How to Gain Muscle Fast For Skinny Guys

Updated January 2024

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Because of genetics, everyone has different physical traits. For some people, it's more difficult to gain muscle easily, but that doesn’t mean it's impossible. With the right plan and dedication to following your routine, you have great potential to be able to bulk up.

Skinny guys who want to gain muscle need to diligently focus on nutrition and exercise. Key tips for success include eating more calorie-dense foods, consuming liquid calories, prioritizing compound weightlifting, and being consistent overall.

Keep reading for help with developing a well-thought-out regimen, and promise yourself to stay consistent, as you have the capability to transform your physique!

The Process of Muscle Building

Bulking is the process of adding more muscle mass and weight to your body through means such as being in a caloric surplus and doing intense training. Your body provides more stimulus for your muscles to grow when you start bulking up, and it is a combination of both consuming more calories and sweating it out in the gym. If you are not careful with ensuring that you are exercising enough, you run the risk of gaining fat instead of muscle.

Let's keep this simple - the most fundamental rule is to eat more! Yes, focus on eating more food than you burn in a day to provide your growing muscles with fuel. You have to keep a caloric surplus to gain weight and add muscle to your leaner stature. Remember, diet accounts for 80%, and exercise accounts for 20% of the overall process.

Nutrition

As you go through the bulking process, make sure to keep a close eye on how many calories you consume in a day and be aware of your total daily energy expenditure. Once you have your figures ready, make sure that you always consume more calories than you burn in a day.

Now, this part is solely dependent on you because you can decide how much you want to eat. As long as you stick with the basics, you can have the flexibility to use it according to your day-to-day life. Try and keep a plan on what and how much to eat and be honest about it. You can personalize it according to your lifestyle, but keep in mind being consistent with the basics is where the real results will come from. 

Eat More Calorie-Dense Foods

You can eat a lot — and I mean A LOT — and still fail to get any results. Most of the time, this is still due to the fact that you are not getting sufficient calories from the amount of food that you are consuming. Many people complain that they eat a lot but still do not gain any weight. Most of the time, they are not tracking their calories and are actually still undereating.

So, the remedy for this paradox is to eat calorie-dense food that is enriched with nutrients. You can try adding ingredients like avocado, nuts, and seeds that are densely packed with healthy fats, so you are able to eat comfortable amounts of food that naturally have more calories. Adding calorie-dense food to your diet will make consuming more energy much easier and more efficient for you. 

Utilize Liquid Calories to Gain Weight

When you suddenly start to eat more, you need to be patient and give your body time to adjust. If you regularly consume more than you were before, your metabolism will start to speed up to accommodate the adjustment. In the meantime, if you are having difficulty eating more, then try having more liquid calories. Drinking your calories can be a bit easier mentally than eating large plates of food. 

You may originally find yourself needing to eat five to six times a day to keep up with your caloric surplus, but adding the component of a liquid diet can help you by allowing you to reduce your food intake to three to four meals a day. However, this doesn't mean reaching for those sugary sodas or milkshakes! Try beverages like smoothies and protein shakes (affiliate link) to pack in those calories while still providing nutrients for the body.

Stay Hydrated

Hydration is not just important for fitness, but it is also an essential need for your mental well-being and a healthy body. Drink sufficient water at regular intervals to prevent symptoms of dehydration during your workouts. Aim for 128 ounces a day to keep your body functioning optimally and you feeling your best self!

Provide Your Body With Nutrients

You may be tempted to eat processed or junk foods due to their higher calorie contents, but instead, try to eat clean. A healthy diet will not only help you provide your body with nutrients, but it will also help you recover from workouts faster,  gain muscle, and even make a positive impact on you mentally. Take this opportunity to heal yourself in both mental and physical ways! 

Exercise to Build Muscle

Lifting weights is a significant factor in bulking and gaining muscle, and many people do not give this form of exercise enough attention. So, it's important to have a workout routine that is both efficient and effective because, otherwise, your body will start to store those extra calories as fat, and that is certainly not your goal.

When you start lifting weights, your body uses the food you consume to recover and add mass to your muscles. When you start to lift weights, you will also have an increased appetite because you are starting to burn through your calorie surplus in the gym, and your metabolism begins to speed up. Soon, it will be time to eat even more!

Also, if you are choosing to only exercise at home, be sure to consider our list of recommended at-home workout equipment (affiliate link) to add variety and resistance to your routine!

Prioritize Compound Weightlifting

When you do compound lifting, you are lifting weights in a manner that hits multiple muscle groups in your body. Squats, deadlifts, and bench press are a few of the most effective compound lifts, and they should be included in your routine.

In addition to performing compound lifts, you want to make sure that you are hitting every muscle group at least once a week in the gym. You can divide your workout routine by the day, depending on what muscles you want to target. Here is an example:

Day 1: chest, shoulders, triceps

Day 2: biceps, back, abdominals

Day 3: glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves

Once you get in a rhythm, it is time to start utilizing progressive overload. This can happen by gradually increasing either your sets and reps or your weight. Be confident as you push yourself, but make sure you don't overload too much and injure yourself.

Be Consistent 

Be consistent with your workout routine just like your diet; that is the key element we discussed earlier! If you don’t follow your routine, you risk losing the gains that you worked so hard for - keep that in mind every time you start to lose motivation.

If you want to get results and get out of the skinny guy gang, then you should have the dedication to push yourself every day, even when you are not motivated. Remember, Michael Phelps, one of the greatest Olympians to ever exist, went through a phase of six years without a single day off. Though you don't need that kind of time and dedication to gain weight and bulk up, you still need to stay consistent. As Phelps says, “The greatest are the ones who do their thing even when they are not motivated to do that.”

Final Thoughts

Always remember to allow time for rest and recovery and stay motivated. Don't let yourself forget that achieving muscle growth is a marathon; you don't need to rush through it. Take your time and enjoy the journey. Be honest with yourself throughout your whole transformation, and know when it is time to work and when you shouldn't push yourself too much mentally or physically. Being healthy is even more important than being muscular for a wholesome life, so be kind to yourself and enjoy the process.