t had that extra cash yet to actually get into the action.
But today I started looking for a payment plan option, and I’ll be damned – it exists! I was only going to ask for it in a short sentence, but somehow this comment escalated into my life’s story. Oops. Maybe I just needed to get that out.
So I’d appreciate if you shot my bony ass an email regarding the plan as well. Thanks!
Ahahaha you’ve not only stumbled upon a blog written by skinny guys for skinny guys… but also perhaps written by verbose guys for verbose guys 😛
Everything you said is about as relevant as can be though, and this is the perfect place to talk about this kind of thing. We can definitely relate to your struggles, as you probably already know. We’ve all broken down in frustration, failed, given up, broken down again, tried again, failed again, etc. Knowing first hand how hard that can be is why we decided to make this program in the first place. To help skinny guys finally break that cycle once and for all.
Reading your story, I’m pretty jealous of your stomach! Oh man, being able to win an eating competition is the ectomorph dream!! I’m lucky if I can eat a bigger dinner than my 5’3 girlfriend. Marco is a bit like you though. I’m impressed by his stomach. I doubt he could win an eating competition, but Jared and I watch him eat in awe. If we get you on a good muscle-building program I think we can harness that digestive power and get you growing pretty damn well!
I’ll shoot you an email with the payment plan info now 🙂
Hah, whoa. Realized a little later now how my calculations were a bit off there. My current weight is 183.7 lbs, not 140 or so like I posted. I’m using a converter since in Finland we measure in kilos, and something went wrong. Obviously still not the ideal weight, but I’m doing better than what I might’ve had you thinking!
ps. Still coming back for the program – soon!
Hi there, Im sick and tired of being skinny. You all know what its like to look bad in simple tshirt, right? Im 6′ 1″ 191lbs so my weight isnt that low, because of my pretty good legs, butt and little belly (not big issue), but having 3,2ft chest,13,4″ arms and so narrow shoulders that my head looks like a baloon is a nightmare. I cant afford whole price as its a half of my monthly earnings, but if you could send me payment plan it could be great.
Hey Maciek,
I definitely know what you mean. I had a brutal time buying clothes as a skinny guy. One of the biggest changes I noticed when I started building muscle was fitting into clothing better—especially the really simple stuff. Jared was reading the other day that suits were designed for the cushy upper class. They broaden the shoulders and taper at the waist, giving even a totally sedentary skinny-fat guy a more athletic/masculine silhouette. However simple clothes like t-shirts offer none of that. If you want to look like a badass in a t-shirt you need to be a pretty fit and healthy looking dude.
I’ll send you the payment plan info now 🙂
Hi shane i’ve been an ecto my whole life, really interested in your program. Can you send details for the payment plan?
Sure thing, Hamraj! Shot you an email 🙂
Can I get in on the payment plan as well? Please… The redlight camera ticket in TO the other day sapped my beastly fund!
For sure! I’ll shoot you an email with the details 🙂
I would also love info on the payment plan option if still available, thank you in advance!
I shot you an email 🙂
I am interested in learning about the payment plan as well as how the nutrition plans and workout plans go for my goals. I love the testimonies here. Please send me an email with the info. Thank you
Woot! We shot you an email 🙂