Build Muscle. Gain Strength. Outlift Yourself.
If you're a guy who wants to build muscle, gain strength, and get fit, I think you'd love our newsletter.
26,258 newsletter subs and counting!
We're Shane and Marco, known for founding Bony to Beastly and Bony to Bombshell, two of the most popular muscle-building sites for naturally thin people, each with tens of millions of readers.
We have fifteen years of experience coaching clients ranging from everyday people all the way up to college, professional, and Olympic athletes.
We consider lifting research, and we take it seriously, but we also delve into the darkest corners of lifting lore. There's wisdom in bodybuilding traditions, powerlifting programs, and callisthenics routines.
If you want us to walk you through the process of building muscle, start to finish, with personal feedback along the way, check out our programs. We have an unconditional 30-day refund policy on everything we sell.
If you want to peruse the blog, here are the best articles to start with:
- How to build muscle (for everyone)
- How to bulk up (for skinny people)
- How to recomp (for overweight people)
- How to do cardio
Hypertrophy Training
If you're interested in building muscle, we've written about almost every aspect of hypertrophy training. I recommend starting with our big hypertrophy training guide.
Here are some of our more in-depth articles about hypertrophy training principles:
- Progressive overload
- The best hypertrophy exercises
- How often should you work out?
- How to structure your workouts
- How many reps should you do per set?
- How long should you rest between sets?
- How many sets should you do per week?
- How many exercises should you do per workout?
- How close to failure should you lift?
- How fast should you lift and lower weights?
- Which isolation exercises do you need?
- How to do supersets
- How to do giant sets
- How to do drop sets
- How range of motion affects muscle growth
- How to do long-muscle-length training
- How to do lengthened partials
- Stimulus-to-Fatigue Ratio
- Blood Flow Restriction Training (BFR)
How to Lift Weights
If you want to learn how to lift weights, build muscle, and get stronger, I recommend starting with our article about how to get stronger at the 5 big compound exercises.
You can read about the nuances of each lift here:
- The front squat
- The bench press
- The deadlift
- The overhead press
- The chin-up
- The dip
- The loaded carry
Hypertrophy Workout Routines
We've got a bunch of free workout routines you can look through. The articles will teach you how to follow these routines or build your own from scratch.
- Full-body workouts vs body-part splits
- What training split should you use?
- 2-day workout routines
- 3-day workout routines
- 4-day workout splits
- 5-day workout splits
- 6-day workout splits
- The Bro Split
- The Upper/Lower Split
- The Push/Pull/Legs Split
Healthy Lifestyle
We've also got some articles about how to live a healthy lifestyle, eat a good diet, maintain good body composition, and combine weight training with cardio:
- How to gain weight with a fast metabolism
- Is lifting weights good for burning fat?
- How much protein do you need?
- Can bulking cause insulin resistance?
- Are pre-workout supplements healthy?
- How exercise improves inflammation
- How to sleep for muscle growth
- How to schedule weight training with cardio
Common Lifting Questions
Here are some of the more common lifting questions we've gotten over the years:
- Are chin-ups good for your biceps?
- Does the bench press work your triceps?
- Is 225 a good bench press?
- How much should you be able to squat?
- How much should you be able to overhead press?
- How much should you be able to deadlift?
- How much should you be able to bench?
- Should you have protein right after working out?
- How many calories does it take to build a pound of muscle?
- How many calories does weight training burn?
- Why aren't you losing weight in a calorie deficit?
- What's the best calorie-tracking app?
If you have any questions about anything, comment on the most relevant article. I answer every comment.
Recent Articles
The Deadlift Hypertrophy Guide
The deadlift strengthens us from our forearms down to our calves. In fact, it’s such a good indicator of overall strength that it’s the only lift in both powerlifting and…
Read MoreThe Romanian Deadlift (RDL) Guide
The Romanian deadlift, also known as the RDL or stiff-leg deadlift, is a deadlift variation that’s used in hypertrophy training to pack muscle onto the hips and hamstrings. So, what…
Read MoreDo You Need 1 Gram of Protein Per Pound Per Day?
Most bodybuilders try to eat about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. Muscle is made out of protein, they say. If you want to maximize…
Read MoreThe Best Arm Day Workout for Building Muscle
Arm Day is an entire workout routine focused purely on arm exercises. It’s what allows the Bro Split to stimulate more arm growth than almost any other workout routine. Arm…
Read MoreLengthened Partials: What They Are & How to Use Them
Lengthened partials are the trendy new bodybuilding technique. The idea is that by challenging your muscles under a deep stretch, you can increase mechanical tension on your muscles, stimulating more…
Read MoreWhat is a Recomp? Body Recomposition Explained
Recomp is short for body recomposition, which is when you build muscle and lose fat at the same time. It’s the holy grail of the fitness industry. It’s actually pretty…
Read MoreShould You Bulk or Cut First?
You should bulk if you want to get bigger, stronger, and more muscular. You should cut if you want to focus on burning fat. But what if you want to…
Read MoreThe Guide for Skinny Guys With Belly Fat
Why do some skinny guys have belly fat? If you aren’t overweight, why is fat accumulating, and why is it clustering in your midsection? There are a few reasons this…
Read MoreBody Recomposition: How to Build Muscle While Losing Fat
Body recomposition is when you build muscle while losing fat. It sounds like the Holy Grail, but it isn’t quite so rare as that. Recomping is realistic for most people.…
Read More