Building and keeping muscle doesn’t have to break the bank. You might be used to seeing expensive gym memberships, branded sportswear and pricey supplements on your social feed (I know I am!) but it’s entirely possible to achieve the same fantastic results if you are on a budget.

I’ve put together this handy guide for beginners who want to start their bodybuilding journey without the offset costs, including how to build muscle at home, budget-friendly protein sources, and tips for getting a discount on bodybuilding expenses.

Bodybuilding for Total Beginners

Bodybuilding takes time and dedication, and can be daunting for beginners. It’s important to remember that every professional you see lifting heavy weights in the gym started at the same point you are starting at right now! When new to muscle building, it is important to not push your muscles too far before they are ready. Start by mastering the basics, and getting to know your own limits by doing things like squats, push ups, in small sets of a few reps per exercise, with a break in between.

It could be worth your while paying for an initial gym membership or for some one-to-one classes to work on your form before taking your bodybuilding journey into your own hands. Form is really important when it comes to weight lifting and resistance training. According to Pure Gym, poor form when lifting weights can result in injury, and the wrong muscles being targeted. That means at best, little-to-no progress, and at worst, a trip to the hospital!

Head to your local gym and ask the staff there to show you which pieces of equipment to use, who will likely be very knowledgeable. Another introvert-friendly alternative is to opt for some online PT (personal trainer) sessions. Have a look at my top tips on saving money on your gym membership for more guidance on bodybuilding on a budget.

How to Build Muscle at Home

Don’t have the money to pay monthly for a gym membership? There are some great, effective exercises you can do to build muscle from the comfort of your own living room.

Spencer Taylor, Online Fitness Coach and Content Creator, says:

“Building muscle on a budget comes down to two key factors: protein intake and resistance training. As for resistance training, it doesn’t have to be expensive. You can start with simple bodyweight exercises at home, such as push-ups, squats, and planks. To increase the challenge as you get stronger, use household items like a heavy book or a loaded backpack. Home workouts are a fantastic way to build confidence, but over time, to avoid hitting a plateau in your progress, consider investing in a set of dumbbells or joining a gym.

It’s important to remember that building muscle requires a combination of consistent training and sufficient protein intake. One without the other won’t yield the results you’re after. Start small, stay consistent, and gradually build your way up. Progress takes time, but every step forward counts!"

When researching how much a home gym costs to set up, I found that the basic home gym could cost anywhere between £100-£500.

With gym memberships costing anywhere from £20-£100 monthly (and sometimes even more), you could be earning your money’s worth in as little as one month’s worth of workouts. Starting out with basic equipment is a great way to see if muscle building at home works for you, based on how motivated you are, the space you have available, and how effectively you can train yourself.

I recommend that your basic home gym should contain dumbbells, resistance bands, kettle bells and a jump rope to start with. Take a look at the pricing information in my affordable home workouts article for a rough idea of how much you can expect to pay to get started.

Similarly to building muscle with a PT in the gym, the key to muscle growth will be to increase weight or number of reps slowly (this is called progressive overload), so starting your home gym at beginner’s level and slowly upgrading the equipment as you improve is great for both budget and gains!

How Much Protein do I need to Build Muscle?

Protein is an essential building block of muscle in the human body. According to the British Heart Foundation, adult females should be consuming 45g of protein per day, and adult males should consume 55g. Not only that, but your sources of protein should come from both meat and vegetable sources, since meat-heavy diets have been linked to certain lifestyle diseases.

I spoke to Dr Arun Bains, GP, about how much protein is needed to build muscle, whether we should all be taking protein supplements when trying to build muscle, and what part does creatine play in all of this?

“It is important to get extra nutrition when building muscle. Working out pushes your body to a point where the strain on your muscle induces new growth and repair. Protein is what muscle is made from, so to build extra muscle, you need extra protein!

Think about it like an extension on your house; you can’t use the bricks you already have, you need new bricks to create the extension. By straining the muscles you induce the body to see the need for extra muscle, and that’s why protein supplements are good.

On the flip side, creatine is not as essential. Creatine allows the body to expend more energy on the workout, as it increases the amount of ATP (the thing that carries energy reserves around the body) in your blood. Creatine can give you more currently to spend longer on your workout, but does not build muscle in itself."

So I wanted to know, is it essential to use protein supplements to see muscle growth results? Can I see muscle growth without taking protein supplements, to better fit my budget? Doctor Bains said,

“Yes it is possible to see bodybuilding results without additional protein, but the results might take longer to show. The body will eventually find protein from other areas, or convert other molecules into protein. So no, supplements aren’t 100% necessary. If you have a limited budget you can certainly find additional sources of free and cheap protein."

If reaching that amount of protein in a day seems impossible, try incorporating more of the high-protein foods below into your recipes, and spread them throughout the day so you gain a portion of your overall intake in every meal.

Budget Protein Sources

There are plenty of naturally-occurring sources of protein in the average healthy human diet. This means that if you are on a budget, you can save some extra funds by eliminating the need to purchase protein shakes and powder which can be expensive. Have a look at discount codes for Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Ocado, Iceland and Asda to make your dietary protein sources even cheaper when you do your next food shop.

Consider upping your intake of the following foods:

Rank for protein quantity	Weight (g)	Protein source	Protein quantity (g)	Price per 100g
1	100	Lentils	23.6
2	100	Peanuts	23.2
3	100	Chicken breast	22.5
4	100	Almond butter	20.8
5	100	Salmon	20.3
6	100	Tuna	19
7	100	Chicken thigh	18.6
8	100	Flaxseed	18
9	100	Turkey	17.3
10	100	Brazil nuts	15
11	100	Egg	12.4 (1 egg = 6.24)
12	100	Plain yoghurt	8.78
13	100	Kidney beans	7.8
14	100	Chickpeas	7.02

Nutritional information was taken from the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) website and is accurate to the date of data collection (22/01/2025). Pricing details were taken from X and were accurate at the date of collection (X).

If your heart is set on supplementing your protein intake, you can also get cheap protein supplements from discount supplement suppliers like Discount Supplements and Bodybuilding Warehouse. Thanks to codes and free delivery hacks at the checkout, expensive supplements don’t need to cost loads either! Bulk often runs sitewide sales; up to 80% off certain products at times, so I hold out shopping at Bulk until there is an opportunity to not pay full price. We also have discounts at LAMuscle, Huel and other popular UK protein brands. Check out how discount-seeker Steven saved money at MyProtein in the video below!

Tips for Bodybuilding on a Budget

If you take nothing else from this article, remember my four tips to start bodybuilding on a budget.

1. Planning meals and cooking in bulk can help make sure you meet your daily caloric and protein intake requirements, and reduce unhealthy cravings and snacking. Find out more about meal prep from Savoo’s food and drink expert, Yasmeen Lubbock.
2. Work out at home to reduce costs on personal training and gym memberships, at least until you know you’re ready to commit.
3. Prioritise the core essentials of muscle building: purchase your basic gym equipment, stay consistent and take photos to document your progress so no little improvement goes unnoticed (this will help with motivation).
4. Get a discount where you can. There are hundreds of diet and fitness discounts here at Savoo. I also recommend signing up to the email newsletter for the brands you love to stay up to date with their latest sales, and get your hands on subscriber discounts.