How Should Skinny People Exercise?

A while ago, a listener named Luis wrote in and asked:

I have thin legs and thin arms and a flat chest. What I do have is a pretty big belly. What is the fastest way to gain muscle?

To start with, in the fitness industry, Luis would be termed an “ectomorph” body type, meaning he's naturally thin. He is also what we would call a “hard gainer,” meaning his body type has difficulty putting on muscle.

Both men and women can fall into this category, and when they’re out of shape, it’s fairly common for extra fat to gather around the mid-section, which causes the look Luis mentioned. 

How to bulk up

To help with this question, I reached out to coach Bryan Parady who specializes in what he calls “bones to bulk” training. He told me a bit about his origin story.

"Way before I started Bones to Bulk, I used to be a super skinny guy." Bryan said. "I weighed 118 pounds and was super insecure. I walked with my shoulders stooped. I couldn't look you in the eye. I just had zero self-confidence. Then I was watching the Rocky series one day when I was 23. And after I watched it, I was like 'I'm going to get buff!' And I went out the very next day, I bought some weights, I bought a bench, I brought it home, I set it up at my house and worked out consistently for about a year. And I saw literally no change. And I was like 'What in the world is going on?' That's when I really started to dive in, and really do my research and learn things. So that's what got me started. I have to think Sylvester Stallone for that."

I put Bryan on the hot seat and asked him to give us his take on a few questions that I get asked often via email, Facebook, Twitter and voicemail. Here are his responses.

Do I need to work out if I am already skinny?

A lot of people will say "Oh, I wish I had that problem of not being able to gain weight," but you know, both sides of the spectrum are really difficult. When you're very underweight, it's just as mind-crushing as being overweight. It's still that mental battle that we have to realize "I'm not happy with who I am." So I think it's important on both sides of the spectrum to workout. Not just for our physical...

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