Illustration of a skinny person building muscle and bulking up.

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 men's Beastly newsletter.

    27,519 newsletter subs and counting!

    Illustration of a man doing a dumbbell biceps curl workout to build bigger arms.

    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:

    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:

    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:

    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.

    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:

    Common Lifting Questions

    Here are some of the more common lifting questions we've gotten over the years:

    If you have any questions about anything, comment on the most relevant article. I answer every comment.

    Before and after photo of an intermediate lifter bulking
    Before and after photo of a skinny guy becoming muscular
    Skinny-Fat to Muscular Transformation
    Before and after photo of a skinny-fat guy becoming lean and muscular
    Women's weight gain transformation
    Before and after photo of an intermediate lifter building muscle

    Recent Articles

    Cartoon of protein powder and mass gainer supplements.

    Will Mass Gainers Make You Fat?

    By Shane Duquette and Cassandra González Duquette | June 16, 2022

    Mass gainers are near and dear to my heart. They’re the only supplement on the entire supplement market that’s designed specifically for skinny people who are trying to gain weight.…

    Read More
    Illustration of a person burning calories by lifting weights.

    How Many Calories Does Weight Lifting Burn? (With Calculator)

    By Shane Duquette and Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS | May 29, 2023

    How many calories you burn while lifting weights depends on how much you weigh and how much lean mass you’re carrying. It also depends on how much weight you’re lifting,…

    Read More
    Illustration of a muscular man doing dumbbell lateral raises.

    The Best Lifts for Building Broader Shoulders

    By Shane Duquette and Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS | May 5, 2020

    We’ve already written an article about how skinny guys can build broader shoulders over on Bony to Beastly, including a bunch of neat information about genetics, aesthetics, and hypertrophy training…

    Read More
    Diagram showing the various back muscles.

    What Muscles Do Pull-Ups Work?

    By Shane Duquette and Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS | May 22, 2023

    Pull-ups, often conflated with chin-ups, are a compound exercise for your upper back. They’ll give you a wide back and thick arms—and we’ll talk about which back muscles they’re best…

    Read More
    Illustration of a man lifting weights to build muscle as quickly as possible.

    How Long Does it Take to Build Muscle?

    By Shane Duquette | July 8, 2024

    It takes most men about a year to gain their first 20 pounds of muscle. Those first 20 pounds are enough to add 1–2 inches to your arms and bump…

    Read More
    Illustration showing a man gaining muscle while losing weight.

    The Best Supplements for Burning Fat & Building Muscle

    By Shane Duquette and Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS | October 28, 2020

    There are a few supplements that are good for both building muscle and losing fat, making them perfect for body recomposition. They all fall into one of three categories: Let’s…

    Read More
    Illustration of a skinny person building muscle.

    How Many Calories Does It Take To Build a Pound of Muscle?

    By Shane Duquette and Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS | May 31, 2023

    In theory, it takes about 800 calories to build a pound of muscle (study). That’s true in some situations, but our metabolisms can adapt, increasing the amount of energy it…

    Read More
    Illustration of a strong, healthy man doing as many push-ups as he can.

    How Many Push-Ups Should You Be Able To Do in a Row?

    By Shane Duquette | September 13, 2024

    A man in good shape should be able to do 30–40 push-ups. One recent study found that going from under 10 push-ups to over 30 was associated with a 75%…

    Read More
    A bodybuilder doing an AMRAP set of push-ups to build bigger muscles.

    What Does AMRAP Mean? Techniques & Benefits Explained

    By Shane Duquette and Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS | September 10, 2024

    AMRAP means As Many Reps/Rounds As Possible. It’s useful when you don’t have full control over how much weight you’re lifting (like with bodyweight exercises) or how intense your cardio…

    Read More