Skinny guys often wonder about how to grow muscles. There are a lot of programs that offer weight gaining tips for skinny guys as well. However, as a skinny guy, you may be reluctant to try these plans. Perhaps you’re concerned about gaining too much fat while doing these muscle building workouts. Maybe you just don’t possibly think you could eat as much as some routines recommend. You could even be wondering if these weight gaining tips are effective. As a relatively skinny guy myself, I’d like to offer an alternative skinny guy workout plan.
First off, congratulations on being skinny. Generally speaking, there are a lot less health problems associated with being skinny than there are with being overweight, aside from eating disorders. I won’t go as far to say it’s easier to gain muscle than it is to lose fat as either takes hard work and time. I’d like to discuss a popular skinny guy workout plan designed to add significant mass and then discuss another program that I think offers a better solution on how to grow muscles.
No-Nonsense Muscle Building
No-Nonsense Muscle Building is an extremely popular skinny guy workout program. Vince Delmonte was the prototypical skinny guy, weighing in at just 150lbs and known as “Skinny Vinny.” He gained 40lbs and became a champion fitness model. He continued bulking up and is now at 210lbs with 10% body fat.

This is certainly a great story for skinny guys. His website boasts numerous success stories for other skinny guys as well. However, the weight gaining tips that he proposes just aren’t right for me. While the muscle building workouts are better than most bodybuilding programs, I don’t agree with a lot of the diet recommendations. For starters, the number of recommended daily calories is through the roof…in excess of 5,000 calories for a 200lb individual. You certainly add muscle, but add a lot of fat as well.
This is of course the point of the “bulk and cut” approach where you gain a lot of muscle first and cut fat later. Just wait until your pants don’t fit any more though. How will you feel about being fat for 6 months? Faced with the prospect of an expanding waist line and buying all new clothes, I just couldn’t push any further. I didn’t look any better by rapidly adding 20lbs, and I felt more sluggish.
While I think No-Nonsense Muscle Building does offer its fair share of useful weight gaining tips, the program just doesn’t jive with my personal fitness goals. In essence, this will help you get the big and bulky look where as I prefer the lean and muscular look. That leads me to an alternative muscle building workout.
Visual Impact Muscle Building
Visual Impact Muscle Building was developed by Rusty Moore. This isn’t a program to help you gain 50lbs. This is designed to help you strategically add 10lbs of lean muscle. Realistically, this is the most muscle you can add within 6-12 months anyway, unless you’re a beginner. Even bodybuilders on steroids are lucky to add 15lbs in a year. Trust me, adding 10lbs of muscle in the right places will make you look twice as big, and you’ll still look great in clothes.

However, what I really like about this program is that it is designed to give you the Hollywood look. The program isn’t designed to build massive, “puffy” muscles; it’s designed to add really defined muscles like an Abercrombie model. Think of Taylor Lautner’s transformation for New Moon. Visual Impact utilizes a 3 phase approach designed to increase the size of your muscles and then increase the density of your muscles. Visual Impact doesn’t promote eating a huge excess of calories either.
Click below to check out free videos and learn more about Visual Impact:

Weight Gaining Tips for Skinny Guys
If you’re a skinny guy wondering how to grow muscles, my best advice is not to go overboard by recklessly eating thousands of calories over maintenance. Use a strength training routine to gradually add muscle in the right places while avoiding an expanding waist line. Even though it may be tempting, don’t aim for the bodybuilder look. Just look at the hottest celebrities, and you can see that most women prefer that lean, defined Hollywood look. Don’t get sucked in by muscle building workouts designed to add 50lbs rapidly, try a better skinny guy workout plan designed to add 10lbs of strategic muscle.
These are two very good programs. I have used them both. For Vince’s program to work you need to eat a lot and uses a lot of different lifting strategies its very complicated. Rusty’s a lot more straight forward, simple to follow and not aimed at getting huge like you said. Funny thing though I grew a lot more muscular and leaner with Rusty than Vinces ..go figure huh?
Raymond
Dave,
As you know, I’m a big fan of Visual Impact. I agree that strategically gaining a little bit of muscle in the right places is more appealing than bulking up and gaining a ton of mass.
Alykhan
I never personally tried Vince’s program, so I won’t comment on that one. Rusty’s Visual Impact though is head and shoulders above any other weight lifting routine that I have tried. It not only works great, it is very easy to follow, with detailed workout routines. Whether your a skinny guy looking to build muscle or an average guy looking to get leaner and look more muscular, I know that Visual Impact will work wonders.
-Kelly
Raymond,
Vince’s program does require changing workouts and reps often whereas Rusty’s is 3 2-month phases. I’ve seen that Rusty’s program has worked well for you.
Alykhan,
It’s all about the look you’re going for. Some people, guys in particular, think the bigger we are, the better we look. The truth is that adding a little extra lean muscle is better than adding a lot of muscle and fat.
Kelly,
I do like the flexibility of Visual Impact. There’s enough knowledge in there to help anyone.
Dave
Good stuff here. Before I started working out, I was definitely on the skinny side of things. With so much info out there for people looking to LOSE weight it’s good to see the other side of the coin for people who actually want to put it on.
Hey Dave, I did phase 1 of Visual impact for 6 weeks and I noticed a huge difference in how my muscles look on me. My arms look more defined and noticeable (even in pictures!). I love that Rusty’s workouts are not boring too with the different rep schemes and such. I’m surprised that I was actually able to get stronger during phase 1 and I like that he talked about the reasons behind his programming in detail. I highly recommend Visual Impact to those who want to add muscles to all the right spots and achieve the Hollywood look. Just a note, your muscles will really feel sore after each workout which is a great thing in my book
Anna
Darrin,
I agree that there’s plenty of info on losing weight, not as much on gaining mass, unless you’re a fan of the bodybuilder look in which case the available info is actually pretty useless in the wrong hands.
Anna,
Rusty’s workouts definitely offer variety. The info on all the types of exercises you can do for each phase can help keep things fresh as well. I’ll save my comments on sore muscles since that’s what I’m writing about tomorrow night.
Dave
After reading everyones review on Rusty’s visual Impact plan Im very inclined to buy it. Dave is Visual Impact really that good that it’s worth the $47 purchase or am I better off working out on my own?
Also do you know if it gives you a diet plan to follow as well? Because i am really confused on how many calories and carbs i should be properly intaking. Thanks
Mikey,
I can definitely say that most of my best ideas have come from Visual Impact Muscle Building. Whether it’s worth $47 depends on your money situation. If you think you can structure a routine on your own, then give it a shot without buying. Personally, it was well worth the $47 for me since I constantly refer to it.
There are diet tips as well for each phase letting you know a recommended number of calories to eat and throwing in a few tidbits on protein and carbs. If you do end up getting it, I’m happy to go through more details over email. You probably won’t need any more info though because I think Rusty lays everything out very clearly.
Dave
Thanks Dave your the man I really appreciate your thoughts and recommendations. Im deff going to give it a shot! Will let you know how things go.
Mikey,
Best of luck…let me know if I can help further!
Dave
Either every other fitness expert is wrong, or this guy is.
Strength gain occurs in the low rep range 4-6
Mass gain occurs in the 6-10
Muscle endurance (cutting) occurs in the 10-15 range
This isn’t my opinion, its the accepted information from dozens of fitness researchers.
His method of combining the strength and mass gain basically eludes to the same result as he desires, but his info on set ranges is wrong.