Being a naturally skinny guy can be both a blessing and a curse.
On the one hand, weight loss will probably never be an issue for you.
Your metabolism burns fat like it’s nobody’s business.
And the decision between bulking vs. cutting is a no-brainer.
But on the other hand…
The struggle is way TOO REAL when it comes to building muscle for skinny guys like yourself.
You’re fed up with drowning in your t-shirts and clothes fitting so loose.
Just hear me out for a second.
…Before you go giving up and think being skinny is just built in your DNA.
Even if you’re naturally skinny, it’s definitely possible for you to bulk up and build muscle.
And with this post, my goal is to give you the blueprint that’ll help transform your scrawny frame into a lean, mean, muscle-building machine.
No stone will be left unturned.
We’ll cover it all:
- How many calories you should be eating to build muscle
- The best foods to fuel your gains
- How to train in the gym if you want to bulk up
You’ll also get two workout plans.
One for the gym and another one you can use at home with just a pair of dumbbells and a weight bench.
So consider this your go-to guide on how to bulk up for skinny guys! 💪
Building muscle means being in a calorie surplus
This rule trumps anything else you might’ve heard about building muscle for skinny guys.
Without this, you’ll just be left sputtering your wheels like a car stuck in the mud.
To build muscle, you need to be eating in a calorie surplus.
That’s when you’re taking in more calories than your body can burn off.
So calories in > calories out.
It’s super simple to figure out the number of calories that’ll put you in a surplus.
So let’s walk through that real quick.
1. Calculate your TDEE
The first step in determining your calorie surplus is calculating your TDEE.
TDEE stands for:
- Total
- Daily
- Energy
- Expenditure
It’s the number of calories (taking exercise into account) you would need to eat to maintain your current weight.
TDEE.
Maintenance calories.
Same thing.
You can probably find some mathematical equation out there to figure out your TDEE.
If math’s your thing and you feel like making Einstein proud, then feel free to try one out 🔢
But if you want a much simpler way, just use this TDEE calculator.
Just type in all your info and it’ll spit out your TDEE number.
2. Add 500 calories to your TDEE
Literally just one more step getting your calorie surplus.
Have your TDEE?
Take that number and simply add 500 calories to it.
That number represents the number of calories you should be eating to build muscle.
If you want to test yourself with an example just to make sure you’re doing all the calculations correctly, try the one below.
Example person stats:
- Gender: Male
- Age: 28
- Weight: 200 lbs
- Height: 6ft
- Activity: Moderate Exercise (3-5 times a week)
You should’ve gotten a TDEE of 2,617 calories.
Add 500 calories to that and you get a calorie surplus of 3,117.
Consider tracking macros to maximize muscle gain
So, the number you got above represents the total number of calories to eat to put yourself in a calorie surplus.
But what makes up those calories matters too.
There are three main nutrients we eat the most of in our diets.
Eating the right amounts of these can help you optimize your muscle-building results.
Those nutrients are protein, carbs, and fats:
- Protein: If muscle-building nutrition was a story, protein would be the main protagonist. In other words, protein is essential to building muscle and helping you recover in between workouts.
- Carbs: Provide you with energy to crush your workouts.
- Fats: Help with nutrient absorption and just making sure your body runs smoothly.
Tracking macros makes sure you’re getting optimal amounts of all three.
It’s a way to eat a more balanced diet and fuel your muscle gains while still hitting your total calorie goals.
What foods should skinny guys eat to gain muscle?
Hitting your total number of calories is only about half the battle when it comes to nutrition.
You learned about the three main macronutrients above but let’s dive into each one in a little more detail.
Protein is king for building muscle
Building muscle for skinny guys would be an uphill climb without enough protein.
I can tell you protein is super important for building muscle 100 times.
And it still wouldn’t be enough.
Weight lifting breaks your muscles down.
It literally causes little mini micro-tears in your muscle fibers.
That’s where a process called protein synthesis comes into play.
It repairs damaged muscle tissue and helps your body build new muscle.
Any guesses for the main ingredient of protein synthesis?
If you answered with protein, then…
Ding, ding, ding.
You’d be correct.
Try to get at least 1g of protein per pound of body weight.
So if you weigh 140 pounds, that’s 140g of protein.
If you weigh 150 pounds, that’s 150g of protein.
And so on.
The list of high-protein foods below will ensure oyu’re getting enough:
High-protein food list:
- Chicken breast
- Egg whites
- Shrimp
- Tuna
- Salmon
- White fish liek cod and halibut
- Flank steak
- Lean beef
- Pork tenderloin
- Low-fat Greek yogurt
- Turkey breast
- Bison
- Low-fat cottage cheese
- Tofu
- Tempeh
- Seitan
- Protein powder
Fuel up on carbs for energy
When it comes to gaining muscle for skinny guys, carbs give you the energy to push through tough workouts in the gym.
Any bulking up diet plan without carbs would be like a car without an engine.
How would you expect to go anywhere?
Here’s a list of carbohydrates to include in your muscle for skinny guys meal plan:
- Sweet potatoes
- Regular potatoes
- Black beans
- Kidney beans
- Chickpeas
- Oats
- Quinoa
- White rice
- Brown Rice
- Regular pasta/noodles
- Whole-grain pasta
- Whole-wheat bread
Get some fats in to round out your bulking up diet plan
Fats play a key role in many bodily functions.
For example, they help with nutrient absorption and making sure the foods you eat are put to good use.
Take some from the following list for some healthy fats in your diet:
- Chia seeds
- Flax seeds
- Hemp seeds
- Reduced fat cheese
- Nut butter
- Olive oil
- Avocado oil
- Avocado
- Almond nuts
- Almond butter
- Peanut butter
- Macadamia nuts
- Walnuts
Don’t forget about fruits and veggies
Technically, fruits and veggies fall under carbs.
But there are so many to choose from and their health benefits are tremendous.
So…
They get their own section.
Fruits:
- Apples
- Bananas
- Peaches
- Oranges
- Pineapple
- Grapefruit
- Mangoes
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Watermelon
- Pears
- Grapes
- Kiwi
Veggies:
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Asparagus
- Kale
- Spinach
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Peppers
- Tomatoes
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Zucchini
- Carrots
- Corn
- Green beans
By the way, if you struggle to eat enough calories on a bulk, take advantage of liquid calories.
Whether it’s a protein shake, smoothie, or something along those lines, liquid calories are pretty much a cheat code for helping you consume more calories.
Meal plan template for bulking up
This is the ultimate bulking up diet plan for skinny guys.
Well, it’s not so much of a specific plan.
Because everyone is unique and your preferences will be different from the next person’s.
But here’s a template or guideline of sorts you can follo to make sure you’re eating balanced and getting enough of each type of food.
For each meal, you want to include:
- A lean source of protein
- A carbohydrate source
- Fruits and/or veggies
You can add in fats as you see fit.
Whether you cook with a little bit of olive oil or have some almond nuts on the side of one of your meals.
Here’s a super easy breakfast using the template above:
- Egg white omelet with veggies like spinach, onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc.
- Oats or oatmeal
- Fruit (i.e. watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, etc)
Or a dinner might look like this:
- Salmon
- Baked potato with fat-free or reduced fat cheese
- Vegetables (like asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, etc)
Following this format allows you to mix and match different foods.
Which’ll help prevent boredom with your diet but still get you closer to your muscle-building goals.
How should you workout to bulk up and put on muscle?
Weight lifting is an essential part of putting on size and gaining muscle.
To bulk up, you’ll want to make sure your workout plan focuses on two primary things:
- Progressive overload—This is when you gradually increase the weight you’re lifting over time.
- Compound movements—Exercises like bench press, squat, and deadlift work more than one muscle group at a time and help maximize your time in the gym.
Keep in mind that most exercises typically have different variations to them.
You can use barbells, dumbbells, etc to switch things up and keep things fresh.
Or take a specific exercise like deadlift, for example.
You can go with conventional, sumo, Romanian (aka RDLs), etc.
The ultimate skinny guy workout plan for building muscle
Hypertrophy is another concept that’s going to help you put on muscle mass.
It’s the principle that, in order to build muscle, you need enough training volume.
If you’re new to working to out, knowing where to start can be overwhelming.
To ease some of your stress, I recommend starting with the simple, yet effective and time-efficient push-pull-legs 3-day split.
It’s the perfect workout split for getting an initial taste of strength training.
This is how the workout split goes:
Your first workout hits your upper body “push” muscles (chest, shoulders, triceps).
Next workout—upper body “pull” muscles (back and biceps).
Then your last training day of the week is dedicated to leg day.
You don’t necessarily have to do the workouts in that order.
I like training legs on Mondays and getting them OUT OF THE FREAKIN WAY 🥵
is it just me or is leg day the universally most hated training day of the week?
For more on push-pull-legs, here’s what a typical week might look like for you workout-wise:
Get about about 90 seconds to 2 minutes rest in between each set.
But don’t overthink it.
Rest just as long as you need to to attack each set with maximum intensity.
And another thing.
Don’t stress about the amount of weight you lift.
Even if you’re starting with just the bar, that is 110% okay.
The key when it comes to weight lifting is continuing to show up consistently and challenging yourself.
If you do that, then you’ll steadily be able to increase the weight you lift over time.
And that’s how you build muscle for skinny guys.
Also, keep in mind that good form trumps heavy weight any day of the week!
I will say though…
Sometimes, knowing when exactly to increase the weight can be confusing.
Should you go up in weight or stay where you are?
If that sounds like something you might struggle with, definitely check out this post on the double progression method.
The double progression training method takes the guesswork out of increasing the weight and lets you know exactly when you should.
How to gain muscle for skinny guys at home
Whether you’re working out in the gym or at home, nothing really changes in terms of weight lifting principles.
For a lot of free weight exercises especially, you can swap out a barbell for a pair of dumbbells and get the same exact workout in.
Here’s a home version of that same gym workout from above.
But with this one, all you need is a pair of dumbbells and maybe a weight bench.
Same rules to the home workouts as they do to the gym ones:
- Challenge yourself by lifting heavy (keep in mind “heavy” is relative)
- Focus on progressive overload
- And take adequate rest in between sets. Aim for 90 seconds to 2 minutes but don’t overthink. Rest as long as it takes for you to give each set a max effort.
If you want both the gym and home workout plans, I’ll send a free PDF straight to your inbox 💪
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What about bodyweight exercises? Can you bulk up and build muscle with those?
I’ll be honest with you.
It’s easier to build muscle for skinny guys with weights.
But that doesn’t mean putting on muscle without weights is impossible.
It’s actually far from it.
Case in point:
Olympic gymnasts.
They’re swole to the MAX.
And that mainly comes from performing calisthenics and bodyweight exercises.
If you really want to use just bodyweight exercises to bulk up then we’re going to have to get creative to make up for not using any weights.
The main thing you’ll want to do is perform higher reps of each exercise to stimulate muscle growth.
Somewhere in the 15-25 rep range for each set is ideal.
Depending on the exercise.
Another thing you can do to encourage muscle growth is try more challenging variations of an exercise to crank up the intensity.
Take push-ups, for example.
They’re a great exercise for building up your chest at home (link back to blog post).
Are basic ones too easy for you?
Elevate your feet for a greater challenge.
Experiment with different hand positions.
Or slow down each rep and really focus on the eccentric, or negative phase of the exercise (i.e. when you’re lowering yourself down).
That’ll increase time under tension, which is a key piece of muscle growth.
So instead of going down and up as fast as possible…
Slowly lower yourself down by counting 1, 2, 3 in your head.
Then explode up with each rep.
Now, that’ just one example of bodyweight training when it comes to building muscle for skinny guys.
But you get the gist of it.
If you don’t have any weights, focus on:
- Higher reps
- The eccentric portion of the exercise to increase time under tension
- Trying new, more challenging variations
Personally, I like to mix bodyweight exercises (like dips, pull-ups, push-ups, etc) with traditional. weigh tlifting.
To me, it gives you the best of both worlds.
Don’t forget about sleep
The last point I want to make about bulking up doesn’t have to do with working out or nutrition.
But it’s just as important.
And that’s to make sure you’re getting enough sleep.
It’s during recovery (while you sleep) when your muscles grow the most.
While you sleep, produces the most human growth hormone.
Which is essential to muscle-building.
Without proper sleep, odds are you’ll be sluggish.
If that bleeds over into the gym, working out becomes the absolute last thing you’ll want to do.
Ideally, you want to aim for between 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
Wrapping things up on how to bulk up for skinny guys
Being skinny doesn’t have to be something you deal with forever.
Let’s summarize real quick what you can do to bulk up and build muscle:
- Nutrition: Make sure you’re in a calorie surplus. Your diet should contain plenty of protein to build/preserve muscle, carbs for energy, and fats for nutrient absorption. That includes your fruits and veggies too!
- Workouts: Your strength training routine should emphasize progressive overload. Work on mastering compound movements like bench press, squat, and deadlift. A push-pull-legs 3-day split is a great workout plan to start with when it comes to building muscle for skinny guys.
- Sleep: Your body releases human growth hormone while you sleep, which is essential for building muscle. Sleep also gives you the energy to come into the gym and crush your workouts. Aim for 7-9 hours each night.
Most importantly…
Be consistent with all of the above and stay the course.
The gains WILL come.
For even more tips and information about building muscle, download the free PDF below!