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
Lat Pulldown Alternatives: How to Train Your Lats With Free Weights
One of the most common questions we get is how to do lat pulldowns without a lat pulldown machine. People are training at home with either a barbell or dumbbells,…
Read MoreHow Long Should Your Workouts Be to Build Muscle?
A good rule of thumb is to start with three full-body workouts per week, each lasting 45–90 minutes. When those workouts start to feel too long or tiring, add a…
Read MoreHow to Do Cardio—The Complete Beginner Guide
The guidelines for general health are simple: you need at least 150 minutes of cardio per week. If the cardio is twice as hard, you only need half as much.…
Read MoreDoes the Bench Press Work Your Triceps? Yes, But Only Sort Of
The bench press does work your triceps, but it only works two of the three muscle heads, and not always very well. The third head (the long head) crosses the…
Read MoreThe 3 Best Exercises for Building Bigger Forearms
Forearms are one of those extremities that only extremists remember to train. The average lifter assumes that including some barbell rowing, strapless deadlifting, and weighted chin-ups in their workout routines…
Read MoreThe Barbell Buyer’s Guide (for Bodybuilding & Hypertrophy Training)
While writing our guide on how to build a barbell home gym, I dove way too deep into researching barbells. Which companies make the best barbells, which coatings do the…
Read MoreHow to do the Farmer Carry: Benefits & Workout
The farmer carry, also known as the farmer’s walk, involves going on a short walk while carrying heavy weights. It’s popular with strongmen and athletes but less so with bodybuilders,…
Read MoreWhat Does PR Mean in the Gym?
In gym lingo, “PR” stands for personal record. Getting PRs means your workout routine is working, that you’re adapting, and that you’re growing gradually bigger, stronger, or fitter. They’re important…
Read MoreDoes Exercise Reduce Inflammation? How? And How Much?
Exercise both increases and reduces inflammation. The stress of exercise causes a surge in inflammation. This inflammation helps you recover and adapt. When that inflammation fades, it drops down to…
Read More