Liver King (Images via @liverking/Instagram)
Brian Johnson, also known as Liver King, is one of the most popular fitness and lifestyle celebrities on social media. Johnson preaches eating raw meat, sleeping on wooden planks, and taking ice cold showers every day.
Although Liver King’s principles might sound ludicrous, the bearded muscle man has managed to amass 1.6 million followers on Instagram, 126K subscribers on YouTube, and over three million followers on TikTok, sharing bits and pieces of his lifestyle on the social media platforms.
Johnson made his social media debut on Aug. 18, 2021. He beat some of the most popular supermodels in reaching the landmark of one million followers.
Liver King is usually seen without a shirt as it could come in the way of him showing off how eating bull testicles can turn you into an alpha human.
“Many Primals have asked “why the name Liver King” and the answer is simple, because “Liver is King.” Our early ancestors always favored the liver first — many modern-day hunter/gatherer tribes still do — along with lions, great whites, and other wild alpha organisms. The liver is a nutritional powerhouse full of peptides, growth factors, and natural vitamins in their most bioavailable forms.”
Per the social media celebrity, returning to the ancestral way of living can bring the mojo back to your life. However, he acknowledges that most of us don’t want to move into the woods or hunt our food, so he has come up with principles that he believes can improve our health and lifestyle.
“By living ancestrally, we overcome obstacles between ourselves and true health and happiness.”
Liver King preaches nine ancestral tenets that include:
Furthermore, the paleolithic lifestyle proponent advises logging in 10,000 steps every day. Per Johnson, the human body evolved for scouting, hunting, and gathering, and walking 10,000 steps every day is the bare minimum everyone needs to do for optimal health.
“Every step you take is a step closer towards re-discovering your primal self and paving the path towards better living.”
Although Liver King preaches some attention-grabbing tenets, it isn’t his principles that made him an overnight celebrity.
Health and fitness enthusiasts flock to his social media profiles mainly because of his jacked and diced physique and his claims that he has never used steroids.
While Johnson fans, or primals as he likes to call them, defend his lifelong natty status, the Liver King has managed to irk several social media and fitness icons. Joe Rogan, in one of his podcasts, said about Johnson, “He has got an ass filled with steroids, is what that guy’s got.”
Furthermore, Johnson has turned his newfound fame into business success. His supplement brands, The Fittest and Ancestral Nutrition have reportedly become multi-million dollar businesses in a short period.
Check Out: Joe Rogan Fed Up with Liver King’s Claim of Being Natural: ‘Just Shut the Fu** Up, That Guy is On Steroids’
Brian Johnson wasn’t always the burly bearded man we now see on social media. Before debuting on social media as Liver King, the Texan worked as an executive in a pharmaceutical company.
Interestingly, Liver King barely recognizes his real name anymore because, as he puts it, the Liver King “ripped open a cage and ate Brian Johnson.”
Per the supplement brand owner, he was sad and weak growing up as his father had passed away while he was still young and before he could get to know him. To add to his pain, he was bullied in high school.
Johnson revealed that his life began to change for the better after he started working out in one of his mom’s boyfriend’s home gyms. It wasn’t long before his peers started noticing his gains, and lo and behold, one of them compared him to Mark Wahlberg from his Calvin Klein underwear modeling days, which as per the Liver King, probably changed his life forever. There was no turning back for Johnson after this.
Meanwhile, Johnson got a degree in biochemistry and enrolled in a medical school but dropped out before orientation. The Liver King later went to work for a pharmaceutical company and made a nice living doing so.
Per the successful businessman, his kids, also known as the Savage Liver Boys, were the reason behind the family’s initiation into the ancestral lifestyle.
A post shared by Liver King (@liverking)
When they were young, Rad and Stryker frequented the hospital due to allergies and illnesses. Desperate to find a way to fix his children’s health, Johnson read Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats and decided to implement some of its findings. The rest, as they say, is history.
“We cut out all the processed foods, we cut out all the liquid calories, the seed oils. We just went to whole foods, chiefly liver and bone marrow. Anything that made sense like, Yeah it’s ancestral,”
According to Liver King, the new diet worked its magic in a couple of days, and the rings around his kid’s eyes disappeared. “They had this new vibrancy, this new energy, this new electricity. You didn’t know they were capable of living like this, with such joy and laughter,” he concluded.
Shortly after meeting his wife, the Mr. and Mrs. opened a successful dental practice together. They then moved on to selling nutritional supplements that support the “ancestral lifestyle” to which they had become devoted.
A post shared by Liver King (@liverking)
After Liver King saw the benefits of practicing the nine ancestral tenets firsthand, he realized he needed to share it.
“What kind of piece of shit would I be if I don’t model, teach, and preach this to the world?”
The Texas native hired a social media consulting firm to document his life and workouts and started sharing them online.
The modern-day barbaric abides by the following dieting principles:
The ancestral diet favors nutrient-dense whole foods over processed foods. Liver King’s paleo-style diet is limited to animal foods as he believes it is more effective at helping build strength, power, and earth-conquering dominance.
A post shared by Liver King (@liverking)
It is no secret Johnson is a fan of organ meat and advises his tribe to incorporate them into their daily diet.
Protein is the building block of muscle. Plus, it helps lose fat and keeps you satiated for longer. If your goal is to build muscle mass, your goal should be to consume one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. [1]
A high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet can help optimize hormone production, reduce blood sugar issues, improve sleep and immune function, aid in anti-aging with improved cellular regeneration, reduce blood pressure, and stabilize neurological functioning in the brain. [2]
Folks pursuing the ancestral lifestyle require more carbs than people on a vanilla diet. Carbs support growth, tissue repair, and fast action energy. Seek clean and fast-burning carbs (fruit, honey, potatoes) for recovery and slow-burning carbs for sustained energy
Johnson recommends the following macro-split: 40% protein, 35% fat, and 25% carbs.
“I’m not a hospital, I’m not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. I do, however, have a degree in biochemistry,” claims Liver King on his website.
Although Johnson is as jacked as a pro bodybuilder, he doesn’t eat like one. The Texas native eats three meals a day. His meals are big and nutrient-dense, unlike bodybuilders who like to eat small meals at regular intervals throughout the day.
A post shared by Liver King (@liverking)
Liver King’s breakfast comes with a note — “after you’ve earned it through sufficient struggle.”
Note: If Johnson feels full, he mixes the shake with milk instead of the Mountain Valley Spring water.
Johnson’s message for the second meal? “After strenuous exercise. Dominate.”
Liver King steps away from his early caveman habits for six days a week at dinnertime and cooks his food before eating. However, he prefers his dinner raw on Thursday.
Note: Johnson allows himself sweet potatoes topped with maple syrup and crunchy sea salt, but only if he has earned it.
Must Read: Is Bone Marrow Good for Bodybuilding?
Like the other Johnson popular for his badass physique, Brian leaves no stones unturned during his workouts.
Brian Johnson’s training regimen is an adaptation of the Westside Barbell Conjugate method because he believes it’s the most badass methodology in strength.
Johnson trains every day, sometimes twice a day. Even on a rest day, the primal is always moving. This is what his training regimen looks like:
Morning:
Evening:
Metabolic conditioning, focusing on muscle hypertrophy. Think:
Morning:
Evening:
It includes several miles of walking in the sun, followed by some sprint variations on the assault bike, rower, or ski erg. The combination simulates a successful hunt. Johnson breaks his 24-hour fast after this training routine, obviously after he feels like he has earned it.
Morning:
Evening:
Metabolic conditioning, focusing on hypertrophy.
Morning:
Evening:
Metabolic conditioning, emphasis on hypertrophy.
Saturday is Liver King’s favorite workout of all. The Super Barbarian, featuring numerous strongman movements and finishing with core.
Note: The Barbarian is a trademark Liver King exercise that involves holding a 70-pound kettlebell in each hand, strapping 20-pound ankle weights on each leg, carrying 70 pounds in a backpack, and dragging 120 pounds on a sled behind you for one mile.
Liver King plans on taking the Barbarian global, dragging his sled across international landmarks like the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal. “These would be incredible things to do to connect with people,” he said.
More slow miles in the sun, and some non-negotiable Tabata push-ups. Then, Liver King calls it a week.
Liver King and his tribe prioritize meeting their daily micro and macronutrient goals through a nose-to-tail diet and only rely on supplements to fill in the gaps. Here are the supplements Johnson uses:
Are Liver King’s ancestral lifestyle claims genuine or is he the biggest brofessor of our generation? You be the judge. However, there is no denying that Brian Johnson is one of the most dedicated and passionate individuals in the health and fitness space.
Liver King is specific about his diet and lays out everything you need to know about following an ancestral diet, from what to how much you should be eating.
Finally, if you were to take one thing away from this article, let it be this:
“I always say you’re either growing or you’re dying.” — Liver King
Vidur is a writer and editor at FitnessVolt.com. He is passionate about all things strength sports and dedicated to sharing his hard-earned knowledge. An expert at giving unsolicited advice, his writings benefit the readers and infuriate the bros.
Ryan Gosling may not be the most muscular guy in Hollywood, but his lean and athletic physique makes him the…
Brian Johnson, well known as Liver King, is a social media phenomenon who reached a crazy level of fame as…
If you’re a bodybuilding fan and have grown up watching the cult-classic bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron (1977), you are probably familiar with arm…
Charlie Hunnam is a British actor and screenwriter. He got attention from the fitness community when he bulked for his…
Zendaya is one of the most popular young actresses in Hollywood. Star of the hit HBO series Euphoria, she is…
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
document.getElementById( “ak_js_1” ).setAttribute( “value”, ( new Date() ).getTime() );
At FitnessVolt.com Our mission is to help our readers to achieve their fitness goals, regardless of where you’re at on your journey, we are on a mission to educate You with the latest from strength and fitness space. Read more.
Email: sm(at)fitnessvolt.com
Disclosure: FitnessVolt.com has an affiliate relationship with different brands and is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. However, our reviews are based on well research backed analysis.
Follow Us
© Copyright 2010 – 2022 Fitness Volt IBC. All Rights Reserved.
© Copyright 2010 – 2022 Fitness Volt IBC. All Rights Reserved.