The hardgainer’s guide to building muscle: diet and exercise
Written by Martin Ebner
Updated Sept 2026
If you've been skinny all your life, being told to eat more is about as useful as being told to try harder. You already know food matters. The problem is getting enough of it down consistently, while training in a way that gives those extra calories somewhere useful to go.
Hardgainer is not a diagnosis, and it is not a special body type that needs a secret workout. It is a decent shorthand for someone who struggles to gain weight and muscle. Usually the answer is fairly ordinary. More food than you are eating now, progressive strength training, enough recovery, and enough time for all three to add up.
I understand that ordinary is not the same as easy. I was overweight when I started training, so appetite has never been my problem. After fifteen years coaching, though, I have watched plenty of naturally slim clients discover that what felt like loads of food was not quite enough to move the scales.
This is how I would simplify it.
HARDGAINER IS A DESCRIPTION, NOT A DESTINY
Ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph are old labels for broad differences in build. They can describe what somebody looks like, but they do not tell us how that person should train or exactly what they should eat. My separate guide to male body types explains where the labels help and where they stop helping.
Your frame, appetite and starting point will affect the pace. They do not change the basic job. Muscle is built by repeatedly asking it to do more, then giving your body enough energy and protein to recover from that work.
One caveat matters. If you are losing weight without trying, or struggling with persistent digestive symptoms, unusual tiredness or a sudden change in appetite, speak to a doctor. That is not a bulking problem to solve with a bigger shake.
FIND OUT WHAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY EATING
Before you add anything, write down what you eat for five ordinary days. No judgement and no permanent calorie counting. You are looking for the pattern.
Most people who struggle to gain have one of three gaps. Breakfast is tiny, lunch depends on how busy work gets, or there is a long stretch between meals where nothing happens. Fixing one of those is usually easier than forcing an enormous dinner into a stomach that has already had enough.
There is no universal hardgainer calorie target. A smaller bloke working at a desk and a six-foot-four courier should not both be told to eat 3,500 calories. Start with what you eat now, then add one repeatable meal or snack. Roughly 200 to 300 calories a day is a sensible first nudge for most people.
Look at the trend across two or three weeks, not what happened this morning. If your average weight has not moved, add a little more. If it is climbing quickly and your waist is doing most of the moving, take a little back. The smallest adjustment that works is usually the one you can keep.
WHAT TO EAT WHEN APPETITE IS THE PROBLEM
Protein matters, but more is not endlessly better. Around 1.6 grams per kilo of bodyweight each day is a useful target for somebody strength training. For an 80-kilo man, that is roughly 130 grams. Spread it across three or four meals and it becomes much less dramatic.
Carbohydrates do most of the moving when you need more energy. Rice, oats, potatoes, bread, pasta and fruit are easy to build meals around. Fats are useful because they carry plenty of calories without much volume. Olive oil, nuts, nut butter, avocado, cheese and oily fish all earn their place.
If chewing another meal feels impossible, drink some of it. Milk, oats, a banana, nut butter and a scoop of protein makes a useful shake without turning your kitchen into a supplement shop. It does not need to contain 1,800 calories. It needs to be easy enough that you will make it again tomorrow.
My guide to high calorie foods for skinny guys gives you the practical options. Pick two or three you already enjoy and add them to meals that exist. Buying fifteen new foods on Sunday is not a strategy.
TRAINING THAT GIVES THE FOOD A JOB
The best hardgainer workout is not a five-day bodybuilding split. It’s the program you can progress for long enough to become noticeably stronger.
Two or three sessions a week works well for most people. Full-body and split routines can both build muscle when the weekly work is similar, so choose the version that fits your week. If you are new, I would usually start with two full-body sessions and add a third once the first two feel normal.
Each week wants a squat or lunge, a hip hinge, a press and a pull. Machines, dumbbells and barbells can all do the job. For every exercise that is not right for you, there are five that are.
Session A. Squat, bench press or chest press, row, Romanian deadlift, then one smaller arm or shoulder exercise if you have time.
Session B. Deadlift or another hip hinge, overhead press, pull-up or pulldown, split squat, then one smaller arm or shoulder exercise.
Alternate the two sessions across the week. Start with two or three working sets of each exercise, mostly between six and fifteen repetitions. Finish most sets when you feel you could manage another one or two good repetitions. Going to complete failure is not required, and it often makes the rest of the session worse.
Write every set down. When you reach the top of your repetition range with control, add a small amount of weight and begin again near the bottom. That is progressive overload without the theatre. A rep here, two and a half kilos there, repeated for months.
The log tells you whether the program is working. If the same exercises have the same weights and repetitions three months later, changing supplements will not rescue it. The training has to move.
CARDIO DOES NOT CANCEL MUSCLE GROWTH
The old advice to avoid cardio entirely was daft. Your heart does not become optional because you want bigger shoulders.
Keep doing the cardio you enjoy. Walking asks very little of your recovery. A couple of moderate runs, rides or swims can sit alongside strength training perfectly well. If hard intervals leave your legs flat, move them away from the heavier lower body session or reduce the amount. That is scheduling, not a reason to abandon cardio.
RECOVERY IS PART OF THE PROGRAM
You do not grow during the set. The training provides the reason, then food and recovery allow the adaptation.
Aim for a sleep routine that gives you somewhere around seven to nine hours most nights. Leave at least a day between hard full-body sessions when you are starting. If your joints are complaining, your performance is dropping and every session feels flat, doing more is unlikely to be the clever answer.
Recovery does not require a complicated supplement stack. Eat enough, get your protein, sleep, and keep ordinary life active. Creatine can help strength and muscle gain, but it is optional. The foundations still have to exist without it.
HOW TO KNOW WHETHER TO CHANGE SOMETHING
If your weight is steady and your lifts are not moving, increase the food slightly and check that the program actually progresses.
If your weight is rising but your lifts are flat, more calories are probably not the answer. Look at the training, sleep and recovery.
If your lifts are moving, your weight is creeping up and your waist is reasonably steady, leave everything alone. This is the bit people find hardest. A plan that is working becomes boring before it becomes impressive.
Give it months, not a fortnight. Your body will not be bullied into changing faster because summer is approaching.
IF YOU WANT THE WHOLE PROGRAM
Some people are happy building this themselves. Others would rather have the training and nutrition organised in one place.
Bony to Beastly is a complete program built specifically for skinny men who want to gain weight and muscle. It includes five months of workouts, nutrition guidance, recipes, exercise instruction and access to its member community.
I have not personally followed the program, so I am not presenting this as a personal review. I am including it because its audience and structure fit the problem this guide addresses, and because it offers the complete plan Ebylife no longer sells.
If you want to know who is behind the advice here, you can read about my background and approach.
I also write Check It Oot, a wee newsletter about training, nutrition and health. I send it when I have something worth saying, usually once or twice a month.
Cheers, Martin
