Skinny to Muscle – What You Need to Know About Skinny Bodybuilding
Are You Skinny & Struggling to Build Bigger Muscles?
If So, Here Is Something That Might Help.
Hey, glad you made it to my site because I think I know just how you might be feeling. My name is James McLain and I was once really skinny and I hated it too. It sucked! It drained my self confidence and made me feel like I was inferior to other guys not to mention making dating hell as I thought being skinny with no muscles was what was holding me back. (it wasn’t but looking good certainly helps!)
If you are like I was, then you probably have tried and failed to build some extra muscle and are just not sure what the hell is going on! I finally figured it out after a lot of trial and error but I think that you can manage to build muscle without going through all the pain and hardship I struggled through.
Vince Now
Vince Before
This is why I want to introduce you to Vince Delmonte. Vince is pretty interesting guy, he is (was?) a classic ectomorph body type like you and me. Skinny, small and with a high metabolism. Not now though, he is a professional bodybuilder and a fitness coach with a degree in kinesiology. (This is basically the science of human movement including a lot on muscles)
I really like his style and what he has to say about bodybuilding which is so much different to the usual crap you get from the muscle magazines and supplement pushers. You don’t need all that extra garbage if you know how your body works with the right plans, routines and dietary changes … for your body type!
For instance, check out this video of Vince’s for a bit more information on his thoughts on bodybuilding magazines. The intro is a bit too long, but bear with it, the video only goes for a few minutes.
As you can see he calls it like it is. He is advertising for his No-Nonsense Muscle Building Program which is what I wanted to let you know about because it might just help you get over the hurdles of being a skinny guy while building muscle. He knows where you are coming from which I find refreshing so it is probably worth taking a look yourself.
Hey Vince,,,,
Hi this is Jake here,,
I am having a damn serious problem i am damn too skinny…
i am not gaining even a kilo…
i eat a lot..
can u tell me about more calorie foods..
and can we drink egg directly without baking…(i saw it in many movies…)
Please i want to gain more mass,,,,
i am damn too skinny,,
HELP HELP HELP….
@Jake russo
Hey Jake,
I am not Vince, my name is James and I run this site. I just promote Vince Delmontes guide because I believe it to be the best out there for skinny guys looking to build some muscle.
Eating a lot is a start that is for sure. You need to have the energy to grow your muscles. However, your workout is going to need to be refined so that you push your muscles so hard they are forced to adapt and grow.
As such forget about light weights and lots of reps. Concentrate on heavier, low rep sets and work the whole body not just a few muscles.
This is all explained very clearly in Vinces’s No Nonsense Muscle Building Guide
For a quick overview of some main points though check out my article on this site here: http://www.skinnytomuscle.net/articles/can-skinny-guys-get-muscles/
Hey vince
this is rick am still skinny even when i workout, got any advice for me am wieghting at 111 but want to get to 130 pounds any advice. please i want to gain wieght.
I’m 14 and 5 feet 7 inches and weigh about 120. I look way to skinny and I can’t really buy anything cas I’m a kid. Do u have any tips on how to build muscle? I’m going to highschool next year and I wanna be big for it, that’s my goal. And I’m going on vacation. A road trip so it’s gunna be hard to work out but I’ll find a way. Can bodyweight exercises help? And I work out my abs regularly but there not getting bigger. And my left oblique is smaller than my right. Can u help me?
@Rick
Hey Rick, As i mentioned above I am not Vince, my name is James … I just recommend Vince’s guide
As for what you should do, check out this article to start with, it covers the basics of what you need to do for diet, exercise and rest which are central themes to skinny bodybuilding.
Can Skinny Guys Build Muscles?
@Bob
Hey Bob,
It can be tough to build muscle without the right equipment but bodyweight exercises are an essential place to start. However you need to keep pushing yourself to make your push ups and sit ups and other exercises challenge you more or you will not give the muscle reason to grow.
Get creative, put some textbooks in a backpack and use that as extra weight to make it more difficult. Do chin ups in the same way.
Bottom line, stress the muscles any way you can, eat well and rest and you will see improvements. However for maximum results proper weights are essential but this is a good place to start and at 14 your body is still developing so dont stress it too much man!
I am 19 and am fed up with being skinny. I have been taking weight gain supplements and protien powders and all that and working out every chance i get. I made some gains initially but now i just feel like shit and am getting no where.
Got any advice?
@Simon
Hi Simon,
Advice? Dump the supplements, at your level they are largly a waste of time and money. If you didnt see the video i posted on this page go back up and have a look.
You are better of spending your time and money on better food in general as well as lookign at what you are really doing with your workouts. You might be overtrainign also not giving your body enough time to grow the muscles before you punish them again.
Try fewer but more intense workouts during the week. The no nonsense muscle building guide goes into a heap of detail about eactly how to wrokout and what to eat. Just stop with the supplements, they are no magic solution to muscle growth!
I have two adjustable weights that go up to 20 pounds each but that’s all. My mom won’t let me get a pullip bar because she thinks it will break the wall or door. I been gaining 3-5 pounds each month for the past few month when I was in school but then I just gained fat weight not muscle. Now that I’m not in school I can’t check my body fat %. I workout almost everyday but I’m still having trouble. I have the most trouble with my abs and shoulders. I can only see four of my abs like a four pack. I’m having trouble with the top and my obliques. And I just can’t gt my shoulders wider. I used alot of weight and then not as much but no improvements. Any tips?
dear james i am 15 years old and skinny as a twig everyone takes advanage of me because of that. i do pushups all the time but nuthing happing im goin to high school next year to play on the basketball team and they wont pick a sronny weak kid like me please help i beg of you
hey vince
this is nitin here,
man i am damn too skinny , i feel very inferior in front of my friends . i am eating well above my capacity but i am not gaining noticable mass. can you please tell me what does “eating a lot” really means( in terms of calories).
secondly , will eating protien rich foods make a difference?
hi james! i’m israel from philippines, my problem was i am not gaining even though i gym and eat more foods. Im still too skinny. the problem of gyming was i only take a gym during weekends and never have time on weekdays maybe because of my work, tell what should i do during weekdays to improve my body. Please give advices suitable for people who currently dont have time on gym but wants to build their body?
@Bob
Hi Bob,
Simply put, if you are gaining fat now and not muscle, you are eating too many calories and not pushing your musckles hard enough to use that energy in muscle building. Without knowing your diet i cannot be sure however.
My advice would be, stop worrying about your abd. Stength in your core is more importnat than having a six pack. Having great core strength will build your muscle there, but only stripping away a lot of fat will reveal the muscles underneath.
Dont try to build muscle and strip fat at the same time. It is better to bulk up, then go on a fat trimming regime which is easy for skinny guys, so concentrate on then muscle building and dont worry so much about the “look” just the results in terms of strength.
I could rattle off lots of exercises to build shoulder but the problem is … you need to increase your weights. If you cant do that then you cannot push your muscles. If your current weights are too light you need bigger ones as simple as that.
Sorry i cant be of more help there, but its not a matter of what your doing, but of the equipment you have.
Try finding something to use as weights, old tyres, bricks, whatever …. makeshift stuff can be helpful but really you need to invest something to get soemthing.
@dazaquane
Hi dazaquane,
The problem with push ups when you are a skinny guy is that you are pushing up such a small amount of weight! This is not challenging your muscles.
You must really push to the extreme how much you can lift, the idea is to lift heavy not lots and lots of light reps. This will build endurance but not size.
You need to find a way to lift weights that really challenge you, or find a way to make your body weight exercises heavier with some sort of extra weight. Building muscle requires investment.
@Israel Mascarinas
As i was just saying to the other posters, building muscle DOES require time and monetary investment if you want to do it right.
However, you go to the gym and seem to realise this. However if you go to the gym on the weekend and push the intensity levels you should be seeing some gains, so look to your gym technique befoere you blame your lack of workout during the week.
You also do not need to do long sessions to get gains. If you can spare just 30 minutes on a weekday to hit the gym then you can do a short but brutal workout that will help.
Without the gym you will need to do exercise in your own home. If you have some weights you can do a number of exercises in house, but the key is making sure you are pushing your muscles and not just lifting light weights which will not spark muscle growth.
Simple equation
weight lifting to your capacity with heavy weights
+
Eating enough food to feed your muscles and the rest of your body functions
+
Enough rest to give the body time to repair and grow
=
muscle growth!
@nitin
Hi Nitin,
Again, I am not Vince … I wish I could have the body he does. Mine is still a work in progress
I just recommend his ebook The No-Nonsense Muscle Building Guide.
Calories can be very individual depending on a number of factors. Your metabolism, your size, how much exercise you are doing etc so i cant give you an exact figure. You are spot on about protien though, high protien diets will help muscle growth as will eating foods with less saturated fats and trans-fats (you need good fats not bad ones).
If you are eating a lot mroe than you sued to but you are still not making gains then the problem is probably your workouts and how much you are pushing your muscles. You have to have good eating habits AND good workout practice combined to produce muscle growth. Lift heavy, workout hard, eat more and rest well.