Gain Muscle – 6 Things Skinny People can do

In this quick read, I’m going to cover 6 Things Skinny People Need to do to Gain Muscle.

As a former skinny guy that now helps skinny guys (and gals) not be skinny anymore… I can say that gaining muscle is actually pretty simple and easy you do it right. The problem most skinny people have is they’re doing everything wrong ( sorry – it’s true. I was 149lbs at 6ft 3 at 18, and have since gotten really strong and gained 110lbs)… and when it doesn’t work, they do the wrong stuff even harder.

If you’ve been putting in time in the gym and working hard and feel like you don’t have the results you deserve relative to the amount of work you’re putting in, then this article is for you. I’m going to give you 6 clear cut things that you can do to gain muscle… and you can do it on your own. If you want some help, you can inquire about working with one of our personal trainers.

Before I continue, the harsh truth: the reality is that what you need to do is probably so simple that you won’t’ think it will work, so you don’t do it, and instead continue to do the really hard, complicated thing that you think will work eventually. You can’t just work hard and get results. I wish it was that way, I really do… but it’s just not the way it works.

So, take a second and reflect – if what you were doing was going to work, it would have already. So, stop doing those things, and do these 6 things that skinny people need to do to gain muscle:

1. Strength Train. Basic. Ass. Strength. Training. Getting stronger is the only way to gain muscle – it really is that simple. This means lifting progressively heavier weights in the main lifts 3x/week, and do this for as long as possible. If you take your 50lb squat (or 100, or 200 or 300) and get it to 400 or 500, you will be put on a ton of muscle. All you have to do is start at 50lbs and add 5lbs per workout for as long as possible. Simple, easy… and most people won’t do it because it doesn’t make you sore enough, the workout is too short, or it’s not complicated enough. (If you want more info on how I actually learned to strength train, you can check this site.)
2. Stop doing HIIT. Anything works when you’re a beginner – if you aren’t a beginner and/or need to pack on some serious muscle, HIIT training isn’t going to work. HIIT is conditioning and cardio – the exact opposite stimulus you need to gain muscle.
3. Eat Until You Feel Uncomfortable. Everyone knows that you’re going to be a little uncomfortable if you are trying to lose weight – you’re going to have some hunger. What no one talks about or recognizes though is that if you want to gain muscle, you’re going to have to give your body something to make muscle out of… it doesn’t appear out of thin air. There is a recipe to gain muscle… and it is more food than you want to eat. In weight loss you eat less than you want… and in muscle gain you eat more than you want. So long as you’re truly strength training (adding weight each time you train) you will build muscle 100% of the time, and add minimal fat.
4. Sleep More. This is another thing people won’t do, and it’s usually not because they’re busy. It’s usually because they won’t get off their phone or set a bed time and stick to it. The actual muscle gaining process happens when you’re sleeping. You need to get consistently high quality sleep to recover and build muscle. Sleep more than you are now – shoot for 8.5 to 9.5 hours.
5. Hire the Right Personal Trainer. Most trainers become trainers because of how they look, not because they are good trainers. And think about it – if you’ve been jacked and shredded your whole life, people say to you “You should be a trainer!” and then they become a trainer. Hire a personal trainer that was skinny, struggled to gain muscle, and overcame it. If they did it, you can, and they can teach you. The person that’s always looked amazing… is probably going to struggle to help you fight battles they never had to win themselves. (You can learn more about personal training to grow glutes here.)
6. Stop Overtraining. Yes, it exists. A combination of not being hydrated enough, not eating enough, going out too much, and off course, training 4, 5, 6, 7 times per week intensely isn’t going to work to put on muscle. Instead, do the least amount of training required to improve, and the most amount of recovery activities. For most people, this is 3x/week for an hour. It’s unfortunate, but almost everyone that you look up to – the elite athlete, the elite bodybuilder, the unreal influencer… they’re AT A MINIMUM, elite genetic outliers, and by definition what they do won’t work for you.

I was skinny for a long ass time – when I started doing these 6 things to gain muscle, I gained 100lbs of muscular body weight. I went from training 6-7x/week for 4-6 hours for YEARS and always being skinny… to training 3x/week for 1 hour and being buff.

If it seems too simple to work… you are actually the person that needs to do it… and that is exactly why you are still skinny.

If you need help implementing this with a personal trainer, please fill out the contact us form, and we will reach out.

We’re on a mission to end “skinniness”. Let’s be honest. Being skinny when you don’t want to be sucks – let’s gain some muscle together!

Let’s get to work!