How to Bulk up for Skinny Guys

It is hard for you to build muscle? I got you

I have been very skinny all my life. After I had to end my competitive endurance sports career, I wanted to build muscle. With the following tricks, I managed to build 12 lbs of pure muscle mass within half a year.

To become bigger, the most important thing is to achieve a positive calorie balance. More calories in than out. Doesn’t sound too complicated in theory. However, there are two things that cause us skinny guys trouble:

Our metabolism is extremely effective and we can’t really eat much. These two problems make it extremely difficult to maintain a positive calorie balance over an extended period and therefore need to be counteracted with the following strategies.

calories in > calories out +lifting heavy = building muscle

1. Forget about eating clean

I wish it was different. I tried to build it up with a healthy diet, but I just couldn’t eat enough calories that way.

If you have a metabolism as efficient as mine and want to build muscle, you can or must indulge in a piece of cake or a few more cookies, I guess.

High-calorie foods were the key to real success for me. Nevertheless, it is important to eat healthy in general. Nevertheless, it is important to eat healthy in general. I would recommend supplementing a basic healthy diet with high-calorie snacks in between meals. A few cookies in the afternoon and a calorie-dense shake in the evening were a game-changer for me.

There are worse things to do, I guess.

2. Consume more liquid calories

With drinks, it is very easy to add extra calories. Drink your protein shake with high-fat milk and add ice cream and/or frozen fruit, such as raspberries, if desired. These shakes not only taste delicious but adds up to 1000 calories to your calorie balance.

3. Double down on protein

Protein is of course the most important macronutrient for muscle building. You should try to consume at least 1 gram per lbs of body weight. Especially after training, it is important for recovery and muscle growth to quickly supply protein. I always try to drink my protein shake within 20 minutes after I finish my weight training.

In addition to the known protein sources such as eggs, meat, cottage cheese… I find it helpful to eat nuts as a snack to top up my protein account.

4. Drink a lot of water

You can consider this method as appetite training. When you drink a lot of water, your stomach expands just by the volume of water. As a result, you won’t feel full as quickly when you eat, you’ll be able to eat more, and you’ll build up faster.

5. Go hard in the Gym

Of course, putting in the work is also part of it. otherwise, you will just get fat.

The process of building muscle can be simplified as follows: you destroy your muscle fibers during strength training, then refuel your body and let it repair the damage. For this process, also called recovery, proteins are the most important building blocks.

Therefore, two things are especially important during training: a strong stimulus (lifting heavy) and enough recovery time.

That is why I recommend 3–4 workouts for the whole body per week. For maximum muscle growth, choose weights with which you can do 8–12 repetitions.

Here are a few basic exercises that should not be missing in any gym session in my opinion:

• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Benchpress
• Rowing
• Pull ups
• Shoulder lateral raises

Good luck on your bulking journey. Here is a picture for further motivation.

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