#but this is in fact how i picture jeor.

[atopvisenyashill]

OH WAIT RE: MY PERSONAL FANCASTS

i always imagine edward james olmos when i picture jeor mormont

[sepedarodatiga]

The Snow Queen fairytale as a motif used in GoT/ASOIAF

First of all, how many fairytales and myths can GRRM fit into this story, seriously?? I know many have written well thought and well informed meta of various fairytale motives fit with ASOIAF/GoT, and I am just here adding into an already huge pile, but it bothers me, okay. I have to get it out there into the tumblr void. And this is not really a well thought and well informed meta (I’m not a folklore/literature expert, not to mention European folklore/literature), I’m just pointing my fingers into the patterns I saw fit. Also, I can’t count myself as ASOIAF book reader, I just watch the show. What I know about the books, I read it here in tumblr. 

But anyway, you might be surprised as to which character I saw fit as The Snow Queen in GoT

It’s Daenerys Targaryen.

I know I know... whaat? The Mother of Dragons, Bride of Fire as The Snow Queen? Get out of here, right...

But it’s a pun. It’s not The Snow Queen, it’s Jon Snow’s Queen, get it? Remember how Jon repeatedly saying “you’re my queen” to Dany during season 8? Yeah. Oh and Jon is Kay, while Sansa is Gerda. 

What made me realize that Dany is The Snow Queen is when I was reading my son the fairytale. In the version retold by Kate Friend, it describes The Snow Queen as beautiful and terrible. And I was like, huh, just like Dany, especially with the white hair and the all white costume in season 8. 

Daenerys Targaryen, beautiful and terrible.

And then of course the story went on describing how Kay becomes her prisoner and then I was like, well that’s like Jon Snow during season 8 too.... And then in Disney’s adaptation Frozen, Elsa has white hair with purple eyeshadow, while Anna (Gerda) has....red hair....which is like... Sansa Stark. Then I also remember the illustration on my son’s book which is by John Patience, that reminded me of the Iron Throne.

The Snow Queen illustration by John Patience. See how much alike this setting is with the Red Keep? Especially in Dany’s vision in HoTU when snow was falling.

So I went investigating, and shit... I mean obviously the sequencing was moved around, GRRM likes to subvert things, but my God!

Before we get into Jon Snow and his queen, I have to start with the other characters first. And I will be taking excerpt of the story from The Hans Christian Andersen Center website which I assume would be the most original one.

Gerda = Sansa Stark

Here is a description of Gerda’s power:  “No power that I could give could be as great as that which she already has. Don't you see how men and beasts are compelled to serve her, and how far she has come in the wide world since she started out in her naked feet? We mustn't tell her about this power. Strength lies in her heart, because she is such a sweet, innocent child.”

Furthermore, her connection with Kay are through roses (they have a window box full of roses) and a song that goes like this:  "Where roses bloom so sweetly in the vale, There shall you find the Christ Child, without fail." Another variation of the song is: “The rose in the valley has flowers so sweet, and angels come down there the children to greet.” She saved Kay with her prayers, hugs, kisses, tears and her song and their reunion literally ended winter and brings spring. If that’s not Sansa Stark (and the jonsa reunion), then I don’t know what is.

Gerda made a journey to the North to find Kay and bring him back together with her to their home. Sansa did not meant to make a journey North to find Jon and bring him back home, but this is what happened anyway. The story even stressed on the fact that when they came back to their homes, they were no longer children but grown ups. On her quest Gerda offered her red shoes to the river to get information about Kay’s whereabouts but the red shoes were given back to her the first time. But she did it once again and the river set her on the path to find Kay. I’m not really sure but for Sansa it could be her betrothal to Joffrey that was then canceled but then she got married to Tyrion Lannister. Her red shoes is her name and her claim to the North.

Gerda then met an old woman who wanted to keep her and made her forget about Kay by keeping all the roses underground. The old woman’s place was beautiful. Here is an excerpt:  “Then Gerda was led into the flower garden. How fragrant and lovely it was! Every known flower of every season was there in full bloom. No picture book was ever so pretty and gay. Gerda jumped for joy, and played in the garden until the sun went down behind the tall cherry trees. Then she was tucked into a beautiful bed, under a red silk coverlet quilted with blue violets. There she slept, and there she dreamed as gloriously as any queen on her wedding day.” But then she saw a rose on the old woman’s hat and finally remembers her purpose of finding Kay. I would say that the old woman is Cersei Lannister who tried to make Sansa forget about her home and her innocence. Sansa was also saved from her clutch by roses (The Tyrells).

Then Gerda with information from a crow, met a Princess and Prince. She thought that the Prince might be Kay, but it turns out he was not. This might be Sansa’s vale arc and the Prince is either Petyr Baelish or Harry Hardyng. The Prince and Princess also gave provisions for Gerda’s journey to the North, so this may be that the KoTV helps Sansa getting Winterfell back. The crow, has a ladylove, another crow and they finally get married and live in the Princess’s castle though unfortunately the crow then died. The crow was a wild forest crow while his ladylove is a tame crow. These two crows could be genderbent into Sam Tarly and Gilly. Remember that Sam is mock as Jon’s ladylove by Alliser Thorne?

Next Gerda met a robber girl who sleeps with a knife and have plenty of pigeons. Yep, of course that is very much like Arya Stark (who sometimes is being referred to as “a girl”)

The pigeons told Gerda about Kay and The Snow Queen. The robber girl finally gave Gerda her reindeer called Bae for her journey to the North. The girl likes to tickle the reindeer’s neck with her knife. At the end of the story it is told that the robber girl then decided to leave her place and find adventure in the world. Very much like Arya’s ending.

Now about that reindeer Bae who helped Gerda to reach to Kay in The Snow Queen’s palace in the far North. In ASOIAF/GoT, we can connect Bae to Baelish. Make sense. Petyr Baelish helps Sansa get to North and Arya’s knife did end up in his neck. But also we can connect it to two foreshadowing of Sansa bearing Jon’s child. The first is more well-known: Bael the Bard. The second one I think is more hidden and I made a post about it quite long ago: Baelor. Is this far fetched? Maybe, but I’ll take it.

Kay = Jon (+ The Night King)

Kay and Gerda are neighbours and they share a garden (particularly a flower box full of roses). Their relationship, in the words of Hans Christian Andersen himself are: “These children were not brother and sister, but they loved each other just as much as if they had been.” So they are NOT brother and sister but love each other as such. While Jon and Sansa are also NOT brother and sister but was raised as such.

Then Kay got splinters of magic mirror stuck to his eyes and his heart. The mirror “made everything great and good that was reflected in it appear small and ugly, but which magnified all evil things until each blemish loomed large”. It made Kay hated all the roses, they look ugly now to his eyes and also made Kay loved the snow and the cold. Jon Snow at the beginning of the story was a cynical little boy because he was raised as a bastard. He wanted to leave Winterfell and sneered at the idea of having a family of his own because he felt that he can’t have them. So he went to the coldest place there is.

In the story, Kay plays with his sled, and then The Snow Queen came with her sled and Kay hooked his sled to hers. The Snow Queen first, covers Kay in a bearskin rug and gave Kay kisses. The first kiss “was colder than ice. He felt it right down to his heart, half of which was already an icy lump. He felt as if he were dying, but only for a moment. Then he felt quite comfortable, and no longer noticed the cold”. The second kiss makes Kay forgets about Gerda and their homes. The third kiss, The Snow Queen does not give him because it would be the kiss of death.

I argue that GRRM subvert this story. I think Jon Snow was already saved by Sansa before he met Dany. The splinters in his eyes and heart was already gone when he faced The Snow Queen. The reunion happened before he met Dany. The first two kisses also already happened: Jon Snow had died and came alive again, and he also forced to forget about his home and family while he was at the Night’s Watch. The bearskin rug which The Snow Queen used to cover Kay can allude to Jeor Mormont and/or Longclaw. 

Then Jon Snow met his queen finally, but instead of a hooking sleds.... it’s dragons. Jon Snow’s sled was his dragon Rhaegal which are hooked to Dany’s sled Drogon. But his eyes wasn’t blinded by the splinter and his heart were already warm. He knowingly and willingly follow the dragon to save his family.

And the third kiss of death that wasn’t given by The Snow Queen? Jon Snow will give it to his queen instead.

Now let’s go back a little bit. Kay was also given a puzzle from ice by The Snow Queen, and if he can solve it then he is free. He was supposed to spell the word “eternity” but he couldn’t figure it out with the shard in his eyes and heart. In GoT we know exactly who has got an shard in his heart.

The Night King. And so that is why he plays with puzzle in ice. He is struggling to form the one symbol that would set him free.

Bonuses

Other than those patterns, there are several interesting tidbits from the story that fits with ASOIAF. There is this one blog said that The Snow Queen story was inspired by another story called “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” which if you read it, it is essentially “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” (the bear is a white bear, by the way)

More bonuses here. When Gerda finally remembers to find Kay during her time in the old woman’s home because of the rose, different flowers gave her different stories even though none tells her about Kay.

This is the story from tiger lily:

"Do you hear the drum? Boom, boom! It was only two notes, always boom, boom! Hear the women wail. Hear the priests chant. The Hindoo woman in her long red robe stands on the funeral pyre. The flames rise around her and her dead husband, but the Hindoo woman is thinking of that living man in the crowd around them. She is thinking of him whose eyes are burning hotter than the flames-of him whose fiery glances have pierced her heart more deeply than these flames that soon will burn her body to ashes. Can the flame of the heart die in the flame of the funeral pyre?"

So GRRM didn’t take the sati ritual for Dany’s rites of passage as mother of dragons from just anywhere, but it is from this story.

Also, hear this story from hyacinth

"There were three sisters, quite transparent and very fair. One wore a red dress, the second wore a blue one, and the third went all in white. Hand in hand they danced in the clear moonlight, beside a calm lake. They were not elfin folk. They were human beings. The air was sweet, and the sisters disappeared into the forest. The fragrance of the air grew sweeter. Three coffins, in which lie the three sisters, glide out of the forest and across the lake. The fireflies hover about them like little flickering lights. Are the dancing sisters sleeping or are they dead? The fragrance of the flowers says they are dead, and the evening bell tolls for their funeral."

Of course this immediately bring to memory the quote of Jon Snow with Val: “The light of the half-moon turned Val’s honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow. She took a deep breath. “The air tastes sweet.”” Well then, according to Hans Christian Andersen, that means death. There are three sisters here which could allude to the three queens at the almost end of GoT: Cersei Lannister (red), Sansa Stark (blue) and Daenerys Targaryen (white).

So those are my stab at it. I would be interested to hear if anyone’s take on it.

[jackoshadows]

From where do people get the notion that book Jon Snow does not know how to negotiate?  I just came across a post on my dash with thousands of notes about how Robb Stark would have done fantastically negotiating with Dany as opposed to Jon Snow. First of all, I doubt D&D would have bestowed Robb with good storytelling in season 7 had he survived that long and secondly, I don’t recall any examples of Robb Stark being a good negotiator in the books?

I will also say that however fantastic the negotiation would have been by whichever Stark, the North would have to bend the knee for Dany’s help. That’s just how it is in Westeros. Recall that Catelyn had to pledge both KITN Robb and Arya in marriage to the Freys for just the use of a bridge! Jon was asking that Dany halt her war and use all her resources to help the North at great loss to her. The least the North can do in return for her saving all their lives is be a part of her 7 kingdoms and assist her against their common enemy Cersei Lannister.

Recall that in the books, Stannis is at the wall to help Jon face the threat from beyond the wall - but the condition is still that Stannis will be king with the North as part of the 7K. And Jon is giving Stannis all the help to fight the Boltons, win the North and become king of the 7K. Jon is allying with and helping a king who  likes to burn people to death to please his red priestess and the Lord of Light.

Now coming to Jon Snow and his diplomatic skills, let’s look at the different types of people with whom 15/16 year old Jon Snow has successfully negotiated with:

Tycho Nestoris of the Iron Bank – We have seen how it’s no easy task getting a loan from the Iron Bank and yet Jon is able to secure a loan to buy food for the Night’s watch – and he does this while Tycho is there to actually meet with Stannis. Rulers are vying for a loan from the Iron Bank and here Jon is getting one despite the Wall not being a good place to invest in for a Braavosi banker.

The mountain clans of the North – The chiefs are invited to the wedding of Alys Karstark and the Magnar of the Thenns where Jon speaks to them and convinces them in the worthiness of his plans including letting the Wildlings in past the wall. The Grand Northern Conspiracy also theorizes that the clan chiefs know about Robb’s will and are there to assess Jon’s leadership capabilities and leave convinced that he would be a good leader. 

The Freefolk/Tormund -  In return for letting them in, Jon has taken child hostages to ensure good behavior, obtained soldiers to man the wall, people to cook, clean and sew and even took their belongings to purchase food! He in effect has command over the freefolk so much so that they are ready to march with him south of the wall to attack the Boltons.

Stannis Baratheon: Jon Snow negotiates so well with Stannis for control of the castles/Freefolk at the wall that he actually wins praise from him – something so rare to get from Stannis. As Stannis tells Jon – “You haggle like a crone with a codfish, Lord Snow” – high praise indeed! And remember that Stannis is a southern king.

The viewpoint that Jon at the wall does not know anything about politics and the south is simply not true. Jon Snow learnt the same as Robb Stark and from the same teachers.  The classist thinking that the bastard is less knowledgeable than the rest of the Starks is false. Ned educated all the boys the same – and that includes Jon and Theon.  And this is reflected in Jon Snow often thinking of Ned’s teachings.

These are Jon’s teachers and mentors throughout the series at various stages – Ned Stark, Maester Luwin, Rodrik Cassel, Jeor Mormont, Donal Noye, Maester Aemon, Mance Raydar and even Stannis himself. He has learned from maesters, warriors and kings. He has learned from NW brothers like the Halfhand and from Ygritte. Which of the younger characters in the books has had better teachers than Jon Snow at this point? The fact that he acknowledges that he still has much to learn ( ‘I know that I know nothing’ - Socrates) makes him one of the wisest characters in the books.

What negotiation has Robb Stark successfully done? Robb was a young prodigy, a genius battle commander but negotiator? His intelligent, strong willed, politically aware mother took care of that. Catelyn negotiated with Renly and Walder Frey for Robb.  What negotiation has Sansa successfully done in 5 books?  Getting SweetRobin to eat his dinner is not the same as conducting a financial transaction with the Iron Bank.

So this idea that Robb and Sansa were/are seasoned politicians and negotiators as opposed to ‘out of touch’ and ‘know nothing’ Jon snow has no basis in the books. In actuality,  GRRM is involving Jon more and more in the politics of the realm as of the last book.  And if Robb’s will does come into the picture, it looks as if Jon Snow as leader of the North will be doing a lot of negotiating – even with southern rulers that perhaps include Daenerys Targaryen who has arrived in KL.

Show Jon Snow has nothing in common with the book version and they are two entirely different characters with different personalities, characterization, plots, narrative themes and relationships.  Not sure why we are taking cues from the show on Jon’s negotiating skills and knowledge. Book Jon Snow’s journey in the next book is going to be different from what we got in the show. For one, he is going to be spending considerable time in a wolf!

Book Jon Snow is an intelligent and well versed diplomat who is capable of going toe to toe with Dany or Tyrion or whomever he would be negotiating with in the future. Hell, Tyrion was impressed by 14 year old Jon Snow. He’s going to be even more impressed when they meet up again in the books. 

[kittensjonsa]

Otherwise, Engaged

The Proposal AU. 

Summary: Flashbacks. A discussion on consent, freedom and independence. Jon finds his heart again -  and the burden of feelings that comes with it. 

Note: Some angst and a backstory.. before the hot smut can begin, of course! Hence, the length of this one. Sorry not sorry. Rated M.

Chapters 1 - 6 

Chapter 7

THREE YEARS EARLIER

“Sansa!”

Sansa wanted to run. Run away from it all. From everyone and especially her mother.

“Honey, please.. just let her be,” Sansa heard her father’s calm voice behind her as she stomped past the hallway and out the door.

Yes, just let me be. Be my own person and away from anything Winterfell or anyone named Stark.

It wasn't so much of the place or the people, it was just the fact of the importance of being a Stark she has had to deal with all her life. Grow up, live and breathe Winterfell. True that she was indeed very much a Northern girl and every bit a Stark but she still had her own character and personality, her own person - didn't that count for anything?

“So, here's our new guy, Jon Snow. Someone you all are familiar with I am sure,” Jeor gave Jon's shoulder a firm squeeze as the introductions made their rounds at the table. Jon smiled and nodded at the elderly gentlemen and a lady seated with them. Jon spoke very little and merely listened throughout the dinner. Jon realised very quickly that it was all business and had little to do with him, managing polite yes-es and a laugh at every dull joke every once in a while. Besides, he was far more concerned about getting his affairs in order and with so many accounts under his name, Jon feared he desperately needed an assistant. My brain can only handle so much, great as it is.

It had only been two weeks since the move into the swanky corner office of Mormont & Sons Publishing and it had been dinner every night as Jeor insisted on making sure Jon and his talent was right smack in the faces of the right people. Small price to pay for being the new hot shot editor in town.

“Hey Ryan, if you have a minute, send me some resumes my way would you? You know, for the opening for the exec assistant? Haven't heard anything from HR.”

Jon was ignored as Ryan, the HR head only continued his conversation on his phone. A token nod greeted Jon as Ryan finally waved a hello to him, patting down a pile of papers in a corner of his desk, his ear still glued to the phone. Jon wasn't sure what that meant but perhaps he was pointing out to the resumes the department had received along with the personal assistant posting. It was obvious Ryan did not really care if he existed or not.

Jon Snow was just another name on the payroll, amongst hundreds of others. Ryan had his work cut out for him indefinitely, though Jon couldn't care less, as long as he got the right person he wanted for the job. Another name on the payroll. Sorry, Ryan. Jon decided to help himself to the pile seeing how busy Ryan was, the active lines on his phone on hold blinking impatiently.

“Oh right, yeah. So, there are already some here you might want to look at. Sandra already found hers and these were the shortlisted ones. They seem promising.”

Sighing, Jon took the messy folder off the desk.

“Right. Of course. I'll look through them then. Thanks.”

No thanks.

Jon was about to say something about scheduling appointments when he saw Ryan going back to ignoring him as soon he got on the phone again.

Looks like I'm on my own. Story of my life, ain't it.

Jon stared tiredly at the piece of paper before him. This was the last resume from the pile of rejects Sandra had left him. The only piece of resume was from, quite possibly the only candidate left worthy of any attention. Jon was exhausted, realising this was tedious work - from the mingling dinners every night to reading manuscripts one after another - he was quite content with an extra pair of hands really. He hardly looked after himself recently. And if he had to eat from another take out box and sleep on the office couch again, he'd quit. So done. There was no way he could do everything himself. Especially the phone calls. Waking up in bed with his phone on his face was something he'd like to avoid as much as possible.

“Sansa Stark, let's see if you're the one,” Jon skimmed through the cover letter.

University of Westeros. Okay good enough.

“Please, please say you can start immediately.”

Jon rubbed his tired eyes as he clicked 'send' and decided he was done for the day. His head was pounding away, drained from all the reading he had done and all he wanted was his bed. He'd check for any emails from a Sansa Stark first thing in the morning. Right now, he needed to sleep and at home, not another night on the couch in his office.

Sansa Stark. God, I need you. Save me.

The blaring alarm had Jon spring out of bed and while he was normally up quite early for his workouts, he was not feeling quite up to it that morning.

Stumbling about, Jon grabbed the first shirt he found his hands on in the closet. It looked decent enough with yesterday's suit jacket over it.

Right, twenty-four hour dry cleaners. That's going on the list.

Twenty four hours never seemed enough ever since he started his new job with the Mormonts. Exhausted was an understatement. Although, now he was a little relieved, looking forward to the next few days when he could sleep a little easier thanks to Sansa Stark. Well, hopefully.

“Mr Snow, your 8.30 is here.” A bored tone greeted him the moment he stepped out into the lobby.

It was too early to choke on his triple shot espresso. "My what?"

“Mr Snow? Hi, I got your email yesterday and I replied, though I wasn't sure if you got it. So... hi, I'm Sansa Stark.”

Oh.

“For the executive assistant post? I figured the HR department knew about our appointment but looks like… nobody's quite in yet.”

A tall, leggy redhead with blazing blue eyes and a smile that lit up the sky.

Ahh...right.. Sansa Stark.

---

Her sultry drawl that lingered on a breathy rasp was his reckoning. Say my name. Again and again. Jon gently brushed away the soft copper locks from the creamy skin of her neck and kissed it. He inhaled deeply, as deep as he could drink her in, hungrily desperate, because this might the first and only time he'd have with her.

Her scent was unmistakable. A heady mix reminiscent of lavender and rose, Jon recalled how it greeted him every morning, almost every day the past three years. He had grown fond of it, comforted by it, knowing that she was a constant at his side. How he looked forward to seeing her leap into his office and greet him with a smile and his favourite coffee. How he noticed the way her lips pursed, poring over pages of manuscripts whilst sat next to him with her long slender legs crossed ever so daintily. Little bits and pieces of her, that if only she knew he'd taken a liking to- Sansa probably wouldn't have despised him so much.

He had chosen this life. He was good at it. There was no compromise on his career because it was the only thing he ever had that was his and his alone. Jon refused for it to be taken away for the sake of a mere whim or an itch to scratch. Years and years of hard work had him where he was right now, and it would have all gone to dust, if he were to ruin everything for the sake of feelings. Feelings he had buried so deep within that are now on the verge of imploding, teetering on losing the one thing he yearned for all his life. Acceptance. And if fate wasn't cheeky enough, it was all Sansa gave him and it was exactly what he needed.

It was fortune that smiled on him, chancing upon a resume his former editors had passed on due to her clear lack of experience. It was his first week at Mormont & Sons and it was clear, with all the new accounts thrown at him, the golden boy of print and press, that he was in dire need of an assistant. As long as they were willing to put in the time and work, Jon wouldn't be picky. Even a naive, inexperienced fresh graduate would do, he told himself that. It was just assistance he needed, nothing more.

Only thing was, he didn't expect a tall beautiful redhead named Sansa Stark to step into his office, all eager and enthusiastic and willing to do whatever it took to be an author of her own right one day. The day Jon couldn't possibly forget. And now, the one person Jon could not lose.

“Sansa…” Jon nibbled at her ears as his hands roamed to parts of her he once longed to touch while his lips quickly found their way lower to her bosom.

Sansa seized a fistful of his curls as his mouth hovered closer to her teats, soft yet hard from arousal. Heaving full mounds of soft flesh so scintillating Jon couldn't help but open his mouth wide and devour them still clothed. She was perfect in every way, just like he had pictured in his mind.

“Oh god… Jon..”

The kiss had gone further than they imagined as Jon and Sansa laid on her bed, a tangled mess of legs and arms caressing every inch of the other. Sansa writhed at every contact his lips made with her skin, with the hem of her dress shifting higher and dangerously above her hips, where his hands and mouth were only a breath away from a place no man had been before.

Sansa groaned at the clothed yet growing hardness stroking against the sides of her thighs as Jon's body moved along with his lips pecking lower and lower below her stomach. Jon had to pause, because if he went on, there would absolutely be no stopping him. He needed to be sure. He needed her to be sure. It was happening indeed, despite his best efforts to control himself.

“Sansa… please.. for the love of God... tell me to stop.. right now.. if you want me to… because I... cannot,” Jon muttered at the end of every kiss as he made his way up to kiss her lips again. Sansa groaned at his touch and responded with a deep kiss, like the one he gave her moments ago. Sansa hissed as Jon's mouth left hers and back to her lower body.

“Jon… don't.. stop.. but.. I have to tell you something,” Sansa answered in between gasps and hisses, her skin burning hot at every lick of Jon's tongue on her belly.

“Tell me… what?” Jon continued in bliss as his mouth found hers again, this time his eyes gazing deeply into hers.

“I…. haven't... done this.. so.. be gentle?” Sansa confessed, blushing as she cupped and kissed his face.

Jon could hear the sound of tyres screeching in brakes in his head. “W-wait… what?”

No... Hold on. Wait.

Jon sat up immediately the moment the reality hit him. He refused to face up to it but he now he had to. It took a moment before Sansa opened her eyes and found Jon sitting at the end of her bed watching her with a frown.

Oh God, what now?

“Jon? What.. why.. what's wrong?”

Jon bit down his lip. Should he ask? Should he say it? Perhaps not. It was an amazing moment they both shared and she gave her consent. True, that was enough, but why did it feel so awfully wrong? Sansa waited but grew impatient. It was a look she had never been acquainted with before and it worried her.

“You mean to tell me.. you haven't done it yet? Shit.. this is not happening.”

What?

Sansa felt the usual annoyance rising in her again and this time it was seething. Suddenly she felt naked and stupid. From a high she didn't want to come down from, it only took minutes to feel like she had been spat out onto the ground.

“What.. why are you being like this, Jon? Why.. why does that matter? I said yes didn't I?” Sansa dared to ask, her eyes filling with tears she didn't expect. Jon only sighed and looked away. Shame. She knew that look well enough.

“Why.. am I not good enough now?”

Jon panicked and hastened to cool the growing tension. “No, that's not what I meant, Sansa. It's just-”

“Just what? How ridiculous it is that I'm here almost topless and you giving me a hickey seconds ago and then.. for posterity's sake, I say I'm a virgin, because you know, I just wanted to let you know since I've never done this before, ever.. and then all of a sudden, you stop and GROW A CONSCIENCE?!”

“No, Sansa that's not what-”

“Then, what the hell do you mean? Because it was was as clear as day when you had your tongue down my throat seconds ago!”

Jon gulped, his eyes slowly meeting hers. “I just.. didn't expect us to-”

“To what? Have sex?” Sansa asked, her voice wavering.

“Sansa, look.. let me just explain, please?” Jon pleaded, lowering his tone and voice, hoping Sansa would do the same. The last thing he wanted was an argument about sex with Sansa under Ned Stark's roof and everyone else hearing them.

“Just say it... I'm not good enough am I? Well, screw you, Jon Snow, you're on your fucking own.”

Sansa wiped away her tears as she hastily put her dress back in order and stood up, wanting to leave. Sansa flinched and almost elbowed him as Jon reached out to console her. He didn't know what to do or say exactly and he did not want to leave nor did he know how. They had come this far and certainly this can't be it. This has gone way, way off course.

“Sansa, please.. listen to me. I.. I don't want to impose anymore than I already have Sansa. Please try to understand that. I can't… lie to your family and then.. take you.. like that... Under these circumstances. This.. just doesn't feel right.. I can't do that to you.”

Sansa blinked as she tried to comprehend what Jon was trying to say.

“Take me? What the hell am I to you? Cattle? So, you're saying if I wasn't untouched and pure like you said, you'd do it? And all of the above?!”

This wasn't going well at all.

“No." Jon paused.

"You're on thin fucking ice, Jon. After all I've done for you.”

Sansa knew the right words to hit right back. Ouch.

“Yes and you deserve better than this! Than all of this right now! You've been.. everything to me since we met. I don't want to ruin this just because I needed dick relief!”

Dick relief. Some editor you are. Jon groaned, exasperated. He was losing, fast.

“How would you know what I want or deserve? Don't I get a say in this? I chose it, yes. I played along with this, yes. Did I want to be intimate with you? Yes! What part of me telling you not to stop meant anything but?”

Sansa sighed and watched the trees sway in the chilly breeze from the balcony. She couldn't face him now. She had become just another conversation, an afterthought.

“It's 2019, you know. My body is mine to give, Jon. It's not for anyone to take. And I wanted to give it to you. It was my choice.”

Ah, fuck. Touché. And I wanted it.

Sansa could hardly believe what was happening. From pure passion one moment, to wiping away tears the next. Of course, it had to be Jon. Sansa had cried tears over the tyranny of the workload he dumped on her, but this.. this was something else.

Sansa turned and sat back down on the bed, seeing Jon seated at the bench, his face in his hands.

“Let me tell you something, mister. Do you know how hard I've worked to find my own two feet? Moving to the city and be a writer some day? All this, without relying on my parents, while being a Stark? Do you know how much I had to give up to get here? I did that on my own, because I chose to. Without any help from my family, knowing how much it hurt them. All my life, I've been told what to do, what to be and how to do it and for the most part, I played along and obliged. But one day I decided, no. I'm going to do my own thing. Myself. And from then on, I decided whatever I choose to do, it would be me who says so."

Sansa sighed, recounting the numerous arguments she had with her mother and the times she's had to skip Skyping her brothers just to prove her point on how well and busy she was doing on her own.

Jon had no idea how it had been for her but he understood what she meant. Sacrifices.

He raised his hands in surrender. It was getting far too deep and deviated away too much from what they had in mind - this wasn't how he wanted the weekend to go. They had one plan and no matter what, they both had to stick to it.

Sansa bit down her lip, struggling not to say too much before it was too late. She had said enough to make her point. Enough of everyone telling her how she should live her life. Enough. Besides, there was nothing to be ashamed about it, Jeyne consoled her once. The whispers behind her back, how she was the ice queen of the North, the ways they all stared at her in university the moment she stepped foot there. Sansa Stark, pride and joy of Winterfell - what shame if she was ruined. Sansa couldn't do that to herself and her parents. Being the eldest daughter of the North's power couple was already hard enough. Sansa assured herself constantly, how there was no one remotely interesting enough to spark any interest anyway. Plus, the Stark name was repellent enough. Everyone knew who her parents were, so nobody dared to try.

“So, all this, fake fiance bullshit? Yeah, I chose it. Me, working for you and staying on despite your royal douche-ness, I chose it. Why is that such a strange concept to you.”

Jon wanted to strangle himself if he could. Or kick himself in the balls, as it would be appropriate. Pretending to be fake-engaged with the threat of five years in prison looming over their heads was one thing, if only he could explain how taking Sansa's untouched body was quite another. And to think he was so close to ruining every single area of Sansa's life just moments ago. He couldn't do it to her.

“Sansa… you don't know.. how much I owe you for this. All of this. And.. man.. the things I want to do to you..” Jon scoffed at the irony of it all.

“Well, now you're just saying that,” Sansa huffed indignantly at the revelation.

Jon reached out to grab her hand but Sansa pulled back.

“No, I'm not this time. Listen, let's just-”

A loud knock jolted both of them back to reality. “Sansy? Can Jon come out and fish with us? Can he? Please?”

Ah, shit. The family.

Jon looked to Sansa for an answer. Clearly they both had forgotten about the day's program.

“Uhh.. yeah. We'll be out in a minute.”

Sansa sat on her bed, watching Jon deliberate his next move.

“Well? Don't make my dad and brothers wait,” Sansa prompted.

Fair enough. “Sansa, please.. can we talk when I get back? I promise I have a point to make. I'm just failing badly at making it right now.”

Sansa couldn't listen to anything, not to a single word he'd say, anyway. Time apart would be good. She needed to think, go over what had just transpired and perhaps how to move on from there. Surely she didn't want to lose her job if Jon went to jail, that was a fact whether she liked or not. Crawling back to Winterfell with her tail between her legs, hearing her mother gloat how she had been right all along, was hard to swallow too. Damn decisions. All after that speech about independence, Sansa Stark. Great.

“I'll be in the treehouse. It's behind the shed. Find me there when you're done.”

Jon nodded and grabbed his coat as he headed out.

All Jon wanted to do was tear his hair out. If only she knew how much I want her right here, right now. But the fishing call was a good save, he'd might have said worse things and dug a deeper hole than he was already in. He would think about what to say and how he'd say it. It was clear that this little adventure to meet the family, to convince some immigration officer and avoid going to prison was turning into something else entirely.

It was a nice but cold day out on a rocky boat that Jon mustered enough will to survive. He didn't like the water and certainly not the icy cold one at Winterfell and he longed to see Sansa again, counting down the hours.

He needed to do right by her, at least in keeping the boundaries, though they were already crossed. But that didn't matter as boundaries were boundaries. He had to do something. If he truly was a cad through and through, he'd have her four ways to Sunday, against the wall in her own room, in her parent's house where she grew up, having her scream his name for her mother and all to hear - and then leave and go back to normal once the visa got approved. But we can't go back to how things were, can we? Not after that kiss.

But he wasn't a cad, safe to say and he was proud of it. He actually cared for Sansa. Infuriating, smart-mouth and gorgeous Sansa Stark. He'd end the whole charade right now, if he had to do the right thing. A small part of him feared that it perhaps was already over.  Whatever it may be, he'd rather go to prison in Dorne than put Sansa through all of that on top of everything he had dragged her into.

I would. She deserves better than this.

“Well, I guess better luck next time eh?” Jon turned to hear Ned's voice call out to him. He was talking about the day's poor catch but to Jon, it meant something else.

If there's a next time, indeed. So help me, God.

[tomakeitbeautifultolive]

2 questions (or so😬); 1) do you have headcanons of how will Jon and Danys love or romance story develop(if there is one)? Slow, over time? Or on the first sight, head over heels? One-sided, and later two-sider? Will both of them don't know(R+L=J) ? Or only Jon? How do you picture the angst between them? 2)when did Ben joined the NW and why? It's not like the NW went from a place or glory to a shit hole in a span of 15 years?! Like it's never mentioned what Ben did during the rebellion? Thx you

Wow! Thank you for all the asks! Sorry it took me so long to get to your beautiful questions. Oh you know I've got some Jon x Dany headcanons! *rubs hands together*

I believe it will be a slow burn that will resemble season seven in many ways (there's a reason season seven, for all its flaws, was still very highly rated as opposed to season eight - because while things like dialogue or timing suffered, the plot still felt like it was going in the right direction).

My prediction about Jon has always been that he'll be the *one* man who isn't impressed with Dany's beauty. Oh, he'll notice it all right, but he won't mention it or use it as a means to gain her favor with compliments. He's going to treat her as an equal right off the bat, and not as an object or a prize that he can win or woo. This is going to perplex Daenerys and probably intrigue her. They'll earn each other's respect based on merit, and I definitely predict some sort of innate bond between them because they're basically fated to meet.

Now, there's some speculation that because Jon died and is (most likely) coming back to life, we may never get another POV from him again. If that is the case (knock on wood) it will definitely appear very one-sided. I also have a headcanon that Jon absolutely resembles his true father in all but coloring, and that he's a total knockout - and we won't find that out until Daenerys sees him and we finally hear a proper description of his looks. (I also have a headcanon that Jon has his father's eyes - that everyone assumes they're grey but actually they're a dark indigo...) And in my dreams, Barristan Selmy is standing beside Daenerys on Dragonstone when Jon marches in and Ser Barristan sees something in Jon that strikes him as familiar... I would love it if, upon seeing Jon, it suddenly clicks for Barriston.

Angst between them, hmm. (f)Aegon is a bit of a curveball here. Either he's going to carry out his plan to try and wed his aunt and it could cause angst and make Jon realize he feels something more for Dany, or this will happen long before Jon is around - possibly as a ploy. Part of me suspects that if he took Tyrion's advice to heart about having a stronger claim than Dany, he might try to get rid of her or destroy her reputation somehow when she arrives to Westeros - and Jon might go to her once she's totally compromised and offer an alliance then.

I am more of a mystery theorist rather than someone who feels comfortable guessing at battle plans or strategies, I admit...

I do think that Jon's parentage will come out by some means or another, and that Daenerys will find out. I don't see this being a point of contention between them whatsoever, nor will the incest be a problem for Jon. In fact, I kind of see the pair of them teaming up to slay the mummer's dragon together. While the show really went hard with Targaryens being mad and evil, that is hardly the case for ASOIAF. This negative image of Targaryens comes mostly from, you betcha, the Lannisters (and Robert Baratheon). It was more or less a propaganda campaign that succeeded not only across Westeros, but apparently across the reader base who cannot read between the lines.

If it's true that Coldhands is not Benjen, then it could be Benjen or Howland who spill the beans, or perhaps confirm Ser Barristan's suspicion? (Assuming he doesn't die - but I really feel in my heart that he won't). I think Jon will have an identity crisis - not so much about being a Targaryen (I think he'll be proud of that honestly) but about not being Ned Stark's son as he was led to believe. I'd love for him, and the readers, to finally learn that his true father was a great man.

Now, speaking of Benjen... I believe he had a very heavy hand in what happened between Lyanna and Rhaegar. I believe he helped equip Lyanna with the mismatched armor needed for the tourney - and that he helped them, in some way, correspond in order to plan their elopement/abscondence.

During the rebellion, Benjen was the Stark in Winterfell - which I can only imagine how that empty castle haunted him during that period. Following news of his sister's death, I'd be willing to bet Benjen was utterly overcome with guilt. And for as close as Ned and Lyanna were, I believe Benjen was even closer to her. His joining the Night's Watch reads almost like a self-inflicted punishment/imprisonment, or... maybe... it wasn't that at all. His decision to join the ranks of a military order full of Targaryen supporters beyond the reach of Robert Baratheon might be a strategic one.

Benjen isn't stupid. He has to know who Jon is, right? I suspect he was even in on the prophecy that Rhaegar was into about TPTWP. So, Ned is keeping Jon safe, but Benjen might just be securing his future (or was, until his disappearance threw the plan into jeopardy).

Now... I have another little theory everyone is going to hate. But bear with me.

The Mormonts. They're a relatively small house sworn to Stark, in the middle of fucking nowhere. And by that I mean they're on small Bear Island surrounded by water - it's real out of the way from just about any and everything. They are described as poor.

So, how the hell does this small, obscure house manage to be one of the few with a Valyrian sword? Was it really written that way just so that Jon could inherit it? That seems a bit too convenient for GRRM's standards, doesn't it?

Presumably, sometime before Robert's Rebellion (though no one knows for sure), Jeor Mormont joined the Night's Watch and quickly moved through the ranks, securing Lord Commander status. Benjen Stark becomes First Ranger. Two of the most powerful positions. And Bear Island went to Jeor's son, Jorah Mormont, along with Longclaw.

What happens with Jorah, exactly? He's caught selling poachers to slavers. Poachers. On Bear Island...?

For this disgrace, Jorah Mormont fled to the Free Cities. In the books, it says during this time Jorah fights the Braavosi, but in the show, he admits to having been part of the Golden Company (this might be important considering GRRM was pretty involved in season one and writing it).

I know the story goes that the sword has been with the family for five-hundred years. But a theme in these books is that history doesn't quite add up, and I can't help but notice that while the Starks' sword Ice dates back four-hundred years, around the time of the Doom of Valyria/when the Targaryens landed in Westeros, the Mormont sword allegedly goes back a hundred years further? Curious.

The original pommel, according to Jeor, was worn and indistinguishable - which seems strange for a Valyrian steel sword. Either way, this is a hint that pommels can be swapped out.

Much like Jon, Longclaw might also have a secret Targaryen identity: Blackfyre.

I'd love to see Jon and Dany square off against (f)Aegon - Dany with her dragons and Jon wielding Blackfyre. It's absurd headcanon for me that Jon obtaining and wielding this sword will inspire the Golden Company in some way and get them to change allegiance. How? I think we're missing plenty of details but if anyone knows the fate of Blackfyre better than we do, it's the Golden Company, and if Jorah did work for them or fight against them, then his presence alongside Jon/Dany might prove the swords are one and the same.

How perfect would it be for Jon to wield the very same sword as his idol, the Young Dragon? *dreamy sigh*

Anyway. If you're following me this far, it's also curious that Jorah goes on to find and protect Daenerys, eh? Meanwhile, when Jon expresses interest in joining the Night's Watch, Benjen says this:

"Until you have known a woman, you cannot understand what you would be giving up."

"I don't care about that!" Jon said hotly.

"You might, if you knew what it meant," Benjen said. "If you knew what the oath would cost you, you might be less eager to pay the price, son."

It's just all very curious to me. And maybe we'll never get answers where Benjen is concerned, just like we'll never know exactly what Rhaegar's plan was, either. But imagining these grand schemes going on in the background make the story so much more interesting to me because I'm a dreamer, what can I say?

Thanks for the asks, they were a great way to get my mind off of paranoia for a while lol ♥

[7deadlycinderellas]

If the summer of lives could just come again, ch 15

Ao3 link

Over the Wall

Jon would have never believed he would miss Ygritte busting his chops. Ever since they’d reached the cave she had been nearly sedate. If he hadn’t seen her receive her wound, he would think the blow to the head had been much more severe than he had thought.

The cave is safe, and warm enough (but not really warm at all). Jyna manages to get a small fire going at the mouth. Rowan finds them food (as much as that green moss could be considered food). And they all spend a few days recovering from their journey.

The first night, over their meager meal, Gilly sits by his side, feeding her son, and he finally asks her how the all of them ended up with Rowan at all.

“Did anyone tell you about us? Any of the crows?”

Jon shakes his head. He’d overheard a bit about what they called Craster’s Keep, but didn’t really understand what it was.

Gilly takes a deep breath, and launches into her story. About her father’s...peculiarities. The sharp intake of Jon’s breath brings a flush of something over Gilly’s face that he can’t quite identify, but she doesn’t stop her story. She tells him about her most recent pregnancy, and about what Craster would do to her child if he were born a boy.

“I couldn’t let that happen. So when I could stand again, I grabbed him and staggered out into the forest.”

She had hidden, still bleeding and exhausted, for three days. After those three days, she had found one of Rowan’s caves, and found herself face to face with a creature she had only heard of in stories.

“I told her what my father would do to my child. And she took my hand and asked if I was willing to help her. That if I did, it would not only protect my babe, but thousands of others as well.”

She spoke of Rowan leading her back to her home in the dead of night, giving her a poultice of herbs similar to the one they’d used on Jon and Ygritte to use on her father, and helped her wake and lead her sisters from the shack.

It hadn’t been hard, she said. Though none of them had ever had the bravery to flee before, they had all hoped somehow she would make it away.

And with their father in a drugged stupor, all of them had lit fire to the keep. Nearly everything in it was wood, aged and dry. Rowan had provided the spark, from the strange sort of orb she’d conjured, and in the dry wintery wind, it had gone up in seconds.

Her story takes most of the night, but it’s not like theirs much else to do. All they seem to have now is time.

And in that time, Jon finally finds the time to ask Rowan some of the dozens of questions that have spent the past year  

“What is this place?” is the first.

“This cave used to be known as the cave of the three-eyed Raven,”

Jon flinches at the memory of what his sisters had once called Bran. His eyes follow Rowan’s gaze, which lands on a spot on the inside wall that is littered with twisted tree roots.

“It was once the home of the last remaining alive of my people. Now it’s just me, and now it’s just a cave. But it also holds the last bits of our magic and culture. And our last hope.”

Rowan had gazed out the opening of the cave, over the hillside.

“Even the weirwood above is merely one of our wards, the last things to protect this place.”

Her eyes suddenly take on a deep, faraway sadness. It’s like the one Jon once saw on his own sisters’ faces, but heavier, more lasting.

“The last greenseer once led your cousin, Brandon Stark, here, in the hopes of passing on his skill and knowledge, in the hope that it would be enough to stop the rise of the Night King.”

“It wasn’t enough?” Jon asks, with a note of darkness to his voice.

Rowan shakes her head.

“It was never enough. Brandon Stark was a child, ill-prepared. Brynden Rivers was human once, but he hadn’t been human in a long time, and I believe he had truly forgotten what it meant.”

That fits perfectly with the what the girls had said had happened to Bran. They had seemed very disturbed to speak of it.

“Brynden Rivers’ powers gave him an entire view of humanity, of it’s past and present, but sometimes it’s future as well. I don’t feel that all of that was necessary.”

“If you…” Jon cuts himself off, “If you don’t think that needed to happen, then why am I here?” Rowan waits a time before answering.

“As a child of the forest, I have certain abilities that protected me. As the rest of my people died around me, I slunk off and hid. This is just one cave, but the deeper you go, you will find more and more. All of this land, in fact, beyond the wall, is connected. I can cross the frozen landscape without ever seeing the sun. And so, while my people were slaughtered, I hid.”

Her eyes bear witness to her shame. Jon can only imagine, having everyone you knew, everyone you loved, wiped out so wholly. To truly be the last of your race. She should be proud, he muses, to have survived, to still be alive, but it must be so lonely.

“After what happened, I began practicing, stretching what magic I knew I could still use. It’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but I had a few tricks left. So I built a plan, something that I thought might give you all a second chance.

The children of the forest aren’t bound by time like humans. Sometimes we live very long lives, lives that you would call generations. And in my life, I learned to pull the land back with me. So I used that, I pulled it back. I pulled it back far enough that humanity would have a chance.”

“But..but if you just pulled the land back, how come it’s not just you who remembers? Why do my siblings too?”

He won’t call them his cousins. Though they may be what they are, it’s not what they are to him.

“Jon Snow, have you ever pulled a piece of fabric? Have you ever pulled it as far as it would pull? What happens?”

Jon tries to picture her words. He imagines a piece of clothing stretched too long, pulled desperately onto someone it no longer fits.

“It tears.”

Rowan nods.

“What I did took a toll. The magic we have is deeply tied to the land of this world. And bits that are the closest to the old world- such as the swamps you call the Neck, and for that matter, even this cave too- took the brunt, and when I pulled, holes formed. And where there is a hole, things can travel through.”

Jon is silent for a time, trying to wrap his head around her words. While he mostly feels like a gaping fish, he notes that Rowan’s gaze has moved to where Ygritte sits, silently.

“What about her?”

Rowan frowns, her ears drooping.

“Like I said, my magics are not great, and I cannot speak to all of the effects it might have. Perhaps it had something to do with her wound, perhaps it was because she came into contact with where the weirwood stood. Perhaps it was even a side effect of the wards on this place. “

She nods in her Ygritte’s direction when she stirs.

“But if you want to hear her story, I suggest that you ask her.”

Later in the evening, when the fire begins to burn down to embers, Jon takes Rowan’s advice. He sits beside her and offers her a bowl of that awful green moss. She takes it without a word. He doesn’t even have to prompt her.

“You said you would never betray me, and you left. And I swore I would kill you. And I tried, and I couldn’t. We stared at each other, but couldn’t kill each other. So some little fucker came and did it for you.”

Jon silently dwells on her words. She reaches and takes his hand, with surprising tenderness. There’s no mockery in her words.

“If they hadn’t taken us, we’d have gone back to Mance Ryder’s camp, halfway on the way there.”

“We aren’t though,” Jon insists, “We’re here.”

Ygritte raises an eyebrow in Rowan’s direction.

“Has she told you why we’re here?”

“A bit.”

“Has she told you why you?”

Rowan had used words, big words, about Jon. Those words had been on the way here, and have seemed to nearly disappear now that they’ve arrived.

“No, but I’ll ask her. She said we’ll start tomorrow, start with whatever it is she wants to teach me.”

Ygritte rubs her thumb along his hand.

“It better not be because you’re pretty. Because I still saw you first.”

 Winterfell

Autumn has turned starkly cold. The streams in the wolfswood have begun to freeze.

Arya returns home after the start of the year. She returns with many things. Names of wildlings within the walls who seem to have influence over the others (Tormund is among them, she had discovered. While she is sad he won’t recognize her, she knew he was never a kneeler). Names of guards who probably should be reassigned (She’d given them to the warden before leaving, with a few sickening details). And a dozen or more stories of death at the hands of the wights.

And a desperate desire to wear her own face again.

It was strange really, she’d never felt very possessive of her own face. She never thought it was all that great. But after months of wearing the face of a man twice her age who apparently liked to pick fights, she just wants to be Arya Horseface again.

“Did we ever get word from Davos?” she asks anxiously once she’s   greeted, and settled with everyone back at Winterfell. There’s venison for supper, and she gobbles it down. It tastes amazing after weeks of jerky and foraging.

Robb nods solemnly, and Arya is suddenly apprehensive at his answer.

“When he and Osha made it to Castle Black, the mutiny had already tipped off. Jeor Mormont is dead, and Alliser Thorne has taken control. They wouldn’t listen to a word Davos tried to tell them. “

“I sent Una after you left to find them.” Bran interjects, “Davos sent word to his second eldest son, and he set sail North. They’re trying to evacuate those they can south via sea.”

Arya is alarmed.

“The Watch at Eastwatch-by-the-sea patrols the sea looking for wildlings trying to sail south!”

“And Davos was a smuggler.” Robb tells her, “If anyone can evade the sea patrols, it would be him. And besides, Father always said the East Watch was a bit more lax than the others.”

She tells him of the talk she heard from the men and women within the Dreadfort. They’d taken to calling Robb the Young Wolf. And even though they still spat at calling him a king (which he wasn’t, she reminded some of them a few times) they at least seemed accepting that he wanted to stop the dead as much as they did.

“They may not have kings over the wall,” Arya tells him, “But they pick who will lead them, and they feel they know a good leader when they see one.”

“That still feels like a compliment I don’t deserve.”

Arya smiles and shakes her head, “Can you imagine them meeting King Robert?”

There’s laughter all around.

After supper finishes, she leaves to the forge to have a proper reunion with Gendry. Despite Meera’s best efforts, she told Arya he was still skipping meals.

He’s alone, and so when she sees him, obviously the best course of action is to tackle him. He’s off guard enough that she still can. She’s near all grown now, her head reaching his chin, and she doesn’t want him getting cocky.

When his back hits the floor, she rests her elbows on his chest and props herself up on them.

“Miss me?”

His eyes are tender despite the sting of his back hitting the floor. His lazily throws an arm across her back.

“More than you could imagine.”

After a bit, during which she sneaks back to the Great Hall and brings him some proper food, she asks him how everyone else has been holding up.

“Bran’s raven got back from Essos two moons ago. She made it fine, but he can’t navigate the land easily because he doesn’t know it. Him and Jojen keep pouring over books trying to figure it out. “

Arya nods, “I can help him with Braavos, but beyond that I’m no more use.”

“Rickon’s been spending nearly all his time with the wildling children. You’d think he was one.”

“That’s nothing new”

“He did manage to lodge an arrow all the way to the top of one of the ramparts the other day.”

“Oh, I’m almost sad I missed that.”

“Meera and I spent a long time trying to figure out how to get it down, but when everyone left, she just climbed up and pulled it down herself.”

“She doesn’t like climbing in front of Bran, she thinks it makes him feel bad.”

“I also heard Johnna and Willa arguing the other day about which of them gets to steal him.”

Oh, that might be a much bigger problem.

“Don’t they know….”

Gendry nods grimly.

“Right after you left, one of the wildlings working down in town tried to steal one of the kitchen girls. It ended with him with a broken jaw and one of the men who intervened losing a hand. “

At least no one had died. When Arya had left, she had thought that most of the women in Winterfell were cautious of the wildlings because of the stories of their cultural rituals.

“Robb made it terribly clear that we do not steal brides in this land, but I fear the girls might have just assumed that meant we stole husbands instead.”

This was going to be a fun one to undo. Both of the girls like Arya, so she might be able to break it to them.

“Also, you’re mother’s been giving me talking-tos lately. You should go spend some time with her.”

He doesn’t tell her that Lady Catelyn had pretty much tipped him over and shaken him loose as soon as Arya wasn’t near.

She had interrogated him as to near everything; his prospects, his dreams, his name.

“I like my work well enough. I could see spending my life doing it.”

“I understand you’ve learned yourself to be of royal blood, baseborn or not. Haven’t you ever thought of pursuing anything higher?”

Gendry grimaces. His younger self would have wanted nothing more. To have a name, a stake. To have something to offer. To show the world he was more than a bastard.

“I used to, but anymore...I have a skill, a skill I am good at. Your daughter doesn’t need me to have a name, she has one, one she’s terribly proud of. She knows her worth, and I know mine.”

Catelyn had studied his face, and found no dishonesty in his words. She can’t admit it out loud, she even scarcely can to herself, that she’s seeking in Gendry the same ambition she so feared in Jon. But she finds none.

She tries to keep this in mind in the following moons after her younger daughter returns home.

They are going over the paperwork together again.

“Food’s going to be a problem,” Arya comments, “We’ve been setting aside plenty, but with the influx of new people everything’s going to be stretched tight.”

“We may have to import, from the Reach likely, or perhaps Dorne. Your sister’s friendship with Princess Myrcella may curry us some favor.”

It seems ridiculous, Arya thinks, that something as necessary as food stores was put aside as ‘women’s work’.

There’s a bit of silence, before Catelyn asks her daughter.

“I suppose you’re approaching the age at which you married before.”

“Not quite yet, I think I was eighteen by then, I definitely wasn’t any younger than seventeen.”

“Well it is nearly four months passed your fifteenth name day. You were gone then.”

Arya suddenly pays attention to her mother’s tone.

“I had a cloak made for you then, but I can wait to give it to you.”

Arya had a creeping feeling she knows where this conversation is going.

“Mother, that’s redundant. We married properly before, in the Godswood. Ser Davos was there…”

“And no one else was.” Catelyn says, “And despite what you say, people will talk if you don’t follow certain customs...“

As if Arya had ever cared about other people talking, and their customs. Then again,

“...And none of us got to be there the first time.”

Catelyn reaches out and rubs Arya on the shoulders.

“You’re my daughter. I’d like to see you wed.”

She sighs deeply. She can’t fight her on that.

“It doesn’t have to be fancy, it can just be family. We’ll do it before the end of the year, the day of the last harvest feast. “

The last harvest feast hangs over the year. It gets dark earlier and earlier in the day, and on even the clear days the wind howls through the trees. The streams are frozen and the snow heavy, and the woods have gone quiet. Arya and Meera sometimes join the men on their hunting parties, but every time they return to Winterfell more and more empty handed. Winter might as well be already here.

Everyone trains more. Arya had begun insisting that Robb let her practice with her sword with both him and Theon. The dead will not go easy on them. The weapons stock hold grows. More and more wildlings trickle in, and must be accommodated.

At least, she thinks, once her and Gendry are married properly and will actually be expected to share a bed, there will be one more room to go around.

“It won’t be so bad,” Gendry muses when the morning comes, “At least you’ll have proper family here this time.”

“You just say that because you’re glad the Hound isn’t here.”

“Well he did find reason to call me a twat every other sentence.”

‘That doesn’t make you special. He called everyone a twat.”

Arya’s wearing the blue dress Sansa made her all those years ago. It fits like a glove now.

“Sansa’s going to kill me. She was mad enough she missed it the first time.”

And Father too, she thinks.

Everyone else in the household is bustling about with preparations for the harvest feast. The buck the hunters had returned with two days prior is being roasted, and everyone else runs to and fro with other foods, and furniture and all the other necessities, to notice the small group approaching the sept.

Meera’s the one who approaches with her cloak. It’s her old one, too short and worn. It will do for her maiden cloak. Meera’s also wearing the dress Sansa started for her all that time ago.

“Mother finished it? It looks nice.”

Meera fusses with the skirt.

“I guess it was too much to hope it was forgotten. I don’t know how to sit down in it.”

Arya laughs.

“You can kind of tuck it under. Be glad it doesn’t need a petticoat, I still never figured out how to manage those.”

They walk into the sept side by side. Arya pulls at her own sleeves.

“Sansa was so close about my size. I can’t believe it. Yours looks like it fits perfect too.”

“I was basically already grown when we left home. I guess anyway, that’s what people say. I don’t feel grown.”

“Neither do I, “ Arya adds, glancing inside the sept, where the old Septon stands, having arrived from the village that morning. Her siblings and mother have lined up, and Gendry stands at the front. Despite everything, her heart still skips a beat. She’s about to marry, a second time, but inside she still feels like a girl half the time.

The candles are lit, and the seven prayers said, and the seven blessings. Robb removes her cloak, and Gendry wraps her in the new one her mother made, thick and lined with fur.

The septon wraps their hands in the cloth, and they say the words and kiss, and everyone claps.

Five seconds later, Arya asks, “So can we all go eat now?”

Mother has respected her wishes to keep things quiet. The feast goes on as usual. There’s venison and pies and all sorts of food. This will be the last time of true abundance before winter sets in.

Robb teases her at one point over a tray of buttered carrots.

“You’re just happy to have escaped all the ceremony a marriage usually entails.”

“Exactly,” she tells him, “No fuss, no fancy gown, no bedding ceremony for me.”

“You know that once the word gets out, most of the household will assume you’re already with child.”

Arya winces, and says rather forcefully,

“No. I’m not doing that. No children for me, at least until this is all over.”

Her voice thins, at the idea of a babe born during the long night.

“If she’s scared of one of us having a bastard, it’s not going to be me.”

Their interrupted by Gendry standing up, and reaching for her hand.

“Well, it seems I am at least being forced to dance at my wedding,” she tells Robb when Gendry pulls her to her feet.

Bran sits on the edge of the dancefloor, watching everyone. Robb’s being passed around to what must be each woman in the village. Rickon is being pulled on each arm by Johnna and Willa. Even Jojen’s been pulled out, by the kennel master’s youngest daughter.

He was never one much for dancing, but it would be a lie to say he doesn’t feel like he’s missing out. Only mother sits at the head of the high table, alone.

“Not much for dancing myself,” Meera tells him when she approaches, handing him a cup of cider. It warms him, but doesn’t make his head as fuzzy as ale or wine.

“I saw the white raven pass King’s Landing today,” he tells her. Suxn had been returning with a letter from Sansa, “Winter’s weeks away.”

“I guess this will be the last celebration for a while.”

The silence between them is bordering on melancholy. After a long moment, Bran asks her,

“Want to get out of here?”

They end up back in the glass gardens again, though it’s a long walk by the back of the keep. It’s neither the first nor the last time. It’s functioned much like the Godswood in the last life, but Bran lacks the three-eyed-Raven’s resistance to the cold. They both sit on the ground to the front, slowly. Meera mutters softly that her dress is taking up too much space.

“It’s too close,” Meera admits, “I hate the idea of seeing one of those blue eyed fuckers again, but it just keeps getting closer.”

“We’re prepared, as much as we can be. And like I said, they shouldn’t be able to get over the wall yet.”

Meera shrugs, but doesn’t seem all that mollified.

“It’s nice to see Jojen having fun again,” she comments, thinking back to him dancing with the kennel-master’s daughter, “He’s spent too much of his life thinking about it ending.”

“I think all of us spend too much of our lives doing that.”

It’s a clear night, and there’s starlight peeking through the glass.

They were talking, and then they weren’t. They weren’t even touching, and then suddenly, they were kissing. If asked, neither of them would be certain which of them moved first.

Meera’s lips were soft, and she makes a soft laughing noise deep in her throat that goes straight to Bran’s heart. When they part for a moment, it explodes out of her, and he finds it infectious. She rests her forehead on his as they both laugh.

“We’ll be missed if we stay too long,” she says.

“Yes...yes we will,” Bran agrees, his hands finding hers, and then reaching to touch the side of her face.

“But not quite yet?” He asks, and she nods, still giggling.

Winter has come, he thinks, and they must find ways to stay warm.

The white raven comes two days later, to a solemn breakfast table.

And two more days later, the regular raven.

Robb reads the message with a grave face. All the others are frozen, waiting.

“King Robert is dead,” he tells them.

Everyone is silent, in remembrance. Arya’s stomach flip flops. Bran wonders what it will mean for Father and Sansa.

And Catelyn maintains her face, ever the lady.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

So... I know your wrist is broken, all my sympathies and you don't have to answer right away, but thoughts on that first taste of Fire and Blood?

I’m in a brace now! With only two weeks needed to wear it! And my typing is remarkably improved! I’m so happy. :D  And then, while I’m at the doctor’s, GRRM goes and drops an Alysanne excerpt of F&B? eeeeeeeeeeeee. :D :D :D

So! Reactions under the cut:

That is a very nice picture of Jaehaerys and Alysanne. No slight to Magali Villeneuve, but her generically-Targ-pretty pic of J&A and a baby in TWOIAF didn’t really have anything distinguishing them as people. With Doug Wheatley’s, Jaehaerys is wearing his seven-gem crown, Alysanne has her “feminine version” of his crown, and you can really see the love between them. Also, the way Alysanne stares at the viewer, that’s the insight and intelligence she was known for (GRRM compares her to Eleanor of Aquitaine, Katherine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter), not Magali’s distracted-and-pregnant-again-sigh mom. (Moms can be very intelligent, for sure, but the picture didn’t show it.)

58 AC - Jaehaerys is 24, Alysanne is 22. They’ve probably had a few kids (they were married 8 years earlier, when J’s regency ended), but they’re in between them at the moment.

The logistics of a king’s progress when the king and queen can fly but none of the rest of the party can are super complicated. Good plans, though, to send everybody ahead to clear the way

It’s interesting that Tyrosh and Pentos look at Westeros as a neutral party and guarantor of terms. Is it the Valyrian cachet? The fact that the country is so damn big, a nearly united continent? (Especially compared to divided and warring Essos.) When did this stop being a thing? (I’m guessing the Dance, but possibly Aegon IV.)

White Harbor, a big city with a ton of people come to see the dragon and the queen

Alysanne setting up betrothals to unite Westeros! Alysanne taking on ladies-in-waiting and already having a bunch to begin with! Alysanne and her cupbearer Jessamyn Manderly! Alysanne and her female sworn shield!!!

I need fanart of Jonquil Darke, the Scarlet Shadow (!!!) like yesterday

you don’t need to draw her dueling the wildling girl (who needs a name, GRRM), you don’t need to draw her standing besides the queen with her hand on her sword, just on her own, that’s fine

quick history facts: the Darkes are from Duskendale, kin to the lordly Darklyns, who would provide seven Kingsguard over the centuries. Duskendale is near Maidenpool, home of the legendary Florian and Jonquil (Maidenpool castle even has a Jonquil’s Tower), so it’s probably a popular girl’s name in the area. There was also a Darke who was a squire to a Darklyn Kingsguard at the start of the Dance of the Dragons, and both went over to Rhaenyra (bringing her father’s crown, the crown of King Jaehaerys). Harrold Darke later became one of Rhaenyra’s Queensguard, and died defending her at Dragonstone. Jonquil was probably a relative of his great- or great-great-grandfather. There are no more Darklyns in the present day (Aerys II killed them all after the Defiance of Duskendale), but there’s still plenty of Darkes.

a women’s court! 200 women sharing their thoughts and grievances with the queen! highborn and low! you know the ban of the practice of the first night came from this

unlike the trip to White Harbor, this time the queen just drops in at Winterfell on her dragon and lets her retinue catch up eventually

Alaric Stark, Stannis v0.25  (Maekar is v0.5)

no seriously @poorquentyn read this excerpt and immediately had multiple threads on what Alaric and Alysanne foreshadows for the meeting of Stannis and Sansa, lol (I hope he’s right even though I have doubts, but that’s not important right now)

Alaric is extremely Stannissian in that stiff unbending but really slowly melting hapless charm way, apparently humorless but actually just having a very dry wit, etc

missing the Stannis misogyny though, which is nice (Alaric still a bit unnerved by girly things though, can’t expect everything), and his late Mormont wife sounds marvelous (she needs a name, GRRM)

Alaric is probably still very unhappy about his great-something-aunt who needs a name GRRM married Ronnel Arryn because Queen Rhaenys matched them, and got defenestrated out the moon door (along with him and their kids) by his evil brother

as many as a dozen southern houses that still keep the old gods? Where are they? Just Blackwood bannermen, or what? Have they died off or converted since this time?

I hope Alarra Stark is relevant later in the J&A section of F&B; I hope she’s not relevant because of something bad

fanart of Alarra and Jonquil and Alysanne would also be nice, please

this good relationship between Alaric and Alysanne probably won’t survive the New Gift, alas :(

I wonder how this history – that Jaehaerys was delayed at court and took a long while to even come north – became the story that Bran tells, how “Jaehaerys and Lord Stark were talking business but Alysanne was bored with man stuff so she flew to the Wall”

I mean, I know how, but still

“smaller holdfasts” - yay, Queenscrown

“assembled 800 of his finest men” - sigh, how the Night’s Watch has fallen. though it’s possible it was a larger complement of NW men than usual because of all the Faith Militant who’d gone to the Wall after Maegor’s war with the Faith

mammoth for dinner ugh

no offense, I’m sure it’s filling, I appreciate Alysanne saying it’s nourishing and not demanding more queenly fare, but ugh furry elephant meat ugh (my kosher disgust bells are ringing hard)

I wonder how common mammoth was at the time? Leaf says there’s only a few hundred left now. Though despite them being endangered, mammoth would be very good to feed dragons on, if needs be

what with Silverwing being so bothered by the Wall, and the whole thing about refusing to cross over, I can see why Alysanne thought it was so important that the Night’s Watch be supported in their duty of protecting Westeros from what lies beyond

(note Alysanne herself seemed to have no problem in the North or at the Wall, good for hot-blooded Targs, eh?)

God I love Alysanne, she’s the best, always and forever

OK! The big question GRRM leaves us with: Why did Silverwing refuse to cross the Wall?

First off, the story that Viserys told his grandkids about Jaehaerys fighting wildlings and giants and mammoths beyond the Wall (as related in TRP and TWOIAF) was only a story, made up for the kids, it didn’t actually happen – so we have no records of any dragon ever crossing the Wall yet

I’m pretty damn certain there were no awakened Others at the time to unnerve the dragon

However it’s apparently a significant plot point that warg senses cannot cross the Wall

The Wall is known to be imbued with spells – the Others and wights can’t cross from their side either (the wight that attacked Jeor Mormont in Castle Black was carried through, apparently a dead body)

Does the Wall block all magical beings? Or just ultimate ice and fire creatures like the Others and Dragons? (Leaf wandered Westeros for many years, but she’s not a magical being, just a COTF who can do magic; the mama direwolf apparently crossed over no problem)

@jimintomystery insists I ask the question – what about going around the Wall? Where does the magic stop? Does it cover the whole latitude of the Wall around the world, or does it stop a mile from its edge?

(that doesn’t bode well for Davos’s trip to Skagos, what with the “dead things in the water” up at Hardhome)

also note that Varamyr skinchanged Orell’s eagle to spy on the Night’s Watch, and it crossed the Wall no problem – is there a height limit to the magic too? if Alysanne had flown Silverwing higher, could they have found an altitude where they could cross?

This is certainly a plot point that GRRM will come back to later!

Gosh, what a lovely excerpt. So looking forward to Fire & Blood now, even more than I was before…

[nutellaninja0001]

Anyone else notice when “debunking” the Political Jon theory, fan often act as if Jon cares more about Daenerys petty war with Cersei as much as he does about the war with the NK? I’ve heard arguments claiming Jon wishes to see Daenerys rule and believes in her as a truly justice woman. Far too much for him to ever betray her or lead her down less than genuine path. But the thing is, regardless on how Jon may or may not feel about Daenerys as a woman and a ruler, she will never mean more to him than the war against the NK.

Since season 1, Jon has been fighting this ever growing threat and has done everything he can to stop and further warn the rest of the world about this threat. He’s risked his life countless times in the hopes humanity makes it out alive. It’s been his #1 goal for awhile now and even though he’s had other battles and betrayals to deal with, it’s always on his mind. Even when he was back in Winterfell and now KITN, Jon still prioritized the NK. Even telling Sansa that if she were the one to have seen it, she would think of little else and that Cersei is no true enemy compared to the NK. Hmm, I wonder if Dany will think the same?

How people forget this, I will never know. So I’m going to be showing why I believe Jon would sacrifice his honor in the hopes of winning Daenerys to his side. Because his honor is far less important to him than watching all his loved ones and his home be consumed by the NK.

When Jon learns of the fate of his father, Ned and that Robb had gone off to war, Jon abandoned his post to ride to be by his side. To avenge his father and bring justice to the Lannisters. He was willing to risk his life and become a deserter of the NW. he knew if caught, he would have been beheaded but again, it didn’t matter. He was willing to die for them. Luckily, Sam and some other NW brothers are able to convince Jon to stay and the next morning Jeor confronts Jon about it. He tells him the strange things going on North of the Wall like Wights and whole villages empty and many people forming as a unit.

So, when asked what’s more important, the war between men? Or the war against the dead? Jon is quick to realize the bigger picture at hand. He immediately understands these wars will mean nothing when an enemy like the Wights come for them all. He loves the Starks. He loved Ned. He wants to be by Robb’s side, and that’s completely understandable. But Jon still chooses the war against the WW

Jon stays. He makes a choice right there that he will do everything he can to fight whatever lies beyond the Wall. And from that point on, it’s been his life. It was a no brainer and Jon was a boy back then. And yet he understood what Jeor was trying to tell him. And he’s carried on this knowledge to educate as many people as possible about the true enemy. “The long night is coming and the dead come with it.”

Fast forward to season 7 and Jon Snow is being held prisoner by Daenerys Targaryen. A queen the people around her keep trying to convince Jon is a good woman. That she’s worthy of the titles she bears claim to.

“She protects people from monsters.”

And yet, these words become hollow when Jon sees what really matters to Daenerys. Time, and time, and time again.

In one of the first real major pieces of proof Daenerys is shown of the existences of the WW, Jon is hopeful she might finally give up on this squabbling and ride North. They’ve been playing this game for weeks now and Daenerys has pressured Jon into bending already. Using his people as manipulation to bend, giving off some serious Stannis/Mance parallels in this scene. And just when Jon thinks she’s seen the light, they end up back at square one and Daenerys is still obsessing over the throne and fealty. I don’t believe Jon had entered the Political theory just yet. He thought this would be enough for her, but it wasn’t.

Some episodes later and still, Daenerys sits on her rock and does nothing but pressure Jon into bending and Cersei. The threat is still ever growing and it seems Daenerys has scales for brains. Jon at this point is very frustrated. He needs to go home and doesn’t have time for this back and forth. He will go home and fight with whatever men he has unless Daenerys wants to join. But of course, D shows Jon once more what truly matters to her above all else.

Still, at this point I don’t believe Jon hasn’t entered the Political Jon stage. I do believe that he’s aware Daenerys has feelings for him. She certainly hasn’t been shy at this point and pretty much everyone knows it.

When I do believe Jon takes action in the Political theory is in episode 6 after he is saved from North of the Wall.

We have never seen Jon like this before. He’s assertive and acts so strangely in this moment. He grabs Daenerys hand and when she tries to pull away, he grips her tighter and doesn’t let go. He’s in full control here. From “bending” the knee, to randomly calling her “Dany” to pledging the North to D after she promised to fight and after he has fought her all season long, this scene struck a lot of people as confused at the sudden change to Jon. I mean, she saw the NK, she lost Viserion to him, shouldn’t Jon know she has some meat in this fight now?

No.

No he doesn’t.

Jon already can tell by the fact they are on a boat sailing back that Daenerys isn’t fully committed or else she would have stayed at Eastwatch and sent for her armies there. That should have been her main focus by now. But it wasn’t. Daenerys isn’t like Jon who didn’t care about Cersei. She is still focused south. In this moment I do believe Jon realized what he had to do. He knows of D’s feelings and if he can make her listen, he will do what he can to hold that influence over her.

But Jon was right to have such assumptions of Daenerys. After seeing the NK, after losing her child, Daenerys holds both Cersei and the NK on equal footing when it should be clear what’s a bigger threat. She’s really standing there, struggling with this. Wait...I thought she already pledged to the North, right? This is all pointless and Jon knows that. What’s the Iron Throne when there isn’t an ass left alive to sit it?

Jon Snow is not a bad man. He does not play the game like Cersei and littlefinger for his own benefit. All he wishes to do is to protect his home and those he loves. To protect people as he is the shield that guards the realms of men. For someone who is supposed to protect people from the monsters like Tyrion claimed to Jon, then this should be an easy choice for D and she’s showing a piss poor example of it.

Daenerys is Jon’s last chance at winning this war. And you can bet your ass Daenerys Targaryen and her ever growing hunger for a chair will never matter to Jon in the way the NK and his army does. And he certainly isn’t above forsaking his honor because above all else, remember the words Jon told Beric on the Wight Hunt. “I serve the North.”

[quotespicture]

https://quoteswithpicture.com/game-of-thrones-finale-review/

Game of Thrones Finale Review

By MA Iliasu (Kano State, Nigeria)

  Season Finale; Game of Thrones. Episode Finale; The Iron Throne.

A wise man once said: “There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it. It unites people better than Armies, Gold and Flags ever can.” That wise man is no one but Tyrion of house Lannister, the imp, the daemon monkey, the pisser over the edge of the wall and the almighty hand of the king – the wise man with the sharpest tongue in Westeros. The perfect proof of Lord Tyrion’s submission is how George RR Martin, an American storywriter unites over one billion world population with the greatest story ever written, ever told and turned into motion picture in man’s living memory – the Game of Thrones.

White or Black, Asian, European, Caribbean or African, Arabic, English, Latino, French, Spanish, Hindi, Chinese, Swahili, Hausa or Yoruba, underage, ageing or aged; one seventh of the world population, and everyone is a Game of Thrones fan. And by fan, I mean the kind of fanatic level of fanboyhood. What makes Lord Tyrion’s submission even more unbelievable is the fact that its author is authored by the man we’re just trying to prove writes the greatest story ever told – with the stuff someone said in his own stuff. Wow! This is levels ahead of human beings comprehensible ability.

David Benioff and D. B Weiss also mustn’t be left behind, their infamous application of logic has wrapped up the story which its fluidity has the potential to flow until the last day, at an intensive, competent and adventurous pace. The episode finale has rationalized and solved many of the puzzles that have been in place since the inception of the show, from episode one – “Winter is Coming”, to episode last – “The Iron Throne”, in the most efficient, rational, logical and idealistic way possible. Justice is served to all; the sword is swinged by him who serves the sentence, and to him whose sentence was served, the nothingness in the truth of him who said I’m the king has been proved, the slaps of honour have been worn in both silence and noise, the status quo is disrupted against all the odds, and the real power is proved just as the script is written; the greatest of all powers is knowledge just as bit much as the inevitability of change is the biggest truth.

The talking points:

1. Don’t bury your head under the sand of delusion, not everything comes through inheritance, the biggest determinant of materiality is fate, and one must accept what it throws at him, no matter why, when and how. It’s just up to one to be ready before or when it arrives. The rightful-ness of everything lies in its righteousness, and for things to function in desired way, that which is rightful must be that which is righteous.

After all the political brouhaha amongst the prominent houses, the determination and the claims of bloodline lineages, and all the explanations and predictions; the person that gets to rule is a crippled son of Ned Stark who couldn’t lift his arm right to fire an arrow. Who would’ve thought? The boy, who was named after his uncle Bran, who was also named after Bran the Builder travelled north of the wall to find the missing tape in the cassette of his fate. Robb Stark once said to Lord Manderly: “If Bran can’t be lord of Winterfell before me, Renly can’t be king before Stannis” and I wish he was alive to see Bran as the king of Andals right in the sight of rightful heirs, and there’s nothing anyone of them can do about it. Isn’t that a great lesson? Ladies and gentlemen, please to Brandon the Broken, the first of his name, the king of the Andals and the first men, the lord of the seven kingdoms and protector of the realm. Long may he reign!

2. No one should eat his cake and still have it. No one should pass the sentence and refuse to swing the sword. No one should take a debt and refuse to pay. What all this is trying to prove is that people must take their words seriously if world is to be any liveable environment for the living.

Daenerys Targaryen made promise of mercy, but fulfilled it with a wrath. She’s taken a debt of betterment, but paid it with aggravation. No one should get away with that. Jon Snow on the other hand has been a consistent soldier of mercy, truth, honour and honesty. He’s the personification of that proverb: “Truth is worth more than a pound.” The two lovers are complete opposite of each other, but still have so much affection for each other in a “love is blind” kind of way. Their characters define the ideals of human coexistence; take your word serious and be remembered as the greatest, but take it as a joke and be remembered as the worst.

3. Jon Snow as bigger name than Aegon the Conqueror, and Brandon the Builder in history of Westeros would be a very fair argument. Within his short life he had been a bastard, a steward, Lord Commander, a prisoner, wildlings saviour, King in the North, rightful heir to the iron throne and saviour of the realm. In all of the mentioned, he has been the greatest that has ever bear the title. No man has served the realm closer to how much Jon did. He died and came back. He’s stupid, clueless and indecisive, but which honourable, honest and brave man is not? He has the blessings of prince Rhaegar, Ned Stark, Lord Commander Mormont, Aemon Targaryen, Mance Rayder, Stannis Baratheon and Cersei Lannister. And for everyone who is against him being sent back to the wall, remember, there has to be a Stark and a Targaryen every time in Black, and a man who is good at commanding, and very dear to the Wildlings, Jon meets that criteria, in fact, he’s the only one that meets that criteria. Jeor Mormont did give him the long claw for a reason. And Maester Aemon defined love to him for a reason. Ghost agreed to follow Tormund to the wall for a reason. Edd Tollett refused the Lord Commander post for a reason. It’s for Jon to guard the realm till eternity, and it’s fair to say the realm is safe till eternity. The greatest man that ever lived in Westeros. He indeed knows nothing, but who else knows something?

4. The new small council is just a testimony of the past great councilors. Lord Tywin’s blood must always be there to be hand of the king, because no one had ever been better at it. Tyrion was sent by his father to serve in his place for a reason. Bronn of Blackwater has the cunning of Petyr Baelish, and even bigger love for gold. He also knows what it takes to convert an empty bag into bag full of gold. Samwell Tarly has learnt a great deal from Maester Aemon, and from Maesters in the citadel. He’ll make a better Maester than Pycelle. Davos Seaworth is an experienced smuggler who survived every single battle without a shred of combat ability. No one is better at brokering a deal, he’ll be of great service as the master of the ships. Brienne of Tarth as Lord Commander of Kingsguard would allow Jaime to sleep peacefully in his grave. With the only vacant post remaining is Master of Whisperers. But who in this life or another do you think could resemble Varys, let alone replicate his job? RIP Lord Varys, may the soul of Dany rot in hell for taking you away from us.

5. Yuval Noah Harari is apt; “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” When – Lord Commander Mormont forbade Samwell Tarly to die, Mance Rayder died while being burned alive for refusing to kneel, Craster marrying his daughters to himself, The hound threatening soldiers to rape their corpses if they run, Stannis Baratheon admitting to murder while being helpless, Robin Arryn sucking his mother’s breast while been at the age Brandon Stark was ruling Winterfell in place of Robb, and Edd Tollett saying his mother farted while dying that the whole bed shook, I thought I heard it all. I thought I’ve seen it all. Then boom!!! Lord Edmure Tully stood right there in front of lords with hope for them to endorse him as the king of six kingdoms. Wow! I think this is the greatest insult an entity has ever suffered, and I was there asking God to offer me a chance to give Edmure the greatest flogging he has ever received. What a dunce! And he truly meant it.

6. The north is finally a recognised independent dominion. North has always been an arena for extraordinary stubbornness. They worship old Gods in trees instead of fire and new, stay in snowflakes through the winter and bowed only to the dragons. The fury of northern lord matches the fire of a dragon. Greatjon Umber couldn’t agree for Lord Glover to lead northern banners until he got his fingers eaten by a dire wolf. Lord Karstark murdered two Lannister boys because Lady Catelyn set Jaime free, which costed him his head and he didn’t regret. Lyanna Mormont killed a giant in such a young age, and once wrote a reply to Ramsay saying her house recognises no king but the king in the north whose name is Stark, and we all know Ramsey. These people shall never bend before anyone who is not a northerner, and they got one in Queen Sansa, a brilliant lady with experience, with a fine lineage and beautiful face. I am that northern soldier who bends when she was done getting crowned. Our Queen! Arya Stark on the other hand refused to be the Lady of Storm’s End, instead wants to see the boundary of Storm’s End. Cold little bitch, as the hound puts it. That girl can’t live in a world where there’s no people like Ned Stark, Sandor Clegane, Blackfish and Jaqen H’ghar. The hero of the realm!

In the end, there are some missing stuff in the season finale that needs to be accounted for such as: 1. How did they rebuild King’s Landing within days? 2. How did they rebuild the wall in such little period? 3. Samwell Tarly still has the bows of Night’s Watch, how did he become a Grand Maester with bows, when did they pardon him? 4. It has been seen when the Unsullied sailed to Naath, but what happened to the Dothraki, who knows where they go? 5. What happened to or where is Ellaria Sand and her daughter? Are they still rotting in the dungeons of King’s Landing? Did the girl die from Cersei’s poison, did Ellaria watch her rot? Is she alive or dead?

Rating: 4/5

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[lindafrancois]

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I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to pack on muscle, and after years and years of trial and error, I finally cracked the code.

Today, I share that code with you!

This is a topic that is near and dear to me, because I’ve spent my life devoted to this stuff:

These are the exact tactics I’ve used, and the same strategies we use with our Online Coaching Clients.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly. Learn how:

This free guide is gonna get you started off on the right foot!

Here’s what we’ll cover in this ultimate guide (click to jump to that section):

INTRO:

How I bulked up after years of struggling as a skinny guy.

NUTRITION:

The most important thing for putting on muscle (your diet).

What foods should I eat to bulk up?

What are the best bulk up strategies?

What supplements should I take to bulk up and build muscle?

STRENGTH TRAINING:

How to grow bigger muscles (get stronger).

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for bulking up.

Can bodyweight training help you bulk up?

I am skinny fat: should I gain weight or lose weight first?

RECOVERY, TIPS AND TRICKS, NEXT STEP:

Proper sleep and rest for putting on muscle.

FAQ for skinny guys trying to bulk up.

More resources for skinny guys looking to bulk up.

How I Bulked up After Years of Struggling as a Skinny Guy

Growing up, I was always the scrawny, skinny weak kid.

There was a reason I dressed up like superman every other day for the first six years of my life:

Superman was strong, big, and powerful…and I wasn’t.

To this day, it’s still a big challenge for me to gain weight or build muscle.

When people tell me “must be nice to have been skinny growing up,” I explain that a killer flat top, my height (5’2″ until I was 16), four years of braces, and two Acutane treatments made sure I still got the full adolescent experience 🙂

When I was cut from the high school basketball team (which I thought was the end of the world), I signed up for a gym membership to get big and strong.

Within five minutes I had almost killed myself when loading up way too much weight for a set of bench presses.

Fortunately I survived, and thus began my love affair with strength training.

I spent the next six years training in a gym, reading every muscle and fitness magazine I could find, drinking protein shakes religiously…and had about 3 pounds of muscle gain to show for it.

I just assumed “I’m one of those people who can’t gain weight.”

It turns out, I was doing it all wrong.

After graduating college I moved to California, signed up for a gym membership, and received a few free personal trainer sessions. 

Although I thought I had known it all (I had been training for 6 years in a gym! I read the muscle mags! I was in good shape already!), I still took the free sessions for the hell of it.

The trainer drastically simplified my workout and DOUBLED the amount of food I was eating.

I thought he was crazy, but I stuck with it.

In 30 days, I had put on 18 pounds (pictured below), increased the strength in ALL of my lifts, and felt more confident than I ever had before in my life. 

That’s when the lightbulb when off in my head: there’s a better way.

And thus began a radical redefinition of how I thought the human body worked, how muscle was built, and where I needed to put my priorities.

Since then, I’ve spent seven years learning everything I can about how muscle is built.

A few years back, I took an epic 35,000 mile trip around the world, and despite not having access to a gym for 6 months, I managed to once again pack on even more muscle and get myself in great shape without once picking up a weight (pictured below):

Again, my world was turned upside down.

I learned that gyms are not a requirement to build muscle and get stronger, though a great gym workout can certainly speed up the process.

And after a few more years of up and down challenges, I had finally – jokingly – changed from Steve Rogers to Captain America (there’s a story behind this):

I’m still not the biggest guy in the world, nor will I ever be. I’m okay with that!

I’ve learned that anyone can pack on muscle, even skinny nerds like me. 

If you’re skinny and want to get bigger, you’ll be fighting genetics the whole way, but do not let that deter you.

Anything is possible.

Today’s article outlines everything I’ve learned over the past 13 years of mistakes, successes, failures, and adventures.

The Most Important Thing for Putting on Muscle: Eat More Food.

As they say, muscle isn’t made in the gym, but in the kitchen:

If you want to bulk up, you’d be better off working out twice a week for 30 minutes and eating right, than working out 6 days a week and not eating properly.

I learned this the hard way.

I spent four years of college working out five days a week for 90 minutes a day trying to get bigger.

I drank protein shakes like I thought I was supposed to. I got a little stronger, but never bigger.

Why?

BECAUSE I DIDN’T EAT ENOUGH CALORIES.

When I get emails from people who lament the fact that they can’t gain weight, I always first ask about the person’s diet.

More often than not, that person thinks they are eating enough, but are definitely not.

Here’s the truth:

If you are not getting bigger, you are not eating enough.

Your body can burn 2000+ calories every day just existing (and then factor in exercise and, gulp, cardio – I’ll get to that in a minute), and you need to overload your system with calories in order for it to have enough fuel for the muscle building process.

Want to know how many calories you burn every day just existing?

Plug your stats into our TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) calculator:

Total Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator

Your sex * Male Female

Male/Female

Age *

Use age in years.

Weight *

Use pounds (lbs). If using metric system, multiple kg times 2.2 for lbs.

Height *

Use inches. If using metric system, divide cm by 2.54 for total inches.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is an estimate of the total calories burned a day, while in a state of rest.

Activity Level * Sedentary (You frequent tell Netflix you are still watching) Lightly Active (You casually stroll through your neighborhood a few times a week) Moderately Active (If we called the gym on a weeknight looking for you, they'd find you) Very Active (You are constantly moving throughout your day job and you're on the company softball team)

For "Activity Level," veer toward the side of less active. Studies consistently show that people are not as active as they self-assess.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your TDEE is an estimate of the total calories burned during a single day, when exercise is factored in.

Click right here for our Metric calculator.

Note: we have used The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to create this calculator! [1]

For every person, the number of required calories for bulking up daily is different, especially when you factor in how much you move, fidget, and how much weight you need to gain:

For some people, it might be 2,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 3,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 5,000 calories a day.

I don’t love calorie counting (I prefer a “healthy plate” approach), but I think for a newbie starting out, tracking calories for a few days is a great place to begin.

So, track your calories using something like MyFitnessPal over a few days and get an average.

I bet you’ll discover you’re eating significantly less than you thought you were.

LEARN HOW MANY CALORIES YOU NEED TO EAT FIRST.

And then eat MORE!

Spend the next two weeks eating an additional 300-500 calories per day above your TDEE (which you calculated above) and see how your weight adjusts (and how you look in progress photos!).

If you are not getting bigger, add an additional 300-500 calories per day and repeat the process.

Depending on your training, genetics, how skinny you are, and how much muscle you need to gain, you can decide how much weight you want to gain each week.

Everybody’s results will vary, and thoughts are mixed on how quickly we can build muscle:

Under optimal conditions, some say you can expect to gain 1 pound (.5 kg) of muscle per week,

My results have shown that 2 lbs (1kg) per month is more realistic.

A 2016 study[2]revealed that strength training produced a 2.2 lb increase (1kg) increase in lean mass in 8 weeks.

Regardless of how fast you bulk up, it might be helpful for you to gain weight by putting on some fat with your muscle!

Here are things to consider if you overeat WHILE strength training: extra glycogen, some fat, and water stored in your body can be a good thing for your confidence and get you headed down the right path.

So, don’t listen to the sites or programs that say “gain 40 pounds of muscle in two months!”

Unless you’re on the juice (‘roids, not Hawaiian Punch), it’s going to be a slow, long process.

Yes, it is possible to have incredible transformations in a short amount of time, like when I gained 18 pounds (8.1kg) in 30 days

This was due to strength training, overeating, protein, and extra water weight (from supplementing with creatine):

My advice: Rather than massive weight gain over a month, you’d be much better off gaining .5-1.5 lbs. (.25-.75 kg) a week, every week, for six months…and keeping the weight on!

Now, I know this stuff isn’t easy.

There’s nothing worse than spending 6+ months in a gym and doing what you think you SHOULD be doing, only to step on the scale and realize that you haven’t made any progress!

If you’re somebody that’s worried about wasting time, or you want to have an expert guide your nutrition based on your current situation, consider checking out our Online Training Program!

Learn to bulk up correctly with our Coaching Program!

What Food Should I Eat to Bulk Up?

Let’s go through how you should be prioritizing your nutrition, nutrient by nutrient:

Protein: rebuilds muscle after you break it down.

Carbohydrates: provides your muscle with fuel and body weight with energy

Fat: helps your bodily functions and can also be burned as fuel in the absence of carbs.

Let’s look at each of these individually:

PRIORITY #1: PROTEIN

Protein can come from any number of sources, including:

Meat (steak, bison, pork).

Fowl (chicken, turkey, duck).

Eggs![3]

Cheese and dairy.

Fish and shellfish (salmon, tuna, shrimp).

Legumes (black beans, chickpeas).

Other vegetarian protein sources here.

As we cover in our “How much Protein do I need?”, claims for the amount of protein needed vary wildly from source to source (and athlete to athlete).

Here is our recommendation:

If you’re of healthy weight, active, and wish to build muscle, aim for 1 g/lb (2.2 g/kg).

If you’re an experienced lifter on a bulk, intakes up to 1.50 g/lb (3.3 g/kg) may help you minimize fat gain.

Let me simplify it for you: target at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (2.2 grams per kg). 

If you’re curious, from our healthy eating article, this is what a portion of protein looks like:

Also, here’s how much protein is in a serving of food:

4 oz (113 g) of chicken has around 30 g of protein.

4 oz (113 g) of salmon has 23 g of protein

4 oz (113 g) of steak has 28 g of protein.

Want to get more protein? Consider protein shakes.

PRIORITY #2: CARBS

After protein, in order for you to get bigger, you need to eat enough calories, and those calories should come from sources composed of carbs and/or fats.

Here are foods full of carbohydrates you can prioritize for bulking up:

Rice

Quinoa

Oats

Legumes and lentils

Sweet potatoes

Yams

Regular potatoes

Whole grain pasta

Whole grain bread

To help you get better at eyeballing serving sizes:

1 serving of a starchy carbohydrate is 1 cupped hand (uncooked), or your two hands forming a cup (cooked).

Here are some images to help you learn proper portion sizes (thanks to SafeFood):

In addition to consuming carbohydrates from these sources, it’s okay to consume plenty of fruit while trying to bulk up!

You can read our full “Is fruit healthy” guide to learn more.

PRIORITY #3: FAT! 

Fat is a macronutrient that you can eat that can help you reach your goals in the right quantity, as fat can be higher calorie and you can eat lots of it without feeling full.

Healthy fat can be found in foods like:

Avocado

Almonds

Walnuts

Macadamia nuts

Olive oil

Almond butter

Peanut butter

Science has recently come around on saturated fat too [4]. Once completely vilified, but now considered okay for moderate consumption.

Saturated fats can come from things like:

Whole milk

Full fat dairy

Coconut oil

Grass-fed butter

Fatty cuts of meat

Lard

To help you gauge: a serving size of fat is roughly the size of your thumb!

For reference, this is a single serving of almonds (162 calories):

THIS is a serving of olive oil (119 calories):

As you can see, you can eat an extra 500 calories of “healthy fats” by eating lots of “heart-healthy” fats like nuts or adding more olive oil to your meals.

PRIORITY #4: VEGETABLES!

Last but not least, you need vegetables in your diet.

If you start to eat a lot more food, your “indoor plumbing” is going to really benefit from eating some high-fiber veggies with each meal:

A serving of veggies is about the size of your fist.

Here’s a quick, non-complete list of veggies that can fill your plate:

Broccoli

Broccolini

Cauliflower

Spinach

Kale

Spaghetti squash

Brussels sprouts

Zucchini

Cucumber

Carrots

Onion

Asparagus

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

This plate and serving size stuff above is just to help you get started thinking about healthy food differently and in proper portion sizes.

TO RECAP, HERE’S HOW TO EAT TO BULK UP:

Calculate your (Total daily energy expenditure) and add +500 cal over your number.

Consume 1-1.5g per pound (2.2-3.3g per kg) of bodyweight in protein every day.

Consume the rest of your calories from foods composed of carbs and fats.

Always eat vegetables so that your body can actually PROCESS all this extra food.

If you are not gaining weight, add more carbs and/or fats to your meal.

It really does come down to the following:

If you are not gaining weight fast enough, you’re not eating enough. Increase your portions of carbs and fats!

Whenever we work with coaching clients who struggle to bulk up, this is the area we target: adding more carbs and fats to each meal.

Need an expert to help you bulk up quickly and safely? Learn more:

What are the Best Popular Bulk Up Eating Strategies?

If you read the previous section, you know that we have some pretty specific “best practices” on how to bulk up. 

However, there are multiple strategies that can also work, and I’d like to cover each of those here too.

Depending on your budget, your taste in food, and your goals, these strategies will work better for some than others.

#1) The “Healthy” Bulk

I have followed this method to great success multiple times (including right now).

Ultimately, I follow the “real food” principles whenever possible (good sources of quality meat, tons of vegetables, minimal amounts of gluten and processed carbs), but mixing in some specific items that are calorie/carbohydrate dense to reach my calorie goals for the day.

This is the exact strategy we lay out in the previous section of this article.

Speaking of quality calories – how I recommend doing this – receive your Get Bigger Shopping List and Bulk Up Cheat Sheet by putting your email in the box below:

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Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  #2) The “See Food” Diet

This is the diet I used to put on 18 pounds in 30 days.

Looking back at how I ate, I’m now grossed out.

But for me at the time, it worked (and got me interested in diet research).

If you are super skinny and on a tight budget, this might be your only option, and that’s okay! Foods that are high in calories include:

Whole milk, cottage cheese, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes, fast food, ice cream, juice, peanut butter sandwiches, fast food, meatball subs from Subway, pizza, burgers, etc.

Whatever gets you to your caloric intake goal for the day.

When I put on my 18 lbs, I used to drink 3 CytoGainer shakes a day, because it was the easiest way for me to stay on target.

If you are training properly, a majority of these calories will go towards building muscle instead of putting on a lot of fat.

Steve’s thoughts: I’m not a big fan of this method much, as I’ve come to learn the quality of food is as important (if not more so) than quantity when it comes to your overall health, and we’re aiming for bigger AND healthier.

#3) GOMAD 

Drink a gallon of whole milk every day along with your meals.

Sounds crazy, yup, but it works.

A gallon of whole milk is full of enough sugar, carbs, fats, and protein that when all said and done, results in 2400 calories consumed in liquid form.

Mix in vegetables and meat for healthy meals and you got yourself a simple to follow diet.

I’ve attempted this diet back in my younger days, and although my stomach hated me, I certainly had success with it, mostly because it was simple to follow and easy to understand.

#4) Paleo Bulk or Keto Bulk

Bulking up while following the Paleo Diet, or bulking while following a Keto Diet. 

Yes, it’s possible to bulk while following either of these diets:

If you are eating Paleo, you’ll want to eat LOTS of carbs and fats from calorie dense foods like fruit, sweet potatoes, and nuts.

If you are going Keto, you’ll want to eat LOTS of fat from cheeses, nuts, oils, and so on.

If you have the budget and want to try it, go for it. You’ll be eating truckloads of nuts, avocados, and sweet potatoes.

“WHICH STRATEGY IS BEST FOR ME?”

In our opinion, we’ve had the most success with Coaching Clients who adapt a “healthy bulk” strategy, #1 above. 

It’s a focus on real food, sustainable increase in calorie intake, and can be adjusted easily by adding or reducing total portions of carbs and fats.

But hey, you do you, boo.

What Supplements Should I take to Bulk up? How to eat more calories.

If you are struggling to consume enough whole foods every day, then here are some tips to help you reach your caloric goals to bulk up:

“WHAT SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I TAKE TO BULK UP FAST?”

Most supplements are garbage

Plus, you should ALWAYS prioritize consuming real food over shakes and powders.

HOWEVER, if you are interested in bulking quickly, there are two I would recommend:

Protein Powder. A great solution for getting extra protein and calories in your diet and building muscle.[5] As we point out in our article on protein and protein shakes, mix and match your own ingredients and see how many calories you can get into a smoothie without breaking your blender.

Creatine supplement. It helps your muscles retain more water [6], and has been shown to increase the hormone IGF-1, which is needed for muscle growth[7]. It’s one of the only two supplements (along with protein) that I take regularly.

Outside of these two supplements, you really don’t need to prioritize supplementation, despite what the muscle magazines tell you! Hell, many of these muscle mags are OWNED BY SUPPLEMENT COMPANIES.

I’ll leave you with two more big suggestions on how to bulk up in this section: 

#1) Liquid calories are your friend. Liquid calories can give us lots of calories without ‘filling us up,’ which is an easier way to consume enough calories every day without feeling overly full.

I personally get a huge chunk of my calories every day from making my own ‘Powerbomb Shake – from our Protein Guide

Water: 16 oz.

Quaker Oats: 3 servings (120g)

Frozen spinach: 1.5 servings (120g)

Frozen mixed berries: 1.5 servings (120g)

Protein powder: 2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Whey

And here is the macronutrient breakdown:

Calories: 815 cal

Protein: 70g

Carbs: 107g

Fats: 12g

I put all of this into a Vitamix Blender – yep, it was expensive, but worth the investment. This blender has been used twice a day for 8 years without a single issue.

If you need even more calories consider adding whole milk, coconut milk, or almond milk instead of water.

You can also add a shot of olive oil to add calories/fats to a shake in the quest for MOAR MUSCLE!

#2) Train your Body to Eat More: If you are cooking rice, each week try adding in an extra quarter cup when you cook it.

And yeah, you have to FORCE your stomach to accept more food, even when you’re not hungry.

This is not enjoyable, as you often feel like you’re going to explode.

However, just like it’s necessary to force your muscles outside of your comfort zone to get bigger, you need to force your stomach outside of its comfort zone until it adapts to accepting more calories.

So, start by adding a little bit more food each day and soon enough your stomach will expand. 

How to Grow Bigger Muscles: Get Stronger

When you strength train, your muscles are broken down and then get rebuilt stronger to adapt to the stress you have applied to it.

So every time you pick up a slightly heavier weight, you are increasing the challenge and forcing your muscles to adapt and get more resilient.

What I’m trying to say:

If you want to get bigger, focus on getting stronger.

As long as you are continually increasing the weights or increase the sets and reps you are lifting, your muscles will continually adapt to get stronger.

This is called “progressive overload” and it. is. everything.

If you are doing this while eating enough calories, you will get bigger.

You have two approaches to consider while bulking up: 

PATH A: BODYBUILDER BULK. Follow a bodybuilder type routine that focuses on isolation exercises that chops your body into different segments and works each of them out once a week.

You may have seen something like this:

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Shoulders

Thursday: Back

Friday: Arms and Abs

I think these routines are fine, and you might even enjoy them.

However, they do require a fairly large time commitment at the gym, and you’ll be training 5-6 days per week.

PATH B: STRENGTH AND MUSCLE. Focus on full-body routines that contain compound exercises like squats and deadlifts that give us the most bang for our buck.

Every time you train, most of the muscles in your body are getting worked out.

Specifically, this path has you focusing on getting really strong at these movements:

Squats

Deadlifts

Overhead Presses

Bench presses

Body rows

Dips

Push-ups

Pull-ups

If you can focus on getting really strong with the above exercises, and eat enough calories, you will also get bigger in all of the right places.

Path B is something we’re bigger fans of compared to Path A, and it’s what we recommend to our Coaching Clients.

Specially, we find it to be safer and also more time-efficient: you’ll be training just 2-3 days per week on this path (instead of 5-6 days per week with Path A).

Mark Rippetoe (author of Starting Strength, a must-read for anybody interested in the above exercises) lives for old school barbell training (path B):

Why?

Because it works.

Just. Keep. Eating. And. Lifting.

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for Bulking Up

As we cover in our “How to build muscle” article, here’s a sample routine you can follow NOW to start bulking up.

After you do your dynamic warm-up, do the following workout:

MONDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Squats: 4 sets of 5 reps

Bench press 4 sets of 5 reps

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Planks 3 sets of 60 seconds

WEDNESDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Deadlift: 3 sets of 5 reps

Overhead Press: 3 sets of 5 reps

Inverted Bodyweight Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps

Hanging Knee Raises: 3 sets of 10 reps

FRIDAY BULK UP WORKOUT: 

Front Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps

Weighted Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps

Weighted Chin Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Reverse Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

Get stronger and the rest will take care of itself.

NERD FITNESS RECOMMENDATION: Feel free to pick WHATEVER workout program you want from wherever. If you don’t want to follow the workout above, consider these sources:

5 Beginner Strength Training Routines you can follow.

Follow our 6 level gym workout routine.

You can build your own workout routine.

You can follow any workout from any muscle magazine.

If you’re curious, here are some commonly accepted strategies based on your goals for how many sets and reps you should do:

Strength and power: 1-5 reps

Strength and some size: 5-8 reps

Size and some strength: 8-12 reps

Muscular endurance: 12+ reps

Now, don’t worry too much about which path is best.

Nutrition plays the most important role in bulking up, and any strength training plan will help you get bigger.

There are 3 studies I want to point out:

A recent study showed that a higher intensity workout (heavier weight for low reps) created more muscle mass than a higher volume (lower weight for more reps).[8]

Getting more volume (more sets of exercises) per week resulted in more mass compared to less volume (fewer sets of exercises), in this study[9].

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[10] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial. Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep, and pushing oneself to absolute failure.[11]

What this means: Don’t overthink it. 

Pick up heavy stuff for 3-4 sets of 5 reps. Pick up a weight that is heavy enough that you can only complete your specified number of reps.

Challenge yourself on bodyweight exercises, either by making them more difficult, adding weight, or doing high reps to failure.

And then do more next time.

What’s important is that you pick a plan and follow through with it while focusing on eating enough.

After a few months, you can reevaluate and then adjust based on how your body has changed.

On any of these days, feel free mix in bicep curls or tricep extensions or calf-raises at the END of your workouts.

Focus on the big lifts first and get stronger with them.

How much weight should you lift? For every one of the barbell movements above, I start with just the bar, and then add weight in 5lb increments each week.

It’s important to get form right and get your body used to the movement for when you start to lift heavy weight.

How long should you wait between sets? Again, don’t overthink it. Waiting 2-3 minutes allows you lift heavier weight, and thus makes you stronger.

Waiting 60-90 seconds puts more of an emphasis on muscular size and endurance (as you’re resting for a shorter period)…but don’t overthink it. Do the next set when you’re ready.

A piece of advice from 8-time Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney: “stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Don’t destroy yourself for the sake of destroying yourself; stopping one or two reps short of maximum effort can save you from overtraining and potential injury – remember that muscles are built in the kitchen!

If you’re already overwhelmed and just want somebody to tell you what to do, you’re not alone.

I’ve had a coach since 2014 and it’s the best investment I make in myself every month.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly and safely. Learn more:

Can Bodyweight Training Help Me Bulk Up?

Yes, you can get bigger and stronger doing exclusively bodyweight exercises.

Take a look at any Olympic gymnast: he is jacked, with giant muscles, all built with bodyweight exercises:

HOWEVER, it requires a very specific type of training regiment to see those results.

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[12] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial.

Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep. In other words, you’ll need to push yourself to absolute failure.[13]

So, here’s where the challenges arise:

Like with weight training above, you need to increase the difficulty in order for your muscles to adapt.

Because it’s often more challenging to add a few pounds to a bodyweight exercise to make it tougher – compared to putting a weight on a bar, you need to increase the difficulty of the bodyweight movement itself.

If you are trying to build size, you can also do sets where your rep ranges are in the 25-35 reps per set, and you are pushing your muscles to failure (woof):

If you can do 4 sets of 15 push-ups, consider making them harder to progress. Do 4 sets of 15 push ups with your feet on a bench. 

Body weight squats too easy? Work your way up to pistol squats (one legged squats).

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Sep 22, 2014 at 1:01pm PDT

4 sets of 12 pull-ups not a challenge anymore? Great. Make them tougher. Go for a wider grip, an uneven grip, or weighted pull-ups.

I highly recommend beginners start to take a serious look at strength training with free weights; it’s much easier to record one’s progress, easy to add more difficulty (just add more weight!), and very structured.

You can ALSO mix in bodyweight training, which is what I prefer to do!

In fact, I personally believe the best routine mixes both weights and bodyweight training. I have been working with my online coach for 4 years, and I’ve packed on size by following a barbell + bodyweight training routine.

Weight training for my lower body, advanced bodyweight movements for my upper body.

Every day starts with either a squat, front squat or deadlift.

Here I am pulling 420 pounds at a bodyweight of 172 pounds:

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Nov 21, 2018 at 10:43am PST

Each workout also contains a lot of Olympic/gymnastic style movements and holds to build upper body strength.

Handstands too (read our guide on handstands):

And I just try to get stronger.

What it really comes down to is this: no matter what you have access to (a gym, barbell, dumbbells, or just a pull-up bar) you can find a way to build strength and muscle if you follow a plan and eat enough calories.

If you’re trying to bulk with just bodyweight, it might be worth enlisting the help of a coach to help you scale your bodyweight exercises correctly and in the proper sequence!

Learn how to bulk up with bodyweight exercises in our Online Coaching Program!

I am Skinny Fat: Should I gain or lose weight first?

If you are skinny fat (you have skinny arms and legs but have a gut), there are three paths available to you:

Bulk up and build muscle, then lean out.

Lean out, then build muscle.

Build muscle and lean out at the same time.

We all want Door #3, right?

Here how to do accomplish both goals at the same:

Heavy strength training…

While following a healthy diet and slight calorie restriction…

To decrease your body fat fat percentage.

If you follow a program with the right calories and strength training, you can both lose weight AND build muscle at the same time.

It’s how we helped NF Coaching Client Jimmy (these photos are 5 months apart):

Our advice: Get strong and eat a SLIGHT caloric deficit while consuming enough protein every day.

Get yourself down to roughly 12% body fat (~20% for women), and then start to increase the size.

By slimming down first, while building muscle, you don’t have to worry about buying BIGGER clothes first, only to then need smaller clothes once you start cutting the fat.

Then, once you decide to eat more and get bigger, if you notice your body fat percentage start to creep up, you can simply adjust until your body fat gets back in the acceptable range. Then keep building!

To recap, here’s what to do if you are skinny-fat:

Eat a caloric deficit while heavy strength training to build muscle while leaning out.

Prioritize protein intake: 1.5g per pound (.75g per kg) of bodyweight.

Get strong as hell with big lifts and low reps (this will build muscle even in a deficit).

Once you reach a certain body fat percentage you’re happy with (probably 10-12%), then you can increase your caloric intake to build more muscle without putting on too much fat.

Our coaching program can help you rebuild your physique. Learn how:

Proper Sleep and Rest for Putting on Muscle

Last but not least, the other important piece to this Triforce of muscle building:

Strength training, eating enough, and RECOVERY.

Your body builds and rebuilds its muscles during RECOVERY.

Our muscles generally need 48 hours or so to recover from its previous workout, so I do not recommend you do any serious strength training of the same muscle group on back to back days.

Feel free to do dynamic warm-ups or fun exercise if you feel like it doing some active recovery on off days, but I tend to take my off days OFF.

I might go for a walk (to Mordor!), but that’s about it.

A word about cardio: if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, lots of long-distance cardio will work against you.

Your body has to burn so many calories for your runs that it doesn’t get to use any of these calories in the muscle-building process.

If you love to run/bike, that’s cool, as long as you know it’s slowing (or halting) your progress.

So, cut back on the running or cut it out completely.

Try mixing in sprints and interval training if you want to keep the cardio up without having to do all of the crazy distance. You can always add it back in once you accomplish your weight gain goals.

A few words on SLEEP: You need more of it when you are building muscle.

It’s that simple.

Don’t be surprised if after a heavy deadlift day you find yourself wanting to sleep for 10 hours.

It might mean less TV or less video games.

Again, if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, don’t neglect sleep.

FAQ for Skinny Guys Trying to Bulk Up

QUESTION: “But I just want to get toned, I don’t want to get too bulky.” 

That’s not a question, but I hear it all the time. Do NOT worry about getting too bulky. I’ve been trying to get “too bulky” my entire life – it takes years of concerted effort to pull that off.

I’m gonna guess you have 30+ pounds to gain before you’d ever even be considered “bulky.”

That means that if you struggle with weight gain, getting to the point where you are TOO bulky would actually be a good problem to solve.

As you start to put on weight if you ever find yourself getting a tiny bit too chubby, simply eat less at that point!

So, when in doubt, always err on the side of too many calories than not enough. If you’re not sure if you should eat or not, etc.

QUESTION: “But I don’t want to do that stuff, so I’m gonna do _____ instead.”

Again not a question. But hey, go for it. Give it a month, and see how your body reacts. If you’re getting bigger, stronger, and healthier, keep doing it.

If not, come back to this article and apply the lessons in here!

QUESTION: “I’m a vegetarian/vegan, can I bulk up?”

Absolutely. You just need to make sure you’re getting enough calories and enough protein in your system to promote muscle growth.

Beans and nuts have lots of protein; if you’re vegetarian you can still use dairy to your advantage (whey protein, whole milk, cheese, etc.).

If you’re vegan, then it’s slightly more of a challenge to get enough protein, but it can be done: almond butter is your friend 🙂

Check out our plant based protein suggestions.

QUESTION: “Should I do ___ reps and sets or _____ reps and sets?“

Either plan will get you there. It’s 90% diet anyways.

What’s important is that you pick a plan, you progress, you keep track of your results, and you consistently progressively increase the load that you are moving (be it your body’s weight or an actual weight).

QUESTION: “I want to get bigger and faster and have more endurance and flexibility ALL at the same time, can I do that?” 

I hate to say it, but building endurance and getting bigger simultaneously is brutally difficult.

As I point out in “How to build any physique,” compare a marathon runner’s body with that of a sprinter or gymnast. Put the running on hold for a while, and focus on getting bigger: you’ll get there faster.

When you decide to mix running back in, keep your calorie consumption high and don’t forget to keep strength training!

You can still go for walks, and still get a good cardio workout by lifting quickly with minimal breaks between sets.

QUESTION: “Do I need to eat every three hours?”

Nope, you don’t have to:

The TOTAL number of calories you consume over the course of a day is more important than the timing of the meals.[14]

The same is true with protein intake: studies show it doesn’t matter WHEN you eat your protein. HOW MUCH you consume in a day is more important.[15]

In fact, there are actually some scientific benefits that can result from not eating all day and instead condensing it into a smaller window.

But eating more frequently might help…

If you struggle to get enough calories in your system, spacing out your meals might help you feel less full, or give you more opportunities to reach your calorie goal for the day.

I eat all of my calories between 12pm and 8pm, and still get bigger despite only eating 2 MASSIVE meals each day.

QUESTION: “But what about this other article? And this other thing I read? Which workout is the best workout?”

Don’t overwhelm yourself. Keep it simple. Get stronger, eat more food, sleep. Break this down into simple steps and goals that aren’t scary, and get started.

The best advice I can give you is to start and make adjustments along the way.

Track your progress, track your calories, and track your workouts.

If you are getting bigger and stronger, keep it up!

I know this stuff can be overwhelming, as I struggled with this stuff for YEARS before getting results.

It why after I started Nerd Fitness, I eventually launched a coaching program: to help people skip the years of mistakes I made!

Learn how our 1-on-1 Coaching Program can help you!

More Resources for Skinny Guys Looking to Bulk Up

This is a monster of an article, and your head probably hurts at this point.

If I can narrow it down to three main points:

Get stronger by picking up heavy stuff or doing more challenging bodyweight movements.

Get bigger by eating enough.

Recover faster by sleeping enough and giving your muscles days off to rebuild.

If you made it this far, and you want more specific instruction and guidance, we have a few options for you:

1) If you are somebody that wants to follow a tailor-made program that’s designed around their life and goals, check out our popular 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program.

You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself, check your form, and program your workouts and nutrition for you.

Get step-by-step instruction, form checks, and worldwide accountability in your pocket! Learn about our Coaching Program

2) Good at following instructions and want a blueprint to follow? Check out our self-paced online course, the Nerd Fitness Academy.

20+ workouts for both bodyweight or weight training, a benchmark test to determine your starting workout, HD demonstrations of every movement, boss battles, nutritional leveling system, a questing system, and supportive community.

Learn more about The Nerd Fitness Academy!

3) Download our free Bulk Up Guide, which you can get when you sign up in the box below:

Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!

  Enter your email below to download now

  The Nerd Fitness "Get Bigger" Shopping List

Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  Lastly, I’d love to hear from you!

PLEASE leave your questions, eating or strength or otherwise below so we can answer them and become best friends and practice karate kicks in the garage:

How can I help you get bigger and stronger?

What part of this journey are you still struggling the most with?

What are your favorite bulking up foods!?

Share with your friends in the comments so we can all go buy it in bulk at Costco.

-Steve

PS: Make sure you check out the rest of our Bulk Up guides:

How to build muscle quickly

How fast can I build muscle?

9 Mistakes People Make Trying to Get Bigger

13 Tips for Guaranteed Weight Gain.

###

photo source: Not Happy, caveman from Damy, Fish soup plate of meat, male gymnast, sleeping puppy, scale, smurf, front squat, blender-smoothie, axel wheelhouse

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Studies have shown the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to be very accurate in determining BMR and TDEE

Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training

Dietary cholesterol doesn’t influence blood cholesterol levels as much as conventional wisdom once thought. Go ahead and eat eggs!

Saturated fat: part of a healthy diet: pubmed

The effects of protein supplements on muscle mass, strength, and aerobic and anaerobic power in healthy adults: a systematic review: study

Check out that study on creatine and cellular hydration right here.

Check out a study on creatine and IGF-1 here.

The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men: study

Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men: study

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

This study shows your body will burn calories at the same overall rate no matter when they are consumed: PubMed.

Pubmed extract: The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis.

The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/

[lindafrancois]

The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk

Want to go from a skinny guy to building muscle quickly? I got you.

I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to pack on muscle, and after years and years of trial and error, I finally cracked the code.

Today, I share that code with you!

This is a topic that is near and dear to me, because I’ve spent my life devoted to this stuff:

These are the exact tactics I’ve used, and the same strategies we use with our Online Coaching Clients.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly. Learn how:

This free guide is gonna get you started off on the right foot!

Here’s what we’ll cover in this ultimate guide (click to jump to that section):

INTRO:

How I bulked up after years of struggling as a skinny guy.

NUTRITION:

The most important thing for putting on muscle (your diet).

What foods should I eat to bulk up?

What are the best bulk up strategies?

What supplements should I take to bulk up and build muscle?

STRENGTH TRAINING:

How to grow bigger muscles (get stronger).

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for bulking up.

Can bodyweight training help you bulk up?

I am skinny fat: should I gain weight or lose weight first?

RECOVERY, TIPS AND TRICKS, NEXT STEP:

Proper sleep and rest for putting on muscle.

FAQ for skinny guys trying to bulk up.

More resources for skinny guys looking to bulk up.

How I Bulked up After Years of Struggling as a Skinny Guy

Growing up, I was always the scrawny, skinny weak kid.

There was a reason I dressed up like superman every other day for the first six years of my life:

Superman was strong, big, and powerful…and I wasn’t.

To this day, it’s still a big challenge for me to gain weight or build muscle.

When people tell me “must be nice to have been skinny growing up,” I explain that a killer flat top, my height (5’2″ until I was 16), four years of braces, and two Acutane treatments made sure I still got the full adolescent experience 🙂

When I was cut from the high school basketball team (which I thought was the end of the world), I signed up for a gym membership to get big and strong.

Within five minutes I had almost killed myself when loading up way too much weight for a set of bench presses.

Fortunately I survived, and thus began my love affair with strength training.

I spent the next six years training in a gym, reading every muscle and fitness magazine I could find, drinking protein shakes religiously…and had about 3 pounds of muscle gain to show for it.

I just assumed “I’m one of those people who can’t gain weight.”

It turns out, I was doing it all wrong.

After graduating college I moved to California, signed up for a gym membership, and received a few free personal trainer sessions. 

Although I thought I had known it all (I had been training for 6 years in a gym! I read the muscle mags! I was in good shape already!), I still took the free sessions for the hell of it.

The trainer drastically simplified my workout and DOUBLED the amount of food I was eating.

I thought he was crazy, but I stuck with it.

In 30 days, I had put on 18 pounds (pictured below), increased the strength in ALL of my lifts, and felt more confident than I ever had before in my life. 

That’s when the lightbulb when off in my head: there’s a better way.

And thus began a radical redefinition of how I thought the human body worked, how muscle was built, and where I needed to put my priorities.

Since then, I’ve spent seven years learning everything I can about how muscle is built.

A few years back, I took an epic 35,000 mile trip around the world, and despite not having access to a gym for 6 months, I managed to once again pack on even more muscle and get myself in great shape without once picking up a weight (pictured below):

Again, my world was turned upside down.

I learned that gyms are not a requirement to build muscle and get stronger, though a great gym workout can certainly speed up the process.

And after a few more years of up and down challenges, I had finally – jokingly – changed from Steve Rogers to Captain America (there’s a story behind this):

I’m still not the biggest guy in the world, nor will I ever be. I’m okay with that!

I’ve learned that anyone can pack on muscle, even skinny nerds like me. 

If you’re skinny and want to get bigger, you’ll be fighting genetics the whole way, but do not let that deter you.

Anything is possible.

Today’s article outlines everything I’ve learned over the past 13 years of mistakes, successes, failures, and adventures.

The Most Important Thing for Putting on Muscle: Eat More Food.

As they say, muscle isn’t made in the gym, but in the kitchen:

If you want to bulk up, you’d be better off working out twice a week for 30 minutes and eating right, than working out 6 days a week and not eating properly.

I learned this the hard way.

I spent four years of college working out five days a week for 90 minutes a day trying to get bigger.

I drank protein shakes like I thought I was supposed to. I got a little stronger, but never bigger.

Why?

BECAUSE I DIDN’T EAT ENOUGH CALORIES.

When I get emails from people who lament the fact that they can’t gain weight, I always first ask about the person’s diet.

More often than not, that person thinks they are eating enough, but are definitely not.

Here’s the truth:

If you are not getting bigger, you are not eating enough.

Your body can burn 2000+ calories every day just existing (and then factor in exercise and, gulp, cardio – I’ll get to that in a minute), and you need to overload your system with calories in order for it to have enough fuel for the muscle building process.

Want to know how many calories you burn every day just existing?

Plug your stats into our TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) calculator:

Total Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator

Your sex * Male Female

Male/Female

Age *

Use age in years.

Weight *

Use pounds (lbs). If using metric system, multiple kg times 2.2 for lbs.

Height *

Use inches. If using metric system, divide cm by 2.54 for total inches.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is an estimate of the total calories burned a day, while in a state of rest.

Activity Level * Sedentary (You frequent tell Netflix you are still watching) Lightly Active (You casually stroll through your neighborhood a few times a week) Moderately Active (If we called the gym on a weeknight looking for you, they'd find you) Very Active (You are constantly moving throughout your day job and you're on the company softball team)

For "Activity Level," veer toward the side of less active. Studies consistently show that people are not as active as they self-assess.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your TDEE is an estimate of the total calories burned during a single day, when exercise is factored in.

Click right here for our Metric calculator.

Note: we have used The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to create this calculator! [1]

For every person, the number of required calories for bulking up daily is different, especially when you factor in how much you move, fidget, and how much weight you need to gain:

For some people, it might be 2,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 3,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 5,000 calories a day.

I don’t love calorie counting (I prefer a “healthy plate” approach), but I think for a newbie starting out, tracking calories for a few days is a great place to begin.

So, track your calories using something like MyFitnessPal over a few days and get an average.

I bet you’ll discover you’re eating significantly less than you thought you were.

LEARN HOW MANY CALORIES YOU NEED TO EAT FIRST.

And then eat MORE!

Spend the next two weeks eating an additional 300-500 calories per day above your TDEE (which you calculated above) and see how your weight adjusts (and how you look in progress photos!).

If you are not getting bigger, add an additional 300-500 calories per day and repeat the process.

Depending on your training, genetics, how skinny you are, and how much muscle you need to gain, you can decide how much weight you want to gain each week.

Everybody’s results will vary, and thoughts are mixed on how quickly we can build muscle:

Under optimal conditions, some say you can expect to gain 1 pound (.5 kg) of muscle per week,

My results have shown that 2 lbs (1kg) per month is more realistic.

A 2016 study[2]revealed that strength training produced a 2.2 lb increase (1kg) increase in lean mass in 8 weeks.

Regardless of how fast you bulk up, it might be helpful for you to gain weight by putting on some fat with your muscle!

Here are things to consider if you overeat WHILE strength training: extra glycogen, some fat, and water stored in your body can be a good thing for your confidence and get you headed down the right path.

So, don’t listen to the sites or programs that say “gain 40 pounds of muscle in two months!”

Unless you’re on the juice (‘roids, not Hawaiian Punch), it’s going to be a slow, long process.

Yes, it is possible to have incredible transformations in a short amount of time, like when I gained 18 pounds (8.1kg) in 30 days

This was due to strength training, overeating, protein, and extra water weight (from supplementing with creatine):

My advice: Rather than massive weight gain over a month, you’d be much better off gaining .5-1.5 lbs. (.25-.75 kg) a week, every week, for six months…and keeping the weight on!

Now, I know this stuff isn’t easy.

There’s nothing worse than spending 6+ months in a gym and doing what you think you SHOULD be doing, only to step on the scale and realize that you haven’t made any progress!

If you’re somebody that’s worried about wasting time, or you want to have an expert guide your nutrition based on your current situation, consider checking out our Online Training Program!

Learn to bulk up correctly with our Coaching Program!

What Food Should I Eat to Bulk Up?

Let’s go through how you should be prioritizing your nutrition, nutrient by nutrient:

Protein: rebuilds muscle after you break it down.

Carbohydrates: provides your muscle with fuel and body weight with energy

Fat: helps your bodily functions and can also be burned as fuel in the absence of carbs.

Let’s look at each of these individually:

PRIORITY #1: PROTEIN

Protein can come from any number of sources, including:

Meat (steak, bison, pork).

Fowl (chicken, turkey, duck).

Eggs![3]

Cheese and dairy.

Fish and shellfish (salmon, tuna, shrimp).

Legumes (black beans, chickpeas).

Other vegetarian protein sources here.

As we cover in our “How much Protein do I need?”, claims for the amount of protein needed vary wildly from source to source (and athlete to athlete).

Here is our recommendation:

If you’re of healthy weight, active, and wish to build muscle, aim for 1 g/lb (2.2 g/kg).

If you’re an experienced lifter on a bulk, intakes up to 1.50 g/lb (3.3 g/kg) may help you minimize fat gain.

Let me simplify it for you: target at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (2.2 grams per kg). 

If you’re curious, from our healthy eating article, this is what a portion of protein looks like:

Also, here’s how much protein is in a serving of food:

4 oz (113 g) of chicken has around 30 g of protein.

4 oz (113 g) of salmon has 23 g of protein

4 oz (113 g) of steak has 28 g of protein.

Want to get more protein? Consider protein shakes.

PRIORITY #2: CARBS

After protein, in order for you to get bigger, you need to eat enough calories, and those calories should come from sources composed of carbs and/or fats.

Here are foods full of carbohydrates you can prioritize for bulking up:

Rice

Quinoa

Oats

Legumes and lentils

Sweet potatoes

Yams

Regular potatoes

Whole grain pasta

Whole grain bread

To help you get better at eyeballing serving sizes:

1 serving of a starchy carbohydrate is 1 cupped hand (uncooked), or your two hands forming a cup (cooked).

Here are some images to help you learn proper portion sizes (thanks to SafeFood):

In addition to consuming carbohydrates from these sources, it’s okay to consume plenty of fruit while trying to bulk up!

You can read our full “Is fruit healthy” guide to learn more.

PRIORITY #3: FAT! 

Fat is a macronutrient that you can eat that can help you reach your goals in the right quantity, as fat can be higher calorie and you can eat lots of it without feeling full.

Healthy fat can be found in foods like:

Avocado

Almonds

Walnuts

Macadamia nuts

Olive oil

Almond butter

Peanut butter

Science has recently come around on saturated fat too [4]. Once completely vilified, but now considered okay for moderate consumption.

Saturated fats can come from things like:

Whole milk

Full fat dairy

Coconut oil

Grass-fed butter

Fatty cuts of meat

Lard

To help you gauge: a serving size of fat is roughly the size of your thumb!

For reference, this is a single serving of almonds (162 calories):

THIS is a serving of olive oil (119 calories):

As you can see, you can eat an extra 500 calories of “healthy fats” by eating lots of “heart-healthy” fats like nuts or adding more olive oil to your meals.

PRIORITY #4: VEGETABLES!

Last but not least, you need vegetables in your diet.

If you start to eat a lot more food, your “indoor plumbing” is going to really benefit from eating some high-fiber veggies with each meal:

A serving of veggies is about the size of your fist.

Here’s a quick, non-complete list of veggies that can fill your plate:

Broccoli

Broccolini

Cauliflower

Spinach

Kale

Spaghetti squash

Brussels sprouts

Zucchini

Cucumber

Carrots

Onion

Asparagus

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

This plate and serving size stuff above is just to help you get started thinking about healthy food differently and in proper portion sizes.

TO RECAP, HERE’S HOW TO EAT TO BULK UP:

Calculate your (Total daily energy expenditure) and add +500 cal over your number.

Consume 1-1.5g per pound (2.2-3.3g per kg) of bodyweight in protein every day.

Consume the rest of your calories from foods composed of carbs and fats.

Always eat vegetables so that your body can actually PROCESS all this extra food.

If you are not gaining weight, add more carbs and/or fats to your meal.

It really does come down to the following:

If you are not gaining weight fast enough, you’re not eating enough. Increase your portions of carbs and fats!

Whenever we work with coaching clients who struggle to bulk up, this is the area we target: adding more carbs and fats to each meal.

Need an expert to help you bulk up quickly and safely? Learn more:

What are the Best Popular Bulk Up Eating Strategies?

If you read the previous section, you know that we have some pretty specific “best practices” on how to bulk up. 

However, there are multiple strategies that can also work, and I’d like to cover each of those here too.

Depending on your budget, your taste in food, and your goals, these strategies will work better for some than others.

#1) The “Healthy” Bulk

I have followed this method to great success multiple times (including right now).

Ultimately, I follow the “real food” principles whenever possible (good sources of quality meat, tons of vegetables, minimal amounts of gluten and processed carbs), but mixing in some specific items that are calorie/carbohydrate dense to reach my calorie goals for the day.

This is the exact strategy we lay out in the previous section of this article.

Speaking of quality calories – how I recommend doing this – receive your Get Bigger Shopping List and Bulk Up Cheat Sheet by putting your email in the box below:

Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!

  Enter your email below to download now

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Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  #2) The “See Food” Diet

This is the diet I used to put on 18 pounds in 30 days.

Looking back at how I ate, I’m now grossed out.

But for me at the time, it worked (and got me interested in diet research).

If you are super skinny and on a tight budget, this might be your only option, and that’s okay! Foods that are high in calories include:

Whole milk, cottage cheese, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes, fast food, ice cream, juice, peanut butter sandwiches, fast food, meatball subs from Subway, pizza, burgers, etc.

Whatever gets you to your caloric intake goal for the day.

When I put on my 18 lbs, I used to drink 3 CytoGainer shakes a day, because it was the easiest way for me to stay on target.

If you are training properly, a majority of these calories will go towards building muscle instead of putting on a lot of fat.

Steve’s thoughts: I’m not a big fan of this method much, as I’ve come to learn the quality of food is as important (if not more so) than quantity when it comes to your overall health, and we’re aiming for bigger AND healthier.

#3) GOMAD 

Drink a gallon of whole milk every day along with your meals.

Sounds crazy, yup, but it works.

A gallon of whole milk is full of enough sugar, carbs, fats, and protein that when all said and done, results in 2400 calories consumed in liquid form.

Mix in vegetables and meat for healthy meals and you got yourself a simple to follow diet.

I’ve attempted this diet back in my younger days, and although my stomach hated me, I certainly had success with it, mostly because it was simple to follow and easy to understand.

#4) Paleo Bulk or Keto Bulk

Bulking up while following the Paleo Diet, or bulking while following a Keto Diet. 

Yes, it’s possible to bulk while following either of these diets:

If you are eating Paleo, you’ll want to eat LOTS of carbs and fats from calorie dense foods like fruit, sweet potatoes, and nuts.

If you are going Keto, you’ll want to eat LOTS of fat from cheeses, nuts, oils, and so on.

If you have the budget and want to try it, go for it. You’ll be eating truckloads of nuts, avocados, and sweet potatoes.

“WHICH STRATEGY IS BEST FOR ME?”

In our opinion, we’ve had the most success with Coaching Clients who adapt a “healthy bulk” strategy, #1 above. 

It’s a focus on real food, sustainable increase in calorie intake, and can be adjusted easily by adding or reducing total portions of carbs and fats.

But hey, you do you, boo.

What Supplements Should I take to Bulk up? How to eat more calories.

If you are struggling to consume enough whole foods every day, then here are some tips to help you reach your caloric goals to bulk up:

“WHAT SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I TAKE TO BULK UP FAST?”

Most supplements are garbage

Plus, you should ALWAYS prioritize consuming real food over shakes and powders.

HOWEVER, if you are interested in bulking quickly, there are two I would recommend:

Protein Powder. A great solution for getting extra protein and calories in your diet and building muscle.[5] As we point out in our article on protein and protein shakes, mix and match your own ingredients and see how many calories you can get into a smoothie without breaking your blender.

Creatine supplement. It helps your muscles retain more water [6], and has been shown to increase the hormone IGF-1, which is needed for muscle growth[7]. It’s one of the only two supplements (along with protein) that I take regularly.

Outside of these two supplements, you really don’t need to prioritize supplementation, despite what the muscle magazines tell you! Hell, many of these muscle mags are OWNED BY SUPPLEMENT COMPANIES.

I’ll leave you with two more big suggestions on how to bulk up in this section: 

#1) Liquid calories are your friend. Liquid calories can give us lots of calories without ‘filling us up,’ which is an easier way to consume enough calories every day without feeling overly full.

I personally get a huge chunk of my calories every day from making my own ‘Powerbomb Shake – from our Protein Guide

Water: 16 oz.

Quaker Oats: 3 servings (120g)

Frozen spinach: 1.5 servings (120g)

Frozen mixed berries: 1.5 servings (120g)

Protein powder: 2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Whey

And here is the macronutrient breakdown:

Calories: 815 cal

Protein: 70g

Carbs: 107g

Fats: 12g

I put all of this into a Vitamix Blender – yep, it was expensive, but worth the investment. This blender has been used twice a day for 8 years without a single issue.

If you need even more calories consider adding whole milk, coconut milk, or almond milk instead of water.

You can also add a shot of olive oil to add calories/fats to a shake in the quest for MOAR MUSCLE!

#2) Train your Body to Eat More: If you are cooking rice, each week try adding in an extra quarter cup when you cook it.

And yeah, you have to FORCE your stomach to accept more food, even when you’re not hungry.

This is not enjoyable, as you often feel like you’re going to explode.

However, just like it’s necessary to force your muscles outside of your comfort zone to get bigger, you need to force your stomach outside of its comfort zone until it adapts to accepting more calories.

So, start by adding a little bit more food each day and soon enough your stomach will expand. 

How to Grow Bigger Muscles: Get Stronger

When you strength train, your muscles are broken down and then get rebuilt stronger to adapt to the stress you have applied to it.

So every time you pick up a slightly heavier weight, you are increasing the challenge and forcing your muscles to adapt and get more resilient.

What I’m trying to say:

If you want to get bigger, focus on getting stronger.

As long as you are continually increasing the weights or increase the sets and reps you are lifting, your muscles will continually adapt to get stronger.

This is called “progressive overload” and it. is. everything.

If you are doing this while eating enough calories, you will get bigger.

You have two approaches to consider while bulking up: 

PATH A: BODYBUILDER BULK. Follow a bodybuilder type routine that focuses on isolation exercises that chops your body into different segments and works each of them out once a week.

You may have seen something like this:

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Shoulders

Thursday: Back

Friday: Arms and Abs

I think these routines are fine, and you might even enjoy them.

However, they do require a fairly large time commitment at the gym, and you’ll be training 5-6 days per week.

PATH B: STRENGTH AND MUSCLE. Focus on full-body routines that contain compound exercises like squats and deadlifts that give us the most bang for our buck.

Every time you train, most of the muscles in your body are getting worked out.

Specifically, this path has you focusing on getting really strong at these movements:

Squats

Deadlifts

Overhead Presses

Bench presses

Body rows

Dips

Push-ups

Pull-ups

If you can focus on getting really strong with the above exercises, and eat enough calories, you will also get bigger in all of the right places.

Path B is something we’re bigger fans of compared to Path A, and it’s what we recommend to our Coaching Clients.

Specially, we find it to be safer and also more time-efficient: you’ll be training just 2-3 days per week on this path (instead of 5-6 days per week with Path A).

Mark Rippetoe (author of Starting Strength, a must-read for anybody interested in the above exercises) lives for old school barbell training (path B):

Why?

Because it works.

Just. Keep. Eating. And. Lifting.

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for Bulking Up

As we cover in our “How to build muscle” article, here’s a sample routine you can follow NOW to start bulking up.

After you do your dynamic warm-up, do the following workout:

MONDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Squats: 4 sets of 5 reps

Bench press 4 sets of 5 reps

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Planks 3 sets of 60 seconds

WEDNESDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Deadlift: 3 sets of 5 reps

Overhead Press: 3 sets of 5 reps

Inverted Bodyweight Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps

Hanging Knee Raises: 3 sets of 10 reps

FRIDAY BULK UP WORKOUT: 

Front Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps

Weighted Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps

Weighted Chin Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Reverse Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

Get stronger and the rest will take care of itself.

NERD FITNESS RECOMMENDATION: Feel free to pick WHATEVER workout program you want from wherever. If you don’t want to follow the workout above, consider these sources:

5 Beginner Strength Training Routines you can follow.

Follow our 6 level gym workout routine.

You can build your own workout routine.

You can follow any workout from any muscle magazine.

If you’re curious, here are some commonly accepted strategies based on your goals for how many sets and reps you should do:

Strength and power: 1-5 reps

Strength and some size: 5-8 reps

Size and some strength: 8-12 reps

Muscular endurance: 12+ reps

Now, don’t worry too much about which path is best.

Nutrition plays the most important role in bulking up, and any strength training plan will help you get bigger.

There are 3 studies I want to point out:

A recent study showed that a higher intensity workout (heavier weight for low reps) created more muscle mass than a higher volume (lower weight for more reps).[8]

Getting more volume (more sets of exercises) per week resulted in more mass compared to less volume (fewer sets of exercises), in this study[9].

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[10] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial. Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep, and pushing oneself to absolute failure.[11]

What this means: Don’t overthink it. 

Pick up heavy stuff for 3-4 sets of 5 reps. Pick up a weight that is heavy enough that you can only complete your specified number of reps.

Challenge yourself on bodyweight exercises, either by making them more difficult, adding weight, or doing high reps to failure.

And then do more next time.

What’s important is that you pick a plan and follow through with it while focusing on eating enough.

After a few months, you can reevaluate and then adjust based on how your body has changed.

On any of these days, feel free mix in bicep curls or tricep extensions or calf-raises at the END of your workouts.

Focus on the big lifts first and get stronger with them.

How much weight should you lift? For every one of the barbell movements above, I start with just the bar, and then add weight in 5lb increments each week.

It’s important to get form right and get your body used to the movement for when you start to lift heavy weight.

How long should you wait between sets? Again, don’t overthink it. Waiting 2-3 minutes allows you lift heavier weight, and thus makes you stronger.

Waiting 60-90 seconds puts more of an emphasis on muscular size and endurance (as you’re resting for a shorter period)…but don’t overthink it. Do the next set when you’re ready.

A piece of advice from 8-time Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney: “stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Don’t destroy yourself for the sake of destroying yourself; stopping one or two reps short of maximum effort can save you from overtraining and potential injury – remember that muscles are built in the kitchen!

If you’re already overwhelmed and just want somebody to tell you what to do, you’re not alone.

I’ve had a coach since 2014 and it’s the best investment I make in myself every month.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly and safely. Learn more:

Can Bodyweight Training Help Me Bulk Up?

Yes, you can get bigger and stronger doing exclusively bodyweight exercises.

Take a look at any Olympic gymnast: he is jacked, with giant muscles, all built with bodyweight exercises:

HOWEVER, it requires a very specific type of training regiment to see those results.

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[12] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial.

Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep. In other words, you’ll need to push yourself to absolute failure.[13]

So, here’s where the challenges arise:

Like with weight training above, you need to increase the difficulty in order for your muscles to adapt.

Because it’s often more challenging to add a few pounds to a bodyweight exercise to make it tougher – compared to putting a weight on a bar, you need to increase the difficulty of the bodyweight movement itself.

If you are trying to build size, you can also do sets where your rep ranges are in the 25-35 reps per set, and you are pushing your muscles to failure (woof):

If you can do 4 sets of 15 push-ups, consider making them harder to progress. Do 4 sets of 15 push ups with your feet on a bench. 

Body weight squats too easy? Work your way up to pistol squats (one legged squats).

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Sep 22, 2014 at 1:01pm PDT

4 sets of 12 pull-ups not a challenge anymore? Great. Make them tougher. Go for a wider grip, an uneven grip, or weighted pull-ups.

I highly recommend beginners start to take a serious look at strength training with free weights; it’s much easier to record one’s progress, easy to add more difficulty (just add more weight!), and very structured.

You can ALSO mix in bodyweight training, which is what I prefer to do!

In fact, I personally believe the best routine mixes both weights and bodyweight training. I have been working with my online coach for 4 years, and I’ve packed on size by following a barbell + bodyweight training routine.

Weight training for my lower body, advanced bodyweight movements for my upper body.

Every day starts with either a squat, front squat or deadlift.

Here I am pulling 420 pounds at a bodyweight of 172 pounds:

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Nov 21, 2018 at 10:43am PST

Each workout also contains a lot of Olympic/gymnastic style movements and holds to build upper body strength.

Handstands too (read our guide on handstands):

And I just try to get stronger.

What it really comes down to is this: no matter what you have access to (a gym, barbell, dumbbells, or just a pull-up bar) you can find a way to build strength and muscle if you follow a plan and eat enough calories.

If you’re trying to bulk with just bodyweight, it might be worth enlisting the help of a coach to help you scale your bodyweight exercises correctly and in the proper sequence!

Learn how to bulk up with bodyweight exercises in our Online Coaching Program!

I am Skinny Fat: Should I gain or lose weight first?

If you are skinny fat (you have skinny arms and legs but have a gut), there are three paths available to you:

Bulk up and build muscle, then lean out.

Lean out, then build muscle.

Build muscle and lean out at the same time.

We all want Door #3, right?

Here how to do accomplish both goals at the same:

Heavy strength training…

While following a healthy diet and slight calorie restriction…

To decrease your body fat fat percentage.

If you follow a program with the right calories and strength training, you can both lose weight AND build muscle at the same time.

It’s how we helped NF Coaching Client Jimmy (these photos are 5 months apart):

Our advice: Get strong and eat a SLIGHT caloric deficit while consuming enough protein every day.

Get yourself down to roughly 12% body fat (~20% for women), and then start to increase the size.

By slimming down first, while building muscle, you don’t have to worry about buying BIGGER clothes first, only to then need smaller clothes once you start cutting the fat.

Then, once you decide to eat more and get bigger, if you notice your body fat percentage start to creep up, you can simply adjust until your body fat gets back in the acceptable range. Then keep building!

To recap, here’s what to do if you are skinny-fat:

Eat a caloric deficit while heavy strength training to build muscle while leaning out.

Prioritize protein intake: 1.5g per pound (.75g per kg) of bodyweight.

Get strong as hell with big lifts and low reps (this will build muscle even in a deficit).

Once you reach a certain body fat percentage you’re happy with (probably 10-12%), then you can increase your caloric intake to build more muscle without putting on too much fat.

Our coaching program can help you rebuild your physique. Learn how:

Proper Sleep and Rest for Putting on Muscle

Last but not least, the other important piece to this Triforce of muscle building:

Strength training, eating enough, and RECOVERY.

Your body builds and rebuilds its muscles during RECOVERY.

Our muscles generally need 48 hours or so to recover from its previous workout, so I do not recommend you do any serious strength training of the same muscle group on back to back days.

Feel free to do dynamic warm-ups or fun exercise if you feel like it doing some active recovery on off days, but I tend to take my off days OFF.

I might go for a walk (to Mordor!), but that’s about it.

A word about cardio: if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, lots of long-distance cardio will work against you.

Your body has to burn so many calories for your runs that it doesn’t get to use any of these calories in the muscle-building process.

If you love to run/bike, that’s cool, as long as you know it’s slowing (or halting) your progress.

So, cut back on the running or cut it out completely.

Try mixing in sprints and interval training if you want to keep the cardio up without having to do all of the crazy distance. You can always add it back in once you accomplish your weight gain goals.

A few words on SLEEP: You need more of it when you are building muscle.

It’s that simple.

Don’t be surprised if after a heavy deadlift day you find yourself wanting to sleep for 10 hours.

It might mean less TV or less video games.

Again, if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, don’t neglect sleep.

FAQ for Skinny Guys Trying to Bulk Up

QUESTION: “But I just want to get toned, I don’t want to get too bulky.” 

That’s not a question, but I hear it all the time. Do NOT worry about getting too bulky. I’ve been trying to get “too bulky” my entire life – it takes years of concerted effort to pull that off.

I’m gonna guess you have 30+ pounds to gain before you’d ever even be considered “bulky.”

That means that if you struggle with weight gain, getting to the point where you are TOO bulky would actually be a good problem to solve.

As you start to put on weight if you ever find yourself getting a tiny bit too chubby, simply eat less at that point!

So, when in doubt, always err on the side of too many calories than not enough. If you’re not sure if you should eat or not, etc.

QUESTION: “But I don’t want to do that stuff, so I’m gonna do _____ instead.”

Again not a question. But hey, go for it. Give it a month, and see how your body reacts. If you’re getting bigger, stronger, and healthier, keep doing it.

If not, come back to this article and apply the lessons in here!

QUESTION: “I’m a vegetarian/vegan, can I bulk up?”

Absolutely. You just need to make sure you’re getting enough calories and enough protein in your system to promote muscle growth.

Beans and nuts have lots of protein; if you’re vegetarian you can still use dairy to your advantage (whey protein, whole milk, cheese, etc.).

If you’re vegan, then it’s slightly more of a challenge to get enough protein, but it can be done: almond butter is your friend 🙂

Check out our plant based protein suggestions.

QUESTION: “Should I do ___ reps and sets or _____ reps and sets?“

Either plan will get you there. It’s 90% diet anyways.

What’s important is that you pick a plan, you progress, you keep track of your results, and you consistently progressively increase the load that you are moving (be it your body’s weight or an actual weight).

QUESTION: “I want to get bigger and faster and have more endurance and flexibility ALL at the same time, can I do that?” 

I hate to say it, but building endurance and getting bigger simultaneously is brutally difficult.

As I point out in “How to build any physique,” compare a marathon runner’s body with that of a sprinter or gymnast. Put the running on hold for a while, and focus on getting bigger: you’ll get there faster.

When you decide to mix running back in, keep your calorie consumption high and don’t forget to keep strength training!

You can still go for walks, and still get a good cardio workout by lifting quickly with minimal breaks between sets.

QUESTION: “Do I need to eat every three hours?”

Nope, you don’t have to:

The TOTAL number of calories you consume over the course of a day is more important than the timing of the meals.[14]

The same is true with protein intake: studies show it doesn’t matter WHEN you eat your protein. HOW MUCH you consume in a day is more important.[15]

In fact, there are actually some scientific benefits that can result from not eating all day and instead condensing it into a smaller window.

But eating more frequently might help…

If you struggle to get enough calories in your system, spacing out your meals might help you feel less full, or give you more opportunities to reach your calorie goal for the day.

I eat all of my calories between 12pm and 8pm, and still get bigger despite only eating 2 MASSIVE meals each day.

QUESTION: “But what about this other article? And this other thing I read? Which workout is the best workout?”

Don’t overwhelm yourself. Keep it simple. Get stronger, eat more food, sleep. Break this down into simple steps and goals that aren’t scary, and get started.

The best advice I can give you is to start and make adjustments along the way.

Track your progress, track your calories, and track your workouts.

If you are getting bigger and stronger, keep it up!

I know this stuff can be overwhelming, as I struggled with this stuff for YEARS before getting results.

It why after I started Nerd Fitness, I eventually launched a coaching program: to help people skip the years of mistakes I made!

Learn how our 1-on-1 Coaching Program can help you!

More Resources for Skinny Guys Looking to Bulk Up

This is a monster of an article, and your head probably hurts at this point.

If I can narrow it down to three main points:

Get stronger by picking up heavy stuff or doing more challenging bodyweight movements.

Get bigger by eating enough.

Recover faster by sleeping enough and giving your muscles days off to rebuild.

If you made it this far, and you want more specific instruction and guidance, we have a few options for you:

1) If you are somebody that wants to follow a tailor-made program that’s designed around their life and goals, check out our popular 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program.

You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself, check your form, and program your workouts and nutrition for you.

Get step-by-step instruction, form checks, and worldwide accountability in your pocket! Learn about our Coaching Program

2) Good at following instructions and want a blueprint to follow? Check out our self-paced online course, the Nerd Fitness Academy.

20+ workouts for both bodyweight or weight training, a benchmark test to determine your starting workout, HD demonstrations of every movement, boss battles, nutritional leveling system, a questing system, and supportive community.

Learn more about The Nerd Fitness Academy!

3) Download our free Bulk Up Guide, which you can get when you sign up in the box below:

Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!

  Enter your email below to download now

  The Nerd Fitness "Get Bigger" Shopping List

Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  Lastly, I’d love to hear from you!

PLEASE leave your questions, eating or strength or otherwise below so we can answer them and become best friends and practice karate kicks in the garage:

How can I help you get bigger and stronger?

What part of this journey are you still struggling the most with?

What are your favorite bulking up foods!?

Share with your friends in the comments so we can all go buy it in bulk at Costco.

-Steve

PS: Make sure you check out the rest of our Bulk Up guides:

How to build muscle quickly

How fast can I build muscle?

9 Mistakes People Make Trying to Get Bigger

13 Tips for Guaranteed Weight Gain.

###

photo source: Not Happy, caveman from Damy, Fish soup plate of meat, male gymnast, sleeping puppy, scale, smurf, front squat, blender-smoothie, axel wheelhouse

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Studies have shown the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to be very accurate in determining BMR and TDEE

Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training

Dietary cholesterol doesn’t influence blood cholesterol levels as much as conventional wisdom once thought. Go ahead and eat eggs!

Saturated fat: part of a healthy diet: pubmed

The effects of protein supplements on muscle mass, strength, and aerobic and anaerobic power in healthy adults: a systematic review: study

Check out that study on creatine and cellular hydration right here.

Check out a study on creatine and IGF-1 here.

The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men: study

Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men: study

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

This study shows your body will burn calories at the same overall rate no matter when they are consumed: PubMed.

Pubmed extract: The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis.

The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/

[lindafrancois]

The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk

Want to go from a skinny guy to building muscle quickly? You’ve come to the right place:

The ultimate guide to bulking up.

I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to pack on muscle, and after years and years of trial and error, I finally cracked the code.

Today, I share that code with you!

This is a topic that is near and dear to me, because I’ve spent my life devoted to this stuff:

These are the exact tactics I’ve used, and the same strategies we use with our Online Coaching Clients.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly. Learn how:

This free guide is gonna get you started off on the right foot!

Here’s what we’ll cover in this ultimate guide (click to jump to that section):

INTRO:

How I bulked up after years of struggling as a skinny guy.

NUTRITION:

The most important thing for putting on muscle (your diet).

What foods should I eat to bulk up?

What are the best bulk up strategies?

What supplements should I take to bulk up and build muscle?

STRENGTH TRAINING:

How to grow bigger muscles (get stronger).

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for bulking up.

Can bodyweight training help you bulk up?

I am skinny fat: should I gain weight or lose weight first?

RECOVERY, TIPS AND TRICKS, NEXT STEP:

Proper sleep and rest for putting on muscle.

FAQ for skinny guys trying to bulk up.

More resources for skinny guys looking to bulk up.

How I Bulked up After Years of Struggling as a Skinny Guy

Growing up, I was always the scrawny, skinny weak kid.

There was a reason I dressed up like superman every other day for the first six years of my life:

Superman was strong, big, and powerful…and I wasn’t.

To this day, it’s still a big challenge for me to gain weight or build muscle.

When people tell me “must be nice to have been skinny growing up,” I explain that a killer flat top, my height (5’2″ until I was 16), four years of braces, and two Acutane treatments made sure I still got the full adolescent experience 🙂

When I was cut from the high school basketball team (which I thought was the end of the world), I signed up for a gym membership to get big and strong.

Within five minutes I had almost killed myself when loading up way too much weight for a set of bench presses.

Fortunately I survived, and thus began my love affair with strength training.

I spent the next six years training in a gym, reading every muscle and fitness magazine I could find, drinking protein shakes religiously…and had about 3 pounds of muscle gain to show for it.

I just assumed “I’m one of those people who can’t gain weight.”

It turns out, I was doing it all wrong.

After graduating college I moved to California, signed up for a gym membership, and received a few free personal trainer sessions. 

Although I thought I had known it all (I had been training for 6 years in a gym! I read the muscle mags! I was in good shape already!), I still took the free sessions for the hell of it.

The trainer drastically simplified my workout and DOUBLED the amount of food I was eating.

I thought he was crazy, but I stuck with it.

In 30 days, I had put on 18 pounds (pictured below), increased the strength in ALL of my lifts, and felt more confident than I ever had before in my life. 

That’s when the lightbulb when off in my head: there’s a better way.

And thus began a radical redefinition of how I thought the human body worked, how muscle was built, and where I needed to put my priorities.

Since then, I’ve spent seven years learning everything I can about how muscle is built.

A few years back, I took an epic 35,000 mile trip around the world, and despite not having access to a gym for 6 months, I managed to once again pack on even more muscle and get myself in great shape without once picking up a weight (pictured below):

Again, my world was turned upside down.

I learned that gyms are not a requirement to build muscle and get stronger, though a great gym workout can certainly speed up the process.

And after a few more years of up and down challenges, I had finally – jokingly – changed from Steve Rogers to (jokingly) Captain America (there’s a story behind this):

I’m still not the biggest guy in the world, nor will I ever be. I’m okay with that!

I’ve learned that anyone can pack on muscle, even skinny nerds like me. If you’re skinny and want to get bigger, you’ll be fighting genetics the whole way, but do not let that deter you. Anything is possible.

Today’s article outlines everything I’ve learned over the past 13 years of mistakes, successes, failures, and adventures.

The Most Important Thing for Putting on Muscle: Eat More Food.

As they say, muscle isn’t made in the gym, but in the kitchen:

If you want to bulk up, you’d be better off working out twice a week for 30 minutes and eating right, than working out 6 days a week and not eating properly.

I learned this the hard way.

I spent four years of college working out five days a week for 90 minutes a day trying to get bigger.

I drank protein shakes like I thought I was supposed to. I got a little stronger, but never bigger.

Why?

BECAUSE I DIDN’T EAT ENOUGH CALORIES.

When I get emails from people who lament the fact that they can’t gain weight, I always first ask about the person’s diet.

More often than not, that person thinks they are eating enough, but are definitely not.

Here’s the truth:

If you are not getting bigger, you are not eating enough.

Your body can burn 2000+ calories every day just existing (and then factor in exercise and, gulp, cardio – I’ll get to that in a minute), and you need to overload your system with calories in order for it to have enough fuel for the muscle building process.

Want to know how many calories you burn every day just existing?

Plug your stats into our TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) calculator:

Total Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator

Your sex * Male Female

Male/Female

Age *

Use age in years.

Weight *

Use pounds (lbs). If using metric system, multiple kg times 2.2 for lbs.

Height *

Use inches. If using metric system, divide cm by 2.54 for total inches.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is an estimate of the total calories burned a day, while in a state of rest.

Activity Level * Sedentary (You frequent tell Netflix you are still watching) Lightly Active (You casually stroll through your neighborhood a few times a week) Moderately Active (If we called the gym on a weeknight looking for you, they'd find you) Very Active (You are constantly moving throughout your day job and you're on the company softball team)

For "Activity Level," veer toward the side of less active. Studies consistently show that people are not as active as they self-assess.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your TDEE is an estimate of the total calories burned during a single day, when exercise is factored in.

(Click right here for our Metric calculator).

(Note: we have used The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to create this calculator! [1])

For every person, the number of required calories for bulking up daily is different, especially when you factor in how much you move, fidget, and how much weight you need to gain:

For some people, it might be 2,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 3,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 5,000 calories a day.

I don’t love calorie counting (I prefer a “healthy plate” approach), but I think for a newbie starting out, tracking calories for a few days is a great place to begin.

So, track your calories using something like MyFitnessPal over a few days and get an average.

I bet you’ll discover you’re eating significantly less than you thought you were.

LEARN HOW MANY CALORIES YOU NEED TO EAT FIRST.

And then eat MORE!

Spend the next two weeks eating an additional 300-500 calories per day above your TDEE (which you calculated above) and see how your weight adjusts (and how you look in progress photos!).

If you are not getting bigger, add an additional 300-500 calories per day and repeat the process.

Depending on your training, genetics, how skinny you are, and how much muscle you need to gain, you can decide how much weight you want to gain each week.

Everybody’s results will vary, and thoughts are mixed on how quickly we can build muscle:

Under optimal conditions, some say you can expect to gain 1 pound (.5 kg) of muscle per week,

My results have shown that 2 lbs (1kg) per month is more realistic.

A 2016 study[2]revealed that strength training produced a 2.2 lb increase (1kg) increase in lean mass in 8 weeks.

Regardless of how fast you bulk up, it might be helpful for you to gain weight by putting on some fat with your muscle!

Here are things to consider if you overeat WHILE strength training: extra glycogen, some fat, and water stored in your body can be a good thing for your confidence and get you headed down the right path.

So, don’t listen to the sites or programs that say “gain 40 pounds of muscle in two months!”

Unless you’re on the juice (‘roids, not Hawaiian Punch), it’s going to be a slow, long process.

Yes, it is possible to have incredible transformations in a short amount of time, like when I gained 18 pounds 8.1kg) in 30 days

This was due to strength training, overeating, protein, and extra water weight (from supplementing with creatine):

My advice: Rather than massive weight gain over a month, you’d be much better off gaining .5-1.5 lbs. (.25-.75 kg) a week, every week, for six months…and keeping the weight on!

Now, I know this stuff isn’t easy.

There’s nothing worse than spending 6+ months in a gym and doing what you think you SHOULD be doing, only to step on the scale and realize that you haven’t made any progress!

If you’re somebody that’s worried about wasting time, or you want to have an expert guide your nutrition based on your current situation, consider checking out our Online Training Program!

Learn to bulk up correctly with our Coaching Program!

What Food Should I Eat to Bulk Up?

Let’s go through how you should be prioritizing your nutrition, nutrient by nutrient:

Protein: rebuilds muscle after you break it down.

Carbohydrates: provides your muscle with fuel and body weight with energy

Fat: helps your bodily functions and can also be burned as fuel in the absence of carbs.

Let’s look at each of these individually:

PRIORITY #1: PROTEIN

Protein can come from any number of sources, including:

Meat (steak, bison, pork).

Fowl (chicken, turkey, duck).

Eggs![3]

Cheese and dairy.

Fish and shellfish (salmon, tuna, shrimp).

Legumes (black beans, chickpeas).

Other vegetarian protein sources here.

As we cover in our “How much Protein do I need?”, claims for the amount of protein needed vary wildly from source to source (and athlete to athlete).

Here is our recommendation:

If you’re of healthy weight, active, and wish to build muscle, aim for 1 g/lb (2.2 g/kg).

If you’re an experienced lifter on a bulk, intakes up to 1.50 g/lb (3.3 g/kg) may help you minimize fat gain.

Let me simplify it for you: target at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (2.2 grams per kg). 

If you’re curious, from our healthy eating article, this is what a portion of protein looks like:

Also, here’s how much protein is in a serving of food:

4 oz (113 g) of chicken has around 30 g of protein.

4 oz (113 g) of salmon has 23 g of protein

4 oz (113 g) of steak has 28 g of protein.

Want to get more protein? Consider protein shakes.

PRIORITY #2: CARBS

After protein, in order for you to get bigger, you need to eat enough calories, and those calories should come from sources composed of carbs and/or fats.

Here are foods full of carbohydrates you can prioritize for bulking up:

Rice

Quinoa

Oats

Legumes and lentils

Sweet potatoes

Yams

Regular potatoes

Whole grain pasta

Whole grain bread

To help you get better at eyeballing serving sizes:

1 serving of a starchy carbohydrate is 1 cupped hand (uncooked), or your two hands forming a cup (cooked).

Here are some images to help you learn proper portion sizes (thanks to SafeFood):

In addition to consuming carbohydrates from these sources, it’s okay to consume plenty of fruit while trying to bulk up!

You can read our full “Is fruit healthy” guide to learn more.

PRIORITY #3: FAT! 

Fat is a macronutrient that you can eat that can help you reach your goals in the right quantity, as fat can be higher calorie and you can eat lots of it without feeling full.

Healthy fat can be found in foods like:

Avocado

Almonds

Walnuts

Macadamia nuts

Olive oil

Almond butter

Peanut butter

Science has recently come around on saturated fat too [4]. Once completely vilified, but now considered okay for moderate consumption.

Saturated fats can come from things like:

Whole milk

Full fat dairy

Coconut oil

Grass-fed butter

Fatty cuts of meat

Lard

To help you gauge: a serving size of fat is roughly the size of your thumb!

For reference, this is a single serving of almonds (162 calories):

THIS is a serving of olive oil (119 calories):

As you can see, you can eat an extra 500 calories of “healthy fats” by eating lots of “heart-healthy” fats like nuts or adding more olive oil to your meals.

PRIORITY #4: VEGETABLES!

Last but not least, you need vegetables in your diet.

If you start to eat a lot more food, your “indoor plumbing” is going to really benefit from eating some high-fiber veggies with each meal:

A serving of veggies is about the size of your fist.

Here’s a quick, non-complete list of veggies that can fill your plate:

Broccoli

Broccolini

Cauliflower

Spinach

Kale

Spaghetti squash

Brussels sprouts

Zucchini

Cucumber

Carrots

Onion

Asparagus

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

This plate and serving size stuff above is just to help you get started thinking about healthy food differently and in proper portion sizes.

TO RECAP, HERE’S HOW TO EAT TO BULK UP:

Calculate your (Total daily energy expenditure) and add +500 cal over your number.

Consume 1-1.5g per pound (2.2-3.3g per kg) of bodyweight in protein every day.

Consume the rest of your calories from foods composed of carbs and fats.

Always eat vegetables so that your body can actually PROCESS all this extra food.

If you are not gaining weight, add more carbs and/or fats to your meal.

It really does come down to the following:

If you are not gaining weight fast enough, you’re not eating enough. Increase your portions of carbs and fats!

Whenever we work with coaching clients who struggle to bulk up, this is the area we target: adding more carbs and fats to each meal.

Need an expert to help you bulk up quickly and safely? Learn more:

What are the Best Popular Bulk Up Eating Strategies?

If you read the previous section, you know that we have some pretty specific “best practices” on how to bulk up. 

However, there are multiple strategies that can also work, and I’d like to cover each of those here too.

Depending on your budget, your taste in food, and your goals, these strategies will work better for some than others.

#1) The “Healthy” Bulk

I have followed this method to great success multiple times (including right now).

Ultimately, I follow the “real food” principles whenever possible (good sources of quality meat, tons of vegetables, minimal amounts of gluten and processed carbs), but mixing in some specific items that are calorie/carbohydrate dense to reach my calorie goals for the day.

This is the exact strategy we lay out in the previous section of this article.

Speaking of quality calories – how I recommend doing this – receive your Get Bigger Shopping List and Bulk Up Cheat Sheet by putting your email in the box below:

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  #2) The “See Food” Diet

This is the diet I used to put on 18 pounds in 30 days.

Looking back at how I ate, I’m now grossed out.

But for me at the time, it worked (and got me interested in diet research).

If you are super skinny and on a tight budget, this might be your only option, and that’s okay! Foods that are high in calories include:

Whole milk, cottage cheese, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes, fast food, ice cream, juice, peanut butter sandwiches, fast food, meatball subs from Subway, pizza, burgers, etc.

Whatever gets you to your caloric intake goal for the day.

When I put on my 18 lbs, I used to drink 3 CytoGainer shakes a day, because it was the easiest way for me to stay on target.

If you are training properly, a majority of these calories will go towards building muscle instead of putting on a lot of fat.

Steve’s thoughts: I’m not a big fan of this method much, as I’ve come to learn the quality of food is as important (if not more so) than quantity when it comes to your overall health, and we’re aiming for bigger AND healthier.

#3) GOMAD 

Drink a gallon of whole milk every day along with your meals.

Sounds crazy, yup, but it works.

A gallon of whole milk is full of enough sugar, carbs, fats, and protein that when all said and done, results in 2400 calories consumed in liquid form.

Mix in vegetables and meat for healthy meals and you got yourself a simple to follow diet.

I’ve attempted this diet back in my younger days, and although my stomach hated me, I certainly had success with it, mostly because it was simple to follow and easy to understand.

#4) Paleo Bulk or Keto Bulk

Bulking up while following the Paleo Diet, or bulking while following a Keto Diet. 

Yes, it’s possible to bulk while following either of these diets:

If you are eating Paleo, you’ll want to eat LOTS of carbs and fats from calorie dense foods like fruit, sweet potatoes, and nuts.

If you are going Keto, you’ll want to eat LOTS of fat from cheeses, nuts, oils, and so on.

If you have the budget and want to try it, go for it. You’ll be eating truckloads of nuts, avocados, and sweet potatoes.

“WHICH STRATEGY IS BEST FOR ME?”

In our opinion, we’ve had the most success with Coaching Clients who adapt a “healthy bulk” strategy, #1 above. 

It’s a focus on real food, sustainable increase in calorie intake, and can be adjusted easily by adding or reducing total portions of carbs and fats.

But hey, you do you, boo.

What Supplements Should I take to Bulk up? How to eat more calories.

If you are struggling to consume enough whole foods every day, then here are some tips to help you reach your caloric goals to bulk up:

“WHAT SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I TAKE TO BULK UP FAST?”

Most supplements are garbage

Plus, you should ALWAYS prioritize consuming real food over shakes and powders.

HOWEVER, if you are interested in bulking quickly, there are two I would recommend:

Protein Powder. A great solution for getting extra protein and calories in your diet and building muscle.[5] As we point out in our article on protein and protein shakes, mix and match your own ingredients and see how many calories you can get into a smoothie without breaking your blender.

Creatine supplement. It helps your muscles retain more water [6], and has been shown to increase the hormone IGF-1, which is needed for muscle growth[7]. It’s one of the only two supplements (along with protein) that I take regularly.

Outside of these two supplements, you really don’t need to prioritize supplementation, despite what the muscle magazines tell you! Hell, many of these muscle mags are OWNED BY SUPPLEMENT COMPANIES.

I’ll leave you with two more big suggestions on how to bulk up in this section: 

#1) Liquid calories are your friend. Liquid calories can give us lots of calories without ‘filling us up,’ which is an easier way to consume enough calories every day without feeling overly full.

I personally get a huge chunk of my calories every day from making my own ‘Powerbomb Shake – from our Protein Guide

Water: 16 oz.

Quaker Oats: 3 servings (120g)

Frozen spinach: 1.5 servings (120g)

Frozen mixed berries: 1.5 servings (120g)

Protein powder: 2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Whey

And here is the macronutrient breakdown:

Calories: 815 cal

Protein: 70g

Carbs: 107g

Fats: 12g

I put all of this into a Vitamix Blender – yep, it was expensive, but worth the investment. This blender has been used twice a day for 8 years without a single issue.

If you need even more calories consider adding whole milk, coconut milk, or almond milk instead of water.

You can also add a shot of olive oil to add calories/fats to a shake in the quest for MOAR MUSCLE!

#2) Train your Body to Eat More: If you are cooking rice, each week try adding in an extra quarter cup when you cook it.

And yeah, you have to FORCE your stomach to accept more food, even when you’re not hungry.

This is not enjoyable, as you often feel like you’re going to explode.

However, just like it’s necessary to force your muscles outside of your comfort zone to get bigger, you need to force your stomach outside of its comfort zone until it adapts to accepting more calories.

So, start by adding a little bit more food each day and soon enough your stomach will expand. 

How to Grow Bigger Muscles: Get Stronger

When you strength train, your muscles are broken down and then get rebuilt stronger to adapt to the stress you have applied to it.

So every time you pick up a slightly heavier weight, you are increasing the challenge and forcing your muscles to adapt and get more resilient.

What I’m trying to say:

If you want to get bigger, focus on getting stronger.

As long as you are continually increasing the weights or increase the sets and reps you are lifting, your muscles will continually adapt to get stronger.

This is called “progressive overload” and it. is. everything.

If you are doing this while eating enough calories, you will get bigger.

You have two approaches to consider while bulking up: 

PATH A: BODYBUILDER BULK. Follow a bodybuilder type routine that focuses on isolation exercises that chops your body into different segments and works each of them out once a week.

You may have seen something like this:

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Shoulders

Thursday: Back

Friday: Arms and Abs

I think these routines are fine, and you might even enjoy them.

However, they do require a fairly large time commitment at the gym, and you’ll be training 5-6 days per week.

PATH B: STRENGTH AND MUSCLE. Focus on full-body routines that contain compound exercises like squats and deadlifts that give us the most bang for our buck.

Every time you train, most of the muscles in your body are getting worked out.

Specifically, this path has you focusing on getting really strong at these movements:

Squats

Deadlifts

Overhead Presses

Bench presses

Body rows

Dips

Push-ups

Pull-ups

If you can focus on getting really strong with the above exercises, and eat enough calories, you will also get bigger in all of the right places.

Path B is something we’re bigger fans of compared to Path A, and it’s what we recommend to our Coaching Clients.

Specially, we find it to be safer and also more time-efficient: you’ll be training just 2-3 days per week on this path (instead of 5-6 days per week with Path A).

Mark Rippetoe (author of Starting Strength, a must-read for anybody interested in the above exercises) lives for old school barbell training (path B):

Why?

Because it works.

Just. Keep. Eating. And. Lifting.

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for Bulking Up

As we cover in our “How to build muscle” article, here’s a sample routine you can follow NOW to start bulking up.

After you do your dynamic warm-up, do the following workout:

MONDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Squats: 4 sets of 5 reps

Bench press 4 sets of 5 reps

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Planks 3 sets of 60 seconds

WEDNESDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Deadlift: 3 sets of 5 reps

Overhead Press: 3 sets of 5 reps

Inverted Bodyweight Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps

Hanging Knee Raises: 3 sets of 10 reps

FRIDAY BULK UP WORKOUT: 

Front Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps

Weighted Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps

Weighted Chin Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Reverse Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

Get stronger and the rest will take care of itself.

NERD FITNESS RECOMMENDATION: Feel free to pick WHATEVER workout program you want from wherever. If you don’t want to follow the workout above, consider these sources:

5 Beginner Strength Training Routines you can follow.

Follow our 6 level gym workout routine.

You can build your own workout routine.

You can follow any workout from any muscle magazine.

If you’re curious, here are some commonly accepted strategies based on your goals for how many sets and reps you should do:

Strength and power: 1-5 reps

Strength and some size: 5-8 reps

Size and some strength: 8-12 reps

Muscular endurance: 12+ reps

Now, don’t worry too much about which path is best.

Nutrition plays the most important role in bulking up, and any strength training plan will help you get bigger.

There are 3 studies I want to point out:

A recent study showed that a higher intensity workout (heavier weight for low reps) created more muscle mass than a higher volume (lower weight for more reps).[8]

Getting more volume (more sets of exercises) per week resulted in more mass compared to less volume (fewer sets of exercises), in this study[9].

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[10] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial. Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep, and pushing oneself to absolute failure.[11]

What this means: Don’t overthink it. 

Pick up heavy stuff for 3-4 sets of 5 reps. Pick up a weight that is heavy enough that you can only complete your specified number of reps.

Challenge yourself on bodyweight exercises, either by making them more difficult, adding weight, or doing high reps to failure.

And then do more next time.

What’s important is that you pick a plan and follow through with it while focusing on eating enough.

After a few months, you can reevaluate and then adjust based on how your body has changed.

On any of these days, feel free mix in bicep curls or tricep extensions or calf-raises at the END of your workouts.

Focus on the big lifts first and get stronger with them.

How much weight should you lift? For every one of the barbell movements above, I start with just the bar, and then add weight in 5lb increments each week.

It’s important to get form right and get your body used to the movement for when you start to lift heavy weight.

How long should you wait between sets? Again, don’t overthink it. Waiting 2-3 minutes allows you lift heavier weight, and thus makes you stronger.

Waiting 60-90 seconds puts more of an emphasis on muscular size and endurance (as you’re resting for a shorter period)…but don’t overthink it. Do the next set when you’re ready.

A piece of advice from 8-time Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney: “stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Don’t destroy yourself for the sake of destroying yourself; stopping one or two reps short of maximum effort can save you from overtraining and potential injury – remember that muscles are built in the kitchen!

If you’re already overwhelmed and just want somebody to tell you what to do, you’re not alone.

I’ve had a coach since 2014 and it’s the best investment I make in myself every month.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly and safely. Learn more:

Can Bodyweight Training Help Me Bulk Up?

Yes, you can get bigger and stronger doing exclusively bodyweight exercises.

Take a look at any Olympic gymnast: he is jacked, with giant muscles, all built with bodyweight exercises:

HOWEVER, it requires a very specific type of training regiment to see those results.

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[12] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial.

Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep. In other words, you’ll need to push yourself to absolute failure.[13]

So, here’s where the challenges arise:

Like with weight training above, you need to increase the difficulty in order for your muscles to adapt.

Because it’s often more challenging to add a few pounds to a bodyweight exercise to make it tougher – compared to putting a weight on a bar, you need to increase the difficulty of the bodyweight movement itself.

If you are trying to build size, you can also do sets where your rep ranges are in the 25-35 reps per set, and you are pushing your muscles to failure (woof):

If you can do 4 sets of 15 push-ups, consider making them harder to progress. Do 4 sets of 15 push ups with your feet on a bench. 

Body weight squats too easy? Work your way up to pistol squats (one legged squats).

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Sep 22, 2014 at 1:01pm PDT

4 sets of 12 pull-ups not a challenge anymore? Great. Make them tougher. Go for a wider grip, an uneven grip, or weighted pull-ups.

I highly recommend beginners start to take a serious look at strength training with free weights; it’s much easier to record one’s progress, easy to add more difficulty (just add more weight!), and very structured.

You can ALSO mix in bodyweight training, which is what I prefer to do!

In fact, I personally believe the best routine mixes both weights and bodyweight training. I have been working with my online coach for 4 years, and I’ve packed on size by following a barbell + bodyweight training routine.

Weight training for my lower body, advanced bodyweight movements for my upper body.

Every day starts with either a squat, front squat or deadlift.

Here I am pulling 420 pounds at a bodyweight of 172 pounds:

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Nov 21, 2018 at 10:43am PST

Each workout also contains a lot of Olympic/gymnastic style movements and holds to build upper body strength.

Handstands too (read our guide on handstands):

And I just try to get stronger.

What it really comes down to is this: no matter what you have access to (a gym, barbell, dumbbells, or just a pull-up bar) you can find a way to build strength and muscle if you follow a plan and eat enough calories.

If you’re trying to bulk with just bodyweight, it might be worth enlisting the help of a coach to help you scale your bodyweight exercises correctly and in the proper sequence!

Learn how to bulk up with bodyweight exercises in our Online Coaching Program!

I am Skinny Fat: Should I gain or lose weight first?

If you are skinny fat (you have skinny arms and legs but have a gut), there are three paths available to you:

Bulk up and build muscle, then lean out.

Lean out, then build muscle.

Build muscle and lean out at the same time.

We all want Door #3, right?

Here how to do accomplish both goals at the same:

Heavy strength training…

While following a healthy diet and slight calorie restriction…

To decrease your body fat fat percentage.

If you follow a program with the right calories and strength training, you can both lose weight AND build muscle at the same time.

It’s how we helped NF Coaching Client Jimmy (these photos are 5 months apart):

Our advice: Get strong and eat a SLIGHT caloric deficit while consuming enough protein every day.

Get yourself down to roughly 12% body fat (~20% for women), and then start to increase the size.

By slimming down first, while building muscle, you don’t have to worry about buying BIGGER clothes first, only to then need smaller clothes once you start cutting the fat.

Then, once you decide to eat more and get bigger, if you notice your body fat percentage start to creep up, you can simply adjust until your body fat gets back in the acceptable range. Then keep building!

To recap, here’s what to do if you are skinny-fat:

Eat a caloric deficit while heavy strength training to build muscle while leaning out.

Prioritize protein intake: 1.5g per pound (.75g per kg) of bodyweight.

Get strong as hell with big lifts and low reps (this will build muscle even in a deficit).

Once you reach a certain body fat percentage you’re happy with (probably 10-12%), then you can increase your caloric intake to build more muscle without putting on too much fat.

Our coaching program can help you rebuild your physique. Learn how:

Proper Sleep and Rest for Putting on Muscle

Last but not least, the other important piece to this Triforce of muscle building:

Strength training, eating enough, and RECOVERY.

Your body builds and rebuilds its muscles during RECOVERY.

Our muscles generally need 48 hours or so to recover from its previous workout, so I do not recommend you do any serious strength training of the same muscle group on back to back days.

Feel free to do dynamic warm-ups or fun exercise if you feel like it doing some active recovery on off days, but I tend to take my off days OFF.

I might go for a walk (to Mordor!), but that’s about it.

A word about cardio: if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, lots of long-distance cardio will work against you.

Your body has to burn so many calories for your runs that it doesn’t get to use any of these calories in the muscle-building process.

If you love to run/bike, that’s cool, as long as you know it’s slowing (or halting) your progress.

So, cut back on the running or cut it out completely.

Try mixing in sprints and interval training if you want to keep the cardio up without having to do all of the crazy distance. You can always add it back in once you accomplish your weight gain goals.

A few words on SLEEP: You need more of it when you are building muscle.

It’s that simple.

Don’t be surprised if after a heavy deadlift day you find yourself wanting to sleep for 10 hours.

It might mean less TV or less video games.

Again, if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, don’t neglect sleep.

FAQ for Skinny Guys Trying to Bulk Up

QUESTION: “But I just want to get toned, I don’t want to get too bulky.” 

That’s not a question, but I hear it all the time. Do NOT worry about getting too bulky. I’ve been trying to get “too bulky” my entire life – it takes years of concerted effort to pull that off.

I’m gonna guess you have 30+ pounds to gain before you’d ever even be considered “bulky.”

That means that if you struggle with weight gain, getting to the point where you are TOO bulky would actually be a good problem to solve.

As you start to put on weight if you ever find yourself getting a tiny bit too chubby, simply eat less at that point!

So, when in doubt, always err on the side of too many calories than not enough. If you’re not sure if you should eat or not, etc.

QUESTION: “But I don’t want to do that stuff, so I’m gonna do _____ instead.”

Again not a question. But hey, go for it. Give it a month, and see how your body reacts. If you’re getting bigger, stronger, and healthier, keep doing it.

If not, come back to this article and apply the lessons in here!

QUESTION: “I’m a vegetarian/vegan, can I bulk up?”

Absolutely. You just need to make sure you’re getting enough calories and enough protein in your system to promote muscle growth.

Beans and nuts have lots of protein; if you’re vegetarian you can still use dairy to your advantage (whey protein, whole milk, cheese, etc.).

If you’re vegan, then it’s slightly more of a challenge to get enough protein, but it can be done: almond butter is your friend 🙂

Check out our plant based protein suggestions.

QUESTION: “Should I do ___ reps and sets or _____ reps and sets?“

Either plan will get you there. It’s 90% diet anyways.

What’s important is that you pick a plan, you progress, you keep track of your results, and you consistently progressively increase the load that you are moving (be it your body’s weight or an actual weight).

QUESTION: “I want to get bigger and faster and have more endurance and flexibility ALL at the same time, can I do that?” 

I hate to say it, but building endurance and getting bigger simultaneously is brutally difficult.

As I point out in “How to build any physique,” compare a marathon runner’s body with that of a sprinter or gymnast. Put the running on hold for a while, and focus on getting bigger: you’ll get there faster.

When you decide to mix running back in, keep your calorie consumption high and don’t forget to keep strength training!

You can still go for walks, and still get a good cardio workout by lifting quickly with minimal breaks between sets.

QUESTION: “Do I need to eat every three hours?”

Nope, you don’t have to:

The TOTAL number of calories you consume over the course of a day is more important than the timing of the meals.[14]

The same is true with protein intake: studies show it doesn’t matter WHEN you eat your protein. HOW MUCH you consume in a day is more important.[15]

In fact, there are actually some scientific benefits that can result from not eating all day and instead condensing it into a smaller window.

But eating more frequently might help…

If you struggle to get enough calories in your system, spacing out your meals might help you feel less full, or give you more opportunities to reach your calorie goal for the day.

I eat all of my calories between 12pm and 8pm, and still get bigger despite only eating 2 MASSIVE meals each day.

QUESTION: “But what about this other article? And this other thing I read? Which workout is the best workout?”

Don’t overwhelm yourself. Keep it simple. Get stronger, eat more food, sleep. Break this down into simple steps and goals that aren’t scary, and get started.

The best advice I can give you is to start and make adjustments along the way.

Track your progress, track your calories, and track your workouts.

If you are getting bigger and stronger, keep it up!

I know this stuff can be overwhelming, as I struggled with this stuff for YEARS before getting results.

It why after I started Nerd Fitness, I eventually launched a coaching program: to help people skip the years of mistakes I made!

Learn how our 1-on-1 Coaching Program can help you!

More Resources for Skinny Guys Looking to Bulk Up

This is a monster of an article, and your head probably hurts at this point.

If I can narrow it down to three main points:

Get stronger by picking up heavy stuff or doing more challenging bodyweight movements.

Get bigger by eating enough.

Recover faster by sleeping enough and giving your muscles days off to rebuild.

If you made it this far, and you want more specific instruction and guidance, we have a few options for you:

1) If you are somebody that wants to follow a tailor-made program that’s designed around their life and goals, check out our popular 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program.

You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself, check your form, and program your workouts and nutrition for you.

Get step-by-step instruction, form checks, and worldwide accountability in your pocket! Learn about our Coaching Program

2) Good at following instructions and want a blueprint to follow? Check out our self-paced online course, the Nerd Fitness Academy.

20+ workouts for both bodyweight or weight training, a benchmark test to determine your starting workout, HD demonstrations of every movement, boss battles, nutritional leveling system, a questing system, and supportive community.

Learn more about The Nerd Fitness Academy!

3) Download our free Bulk Up Guide, which you can get when you sign up in the box below:

Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!

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Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  Lastly, I’d love to hear from you!

PLEASE leave your questions, eating or strength or otherwise below so we can answer them and become best friends and practice karate kicks in the garage:

How can I help you get bigger and stronger?

What part of this journey are you still struggling the most with?

What are your favorite bulking up foods!?

Share with your friends in the comments so we can all go buy it in bulk at Costco.

-Steve

PS: Make sure you check out the rest of our Bulk Up guides:

How to build muscle quickly

How fast can I build muscle?

9 Mistakes People Make Trying to Get Bigger

13 Tips for Guaranteed Weight Gain.

###

photo source: Not Happy, caveman from Damy, Fish soup plate of meat, male gymnast, sleeping puppy, scale, smurf, front squat, blender-smoothie, axel wheelhouse

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Studies have shown the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to be very accurate in determining BMR and TDEE

Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training

Dietary cholesterol doesn’t influence blood cholesterol levels as much as conventional wisdom once thought. Go ahead and eat eggs!

Saturated fat: part of a healthy diet: pubmed

The effects of protein supplements on muscle mass, strength, and aerobic and anaerobic power in healthy adults: a systematic review: study

Check out that study on creatine and cellular hydration right here.

Check out a study on creatine and IGF-1 here.

The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men: study

Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men: study

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

This study shows your body will burn calories at the same overall rate no matter when they are consumed: PubMed.

Pubmed extract: The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis.

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The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk

Want to go from a skinny guy to building muscle quickly? You’ve come to the right place:

The ultimate guide to bulking up.

I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to pack on muscle, and after years and years of trial and error, I finally cracked the code.

Today, I share that code with you!

This is a topic that is near and dear to me, because I’ve spent my life devoted to this stuff:

These are the exact tactics I’ve used, and the same strategies we use with our Online Coaching Clients.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly. Learn how:

This free guide is gonna get you started off on the right foot!

Here’s what we’ll cover in this ultimate guide (click to jump to that section):

INTRO:

How I bulked up after years of struggling as a skinny guy.

NUTRITION:

The most important thing for putting on muscle (your diet).

What foods should I eat to bulk up?

What are the best bulk up strategies?

What supplements should I take to bulk up and build muscle?

STRENGTH TRAINING:

How to grow bigger muscles (get stronger).

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for bulking up.

Can bodyweight training help you bulk up?

I am skinny fat: should I gain weight or lose weight first?

RECOVERY, TIPS AND TRICKS, NEXT STEP:

Proper sleep and rest for putting on muscle.

FAQ for skinny guys trying to bulk up.

More resources for skinny guys looking to bulk up.

How I Bulked up After Years of Struggling as a Skinny Guy

Growing up, I was always the scrawny, skinny weak kid.

There was a reason I dressed up like superman every other day for the first six years of my life:

Superman was strong, big, and powerful…and I wasn’t.

To this day, it’s still a big challenge for me to gain weight or build muscle.

When people tell me “must be nice to have been skinny growing up,” I explain that a killer flat top, my height (5’2″ until I was 16), four years of braces, and two Acutane treatments made sure I still got the full adolescent experience 🙂

When I was cut from the high school basketball team (which I thought was the end of the world), I signed up for a gym membership to get big and strong.

Within five minutes I had almost killed myself when loading up way too much weight for a set of bench presses.

Fortunately I survived, and thus began my love affair with strength training.

I spent the next six years training in a gym, reading every muscle and fitness magazine I could find, drinking protein shakes religiously…and had about 3 pounds of muscle gain to show for it.

I just assumed “I’m one of those people who can’t gain weight.”

It turns out, I was doing it all wrong.

After graduating college I moved to California, signed up for a gym membership, and received a few free personal trainer sessions. 

Although I thought I had known it all (I had been training for 6 years in a gym! I read the muscle mags! I was in good shape already!), I still took the free sessions for the hell of it.

The trainer drastically simplified my workout and DOUBLED the amount of food I was eating.

I thought he was crazy, but I stuck with it.

In 30 days, I had put on 18 pounds (pictured below), increased the strength in ALL of my lifts, and felt more confident than I ever had before in my life. 

That’s when the lightbulb when off in my head: there’s a better way.

And thus began a radical redefinition of how I thought the human body worked, how muscle was built, and where I needed to put my priorities.

Since then, I’ve spent seven years learning everything I can about how muscle is built.

A few years back, I took an epic 35,000 mile trip around the world, and despite not having access to a gym for 6 months, I managed to once again pack on even more muscle and get myself in great shape without once picking up a weight (pictured below):

Again, my world was turned upside down.

I learned that gyms are not a requirement to build muscle and get stronger, though a great gym workout can certainly speed up the process.

And after a few more years of up and down challenges, I had finally – jokingly – changed from Steve Rogers to (jokingly) Captain America (there’s a story behind this):

I’m still not the biggest guy in the world, nor will I ever be. I’m okay with that!

I’ve learned that anyone can pack on muscle, even skinny nerds like me. If you’re skinny and want to get bigger, you’ll be fighting genetics the whole way, but do not let that deter you. Anything is possible.

Today’s article outlines everything I’ve learned over the past 13 years of mistakes, successes, failures, and adventures.

The Most Important Thing for Putting on Muscle: Eat More Food.

As they say, muscle isn’t made in the gym, but in the kitchen:

If you want to bulk up, you’d be better off working out twice a week for 30 minutes and eating right, than working out 6 days a week and not eating properly.

I learned this the hard way.

I spent four years of college working out five days a week for 90 minutes a day trying to get bigger.

I drank protein shakes like I thought I was supposed to. I got a little stronger, but never bigger.

Why?

BECAUSE I DIDN’T EAT ENOUGH CALORIES.

When I get emails from people who lament the fact that they can’t gain weight, I always first ask about the person’s diet.

More often than not, that person thinks they are eating enough, but are definitely not.

Here’s the truth:

If you are not getting bigger, you are not eating enough.

Your body can burn 2000+ calories every day just existing (and then factor in exercise and, gulp, cardio – I’ll get to that in a minute), and you need to overload your system with calories in order for it to have enough fuel for the muscle building process.

Want to know how many calories you burn every day just existing?

Plug your stats into our TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) calculator:

Total Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator

Your sex * Male Female

Male/Female

Age *

Use age in years.

Weight *

Use pounds (lbs). If using metric system, multiple kg times 2.2 for lbs.

Height *

Use inches. If using metric system, divide cm by 2.54 for total inches.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is an estimate of the total calories burned a day, while in a state of rest.

Activity Level * Sedentary (You frequent tell Netflix you are still watching) Lightly Active (You casually stroll through your neighborhood a few times a week) Moderately Active (If we called the gym on a weeknight looking for you, they'd find you) Very Active (You are constantly moving throughout your day job and you're on the company softball team)

For "Activity Level," veer toward the side of less active. Studies consistently show that people are not as active as they self-assess.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your TDEE is an estimate of the total calories burned during a single day, when exercise is factored in.

(Click right here for our Metric calculator).

(Note: we have used The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to create this calculator! [1])

For every person, the number of required calories for bulking up daily is different, especially when you factor in how much you move, fidget, and how much weight you need to gain:

For some people, it might be 2,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 3,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 5,000 calories a day.

I don’t love calorie counting (I prefer a “healthy plate” approach), but I think for a newbie starting out, tracking calories for a few days is a great place to begin.

So, track your calories using something like MyFitnessPal over a few days and get an average.

I bet you’ll discover you’re eating significantly less than you thought you were.

LEARN HOW MANY CALORIES YOU NEED TO EAT FIRST.

And then eat MORE!

Spend the next two weeks eating an additional 300-500 calories per day above your TDEE (which you calculated above) and see how your weight adjusts (and how you look in progress photos!).

If you are not getting bigger, add an additional 300-500 calories per day and repeat the process.

Depending on your training, genetics, how skinny you are, and how much muscle you need to gain, you can decide how much weight you want to gain each week.

Everybody’s results will vary, and thoughts are mixed on how quickly we can build muscle:

Under optimal conditions, some say you can expect to gain 1 pound (.5 kg) of muscle per week,

My results have shown that 2 lbs (1kg) per month is more realistic.

A 2016 study[2]revealed that strength training produced a 2.2 lb increase (1kg) increase in lean mass in 8 weeks.

Regardless of how fast you bulk up, it might be helpful for you to gain weight by putting on some fat with your muscle!

Here are things to consider if you overeat WHILE strength training: extra glycogen, some fat, and water stored in your body can be a good thing for your confidence and get you headed down the right path.

So, don’t listen to the sites or programs that say “gain 40 pounds of muscle in two months!”

Unless you’re on the juice (‘roids, not Hawaiian Punch), it’s going to be a slow, long process.

Yes, it is possible to have incredible transformations in a short amount of time, like when I gained 18 pounds 8.1kg) in 30 days

This was due to strength training, overeating, protein, and extra water weight (from supplementing with creatine):

My advice: Rather than massive weight gain over a month, you’d be much better off gaining .5-1.5 lbs. (.25-.75 kg) a week, every week, for six months…and keeping the weight on!

Now, I know this stuff isn’t easy.

There’s nothing worse than spending 6+ months in a gym and doing what you think you SHOULD be doing, only to step on the scale and realize that you haven’t made any progress!

If you’re somebody that’s worried about wasting time, or you want to have an expert guide your nutrition based on your current situation, consider checking out our Online Training Program!

Learn to bulk up correctly with our Coaching Program!

What Food Should I Eat to Bulk Up?

Let’s go through how you should be prioritizing your nutrition, nutrient by nutrient:

Protein: rebuilds muscle after you break it down.

Carbohydrates: provides your muscle with fuel and body weight with energy

Fat: helps your bodily functions and can also be burned as fuel in the absence of carbs.

Let’s look at each of these individually:

PRIORITY #1: PROTEIN

Protein can come from any number of sources, including:

Meat (steak, bison, pork).

Fowl (chicken, turkey, duck).

Eggs![3]

Cheese and dairy.

Fish and shellfish (salmon, tuna, shrimp).

Legumes (black beans, chickpeas).

Other vegetarian protein sources here.

As we cover in our “How much Protein do I need?”, claims for the amount of protein needed vary wildly from source to source (and athlete to athlete).

Here is our recommendation:

If you’re of healthy weight, active, and wish to build muscle, aim for 1 g/lb (2.2 g/kg).

If you’re an experienced lifter on a bulk, intakes up to 1.50 g/lb (3.3 g/kg) may help you minimize fat gain.

Let me simplify it for you: target at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (2.2 grams per kg). 

If you’re curious, from our healthy eating article, this is what a portion of protein looks like:

Also, here’s how much protein is in a serving of food:

4 oz (113 g) of chicken has around 30 g of protein.

4 oz (113 g) of salmon has 23 g of protein

4 oz (113 g) of steak has 28 g of protein.

Want to get more protein? Consider protein shakes.

PRIORITY #2: CARBS

After protein, in order for you to get bigger, you need to eat enough calories, and those calories should come from sources composed of carbs and/or fats.

Here are foods full of carbohydrates you can prioritize for bulking up:

Rice

Quinoa

Oats

Legumes and lentils

Sweet potatoes

Yams

Regular potatoes

Whole grain pasta

Whole grain bread

To help you get better at eyeballing serving sizes:

1 serving of a starchy carbohydrate is 1 cupped hand (uncooked), or your two hands forming a cup (cooked).

Here are some images to help you learn proper portion sizes (thanks to SafeFood):

In addition to consuming carbohydrates from these sources, it’s okay to consume plenty of fruit while trying to bulk up!

You can read our full “Is fruit healthy” guide to learn more.

PRIORITY #3: FAT! 

Fat is a macronutrient that you can eat that can help you reach your goals in the right quantity, as fat can be higher calorie and you can eat lots of it without feeling full.

Healthy fat can be found in foods like:

Avocado

Almonds

Walnuts

Macadamia nuts

Olive oil

Almond butter

Peanut butter

Science has recently come around on saturated fat too [4]. Once completely vilified, but now considered okay for moderate consumption.

Saturated fats can come from things like:

Whole milk

Full fat dairy

Coconut oil

Grass-fed butter

Fatty cuts of meat

Lard

To help you gauge: a serving size of fat is roughly the size of your thumb!

For reference, this is a single serving of almonds (162 calories):

THIS is a serving of olive oil (119 calories):

As you can see, you can eat an extra 500 calories of “healthy fats” by eating lots of “heart-healthy” fats like nuts or adding more olive oil to your meals.

PRIORITY #4: VEGETABLES!

Last but not least, you need vegetables in your diet.

If you start to eat a lot more food, your “indoor plumbing” is going to really benefit from eating some high-fiber veggies with each meal:

A serving of veggies is about the size of your fist.

Here’s a quick, non-complete list of veggies that can fill your plate:

Broccoli

Broccolini

Cauliflower

Spinach

Kale

Spaghetti squash

Brussels sprouts

Zucchini

Cucumber

Carrots

Onion

Asparagus

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

This plate and serving size stuff above is just to help you get started thinking about healthy food differently and in proper portion sizes.

TO RECAP, HERE’S HOW TO EAT TO BULK UP:

Calculate your (Total daily energy expenditure) and add +500 cal over your number.

Consume 1-1.5g per pound (2.2-3.3g per kg) of bodyweight in protein every day.

Consume the rest of your calories from foods composed of carbs and fats.

Always eat vegetables so that your body can actually PROCESS all this extra food.

If you are not gaining weight, add more carbs and/or fats to your meal.

It really does come down to the following:

If you are not gaining weight fast enough, you’re not eating enough. Increase your portions of carbs and fats!

Whenever we work with coaching clients who struggle to bulk up, this is the area we target: adding more carbs and fats to each meal.

Need an expert to help you bulk up quickly and safely? Learn more:

What are the Best Popular Bulk Up Eating Strategies?

If you read the previous section, you know that we have some pretty specific “best practices” on how to bulk up. 

However, there are multiple strategies that can also work, and I’d like to cover each of those here too.

Depending on your budget, your taste in food, and your goals, these strategies will work better for some than others.

#1) The “Healthy” Bulk

I have followed this method to great success multiple times (including right now).

Ultimately, I follow the “real food” principles whenever possible (good sources of quality meat, tons of vegetables, minimal amounts of gluten and processed carbs), but mixing in some specific items that are calorie/carbohydrate dense to reach my calorie goals for the day.

This is the exact strategy we lay out in the previous section of this article.

Speaking of quality calories – how I recommend doing this – receive your Get Bigger Shopping List and Bulk Up Cheat Sheet by putting your email in the box below:

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Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  #2) The “See Food” Diet

This is the diet I used to put on 18 pounds in 30 days.

Looking back at how I ate, I’m now grossed out.

But for me at the time, it worked (and got me interested in diet research).

If you are super skinny and on a tight budget, this might be your only option, and that’s okay! Foods that are high in calories include:

Whole milk, cottage cheese, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes, fast food, ice cream, juice, peanut butter sandwiches, fast food, meatball subs from Subway, pizza, burgers, etc.

Whatever gets you to your caloric intake goal for the day.

When I put on my 18 lbs, I used to drink 3 CytoGainer shakes a day, because it was the easiest way for me to stay on target.

If you are training properly, a majority of these calories will go towards building muscle instead of putting on a lot of fat.

Steve’s thoughts: I’m not a big fan of this method much, as I’ve come to learn the quality of food is as important (if not more so) than quantity when it comes to your overall health, and we’re aiming for bigger AND healthier.

#3) GOMAD 

Drink a gallon of whole milk every day along with your meals.

Sounds crazy, yup, but it works.

A gallon of whole milk is full of enough sugar, carbs, fats, and protein that when all said and done, results in 2400 calories consumed in liquid form.

Mix in vegetables and meat for healthy meals and you got yourself a simple to follow diet.

I’ve attempted this diet back in my younger days, and although my stomach hated me, I certainly had success with it, mostly because it was simple to follow and easy to understand.

#4) Paleo Bulk or Keto Bulk

Bulking up while following the Paleo Diet, or bulking while following a Keto Diet. 

Yes, it’s possible to bulk while following either of these diets:

If you are eating Paleo, you’ll want to eat LOTS of carbs and fats from calorie dense foods like fruit, sweet potatoes, and nuts.

If you are going Keto, you’ll want to eat LOTS of fat from cheeses, nuts, oils, and so on.

If you have the budget and want to try it, go for it. You’ll be eating truckloads of nuts, avocados, and sweet potatoes.

“WHICH STRATEGY IS BEST FOR ME?”

In our opinion, we’ve had the most success with Coaching Clients who adapt a “healthy bulk” strategy, #1 above. 

It’s a focus on real food, sustainable increase in calorie intake, and can be adjusted easily by adding or reducing total portions of carbs and fats.

But hey, you do you, boo.

What Supplements Should I take to Bulk up? How to eat more calories.

If you are struggling to consume enough whole foods every day, then here are some tips to help you reach your caloric goals to bulk up:

“WHAT SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I TAKE TO BULK UP FAST?”

Most supplements are garbage

Plus, you should ALWAYS prioritize consuming real food over shakes and powders.

HOWEVER, if you are interested in bulking quickly, there are two I would recommend:

Protein Powder. A great solution for getting extra protein and calories in your diet and building muscle.[5] As we point out in our article on protein and protein shakes, mix and match your own ingredients and see how many calories you can get into a smoothie without breaking your blender.

Creatine supplement. It helps your muscles retain more water [6], and has been shown to increase the hormone IGF-1, which is needed for muscle growth[7]. It’s one of the only two supplements (along with protein) that I take regularly.

Outside of these two supplements, you really don’t need to prioritize supplementation, despite what the muscle magazines tell you! Hell, many of these muscle mags are OWNED BY SUPPLEMENT COMPANIES.

I’ll leave you with two more big suggestions on how to bulk up in this section: 

#1) Liquid calories are your friend. Liquid calories can give us lots of calories without ‘filling us up,’ which is an easier way to consume enough calories every day without feeling overly full.

I personally get a huge chunk of my calories every day from making my own ‘Powerbomb Shake – from our Protein Guide

Water: 16 oz.

Quaker Oats: 3 servings (120g)

Frozen spinach: 1.5 servings (120g)

Frozen mixed berries: 1.5 servings (120g)

Protein powder: 2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Whey

And here is the macronutrient breakdown:

Calories: 815 cal

Protein: 70g

Carbs: 107g

Fats: 12g

I put all of this into a Vitamix Blender – yep, it was expensive, but worth the investment. This blender has been used twice a day for 8 years without a single issue.

If you need even more calories consider adding whole milk, coconut milk, or almond milk instead of water.

You can also add a shot of olive oil to add calories/fats to a shake in the quest for MOAR MUSCLE!

#2) Train your Body to Eat More: If you are cooking rice, each week try adding in an extra quarter cup when you cook it.

And yeah, you have to FORCE your stomach to accept more food, even when you’re not hungry.

This is not enjoyable, as you often feel like you’re going to explode.

However, just like it’s necessary to force your muscles outside of your comfort zone to get bigger, you need to force your stomach outside of its comfort zone until it adapts to accepting more calories.

So, start by adding a little bit more food each day and soon enough your stomach will expand. 

How to Grow Bigger Muscles: Get Stronger

When you strength train, your muscles are broken down and then get rebuilt stronger to adapt to the stress you have applied to it.

So every time you pick up a slightly heavier weight, you are increasing the challenge and forcing your muscles to adapt and get more resilient.

What I’m trying to say:

If you want to get bigger, focus on getting stronger.

As long as you are continually increasing the weights or increase the sets and reps you are lifting, your muscles will continually adapt to get stronger.

This is called “progressive overload” and it. is. everything.

If you are doing this while eating enough calories, you will get bigger.

You have two approaches to consider while bulking up: 

PATH A: BODYBUILDER BULK. Follow a bodybuilder type routine that focuses on isolation exercises that chops your body into different segments and works each of them out once a week.

You may have seen something like this:

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Shoulders

Thursday: Back

Friday: Arms and Abs

I think these routines are fine, and you might even enjoy them.

However, they do require a fairly large time commitment at the gym, and you’ll be training 5-6 days per week.

PATH B: STRENGTH AND MUSCLE. Focus on full-body routines that contain compound exercises like squats and deadlifts that give us the most bang for our buck.

Every time you train, most of the muscles in your body are getting worked out.

Specifically, this path has you focusing on getting really strong at these movements:

Squats

Deadlifts

Overhead Presses

Bench presses

Body rows

Dips

Push-ups

Pull-ups

If you can focus on getting really strong with the above exercises, and eat enough calories, you will also get bigger in all of the right places.

Path B is something we’re bigger fans of compared to Path A, and it’s what we recommend to our Coaching Clients.

Specially, we find it to be safer and also more time-efficient: you’ll be training just 2-3 days per week on this path (instead of 5-6 days per week with Path A).

Mark Rippetoe (author of Starting Strength, a must-read for anybody interested in the above exercises) lives for old school barbell training (path B):

Why?

Because it works.

Just. Keep. Eating. And. Lifting.

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for Bulking Up

As we cover in our “How to build muscle” article, here’s a sample routine you can follow NOW to start bulking up.

After you do your dynamic warm-up, do the following workout:

MONDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Squats: 4 sets of 5 reps

Bench press 4 sets of 5 reps

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Planks 3 sets of 60 seconds

WEDNESDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Deadlift: 3 sets of 5 reps

Overhead Press: 3 sets of 5 reps

Inverted Bodyweight Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps

Hanging Knee Raises: 3 sets of 10 reps

FRIDAY BULK UP WORKOUT: 

Front Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps

Weighted Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps

Weighted Chin Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Reverse Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

Get stronger and the rest will take care of itself.

NERD FITNESS RECOMMENDATION: Feel free to pick WHATEVER workout program you want from wherever. If you don’t want to follow the workout above, consider these sources:

5 Beginner Strength Training Routines you can follow.

Follow our 6 level gym workout routine.

You can build your own workout routine.

You can follow any workout from any muscle magazine.

If you’re curious, here are some commonly accepted strategies based on your goals for how many sets and reps you should do:

Strength and power: 1-5 reps

Strength and some size: 5-8 reps

Size and some strength: 8-12 reps

Muscular endurance: 12+ reps

Now, don’t worry too much about which path is best.

Nutrition plays the most important role in bulking up, and any strength training plan will help you get bigger.

There are 3 studies I want to point out:

A recent study showed that a higher intensity workout (heavier weight for low reps) created more muscle mass than a higher volume (lower weight for more reps).[8]

Getting more volume (more sets of exercises) per week resulted in more mass compared to less volume (fewer sets of exercises), in this study[9].

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[10] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial. Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep, and pushing oneself to absolute failure.[11]

What this means: Don’t overthink it. 

Pick up heavy stuff for 3-4 sets of 5 reps. Pick up a weight that is heavy enough that you can only complete your specified number of reps.

Challenge yourself on bodyweight exercises, either by making them more difficult, adding weight, or doing high reps to failure.

And then do more next time.

What’s important is that you pick a plan and follow through with it while focusing on eating enough.

After a few months, you can reevaluate and then adjust based on how your body has changed.

On any of these days, feel free mix in bicep curls or tricep extensions or calf-raises at the END of your workouts.

Focus on the big lifts first and get stronger with them.

How much weight should you lift? For every one of the barbell movements above, I start with just the bar, and then add weight in 5lb increments each week.

It’s important to get form right and get your body used to the movement for when you start to lift heavy weight.

How long should you wait between sets? Again, don’t overthink it. Waiting 2-3 minutes allows you lift heavier weight, and thus makes you stronger.

Waiting 60-90 seconds puts more of an emphasis on muscular size and endurance (as you’re resting for a shorter period)…but don’t overthink it. Do the next set when you’re ready.

A piece of advice from 8-time Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney: “stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Don’t destroy yourself for the sake of destroying yourself; stopping one or two reps short of maximum effort can save you from overtraining and potential injury – remember that muscles are built in the kitchen!

If you’re already overwhelmed and just want somebody to tell you what to do, you’re not alone.

I’ve had a coach since 2014 and it’s the best investment I make in myself every month.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly and safely. Learn more:

Can Bodyweight Training Help Me Bulk Up?

Yes, you can get bigger and stronger doing exclusively bodyweight exercises.

Take a look at any Olympic gymnast: he is jacked, with giant muscles, all built with bodyweight exercises:

HOWEVER, it requires a very specific type of training regiment to see those results.

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[12] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial.

Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep. In other words, you’ll need to push yourself to absolute failure.[13]

So, here’s where the challenges arise:

Like with weight training above, you need to increase the difficulty in order for your muscles to adapt.

Because it’s often more challenging to add a few pounds to a bodyweight exercise to make it tougher – compared to putting a weight on a bar, you need to increase the difficulty of the bodyweight movement itself.

If you are trying to build size, you can also do sets where your rep ranges are in the 25-35 reps per set, and you are pushing your muscles to failure (woof):

If you can do 4 sets of 15 push-ups, consider making them harder to progress. Do 4 sets of 15 push ups with your feet on a bench. 

Body weight squats too easy? Work your way up to pistol squats (one legged squats).

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Sep 22, 2014 at 1:01pm PDT

4 sets of 12 pull-ups not a challenge anymore? Great. Make them tougher. Go for a wider grip, an uneven grip, or weighted pull-ups.

I highly recommend beginners start to take a serious look at strength training with free weights; it’s much easier to record one’s progress, easy to add more difficulty (just add more weight!), and very structured.

You can ALSO mix in bodyweight training, which is what I prefer to do!

In fact, I personally believe the best routine mixes both weights and bodyweight training. I have been working with my online coach for 4 years, and I’ve packed on size by following a barbell + bodyweight training routine.

Weight training for my lower body, advanced bodyweight movements for my upper body.

Every day starts with either a squat, front squat or deadlift.

Here I am pulling 420 pounds at a bodyweight of 172 pounds:

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Nov 21, 2018 at 10:43am PST

Each workout also contains a lot of Olympic/gymnastic style movements and holds to build upper body strength.

Handstands too (read our guide on handstands):

And I just try to get stronger.

What it really comes down to is this: no matter what you have access to (a gym, barbell, dumbbells, or just a pull-up bar) you can find a way to build strength and muscle if you follow a plan and eat enough calories.

If you’re trying to bulk with just bodyweight, it might be worth enlisting the help of a coach to help you scale your bodyweight exercises correctly and in the proper sequence!

Learn how to bulk up with bodyweight exercises in our Online Coaching Program!

I am Skinny Fat: Should I gain or lose weight first?

If you are skinny fat (you have skinny arms and legs but have a gut), there are three paths available to you:

Bulk up and build muscle, then lean out.

Lean out, then build muscle.

Build muscle and lean out at the same time.

We all want Door #3, right?

Here how to do accomplish both goals at the same:

Heavy strength training…

While following a healthy diet and slight calorie restriction…

To decrease your body fat fat percentage.

If you follow a program with the right calories and strength training, you can both lose weight AND build muscle at the same time.

It’s how we helped NF Coaching Client Jimmy (these photos are 5 months apart):

Our advice: Get strong and eat a SLIGHT caloric deficit while consuming enough protein every day.

Get yourself down to roughly 12% body fat (~20% for women), and then start to increase the size.

By slimming down first, while building muscle, you don’t have to worry about buying BIGGER clothes first, only to then need smaller clothes once you start cutting the fat.

Then, once you decide to eat more and get bigger, if you notice your body fat percentage start to creep up, you can simply adjust until your body fat gets back in the acceptable range. Then keep building!

To recap, here’s what to do if you are skinny-fat:

Eat a caloric deficit while heavy strength training to build muscle while leaning out.

Prioritize protein intake: 1.5g per pound (.75g per kg) of bodyweight.

Get strong as hell with big lifts and low reps (this will build muscle even in a deficit).

Once you reach a certain body fat percentage you’re happy with (probably 10-12%), then you can increase your caloric intake to build more muscle without putting on too much fat.

Our coaching program can help you rebuild your physique. Learn how:

Proper Sleep and Rest for Putting on Muscle

Last but not least, the other important piece to this Triforce of muscle building:

Strength training, eating enough, and RECOVERY.

Your body builds and rebuilds its muscles during RECOVERY.

Our muscles generally need 48 hours or so to recover from its previous workout, so I do not recommend you do any serious strength training of the same muscle group on back to back days.

Feel free to do dynamic warm-ups or fun exercise if you feel like it doing some active recovery on off days, but I tend to take my off days OFF.

I might go for a walk (to Mordor!), but that’s about it.

A word about cardio: if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, lots of long-distance cardio will work against you.

Your body has to burn so many calories for your runs that it doesn’t get to use any of these calories in the muscle-building process.

If you love to run/bike, that’s cool, as long as you know it’s slowing (or halting) your progress.

So, cut back on the running or cut it out completely.

Try mixing in sprints and interval training if you want to keep the cardio up without having to do all of the crazy distance. You can always add it back in once you accomplish your weight gain goals.

A few words on SLEEP: You need more of it when you are building muscle.

It’s that simple.

Don’t be surprised if after a heavy deadlift day you find yourself wanting to sleep for 10 hours.

It might mean less TV or less video games.

Again, if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, don’t neglect sleep.

FAQ for Skinny Guys Trying to Bulk Up

QUESTION: “But I just want to get toned, I don’t want to get too bulky.” 

That’s not a question, but I hear it all the time. Do NOT worry about getting too bulky. I’ve been trying to get “too bulky” my entire life – it takes years of concerted effort to pull that off.

I’m gonna guess you have 30+ pounds to gain before you’d ever even be considered “bulky.”

That means that if you struggle with weight gain, getting to the point where you are TOO bulky would actually be a good problem to solve.

As you start to put on weight if you ever find yourself getting a tiny bit too chubby, simply eat less at that point!

So, when in doubt, always err on the side of too many calories than not enough. If you’re not sure if you should eat or not, etc.

QUESTION: “But I don’t want to do that stuff, so I’m gonna do _____ instead.”

Again not a question. But hey, go for it. Give it a month, and see how your body reacts. If you’re getting bigger, stronger, and healthier, keep doing it.

If not, come back to this article and apply the lessons in here!

QUESTION: “I’m a vegetarian/vegan, can I bulk up?”

Absolutely. You just need to make sure you’re getting enough calories and enough protein in your system to promote muscle growth.

Beans and nuts have lots of protein; if you’re vegetarian you can still use dairy to your advantage (whey protein, whole milk, cheese, etc.).

If you’re vegan, then it’s slightly more of a challenge to get enough protein, but it can be done: almond butter is your friend 🙂

Check out our plant based protein suggestions.

QUESTION: “Should I do ___ reps and sets or _____ reps and sets?“

Either plan will get you there. It’s 90% diet anyways.

What’s important is that you pick a plan, you progress, you keep track of your results, and you consistently progressively increase the load that you are moving (be it your body’s weight or an actual weight).

QUESTION: “I want to get bigger and faster and have more endurance and flexibility ALL at the same time, can I do that?” 

I hate to say it, but building endurance and getting bigger simultaneously is brutally difficult.

As I point out in “How to build any physique,” compare a marathon runner’s body with that of a sprinter or gymnast. Put the running on hold for a while, and focus on getting bigger: you’ll get there faster.

When you decide to mix running back in, keep your calorie consumption high and don’t forget to keep strength training!

You can still go for walks, and still get a good cardio workout by lifting quickly with minimal breaks between sets.

QUESTION: “Do I need to eat every three hours?”

Nope, you don’t have to:

The TOTAL number of calories you consume over the course of a day is more important than the timing of the meals.[14]

The same is true with protein intake: studies show it doesn’t matter WHEN you eat your protein. HOW MUCH you consume in a day is more important.[15]

In fact, there are actually some scientific benefits that can result from not eating all day and instead condensing it into a smaller window.

But eating more frequently might help…

If you struggle to get enough calories in your system, spacing out your meals might help you feel less full, or give you more opportunities to reach your calorie goal for the day.

I eat all of my calories between 12pm and 8pm, and still get bigger despite only eating 2 MASSIVE meals each day.

QUESTION: “But what about this other article? And this other thing I read? Which workout is the best workout?”

Don’t overwhelm yourself. Keep it simple. Get stronger, eat more food, sleep. Break this down into simple steps and goals that aren’t scary, and get started.

The best advice I can give you is to start and make adjustments along the way.

Track your progress, track your calories, and track your workouts.

If you are getting bigger and stronger, keep it up!

I know this stuff can be overwhelming, as I struggled with this stuff for YEARS before getting results.

It why after I started Nerd Fitness, I eventually launched a coaching program: to help people skip the years of mistakes I made!

Learn how our 1-on-1 Coaching Program can help you!

More Resources for Skinny Guys Looking to Bulk Up

This is a monster of an article, and your head probably hurts at this point.

If I can narrow it down to three main points:

Get stronger by picking up heavy stuff or doing more challenging bodyweight movements.

Get bigger by eating enough.

Recover faster by sleeping enough and giving your muscles days off to rebuild.

If you made it this far, and you want more specific instruction and guidance, we have a few options for you:

1) If you are somebody that wants to follow a tailor-made program that’s designed around their life and goals, check out our popular 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program.

You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself, check your form, and program your workouts and nutrition for you.

Get step-by-step instruction, form checks, and worldwide accountability in your pocket! Learn about our Coaching Program

2) Good at following instructions and want a blueprint to follow? Check out our self-paced online course, the Nerd Fitness Academy.

20+ workouts for both bodyweight or weight training, a benchmark test to determine your starting workout, HD demonstrations of every movement, boss battles, nutritional leveling system, a questing system, and supportive community.

Learn more about The Nerd Fitness Academy!

3) Download our free Bulk Up Guide, which you can get when you sign up in the box below:

Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!

  Enter your email below to download now

  The Nerd Fitness "Get Bigger" Shopping List

Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  Lastly, I’d love to hear from you!

PLEASE leave your questions, eating or strength or otherwise below so we can answer them and become best friends and practice karate kicks in the garage:

How can I help you get bigger and stronger?

What part of this journey are you still struggling the most with?

What are your favorite bulking up foods!?

Share with your friends in the comments so we can all go buy it in bulk at Costco.

-Steve

PS: Make sure you check out the rest of our Bulk Up guides:

How to build muscle quickly

How fast can I build muscle?

9 Mistakes People Make Trying to Get Bigger

13 Tips for Guaranteed Weight Gain.

###

photo source: Not Happy, caveman from Damy, Fish soup plate of meat, male gymnast, sleeping puppy, scale, smurf, front squat, blender-smoothie, axel wheelhouse

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Studies have shown the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to be very accurate in determining BMR and TDEE

Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training

Dietary cholesterol doesn’t influence blood cholesterol levels as much as conventional wisdom once thought. Go ahead and eat eggs!

Saturated fat: part of a healthy diet: pubmed

The effects of protein supplements on muscle mass, strength, and aerobic and anaerobic power in healthy adults: a systematic review: study

Check out that study on creatine and cellular hydration right here.

Check out a study on creatine and IGF-1 here.

The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men: study

Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men: study

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

This study shows your body will burn calories at the same overall rate no matter when they are consumed: PubMed.

Pubmed extract: The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis.

The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/

[lindafrancois]

The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk

Want to go from a skinny guy to building muscle quickly? You’ve come to the right place:

The ultimate guide to bulking up.

I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to pack on muscle, and after years and years of trial and error, I finally cracked the code.

Today, I share that code with you!

This is a topic that is near and dear to me, because I’ve spent my life devoted to this stuff:

These are the exact tactics I’ve used, and the same strategies we use with our Online Coaching Clients.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly. Learn how:

This free guide is gonna get you started off on the right foot!

Here’s what we’ll cover in this ultimate guide (click to jump to that section):

INTRO:

How I bulked up after years of struggling as a skinny guy.

NUTRITION:

The most important thing for putting on muscle (your diet).

What foods should I eat to bulk up?

What are the best bulk up strategies?

What supplements should I take to bulk up and build muscle?

STRENGTH TRAINING:

How to grow bigger muscles (get stronger).

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for bulking up.

Can bodyweight training help you bulk up?

I am skinny fat: should I gain weight or lose weight first?

RECOVERY, TIPS AND TRICKS, NEXT STEP:

Proper sleep and rest for putting on muscle.

FAQ for skinny guys trying to bulk up.

More resources for skinny guys looking to bulk up.

How I Bulked up After Years of Struggling as a Skinny Guy

Growing up, I was always the scrawny, skinny weak kid.

There was a reason I dressed up like superman every other day for the first six years of my life:

Superman was strong, big, and powerful…and I wasn’t.

To this day, it’s still a big challenge for me to gain weight or build muscle.

When people tell me “must be nice to have been skinny growing up,” I explain that a killer flat top, my height (5’2″ until I was 16), four years of braces, and two Acutane treatments made sure I still got the full adolescent experience 🙂

When I was cut from the high school basketball team (which I thought was the end of the world), I signed up for a gym membership to get big and strong.

Within five minutes I had almost killed myself when loading up way too much weight for a set of bench presses.

Fortunately I survived, and thus began my love affair with strength training.

I spent the next six years training in a gym, reading every muscle and fitness magazine I could find, drinking protein shakes religiously…and had about 3 pounds of muscle gain to show for it.

I just assumed “I’m one of those people who can’t gain weight.”

It turns out, I was doing it all wrong.

After graduating college I moved to California, signed up for a gym membership, and received a few free personal trainer sessions. 

Although I thought I had known it all (I had been training for 6 years in a gym! I read the muscle mags! I was in good shape already!), I still took the free sessions for the hell of it.

The trainer drastically simplified my workout and DOUBLED the amount of food I was eating.

I thought he was crazy, but I stuck with it.

In 30 days, I had put on 18 pounds (pictured below), increased the strength in ALL of my lifts, and felt more confident than I ever had before in my life. 

That’s when the lightbulb when off in my head: there’s a better way.

And thus began a radical redefinition of how I thought the human body worked, how muscle was built, and where I needed to put my priorities.

Since then, I’ve spent seven years learning everything I can about how muscle is built.

A few years back, I took an epic 35,000 trip around the world, and despite not having access to a gym for 6 months, I managed to once again pack on even more muscle and get myself in great shape without once picking up a weight (pictured below):

Again, my world was turned upside down.

I learned that gyms are not a requirement to build muscle and get stronger, though a great gym workout can certainly speed up the process.

And after a few more years of up and down challenges, I had finally – jokingly – changed from Steve Rogers to (jokingly) Captain America (there’s a story behind this):

I’m still not the biggest guy in the world, nor will I ever be. I’m okay with that!

I’ve learned that anyone can pack on muscle, even skinny nerds like me. If you’re skinny and want to get bigger, you’ll be fighting genetics the whole way, but do not let that deter you. Anything is possible.

Today’s article outlines everything I’ve learned over the past 13 years of mistakes, successes, failures, and adventures.

The Most Important Thing for Putting on Muscle: Eat More Food.

As they say, muscle isn’t made in the gym, but in the kitchen:

If you want to bulk up, You’d be better off working out twice a week for 30 minutes and eating right, than working out 6 days a week and not eating properly.

I learned this the hard way.

I spent four years of college working out five days a week for 90 minutes a day trying to get bigger.

I drank protein shakes like I thought I was supposed to. I got a little stronger, but never bigger.

Why?

BECAUSE I DIDN’T EAT ENOUGH CALORIES.

When I get emails from people who lament the fact that they can’t gain weight, I always first ask about the person’s diet.

More often than not, that person thinks they are eating enough, but are definitely not.

Here’s the truth:

If you are not getting bigger, you are not eating enough.

Your body can burn 2000+ calories every day just existing (and then factor in exercise and, gulp, cardio – I’ll get to that in a minute), and you need to overload your system with calories in order for it to have enough fuel for the muscle building process.

Want to know how many calories you burn every day just existing?

Plug your stats into our TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) calculator:

Total Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator

Your sex * Male Female

Male/Female

Age *

Use age in years.

Weight *

Use pounds (lbs). If using metric system, multiple kg times 2.2 for lbs.

Height *

Use inches. If using metric system, divide cm by 2.54 for total inches.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is an estimate of the total calories burned a day, while in a state of rest.

Activity Level * Sedentary (You frequent tell Netflix you are still watching) Lightly Active (You casually stroll through your neighborhood a few times a week) Moderately Active (If we called the gym on a weeknight looking for you, they'd find you) Very Active (You are constantly moving throughout your day job and you're on the company softball team)

For "Activity Level," veer toward the side of less active. Studies consistently show that people are not as active as they self-assess.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your TDEE is an estimate of the total calories burned during a single day, when exercise is factored in.

(Click right here for our Metric calculator).

(Note: we have used the The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to create this calculator! [1])

For every person, the number of required calories for bulking up daily is different, especially how much you move, fidget, and how much weight you need to gain:

For some people, it might be 2,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 3,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 5,000 calories a day.

I don’t love calorie counting (I prefer a “healthy plate” approach), but I think for a newbie starting out, tracking calories for a few days is a great place to start.

So, track your calories using something like MyFitnessPal over a few days and get an average.

I bet you’ll discover you’re eating significantly less than you thought you were.

LEARN HOW MANY CALORIES YOU NEED TO EAT FIRST.

And then eat MORE!

Spend the next two weeks eating an additional 300-500 calories per day above your TDEE (which you calculated above) and see how your weight adjusts (and how you look in progress photos!).

If you are not getting bigger, add an additional 300-500 calories per day and repeat the process.

Depending on your training, genetics, how skinny you are, and how much weight you need to gain, you can decide how much weight you want to gain each week.

Everybody’s results will vary, and thoughts are mixed on how quickly we can build muscle:

Under optimal conditions, some say you can expect to gain 1 pound (.5 kg) of muscle per week,

My results have shown that 2 lbs (1kg) per month is more realistic.

A 2016 study[2]revealed that strength training produced a 2.2 lb increase (1kg) increase in lean mass in 8 weeks.

Regardless of how fast you bulk up, it might be helpful for you to bulk up by putting on some fat with your muscle!

Here are things to consider if you overeat WHILE strength training: extra glycogen, some fat, and water stored in your body can be a good thing for your confidence and get you headed down the right path.

So, don’t listen to the sites or programs that say “gain 40 pounds of muscle in two months!”

Uless you’re on the juice (‘roids, not Hawaiian Punch), it’s going to be a slow, long process.

Yes, it is possible to have incredible transformations in a short amount of time, like when I gained 18 pounds 8.1kg) in 30 days

This was due to strength training overeating, protein, and extra water weight from supplementing with creatine):

My advice: Rather than massive weight gain over a month, you’d be much better off gaining .5-1.5 lbs. (.25-.75 kg) a week, every week, for six months…and keeping the weight on!

Now, I know this stuff isn’t easy.

There’s nothing worse than spending 6+ months in a gym and doing what you think you SHOULD be doing, only to step on the scale and realize that you haven’t made any progress!

If you’re somebody that’s worried about wasting time, or you want to have an expert guide your nutrition based on your current situation, consider checking out our Online Training Program!

Learn to bulk up correctly with our Coaching Program!

What Food Should I Eat to Bulk Up?

Let’s go through how you should be prioritizing your nutrition, nutrient by nutrient:

Protein: rebuilds muscle after you break it down.

Carbohydrates: provides your muscle with fuel and body weight with energy

Fat: helps your bodily functions and can also be burned as fuel in the absence of carbs.

Let’s look at each of these individually:

PRIORITY #1: PROTEIN

Protein can come from any number of sources, including:

Meat (steak, bison, pork).

Fowl (chicken, turkey, duck).

Eggs![10]

Cheese and dairy.

Fish and shellfish (salmon, tuna, shrimp).

Legumes (black beans, chickpeas).

Other vegetarian protein sources here.

As we cover in our “How much Protein do I need?”, claims for the amount of protein needed vary wildly from source to source (and athlete to athlete).

Here is our recommendation:

If you’re of healthy weight, active, and wish to build muscle, aim for 1 g/lb (2.2 g/kg).

If you’re an experienced lifter on a bulk, intakes up to 1.50 g/lb (3.3 g/kg) may help you minimize fat gain.

Let me simplify it for you: target at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (2.2 grams per kg). 

If you’re curious, from our healthy eating article, this is what a portion of protein looks like:

If you’re curious, here’s how much protein is in a serving of food:

4 oz (113 g) of chicken has around 30 g of protein.

4 oz (113 g) of salmon has 23 g of protein

4 oz (113 g) of steak has 28 g of protein.

Want to get more protein? Consider protein shakes.

PRIORITY #2: CARBS

After protein, in order for you to get bigger, you need to eat enough calories, and those calories should come from sources composed of carbs and/or fats.

Here are foods full of carbohydrates you can prioritize for bulking up:

Rice

Quinoa

Oats

Legumes and lentils

Sweet potatoes

Yams

Regular potatoes

Whole grain pasta

Whole grain bread

To help you get better at eyeballing serving sizes:

1 serving of a starchy carbohydrate is 1 cupped hand (uncooked), or your two hands forming a cup (cooked).

Here are some images to help you learn proper portion sizes (thanks to SafeFood):

In addition to consuming carbohydrates from these sources, it’s okay to consume plenty of fruit while trying to bulk up!

You can read our full “Is fruit healthy” guide to learn more.

PRIORITY #3: FAT! 

Fat is a macronutrient that you can eat that can help you reach your goals in the right quantity, as fat can be higher calorie and you can eat lots of it without feeling full.

Healthy fat can be found in foods like:

Avocado

Almonds

Walnuts

Macadamia nuts

Olive oil

Almond butter

Peanut butter

Science has recently come around on saturated fat too [3]. Once completely vilified, but now considered okay for moderate consumption.

Saturated fats can come from things like:

Whole milk

Full fat dairy

Coconut oil

Grass-fed butter

Fatty cuts of meat

Lard

To help you gauge: a serving size of fat is roughly the size of your thumb!

For reference, this is a single serving of almonds (162 calories):

THIS is a serving of olive oil (119 calories):

As you can see, you can eat an extra 500 calories of “healthy fats” by eating lots of “heart-healthy” fats like nuts or adding more olive oil to your meals.

PRIORITY #4: VEGETABLES!

Last but not least, you need vegetables in your diet.

If you start to eat a lot more food, your “indoor plumbing” is going to really benefit from eating some high-fiber veggies with each meal:

A serving of veggies is about the size of your fist.

Here’s a quick, non-complete list of veggies that can fill your plate:

Broccoli

Broccolini

Cauliflower

Spinach

Kale

Spaghetti squash

Brussels sprouts

Zucchini

Cucumber

Carrots

Onion

Asparagus

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

This plate and serving size stuff above is just to help you get started thinking about healthy food differently and in proper portion sizes.

TO RECAP, HERE’S HOW TO EAT TO BULK UP:

Calculate your (Total daily energy expenditure) and add +500 cal over your number.

Consume 1-1.5g per pound (2.2-3.3g per kg) of bodyweight in protein every day.

Consume the rest of your calories from foods composed of carbs and fats.

Always eat vegetables so that your body can actually PROCESS all this extra food.

If you are not gaining weight, add more carbs and/or fats to your meal.

It really does come down to the following:

If you are not gaining weight fast enough, you’re not eating enough. Increase your portions of carbs and fats!

Whenever we work with coaching clients who struggle to bulk up, this is the area we target: adding more carbs and fats to each meal.

Need an expert to help you bulk up quickly and safely? Learn more:

What are the Best Popular Bulk Up Eating Strategies?

If you read the previous section, you know that we have some pretty specific “best practices” on how to bulk up. 

However, there are multiple strategies that can also work, and I’d like to cover each of those here too.

Depending on your budget, your taste in food, and your goals, these strategies will work better for some than others.

#1) The “Healthy” Bulk

 I have followed this method to great success multiple times (including right now).

Ultimately, I follow the “real food” principles whenever possible (good sources of quality meat, tons of vegetables, minimal amounts of gluten and processed carbs), but mixing in some specific items that are calorie/carbohydrate dense to reach my calorie goals for the day.

This is the exact strategy we lay out in the previous section of this article.

Speaking of quality calories – how I recommend doing this – get your Get Bigger Shopping List and Bulk Up Cheat Sheet by putting your email in the box below:

Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!

  Enter your email below to download now

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Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  #2) The “See Food” Diet

This is the diet I used to put on 18 pounds in 30 days.

Looking back at how I ate, I’m now grossed out, but for me at the time, it worked (and got me interested in diet research).

If you are super skinny and on a tight budget, this might be your only option, and that’s okay! Foods that are high in calories include:

Whole milk, cottage cheese, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes, fast food, ice cream, juice, peanut butter sandwiches, fast food, meatball subs from Subway, pizza, burgers, etc.

Whatever gets you to your caloric intake goal for the day.

When I put on my 18 lbs, I used to drink 3 CytoGainer shakes a day, because it was the easiest way for me to stay on target.

If you are training properly, a majority of these calories will go towards building muscle instead of putting on a lot of fat.

Steve’s thoughts: I’m not a big fan of this method much, as I’ve come to learn the quality of food is as important (if not more so) than quantity when it comes to your overall health, and we’re aiming for bigger AND healthier.

#3) GOMAD 

Drink a gallon of whole milk every day along with your meals.

Sounds crazy, yup, but it works.

A gallon of whole milk is full of enough sugar, carbs, fats, and protein that when all said and done, results in 2400 calories consumed in liquid form.

Mix in vegetables and meat for healthy meals and you got yourself a simple to follow diet.

I’ve attempted this diet back in my younger days, and although my stomach hated me, I certainly had success with it, mostly because it was simple to follow and easy to understand.

#4) Paleo Bulk or Keto Bulk

Bulking up while following the Paleo Diet, or bulking while following a Keto Diet. 

Yes, it’s possible to bulk while following either of these diets:

If you are eating Paleo, you’ll want to eat LOTS of carbs and fats from calorie dense foods like fruit, sweet potatoes, and nuts.

If you are going Keto, you’ll want to eat LOTS of fat from cheeses, nuts, oils, and so on.

If you have the budget and want to try it, go for it. You’ll be eating truckloads of nuts, avocados, and sweet potatoes.

“WHICH STRATEGY IS BEST FOR ME?”

In our opinion, we’ve had the most success with Coaching Clients who adapt a “healthy bulk” strategy, #1 above. 

It’s a focus on real food, sustainable increase in calorie intake, and can be adjusted easily by adding or reducing total portions of carbs and fats.

But hey, you do you, boo.

What Supplements Should I take to Bulk up? How to eat more calories.

If you are struggling to consume enough whole foods every day, then here are some tips to help you reach your caloric goals to bulk up:

“WHAT SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I TAKE TO BULK UP FAST?”

Most supplements are garbage, and you should ALWAYS prioritize consuming real food over shakes and powders.

HOWEVER, if you are interested in bulking quickly, there are two I would recommend:

Protein Powder. A great solution for getting extra protein and calories in your diet and building muscle.[4] As we point out in our article on protein and protein shakes, mix and match your own ingredients and see how many calories you can get into a smoothie without breaking your blender.

Creatine supplement. It helps your muscles retain more water [5], and has been shown to increase the hormone IGF-1, which is needed for muscle growth [6] It’s one of the only two supplements (along with protein) that I take regularly.

Outside of these two supplements, you really don’t need to prioritize supplementation, despite what the muscle magazines tell you! Hell, many of these muscle mags are OWNED BY SUPPLEMENT COMPANIES.

I’ll leave you with two more big suggestions on how to bulk up in this section: 

#1) Liquid calories are your friend. Liquid calories can give us lots of calories without ‘filling us up,’ which is an easier way to consume enough calories every day without feeling overly full.

I personally get a huge chunk of my calories every day from making my own ‘Powerbomb Shake – from our Protein Guide

Water: 16 oz.

Quaker Oats: 3 servings (120g)

Frozen spinach: 1.5 servings (120g)

Frozen mixed berries: 1.5 servings (120g)

Protein powder: 2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Whey

And here is the macronutrient breakdown:

Calories: 815 cal

Protein: 70g

Carbs: 107g

Fats: 12g

I put all of this into a Vitamix Blender – yep, it was expensive, but worth the investment. This blender has been used twice a day for 8 years without a single issue.

If you need even more calories consider adding whole milk, coconut milk, almond milk instead of water.

You can also add a shot of olive oil to add calories/fats to a shake in the quest for MOAR MUSCLE!

#2) Train your Body to Eat More: If you are cooking rice, each week try adding in an extra quarter cup when you cook it.

And yeah, you have to FORCE your stomach to accept more food, even when you’re not hungry.

This is not enjoyable, as you often feel like you’re going to explode.

However, just like it’s necessary to force your muscles outside of your comfort zone to get bigger, you need to force your stomach outside of its comfort zone until it adapts to accepting more calories.

So, start by adding a little bit more food each day and soon enough your stomach will expand. 

How to Grow Bigger Muscles: Get Stronger

When you strength train, your muscles are broken down and then get rebuilt stronger to adapt to the stress you have applied to it.

So every time you pick up a slightly heavier weight, you are increasing the challenge and forcing your muscles to adapt and get more resilient.

What I’m trying to say:

If you want to get bigger, focus on getting stronger.

As long as you are continually increasing the weights or increase the sets and reps you are lifting, your muscles will continually adapt to get stronger.

This is called “progressive overload” and it. is. everything.

If you are doing this while eating enough calories, you will get bigger.

You have two approaches to consider while bulking up: 

PATH A: BODYBUILDER BULK. Follow a bodybuilder type routine that focuses on isolation exercises that chops your body into different segments and works each of them out once a week.

You may have seen something like this:

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Shoulders

Thursday: Back

Friday: Arms and Abs

I think these routines are fine, and you might even enjoy them.

However, they do require a fairly large time commitment at the gym, and you’ll be training 5-6 days per week.

PATH B: STRENGTH AND MUSCLE. Focus on full-body routines that contain compound exercises like squats and deadlifts that give us the most bang for our buck.

Every time you train, most of the muscles in your body are getting worked out.

Specifically, this path has you focusing on getting really strong at these movements:

Squats

Deadlifts

Overhead Presses

Bench presses

Body rows

Dips

Push-ups

Pull-ups

If you can focus on getting really strong with the above movements, and eat enough calories, you will also get bigger in all of the right places.

Path B is something we’re bigger fans of compared to Path A, and it’s what we recommend to our Coaching Clients.

Specially, we find it to be safer and also more time-efficient: you’ll be training just 2-3 days per week on this path (instead of 5-6 days per week with Path A).

Mark Rippetoe (author of Starting Strength, a must-read for anybody interested in the above exercises) lives for old school barbell training (path B):

Why?

Because it works.

Just. Keep. Eating. And. Lifting.

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for Bulking Up

As we cover in our “How to build muscle” article, here’s a sample routine you can follow NOW to start bulking up.

After you do your dynamic warm-up, do the following workout:

MONDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Squats: 4 sets of 5 reps

Bench press 4 sets of 5 reps

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Planks 3 sets of 60 seconds

WEDNESDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Deadlift: 3 sets of 5 reps

Overhead Press: 3 sets of 5 reps

Inverted Bodyweight Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps

Hanging Knee Raises: 3 sets of 10 reps

FRIDAY BULK UP WORKOUT: 

Front Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps

Weighted Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps

Weighted Chin Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Reverse Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

Get stronger and the rest will take care of itself.

NERD FITNESS RECOMMENDATION: Feel free to pick WHATEVER workout program you want from wherever. If you don’t want to follow the workout above, consider these sources:

5 Beginner Strength Training Routines you can follow.

Follow our 6 level gym workout routine.

You can build your own workout routine.

You can follow any workout from any muscle magazine.

If you’re curious, here are some commonly accepted strategies based on your goals for how many sets and reps you should do:

Strength and power: 1-5 reps

Strength and some size: 5-8 reps

Size and some strength: 8-12 reps

Muscular endurance: 12+ reps

Now, don’t worry too much about which path is best.

Nutrition plays the most important role in bulking up, and any strength training plan will help you get bigger.

There are 3 studies I want to point out:

A recent study showed that a higher intensity workout (heavier weight for low reps) created more muscle mass than a higher volume (lower weight for more reps).[7]

Getting more volume (more sets of exercises) per week resulted in more mass compared to less volume (fewer sets of exercises), in this study[8].

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[9] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial. Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep, and pushing oneself to absolute failure.[10]

What this means: Don’t overthink it. 

Pick up heavy stuff for 3-4 sets of 5 reps. Pick up a weight that is heavy enough that you can only complete your specified number of reps.

Challenge yourself on bodyweight exercises, either by making them more difficult, adding weight, or doing high reps to failure.

And then do more next time.

What’s important is that you pick a plan and follow through with it while focusing on eating enough.

After a few months, you can reevaluate and then adjust based on how your body has changed.

On any of these days, feel free mix in bicep curls or tricep extensions or calf-raises at the END of your workouts.

Focus on the big lifts first and get stronger with them.

How much weight should you lift? For every one of the barbell movements above, I start with just the bar, and then add weight in 5lb increments each week.

It’s important to get form right and get your body used to the movement for when you start to lift heavy weight.

How long should you wait between sets? Again, don’t overthink it. Waiting 2-3 minutes allows you lift heavier weight, and thus makes you stronger.

Waiting 60-90 seconds puts more of an emphasis on muscular size and endurance (as you’re resting for a shorter period)…but don’t overthink it. Do the next set when you’re ready.

A piece of advice from 8-time Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney: “stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Don’t destroy yourself for the sake of destroying yourself; stop one or two reps short of maximum effort can save you from overtraining and potential injury – remember that muscles are built in the kitchen!

If you’re already overwhelmed and just want somebody to tell you what to do, you’re not alone.

I’ve had a coach since 2014 and it’s the best investment I make in myself every month.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly and safely. Learn more:

Can Bodyweight Training Help Me Bulk Up?

Yes, you can get bigger and stronger doing exclusively bodyweight exercises.

Take a look at any Olympic gymnast: he is jacked, with giant muscles, all built with body weight exercises.

HOWEVER, it requires a very specific type of training regiment to see those results.

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[11] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial.

Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep. In other words, you’ll need to push yourself to absolute failure.[12]

So, here’s where the challenges arise:

Like with weight training above, you need to increase the difficulty in order for your muscles to adapt.

Because it’s often more challenging to add a few pounds to a bodyweight exercise to make it tougher – compared to putting a weight on a bar, you need to increase the difficulty of the bodyweight movement itself.

If you are trying to build size, you can also do sets where your rep ranges are in the 25-35 reps per set, and you are pushing your muscles to failure (woof):

If you can do 4 sets of 15 push-ups, consider making them harder to progress. Do 4 sets of 15 push ups with your feet on a bench. 

Body weight squats too easy? Work your way up to pistol squats (one legged squats).

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Sep 22, 2014 at 1:01pm PDT

4 sets of 12 pull-ups not a challenge anymore? Great. Make them tougher. Go for a wider grip, an uneven grip, or weighted pull-ups.

            I highly recommend beginners start take a serious look at strength training with free weights; it’s much easier to record one’s progress, easy to add more difficulty (just add more weight!), and very structured.

You can ALSO mix in bodyweight training, which is what I prefer to do!

In fact, I personally believe the best routine mixes both weights and body weight training. I have been working with my online coach for 4 years, and I’ve packed on size by following a barbell + bodyweight training routine.

Weight training for my lower body, advanced body weight movements for my upper body.

Every day starts with either a squat, front squat or deadlift.

Here I am pulling 420 pounds at a bodyweight of 172 pounds:

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Nov 21, 2018 at 10:43am PST

Each workout also contains a lot of Olympic/gymnastic style movements and holds to build upper body strength.

            Handstands too (read our guide on handstands):

And I just try to get stronger.

What it really comes down to is this: no matter what you have access to (a gym, barbell, dumbbells, or just a pull-up bar) you can find a way to build strength and muscle if you follow a plan and eat enough calories.

If you’re trying to bulk with just bodyweight, it might be worth enlisting the help of a coach to help you scale your bodyweight exercises correctly and in the proper sequence!

Learn how to bulk up with bodyweight exercises in our Online Coaching Program!

I am Skinny Fat: Should I gain or lose weight first?

If you are skinny fat (you have skinny arms and legs but have a gut), there are three paths available to you:

Bulk up and build muscle, then lean out.

Lean out, then build muscle.

Build muscle and lean out at the same time.

We all want Door #3, right?

Here how to do accomplish both goals at the same:

Heavy strength training…

While following a healthy diet and slight calorie restriction…

To Decrease your body fat fat percentage.

If you follow a program with the right calories and strength training, you can both lose weight AND build muscle at the same time.

It’s how we helped NF Coaching Client Jimmy (these photos are 5 months apart):

Our advice: Get strong and eat a SLIGHT caloric deficit while consuming enough protein every day.

Get yourself down to roughly 12% body fat (~20% for women), and then start to increase the size.

By slimming down first, while building muscle, you don’t have to worry about buying BIGGER clothes first, only to then need smaller clothes once you start cutting the fat.

Then, once you decide to eat more and get bigger, if you notice your body fat percentage start to creep up, you can simply adjust until your body fat gets back in the acceptable range. Then keep building!

To recap, here’s what to do if you are skinny-fat:

Eat a caloric deficit while heavy strength training to build muscle while leaning out.

Prioritize protein intake: 1.5g per pound (.75g per kg) of bodyweight.

Get strong as hell with big lifts and low reps (this will build muscle even in a deficit).

Once you reach a certain body fat percentage you’re happy with (probably 10-12%), then you can increase your caloric intake to build more muscle without putting on too much fat.

Our coaching program can help you rebuild your physique. Learn how:

Proper Sleep and Rest for Putting on Muscle

Last but not least, the other important piece to this Triforce of muscle building:

Strength training, eating enough, and RECOVERY.

Your body builds and rebuilds its muscles during RECOVERY.

Our muscles generally need 48 hours or so to recover from its previous workout, so I do not recommend you do any serious strength training of the same muscle group on back to back days.

Feel free to do dynamic warm-ups or fun exercise if you feel like it doing some active recovery on off days, but I tend to take my off days OFF.

I might go for a walk (to Mordor!), but that’s about it.

A word about cardio: if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, lots of long distance cardio will work against you.

Your body has to burn so many calories for your runs that it doesn’t get to use any of these calories in the muscle building process.

If you love to run/bike, that’s cool, as long as you know it’s slowing (or halting) your progress.

So, cut back on the running or cut it out completely.

Try mixing in sprints and interval training if you want to keep the cardio up without having to do all of the crazy distance. You can always add it back in once you accomplish your weight gain goals.

A few words on SLEEP: You need more of it when you are building muscle.

It’s that simple.

Don’t be surprised if after a heavy deadlift day you find yourself wanting to sleep for 10 hours.

It might mean less TV or less video games.

Again, if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, don’t neglect sleep.

FAQ for Skinny Guys Trying to Bulk Up

QUESTION: “But I just want to get toned, I don’t want to get too bulky.” 

That’s not a question, but I hear it all the time. Do NOT worry about getting too bulky. I’ve been trying to get “too bulky” my entire life – it takes years of concerted effort to pull that off.

I’m gonna guess you have 30+ pounds to gain before you’d ever even be considered “bulky.”

That means that if you struggle with weight gain, getting to the point where you are TOO bulky would actually be a good problem to solve.

As you start to put on weight if you ever find yourself getting a tiny bit too chubby, simply eat less at that point!

So, when in doubt, always err on the side of too many calories than not enough. If you’re not sure if you should eat or not, etc.

QUESTION: “But I don’t want to do that stuff, so I’m gonna do _____ instead.”

Again not a question. But hey, go for it. Give it a month, and see how your body reacts. If you’re getting bigger, stronger, and healthier, keep doing it.

If not, come back to this article and apply the lessons in here!

QUESTION: “I’m a vegetarian/vegan, can I bulk up?”

Absolutely. You just need to make sure you’re getting enough calories and enough protein in your system to promote muscle growth.

Beans and nuts have lots of protein; if you’re vegetarian you can still use dairy to your advantage (whey protein, whole milk, cheese, etc.).

If you’re vegan, then it’s slightly more of a challenge to get enough protein, but it can be done: almond butter is your friend 🙂

Check out our plant based protein suggestions.

QUESTION: “Should I do ___ reps and sets or _____ reps and sets?“ Either plan will get you there. It’s 90% diet anyways.

What’s important is that you pick a plan, you progress, you keep track of your results, and you consistently progressively increase the load that you are moving (be it your body weight or an actual weight).

QUESTION: “I want to get bigger and faster and have more endurance and flexibility ALL at the same time, can I do that?” 

I hate to say it, but building endurance and getting bigger simultaneously is brutally difficult.

As I point out in “How to build any physique,” compare a marathon runner’s body with that of a sprinter or gymnast. Put the running on hold for a while, and focus on getting bigger: you’ll get there faster.

When you decide to mix running back in, keep your calorie consumption high and don’t forget to keep strength training!

You can still go for walks, and still get a good cardio workout by lifting quickly with minimal breaks between sets.

QUESTION: “Do I need to eat every three hours?”

Nope, you don’t have to:

The TOTAL number of calories you consume over the course of a day is more important than the timing of the meals.[13]

The same is true with protein intake: studies show it doesn’t matter WHEN you eat your protein. HOW MUCH you consume in a day is more important[14]

In fact, there are actually some scientific benefits that can result from not eating all day and instead condensing it into a smaller window.

But eating more frequently might help…

If you struggle to get enough calories in your system, spacing out your meals might help you feel less full, or give you more opportunities to reach your calorie goal for the day.

I eat all of my calories between 12pm and 8pm, and still get bigger despite only eating 2 MASSIVE meals each day.

QUESTION: “But what about this other article? And this other thing I read? Which workout is the best workout?” Don’t overwhelm yourself. Keep it simple. Get stronger, eat more food, sleep. Break this down into simple steps and goals that aren’t scary, and get started.

The best advice I can give you is to start and make adjustments along the way.

Track your progress, track your calories, and track your workouts.

If you are getting bigger and stronger, keep it up!

I know this stuff can be overwhelming, as I struggled with this stuff for YEARS before getting results.

It why after I started Nerd Fitness, I eventually launched a coaching program: to help people skip the years of mistakes I made!

Learn how our 1-on-1 Coaching Program can help you!

More Resources for Skinny Guys Looking to Bulk Up

This is a monster of an article, and your head probably hurts at this point.

If I can narrow it down to three main points:

Get stronger by picking up heavy stuff or doing more challenging bodyweight movements.

Get bigger by eating enough.

Recover faster by sleeping enough and giving your muscles days off to rebuild.

If you made it this far, and you want more specific instruction and guidance, we have a few options for you:

1) If you are somebody that wants to follow a tailor-made program that designed around their life and goals, check out our popular 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program.

You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself, check your form, and program your workouts and nutrition for you.

Get step-by-step instruction, form checks, and worldwide accountability in your pocket! Learn about our Coaching Program

2) Good at following instructions and want a blueprint to follow? Check out our self-paced online course, the Nerd Fitness Academy.

20+ workouts for both bodyweight or weight training, a benchmark test to determine your starting workout, HD demonstrations of every movement, boss battles, nutritional leveling system, a questing system, and supportive community.

Learn more about The Nerd Fitness Academy!

3) Download our free Bulk Up Guide, which you can get when you sign up in the box below:

Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!

  Enter your email below to download now

  The Nerd Fitness "Get Bigger" Shopping List

Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  Lastly, I’d love to hear from you!

PLEASE leave your questions, eating or strength or otherwise below so we can answer them and become best friends and practice karate kicks in the garage:

How can I help you get bigger and stronger?

What part of this journey are you still struggling the most with?

What are your favorite bulking up foods!?

Share with your friends in the comments so we can all go buy it in bulk at Costco.

-Steve

PS: Make sure you check out the rest of our Bulk Up guides:

How to build muscle quickly

How fast can I build muscle?

9 Mistakes People Make Trying to Get Bigger

13 Tips for Guaranteed Weight Gain.

###

photo source: stretch armstrong, caveman from Damy, plate of meat, male gymnast, sleeping puppy, scale, smurf, front squat, blender-smoothie, axel wheelhouse

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Studies have shown the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to be very accurate in determining BMR and TDEE

Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training

Saturated fat: part of a healthy diet: pubmed

The effects of protein supplements on muscle mass, strength, and aerobic and anaerobic power in healthy adults: a systematic review: study

Check out that study on creatine and cellular hydration right here.

Check out a study on creatine and IGF-1 here.

The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men: study

Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men: study

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

This study shows your body will burn calories at the same overall rate no matter when they are consumed: PubMed.

Pubmed extract: The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis.

The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/

[lindafrancois]

The Ultimate Skinny Guy’s Guide to Bulking Up Fast: How to Bulk like the Hulk

Want to go from a skinny guy to building muscle quickly? You’ve come to the right place:

The ultimate guide to bulking up.

I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to pack on muscle, and after years and years of trial and error, I finally cracked the code.

Today, I share that code with you!

This is a topic that is near and dear to me, because I’ve spent my life devoted to this stuff:

These are the exact tactics I’ve used, and the same strategies we use with our Online Coaching Clients.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly. Learn how:

This free guide is gonna get you started off on the right foot!

Here’s what we’ll cover in this ultimate guide (click to jump to that section):

INTRO:

How I bulked up after years of struggling as a skinny guy.

NUTRITION:

The most important thing for putting on muscle (your diet).

What foods should I eat to bulk up?

What are the best bulk up strategies?

What supplements should I take to bulk up and build muscle?

STRENGTH TRAINING:

How to grow bigger muscles (get stronger).

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for bulking up.

Can bodyweight training help you bulk up?

I am skinny fat: should I gain weight or lose weight first?

RECOVERY, TIPS AND TRICKS, NEXT STEP:

Proper sleep and rest for putting on muscle.

FAQ for skinny guys trying to bulk up.

More resources for skinny guys looking to bulk up.

How I Bulked up After Years of Struggling as a Skinny Guy

Growing up, I was always the scrawny, skinny weak kid.

There was a reason I dressed up like superman every other day for the first six years of my life:

Superman was strong, big, and powerful…and I wasn’t.

To this day, it’s still a big challenge for me to gain weight or build muscle.

When people tell me “must be nice to have been skinny growing up,” I explain that a killer flat top, my height (5’2″ until I was 16), four years of braces, and two Acutane treatments made sure I still got the full adolescent experience 🙂

When I was cut from the high school basketball team (which I thought was the end of the world), I signed up for a gym membership to get big and strong.

Within five minutes I had almost killed myself when loading up way too much weight for a set of bench presses.

Fortunately I survived, and thus began my love affair with strength training.

I spent the next six years training in a gym, reading every muscle and fitness magazine I could find, drinking protein shakes religiously…and had about 3 pounds of muscle gain to show for it.

I just assumed “I’m one of those people who can’t gain weight.”

It turns out, I was doing it all wrong.

After graduating college I moved to California, signed up for a gym membership, and received a few free personal trainer sessions. 

Although I thought I had known it all (I had been training for 6 years in a gym! I read the muscle mags! I was in good shape already!), I still took the free sessions for the hell of it.

The trainer drastically simplified my workout and DOUBLED the amount of food I was eating.

I thought he was crazy, but I stuck with it.

In 30 days, I had put on 18 pounds (pictured below), increased the strength in ALL of my lifts, and felt more confident than I ever had before in my life. 

That’s when the lightbulb when off in my head: there’s a better way.

And thus began a radical redefinition of how I thought the human body worked, how muscle was built, and where I needed to put my priorities.

Since then, I’ve spent seven years learning everything I can about how muscle is built.

A few years back, I took an epic 35,000 trip around the world, and despite not having access to a gym for 6 months, I managed to once again pack on even more muscle and get myself in great shape without once picking up a weight (pictured below):

Again, my world was turned upside down.

I learned that gyms are not a requirement to build muscle and get stronger, though a great gym workout can certainly speed up the process.

And after a few more years of up and down challenges, I had finally – jokingly – changed from Steve Rogers to (jokingly) Captain America (there’s a story behind this):

I’m still not the biggest guy in the world, nor will I ever be. I’m okay with that!

I’ve learned that anyone can pack on muscle, even skinny nerds like me. If you’re skinny and want to get bigger, you’ll be fighting genetics the whole way, but do not let that deter you. Anything is possible.

Today’s article outlines everything I’ve learned over the past 13 years of mistakes, successes, failures, and adventures.

The Most Important Thing for Putting on Muscle: Eat More Food.

As they say, muscle isn’t made in the gym, but in the kitchen:

If you want to bulk up, You’d be better off working out twice a week for 30 minutes and eating right, than working out 6 days a week and not eating properly.

I learned this the hard way.

I spent four years of college working out five days a week for 90 minutes a day trying to get bigger.

I drank protein shakes like I thought I was supposed to. I got a little stronger, but never bigger.

Why?

BECAUSE I DIDN’T EAT ENOUGH CALORIES.

When I get emails from people who lament the fact that they can’t gain weight, I always first ask about the person’s diet.

More often than not, that person thinks they are eating enough, but are definitely not.

Here’s the truth:

If you are not getting bigger, you are not eating enough.

Your body can burn 2000+ calories every day just existing (and then factor in exercise and, gulp, cardio – I’ll get to that in a minute), and you need to overload your system with calories in order for it to have enough fuel for the muscle building process.

Want to know how many calories you burn every day just existing?

Plug your stats into our TDEE (Total daily energy expenditure) calculator:

Total Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator

Your sex * Male Female

Male/Female

Age *

Use age in years.

Weight *

Use pounds (lbs). If using metric system, multiple kg times 2.2 for lbs.

Height *

Use inches. If using metric system, divide cm by 2.54 for total inches.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is an estimate of the total calories burned a day, while in a state of rest.

Activity Level * Sedentary (You frequent tell Netflix you are still watching) Lightly Active (You casually stroll through your neighborhood a few times a week) Moderately Active (If we called the gym on a weeknight looking for you, they'd find you) Very Active (You are constantly moving throughout your day job and you're on the company softball team)

For "Activity Level," veer toward the side of less active. Studies consistently show that people are not as active as they self-assess.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your TDEE is an estimate of the total calories burned during a single day, when exercise is factored in.

(Click right here for our Metric calculator).

(Note: we have used the The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to create this calculator! [1])

For every person, the number of required calories for bulking up daily is different, especially how much you move, fidget, and how much weight you need to gain:

For some people, it might be 2,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 3,500 calories a day.

For others, it might be 5,000 calories a day.

I don’t love calorie counting (I prefer a “healthy plate” approach), but I think for a newbie starting out, tracking calories for a few days is a great place to start.

So, track your calories using something like MyFitnessPal over a few days and get an average.

I bet you’ll discover you’re eating significantly less than you thought you were.

LEARN HOW MANY CALORIES YOU NEED TO EAT FIRST.

And then eat MORE!

Spend the next two weeks eating an additional 300-500 calories per day above your TDEE (which you calculated above) and see how your weight adjusts (and how you look in progress photos!).

If you are not getting bigger, add an additional 300-500 calories per day and repeat the process.

Depending on your training, genetics, how skinny you are, and how much weight you need to gain, you can decide how much weight you want to gain each week.

Everybody’s results will vary, and thoughts are mixed on how quickly we can build muscle:

Under optimal conditions, some say you can expect to gain 1 pound (.5 kg) of muscle per week,

My results have shown that 2 lbs (1kg) per month is more realistic.

A 2016 study[2]revealed that strength training produced a 2.2 lb increase (1kg) increase in lean mass in 8 weeks.

Regardless of how fast you bulk up, it might be helpful for you to bulk up by putting on some fat with your muscle!

Here are things to consider if you overeat WHILE strength training: extra glycogen, some fat, and water stored in your body can be a good thing for your confidence and get you headed down the right path.

So, don’t listen to the sites or programs that say “gain 40 pounds of muscle in two months!”

Uless you’re on the juice (‘roids, not Hawaiian Punch), it’s going to be a slow, long process.

Yes, it is possible to have incredible transformations in a short amount of time, like when I gained 18 pounds 8.1kg) in 30 days

This was due to strength training overeating, protein, and extra water weight from supplementing with creatine):

My advice: Rather than massive weight gain over a month, you’d be much better off gaining .5-1.5 lbs. (.25-.75 kg) a week, every week, for six months…and keeping the weight on!

Now, I know this stuff isn’t easy.

There’s nothing worse than spending 6+ months in a gym and doing what you think you SHOULD be doing, only to step on the scale and realize that you haven’t made any progress!

If you’re somebody that’s worried about wasting time, or you want to have an expert guide your nutrition based on your current situation, consider checking out our Online Training Program!

Learn to bulk up correctly with our Coaching Program!

What Food Should I Eat to Bulk Up?

Let’s go through how you should be prioritizing your nutrition, nutrient by nutrient:

Protein: rebuilds muscle after you break it down.

Carbohydrates: provides your muscle with fuel and body weight with energy

Fat: helps your bodily functions and can also be burned as fuel in the absence of carbs.

Let’s look at each of these individually:

PRIORITY #1: PROTEIN

Protein can come from any number of sources, including:

Meat (steak, bison, pork).

Fowl (chicken, turkey, duck).

Eggs![10]

Cheese and dairy.

Fish and shellfish (salmon, tuna, shrimp).

Legumes (black beans, chickpeas).

Other vegetarian protein sources here.

As we cover in our “How much Protein do I need?”, claims for the amount of protein needed vary wildly from source to source (and athlete to athlete).

Here is our recommendation:

If you’re of healthy weight, active, and wish to build muscle, aim for 1 g/lb (2.2 g/kg).

If you’re an experienced lifter on a bulk, intakes up to 1.50 g/lb (3.3 g/kg) may help you minimize fat gain.

Let me simplify it for you: target at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (2.2 grams per kg). 

If you’re curious, from our healthy eating article, this is what a portion of protein looks like:

If you’re curious, here’s how much protein is in a serving of food:

4 oz (113 g) of chicken has around 30 g of protein.

4 oz (113 g) of salmon has 23 g of protein

4 oz (113 g) of steak has 28 g of protein.

Want to get more protein? Consider protein shakes.

PRIORITY #2: CARBS

After protein, in order for you to get bigger, you need to eat enough calories, and those calories should come from sources composed of carbs and/or fats.

Here are foods full of carbohydrates you can prioritize for bulking up:

Rice

Quinoa

Oats

Legumes and lentils

Sweet potatoes

Yams

Regular potatoes

Whole grain pasta

Whole grain bread

To help you get better at eyeballing serving sizes:

1 serving of a starchy carbohydrate is 1 cupped hand (uncooked), or your two hands forming a cup (cooked).

Here are some images to help you learn proper portion sizes (thanks to SafeFood):

In addition to consuming carbohydrates from these sources, it’s okay to consume plenty of fruit while trying to bulk up!

You can read our full “Is fruit healthy” guide to learn more.

PRIORITY #3: FAT! 

Fat is a macronutrient that you can eat that can help you reach your goals in the right quantity, as fat can be higher calorie and you can eat lots of it without feeling full.

Healthy fat can be found in foods like:

Avocado

Almonds

Walnuts

Macadamia nuts

Olive oil

Almond butter

Peanut butter

Science has recently come around on saturated fat too [3]. Once completely vilified, but now considered okay for moderate consumption.

Saturated fats can come from things like:

Whole milk

Full fat dairy

Coconut oil

Grass-fed butter

Fatty cuts of meat

Lard

To help you gauge: a serving size of fat is roughly the size of your thumb!

For reference, this is a single serving of almonds (162 calories):

THIS is a serving of olive oil (119 calories):

As you can see, you can eat an extra 500 calories of “healthy fats” by eating lots of “heart-healthy” fats like nuts or adding more olive oil to your meals.

PRIORITY #4: VEGETABLES!

Last but not least, you need vegetables in your diet.

If you start to eat a lot more food, your “indoor plumbing” is going to really benefit from eating some high-fiber veggies with each meal:

A serving of veggies is about the size of your fist.

Here’s a quick, non-complete list of veggies that can fill your plate:

Broccoli

Broccolini

Cauliflower

Spinach

Kale

Spaghetti squash

Brussels sprouts

Zucchini

Cucumber

Carrots

Onion

Asparagus

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

This plate and serving size stuff above is just to help you get started thinking about healthy food differently and in proper portion sizes.

TO RECAP, HERE’S HOW TO EAT TO BULK UP:

Calculate your (Total daily energy expenditure) and add +500 cal over your number.

Consume 1-1.5g per pound (2.2-3.3g per kg) of bodyweight in protein every day.

Consume the rest of your calories from foods composed of carbs and fats.

Always eat vegetables so that your body can actually PROCESS all this extra food.

If you are not gaining weight, add more carbs and/or fats to your meal.

It really does come down to the following:

If you are not gaining weight fast enough, you’re not eating enough. Increase your portions of carbs and fats!

Whenever we work with coaching clients who struggle to bulk up, this is the area we target: adding more carbs and fats to each meal.

Need an expert to help you bulk up quickly and safely? Learn more:

What are the Best Popular Bulk Up Eating Strategies?

If you read the previous section, you know that we have some pretty specific “best practices” on how to bulk up. 

However, there are multiple strategies that can also work, and I’d like to cover each of those here too.

Depending on your budget, your taste in food, and your goals, these strategies will work better for some than others.

#1) The “Healthy” Bulk

 I have followed this method to great success multiple times (including right now).

Ultimately, I follow the “real food” principles whenever possible (good sources of quality meat, tons of vegetables, minimal amounts of gluten and processed carbs), but mixing in some specific items that are calorie/carbohydrate dense to reach my calorie goals for the day.

This is the exact strategy we lay out in the previous section of this article.

Speaking of quality calories – how I recommend doing this – get your Get Bigger Shopping List and Bulk Up Cheat Sheet by putting your email in the box below:

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  #2) The “See Food” Diet

This is the diet I used to put on 18 pounds in 30 days.

Looking back at how I ate, I’m now grossed out, but for me at the time, it worked (and got me interested in diet research).

If you are super skinny and on a tight budget, this might be your only option, and that’s okay! Foods that are high in calories include:

Whole milk, cottage cheese, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes, fast food, ice cream, juice, peanut butter sandwiches, fast food, meatball subs from Subway, pizza, burgers, etc.

Whatever gets you to your caloric intake goal for the day.

When I put on my 18 lbs, I used to drink 3 CytoGainer shakes a day, because it was the easiest way for me to stay on target.

If you are training properly, a majority of these calories will go towards building muscle instead of putting on a lot of fat.

Steve’s thoughts: I’m not a big fan of this method much, as I’ve come to learn the quality of food is as important (if not more so) than quantity when it comes to your overall health, and we’re aiming for bigger AND healthier.

#3) GOMAD 

Drink a gallon of whole milk every day along with your meals.

Sounds crazy, yup, but it works.

A gallon of whole milk is full of enough sugar, carbs, fats, and protein that when all said and done, results in 2400 calories consumed in liquid form.

Mix in vegetables and meat for healthy meals and you got yourself a simple to follow diet.

I’ve attempted this diet back in my younger days, and although my stomach hated me, I certainly had success with it, mostly because it was simple to follow and easy to understand.

#4) Paleo Bulk or Keto Bulk

Bulking up while following the Paleo Diet, or bulking while following a Keto Diet. 

Yes, it’s possible to bulk while following either of these diets:

If you are eating Paleo, you’ll want to eat LOTS of carbs and fats from calorie dense foods like fruit, sweet potatoes, and nuts.

If you are going Keto, you’ll want to eat LOTS of fat from cheeses, nuts, oils, and so on.

If you have the budget and want to try it, go for it. You’ll be eating truckloads of nuts, avocados, and sweet potatoes.

“WHICH STRATEGY IS BEST FOR ME?”

In our opinion, we’ve had the most success with Coaching Clients who adapt a “healthy bulk” strategy, #1 above. 

It’s a focus on real food, sustainable increase in calorie intake, and can be adjusted easily by adding or reducing total portions of carbs and fats.

But hey, you do you, boo.

What Supplements Should I take to Bulk up? How to eat more calories.

If you are struggling to consume enough whole foods every day, then here are some tips to help you reach your caloric goals to bulk up:

“WHAT SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I TAKE TO BULK UP FAST?”

Most supplements are garbage, and you should ALWAYS prioritize consuming real food over shakes and powders.

HOWEVER, if you are interested in bulking quickly, there are two I would recommend:

Protein Powder. A great solution for getting extra protein and calories in your diet and building muscle.[4] As we point out in our article on protein and protein shakes, mix and match your own ingredients and see how many calories you can get into a smoothie without breaking your blender.

Creatine supplement. It helps your muscles retain more water [5], and has been shown to increase the hormone IGF-1, which is needed for muscle growth [6] It’s one of the only two supplements (along with protein) that I take regularly.

Outside of these two supplements, you really don’t need to prioritize supplementation, despite what the muscle magazines tell you! Hell, many of these muscle mags are OWNED BY SUPPLEMENT COMPANIES.

I’ll leave you with two more big suggestions on how to bulk up in this section: 

#1) Liquid calories are your friend. Liquid calories can give us lots of calories without ‘filling us up,’ which is an easier way to consume enough calories every day without feeling overly full.

I personally get a huge chunk of my calories every day from making my own ‘Powerbomb Shake – from our Protein Guide

Water: 16 oz.

Quaker Oats: 3 servings (120g)

Frozen spinach: 1.5 servings (120g)

Frozen mixed berries: 1.5 servings (120g)

Protein powder: 2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Whey

And here is the macronutrient breakdown:

Calories: 815 cal

Protein: 70g

Carbs: 107g

Fats: 12g

I put all of this into a Vitamix Blender – yep, it was expensive, but worth the investment. This blender has been used twice a day for 8 years without a single issue.

If you need even more calories consider adding whole milk, coconut milk, almond milk instead of water.

You can also add a shot of olive oil to add calories/fats to a shake in the quest for MOAR MUSCLE!

#2) Train your Body to Eat More: If you are cooking rice, each week try adding in an extra quarter cup when you cook it.

And yeah, you have to FORCE your stomach to accept more food, even when you’re not hungry.

This is not enjoyable, as you often feel like you’re going to explode.

However, just like it’s necessary to force your muscles outside of your comfort zone to get bigger, you need to force your stomach outside of its comfort zone until it adapts to accepting more calories.

So, start by adding a little bit more food each day and soon enough your stomach will expand. 

How to Grow Bigger Muscles: Get Stronger

When you strength train, your muscles are broken down and then get rebuilt stronger to adapt to the stress you have applied to it.

So every time you pick up a slightly heavier weight, you are increasing the challenge and forcing your muscles to adapt and get more resilient.

What I’m trying to say:

If you want to get bigger, focus on getting stronger.

As long as you are continually increasing the weights or increase the sets and reps you are lifting, your muscles will continually adapt to get stronger.

This is called “progressive overload” and it. is. everything.

If you are doing this while eating enough calories, you will get bigger.

You have two approaches to consider while bulking up: 

PATH A: BODYBUILDER BULK. Follow a bodybuilder type routine that focuses on isolation exercises that chops your body into different segments and works each of them out once a week.

You may have seen something like this:

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Shoulders

Thursday: Back

Friday: Arms and Abs

I think these routines are fine, and you might even enjoy them.

However, they do require a fairly large time commitment at the gym, and you’ll be training 5-6 days per week.

PATH B: STRENGTH AND MUSCLE. Focus on full-body routines that contain compound exercises like squats and deadlifts that give us the most bang for our buck.

Every time you train, most of the muscles in your body are getting worked out.

Specifically, this path has you focusing on getting really strong at these movements:

Squats

Deadlifts

Overhead Presses

Bench presses

Body rows

Dips

Push-ups

Pull-ups

If you can focus on getting really strong with the above movements, and eat enough calories, you will also get bigger in all of the right places.

Path B is something we’re bigger fans of compared to Path A, and it’s what we recommend to our Coaching Clients.

Specially, we find it to be safer and also more time-efficient: you’ll be training just 2-3 days per week on this path (instead of 5-6 days per week with Path A).

Mark Rippetoe (author of Starting Strength, a must-read for anybody interested in the above exercises) lives for old school barbell training (path B):

Why?

Because it works.

Just. Keep. Eating. And. Lifting.

Skinny Guy Workout Plans for Bulking Up

As we cover in our “How to build muscle” article, here’s a sample routine you can follow NOW to start bulking up.

After you do your dynamic warm-up, do the following workout:

MONDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Squats: 4 sets of 5 reps

Bench press 4 sets of 5 reps

Wide Grip Pull Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Planks 3 sets of 60 seconds

WEDNESDAY BULK UP WORKOUT:

Deadlift: 3 sets of 5 reps

Overhead Press: 3 sets of 5 reps

Inverted Bodyweight Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps

Hanging Knee Raises: 3 sets of 10 reps

FRIDAY BULK UP WORKOUT: 

Front Squats: 3 sets of 5 reps

Weighted Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps

Weighted Chin Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

Reverse Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

Get stronger and the rest will take care of itself.

NERD FITNESS RECOMMENDATION: Feel free to pick WHATEVER workout program you want from wherever. If you don’t want to follow the workout above, consider these sources:

5 Beginner Strength Training Routines you can follow.

Follow our 6 level gym workout routine.

You can build your own workout routine.

You can follow any workout from any muscle magazine.

If you’re curious, here are some commonly accepted strategies based on your goals for how many sets and reps you should do:

Strength and power: 1-5 reps

Strength and some size: 5-8 reps

Size and some strength: 8-12 reps

Muscular endurance: 12+ reps

Now, don’t worry too much about which path is best.

Nutrition plays the most important role in bulking up, and any strength training plan will help you get bigger.

There are 3 studies I want to point out:

A recent study showed that a higher intensity workout (heavier weight for low reps) created more muscle mass than a higher volume (lower weight for more reps).[7]

Getting more volume (more sets of exercises) per week resulted in more mass compared to less volume (fewer sets of exercises), in this study[8].

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[9] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial. Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep, and pushing oneself to absolute failure.[10]

What this means: Don’t overthink it. 

Pick up heavy stuff for 3-4 sets of 5 reps. Pick up a weight that is heavy enough that you can only complete your specified number of reps.

Challenge yourself on bodyweight exercises, either by making them more difficult, adding weight, or doing high reps to failure.

And then do more next time.

What’s important is that you pick a plan and follow through with it while focusing on eating enough.

After a few months, you can reevaluate and then adjust based on how your body has changed.

On any of these days, feel free mix in bicep curls or tricep extensions or calf-raises at the END of your workouts.

Focus on the big lifts first and get stronger with them.

How much weight should you lift? For every one of the barbell movements above, I start with just the bar, and then add weight in 5lb increments each week.

It’s important to get form right and get your body used to the movement for when you start to lift heavy weight.

How long should you wait between sets? Again, don’t overthink it. Waiting 2-3 minutes allows you lift heavier weight, and thus makes you stronger.

Waiting 60-90 seconds puts more of an emphasis on muscular size and endurance (as you’re resting for a shorter period)…but don’t overthink it. Do the next set when you’re ready.

A piece of advice from 8-time Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney: “stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Don’t destroy yourself for the sake of destroying yourself; stop one or two reps short of maximum effort can save you from overtraining and potential injury – remember that muscles are built in the kitchen!

If you’re already overwhelmed and just want somebody to tell you what to do, you’re not alone.

I’ve had a coach since 2014 and it’s the best investment I make in myself every month.

Our coaching program helps people bulk up quickly and safely. Learn more:

Can Bodyweight Training Help Me Bulk Up?

Yes, you can get bigger and stronger doing exclusively bodyweight exercises.

Take a look at any Olympic gymnast: he is jacked, with giant muscles, all built with body weight exercises.

HOWEVER, it requires a very specific type of training regiment to see those results.

Studies show that weight training creates superior “bulk up” results compared to bodyweight training,[11] but that doesn’t mean bodyweight training isn’t beneficial.

Studies show that bodyweight training exercises can build muscle, but require a LARGE number of sets per rep. In other words, you’ll need to push yourself to absolute failure.[12]

So, here’s where the challenges arise:

Like with weight training above, you need to increase the difficulty in order for your muscles to adapt.

Because it’s often more challenging to add a few pounds to a bodyweight exercise to make it tougher – compared to putting a weight on a bar, you need to increase the difficulty of the bodyweight movement itself.

If you are trying to build size, you can also do sets where your rep ranges are in the 25-35 reps per set, and you are pushing your muscles to failure (woof):

If you can do 4 sets of 15 push-ups, consider making them harder to progress. Do 4 sets of 15 push ups with your feet on a bench. 

Body weight squats too easy? Work your way up to pistol squats (one legged squats).

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Sep 22, 2014 at 1:01pm PDT

4 sets of 12 pull-ups not a challenge anymore? Great. Make them tougher. Go for a wider grip, an uneven grip, or weighted pull-ups.

            I highly recommend beginners start take a serious look at strength training with free weights; it’s much easier to record one’s progress, easy to add more difficulty (just add more weight!), and very structured.

You can ALSO mix in bodyweight training, which is what I prefer to do!

In fact, I personally believe the best routine mixes both weights and body weight training. I have been working with my online coach for 4 years, and I’ve packed on size by following a barbell + bodyweight training routine.

Weight training for my lower body, advanced body weight movements for my upper body.

Every day starts with either a squat, front squat or deadlift.

Here I am pulling 420 pounds at a bodyweight of 172 pounds:

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Steve Kamb (@stevekamb) on Nov 21, 2018 at 10:43am PST

Each workout also contains a lot of Olympic/gymnastic style movements and holds to build upper body strength.

            Handstands too (read our guide on handstands):

And I just try to get stronger.

What it really comes down to is this: no matter what you have access to (a gym, barbell, dumbbells, or just a pull-up bar) you can find a way to build strength and muscle if you follow a plan and eat enough calories.

If you’re trying to bulk with just bodyweight, it might be worth enlisting the help of a coach to help you scale your bodyweight exercises correctly and in the proper sequence!

Learn how to bulk up with bodyweight exercises in our Online Coaching Program!

I am Skinny Fat: Should I gain or lose weight first?

If you are skinny fat (you have skinny arms and legs but have a gut), there are three paths available to you:

Bulk up and build muscle, then lean out.

Lean out, then build muscle.

Build muscle and lean out at the same time.

We all want Door #3, right?

Here how to do accomplish both goals at the same:

Heavy strength training…

While following a healthy diet and slight calorie restriction…

To Decrease your body fat fat percentage.

If you follow a program with the right calories and strength training, you can both lose weight AND build muscle at the same time.

It’s how we helped NF Coaching Client Jimmy (these photos are 5 months apart):

Our advice: Get strong and eat a SLIGHT caloric deficit while consuming enough protein every day.

Get yourself down to roughly 12% body fat (~20% for women), and then start to increase the size.

By slimming down first, while building muscle, you don’t have to worry about buying BIGGER clothes first, only to then need smaller clothes once you start cutting the fat.

Then, once you decide to eat more and get bigger, if you notice your body fat percentage start to creep up, you can simply adjust until your body fat gets back in the acceptable range. Then keep building!

To recap, here’s what to do if you are skinny-fat:

Eat a caloric deficit while heavy strength training to build muscle while leaning out.

Prioritize protein intake: 1.5g per pound (.75g per kg) of bodyweight.

Get strong as hell with big lifts and low reps (this will build muscle even in a deficit).

Once you reach a certain body fat percentage you’re happy with (probably 10-12%), then you can increase your caloric intake to build more muscle without putting on too much fat.

Our coaching program can help you rebuild your physique. Learn how:

Proper Sleep and Rest for Putting on Muscle

Last but not least, the other important piece to this Triforce of muscle building:

Strength training, eating enough, and RECOVERY.

Your body builds and rebuilds its muscles during RECOVERY.

Our muscles generally need 48 hours or so to recover from its previous workout, so I do not recommend you do any serious strength training of the same muscle group on back to back days.

Feel free to do dynamic warm-ups or fun exercise if you feel like it doing some active recovery on off days, but I tend to take my off days OFF.

I might go for a walk (to Mordor!), but that’s about it.

A word about cardio: if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, lots of long distance cardio will work against you.

Your body has to burn so many calories for your runs that it doesn’t get to use any of these calories in the muscle building process.

If you love to run/bike, that’s cool, as long as you know it’s slowing (or halting) your progress.

So, cut back on the running or cut it out completely.

Try mixing in sprints and interval training if you want to keep the cardio up without having to do all of the crazy distance. You can always add it back in once you accomplish your weight gain goals.

A few words on SLEEP: You need more of it when you are building muscle.

It’s that simple.

Don’t be surprised if after a heavy deadlift day you find yourself wanting to sleep for 10 hours.

It might mean less TV or less video games.

Again, if you are serious about getting bigger and stronger, don’t neglect sleep.

FAQ for Skinny Guys Trying to Bulk Up

QUESTION: “But I just want to get toned, I don’t want to get too bulky.” 

That’s not a question, but I hear it all the time. Do NOT worry about getting too bulky. I’ve been trying to get “too bulky” my entire life – it takes years of concerted effort to pull that off.

I’m gonna guess you have 30+ pounds to gain before you’d ever even be considered “bulky.”

That means that if you struggle with weight gain, getting to the point where you are TOO bulky would actually be a good problem to solve.

As you start to put on weight if you ever find yourself getting a tiny bit too chubby, simply eat less at that point!

So, when in doubt, always err on the side of too many calories than not enough. If you’re not sure if you should eat or not, etc.

QUESTION: “But I don’t want to do that stuff, so I’m gonna do _____ instead.”

Again not a question. But hey, go for it. Give it a month, and see how your body reacts. If you’re getting bigger, stronger, and healthier, keep doing it.

If not, come back to this article and apply the lessons in here!

QUESTION: “I’m a vegetarian/vegan, can I bulk up?”

Absolutely. You just need to make sure you’re getting enough calories and enough protein in your system to promote muscle growth.

Beans and nuts have lots of protein; if you’re vegetarian you can still use dairy to your advantage (whey protein, whole milk, cheese, etc.).

If you’re vegan, then it’s slightly more of a challenge to get enough protein, but it can be done: almond butter is your friend 🙂

Check out our plant based protein suggestions.

QUESTION: “Should I do ___ reps and sets or _____ reps and sets?“ Either plan will get you there. It’s 90% diet anyways.

What’s important is that you pick a plan, you progress, you keep track of your results, and you consistently progressively increase the load that you are moving (be it your body weight or an actual weight).

QUESTION: “I want to get bigger and faster and have more endurance and flexibility ALL at the same time, can I do that?” 

I hate to say it, but building endurance and getting bigger simultaneously is brutally difficult.

As I point out in “How to build any physique,” compare a marathon runner’s body with that of a sprinter or gymnast. Put the running on hold for a while, and focus on getting bigger: you’ll get there faster.

When you decide to mix running back in, keep your calorie consumption high and don’t forget to keep strength training!

You can still go for walks, and still get a good cardio workout by lifting quickly with minimal breaks between sets.

QUESTION: “Do I need to eat every three hours?”

Nope, you don’t have to:

The TOTAL number of calories you consume over the course of a day is more important than the timing of the meals.[13]

The same is true with protein intake: studies show it doesn’t matter WHEN you eat your protein. HOW MUCH you consume in a day is more important[14]

In fact, there are actually some scientific benefits that can result from not eating all day and instead condensing it into a smaller window.

But eating more frequently might help…

If you struggle to get enough calories in your system, spacing out your meals might help you feel less full, or give you more opportunities to reach your calorie goal for the day.

I eat all of my calories between 12pm and 8pm, and still get bigger despite only eating 2 MASSIVE meals each day.

QUESTION: “But what about this other article? And this other thing I read? Which workout is the best workout?” Don’t overwhelm yourself. Keep it simple. Get stronger, eat more food, sleep. Break this down into simple steps and goals that aren’t scary, and get started.

The best advice I can give you is to start and make adjustments along the way.

Track your progress, track your calories, and track your workouts.

If you are getting bigger and stronger, keep it up!

I know this stuff can be overwhelming, as I struggled with this stuff for YEARS before getting results.

It why after I started Nerd Fitness, I eventually launched a coaching program: to help people skip the years of mistakes I made!

Learn how our 1-on-1 Coaching Program can help you!

More Resources for Skinny Guys Looking to Bulk Up

This is a monster of an article, and your head probably hurts at this point.

If I can narrow it down to three main points:

Get stronger by picking up heavy stuff or doing more challenging bodyweight movements.

Get bigger by eating enough.

Recover faster by sleeping enough and giving your muscles days off to rebuild.

If you made it this far, and you want more specific instruction and guidance, we have a few options for you:

1) If you are somebody that wants to follow a tailor-made program that designed around their life and goals, check out our popular 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program.

You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself, check your form, and program your workouts and nutrition for you.

Get step-by-step instruction, form checks, and worldwide accountability in your pocket! Learn about our Coaching Program

2) Good at following instructions and want a blueprint to follow? Check out our self-paced online course, the Nerd Fitness Academy.

20+ workouts for both bodyweight or weight training, a benchmark test to determine your starting workout, HD demonstrations of every movement, boss battles, nutritional leveling system, a questing system, and supportive community.

Learn more about The Nerd Fitness Academy!

3) Download our free Bulk Up Guide, which you can get when you sign up in the box below:

Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!

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Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger

  Lastly, I’d love to hear from you!

PLEASE leave your questions, eating or strength or otherwise below so we can answer them and become best friends and practice karate kicks in the garage:

How can I help you get bigger and stronger?

What part of this journey are you still struggling the most with?

What are your favorite bulking up foods!?

Share with your friends in the comments so we can all go buy it in bulk at Costco.

-Steve

PS: Make sure you check out the rest of our Bulk Up guides:

How to build muscle quickly

How fast can I build muscle?

9 Mistakes People Make Trying to Get Bigger

13 Tips for Guaranteed Weight Gain.

###

photo source: stretch armstrong, caveman from Damy, plate of meat, male gymnast, sleeping puppy, scale, smurf, front squat, blender-smoothie, axel wheelhouse

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Studies have shown the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation to be very accurate in determining BMR and TDEE

Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training

Saturated fat: part of a healthy diet: pubmed

The effects of protein supplements on muscle mass, strength, and aerobic and anaerobic power in healthy adults: a systematic review: study

Check out that study on creatine and cellular hydration right here.

Check out a study on creatine and IGF-1 here.

The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men: study

Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men: study

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

Muscular adaptations in low- versus high-load resistance training: A meta-analysis.

Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men: analysis

This study shows your body will burn calories at the same overall rate no matter when they are consumed: PubMed.

Pubmed extract: The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis.

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