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.
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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
How Many Exercises Should You Do Per Workout?
You should probably do 4–7 exercises per workout, depending on your workout split, experience level, and goals. You need a balanced mix of exercises that target all of the muscles…
Read MoreThe Close-Grip Bench Press Guide
The close-grip bench press is an assistance lift for the bench press done with a narrower grip. This narrower grip shifts the emphasis away from your chest and onto your…
Read MoreThe Overhead Press Hypertrophy Guide
The overhead press (often referred to as the military press) is the best lift for bulking up our shoulders. It’s also fantastic for our upper traps, upper chest, triceps, posture,…
Read MoreThe Bench Press Hypertrophy Guide
The bench press is the best lift for building a powerful chest. It’s also great for bulking up your triceps and the fronts of your shoulders, making it a great…
Read MoreDrag Curls Aren’t As Good As Regular Biceps Curls (Here’s Why)
A drag curl is a type of biceps curl where you keep the weight close, “dragging” it up your body. The idea is to make the curl easier at the…
Read MoreThe 5 Best Compound Exercises for Building Muscle
All the best muscle-building programs are built on the idea of progressively overloading the big compound exercises. If you aren’t able to progressively overload those exercises, then you won’t build…
Read MoreAre Pre-Workout Supplements Bad for You? (Full Breakdown)
Pre-workout supplements have had their share of controversies. Think of a crazy professional bodybuilder using all kinds of performance-enhancing drugs. Now imagine the stimulants that guy might be interested in.…
Read MoreLong-Muscle-Length Training (Aka Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy)
For at least a few decades, bodybuilders have favoured exercises that challenge their muscles at long muscle lengths. “Go deep! Feel the stretch!” The mechanisms weren’t known, and the results…
Read MoreThe Perfect Bro Split Workout Routine
The Bro Split is surprisingly controversial. Most guys assume it’s for casual lifters who never took the time to learn how to program a proper workout split. That’s not the…
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