Muscle Building For Skinny Women

The results of a skinny woman building muscle.

If you're a skinny woman who wants to gain weight, build muscle, and become stronger, I think you'd love our newsletter. It kicks off with a 5-part series that covers:

  • How to lift for muscle growth
  • How to eat for lean weight gain
  • How to thrive with skinny genetics
  • How to get stronger, healthier, and better looking

After that, we'll send you 1–2 newsletters per month to keep you updated on the latest muscle-building research, methods, and workouts—all of it 100% focused on gaining muscle and strength as a naturally thin woman.

8,119 newsletter subs & counting!

Illustration of a woman doing barbell back squats to gain muscle and strength.

We Help Skinny & Skinny-Fat Women Gain Muscle

For the past ten years, we've specialized in helping naturally thin people gain weight, build muscle, and become stronger. We've had clients ranging from everyday women all the way up to our Canadian Olympic women's rugby team. If you're finding it hard to gain weight, build muscle, or become stronger, this is the site for you.

This isn't a general site where we help the average person become fitter. Those sites are great, but if you're anything like us, they also drive you kind of crazy. They tend to assume that we're overweight and eager to get thinner—that we have a natural propensity to overeat. But we don't. We're naturally thin. We find it hard to gain weight. We don't need weight loss advice mixed into our strength training advice.

Here at Bony to Bombshell, we write about how to eat more calories, not fewer. About how to train for muscle mass and strength. About how to overcome the struggles of being naturally thin. And we help our clients make "bulking" transformations like these:

Before and after results of a woman building muscle and gaining weight.
Women's weight gain transformation
Before and after photo of a woman's muscle-building results.
Before and after photo of a woman's weight gain transformation

You may know us as the founders of Bony to Beastly (for skinny men) or Outlift (for everyone). Bony to Bombshell is our site for naturally thin women. I'm Shane Duquette, and I gained 55 pounds in a little over two years. I was lucky. I had the help of my business partner, Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS, PN.

Before and after results photo of a skinny man building muscle.

Marco is a naturally skinny strength coach who had already gained 63 pounds. He'd also coached clients ranging from everyday people all the way up to college, professional, and Olympic athletes.

Before and after results of a skinny guy bulking up.

Before I met Marco, I felt lost. Whenever I would try to exercise, I would lose weight. I found it so frustrating that after every failed attempt, I would spend years festering in inactivity before I could muster up the motivation to give it another go. When Marco taught me how simple this could be, I was blown away. And I gained 55 pounds while keeping my abs. I then reproduced those results with my roommate, who gained 45 pounds.

Before and after photo of Cassandra González Duquette building muscle and gaining weight.

When we realized how many other people were struggling to gain weight, we created Bony to Beastly and Bony to Bombshell. That was ten years ago, and since then, we've helped over 10,000 naturally skinny people build muscle. I also married a naturally skinny nutritionist, Cassandra. Not only has she gained 20 pounds herself (as a new mother), but she's also helped us improve our nutrition and workout program.

 

Some of Our Popular Articles

Every article on this site is about how to gain muscle and strength. Here are some of our more popular ones:

 

Our Muscle-Building Program for Women

If you’re ready to start building muscle, we can guide you through the entire process. The Bony to Bombshell Program includes a video course teaching all of the exercises, a 5-month workout program, a complete weight-gain diet guide, a recipe book, and a year-long membership in our online coaching community. You’ll be building muscle alongside other women with similar goals, and posting weekly progress updates. We’ll be here to give feedback and answer all of your questions.

Our Recent Articles

Barbell Front Squat Women Female How To

Barbell Front Squat For Women: Overview, Proper Form, & Tips

By Jared Polowick and Marco Walker-Ng

The barbell front squat is one of our favourite squat variations for women. It’s a great choice because while it hits the quads and glutes, it’s also a full-body exercise that hits the anterior core, upper back, and shoulders as you stabilize the barbell on your shoulders. The BB front…

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Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift For Females

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift For Women: Overview, Proper Form, & Tips

By Jared Polowick and Marco Walker-Ng

The Dumbbell Romanian deadlift is one of the best female lifts because it’s a compound lower-body exercise that targets your hamstrings and glutes while also training hip mobility, good posture, and balance. The end result is not only an attractive body but an athletic one too. Let’s take a closer…

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Dumbbell Goblet Squat Illustration Female Woman Bombshell

Dumbbell Goblet Squat: Overview, Proper Form & Tips

By Jared Polowick and Marco Walker-Ng

The dumbbell goblet squat is one of our favourite exercises to program for women who want to build muscle. While it’s primarily a lower-body exercise that works the quads, glutes, and hamstrings, it’s also a compound full-body exercise. It’ll also hit the spinal erectors, shoulders, and anterior (front) core because…

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Dumbbell Step-Ups: Full Guide for Women

By Jared Polowick and Marco Walker-Ng

Looking for a good exercise that will help you build a strong and toned lower body? The dumbbell step-up is a great choice. This simple but challenging exercise is a great addition to any workout, hitting the quads, glutes, and hamstrings. Let’s take a closer look.

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The Best Women’s Workout Program for Building Muscle

By Shane Duquette, Cassandra González Duquette and Marco Walker-Ng

If you’re a woman who wants to build muscle, finding the right workout program can be tricky. Most workout programs aren’t designed for you. Only around 3% of people are trying to gain weight, and most of them aren’t women. Even if you search “female muscle gain,” you’re in such…

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The Bench Press Guide for Women

By Jared Polowick and Marco Walker-Ng

Shane wrote a deep bench press guide over on Outlift, but I wanted to write a bench press guide specifically for women. After all, men and women tend to approach this lift quite differently. Many women don’t do it at all, sticking to pushing exercises like push-ups. The bench press…

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Full Chin Up For Women

Beginner Chin-Up Guide for Women: Get Your First Chin-Up

By Jared Polowick and Marco Walker-Ng

Shane wrote an extensive chin-up guide over on Outlift, but we also wanted to write a beginner guide for women. Many women struggle to get their first chin-up. There are reliable ways to get you there. There are few exercises more impressive than being able to do a full chin-up…

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Creatine: Should women supplement with it?

Should Women Take Creatine?

By Jared Polowick and Marco Walker-Ng

Creatine is probably the most popular supplement aside from protein powder. It’s commonly used by athletes and bodybuilders to improve muscular performance and muscle size. But is creatine supplementation right for women? Like all supplements, creatine has some benefits and tradeoffs. Let’s take a deeper look.

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Lifting At Home For Women

How to Build Muscle at Home—Beginner Guide for Women

By Shane Duquette and Cassandra González Duquette

I wrote a detailed bodyweight workout guide on Bony to Beastly, along with another article about how to build a home gym. I wanted to write a third guide specifically for women. After all, many women have different goals, different struggles, and different questions. Many women want to lift at…

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