Liver King and the Male Psychology

How are people still falling for fake nattys in 2022?

Once upon a time all you had to read were bodybuilding magazines. When people say they didn’t use anabolic steroids and lied about it, how could you know? This was pre-Sammy Sosa and Lance Armstrong.

You took people at their word, worked hard, and never came close to looking like a bodybuilder.

Then a magazine called Muscle Media 2000 came around. They told the truth (half truth) about steroids and who used them. I say “half truth” because MM2K’s natural athletes were hardly that. But at least reality was closer to the reader.

In the mid-2010’s, the “natty or not” genre of YouTube was born. People posted their steroid cycles. You can see what a fitness influencer looked like pre-and post-gear.

That’s the end of it, right? No one could possibly fall for the fake natty stuff.

Right?

Then the Liver King rolls out and people shout, “This time it’s different!”

It’s 2022, and people are still falling for this nonsense? Why? There’s a deeper answer.

Young men want a gimmick.

Go to the gym. How many old guys do you see there? Maybe 1 in 10 people there are over 40? Ask them all how they train and eat, and you’ll get the following:

• Weights 3-4 times a week

• Cardio (usually low intensity) for 30-45 minutes as often as you can

• Avoid injuries from ego lifting

• Bodyweight times 1 for grams of protein

• Eat clean as much as you can

• Been doing this semi-regularly at least for 10-20 years

• If they look really good, then they are running TRT or a full cycle. (They might not tell you this.)

No one is doing anything magical. Raw liver or raw milk or whatever isn’t magic. People want magic. “I am special, I will find a special magic spell. I can avoid the hard work of struggle.)

That’s why the Liver King will always exist. People who don’t want to do what it takes and want shortcuts will always choose to believe the lies.

They even get mad at people who point out the shenanigans.

This is also true of the declining stock market and crypto crashing.

Ask a rich guy how he got there:

• Started a business (or had a good career) in his early 20’s

• Worked for years

• Reinvested money and limited consumption

• Had a few base hits, a triple, and maybe a home run

• Got lucky enough to never take a full loss

• Didn’t get divorced (or go divorced when young)

• Compounded gains over time

Occasionally people with hit the lottery, but the average age of a millionaire (depending on which source you trust) is between 37 and 50.

That means if you start when you’re 22, you’re smart, hard working, and a little lucky, then you have 10 to 15 years of real work (and never f-cking up) before you get “rich.” (Some will say a millionaire isn’t rich. Go away, this is conceptual, not a reply guy ego contest.)

Don’t Waste Your Twenties

The real lesson of the Liver King (who is rich and jacked) is that you can’t waste your 20’s. Reports of the Liver King’s age range, but it seems he’s 38-45. People in fitness tend to claim they are older than their true age as it makes them seem like they are aging in reverse.

Whatever his true age, you can bet that Brian lifted hard (and worked on his businesses) for at least 5-10 years before he hit critical mass. He stayed consistent.

He wasn’t effing around in his 20’s, trying to “find himself” like an Eat Pray Love wannabe.

It would be nice if people like Brian would stop lying to people, but there’s a huge audience for it.

Not many want to hear that you need to put your head down, work hard, avoid drinking and wasting time watching sports all weekend (and reading ESPN).

Plus, it’s hard to stand out as a “content creator” if you’re going over basics. To get attention you need to be absurd and over the top. Hence the devil’s bargain that we see today where people like Live King (or TikTik Investors) lie to people who want to be lied to.

You have to find a way to balance going to the gym, working a job, building a side business, and maybe even dating.

You don’t have as much time as you think. Stop messing around thinking a gimmick will save you and get to work.