By Christian Duque
The Liver King is a con man and a total fraud. He made millions of dollars with his bullshit primal lifestyle and brand. From supplements to not bathing – it was all bullshit. Countless individuals felt completely duped even though there were so many telltale signs that the alleged natural athlete was actually juiced to the gills.
If his granite look wasn’t enough, then all you had to do was look at his cartoon-looking abs, the amount of muscle he had packed onto his frame, and/or the fact he’s well into his 40’s. We all know that testosterone levels start to drop in our mid 20’s so how could anyone with a scintilla of bodybuilding knowledge have ever thought this guy was packing on slabs of lean muscle tissue by simply eating raw meats?
People are very gullible when dealing with something they want to believe in. There’s a whole sea of people who love everything about natural bodybuilding and they detest the idea of having to take gear. They want to believe that you can build the same physique as an enhanced one if you have enough patience and you put in enough hard work.
While you can build a great natural physique and you can get very strong naturally, you can’t walk around at 240 with 3% body fat in your 40’s without gear. You can’t do it in your 30’s or 20’s either. But that doesn’t stop people from falling for it. Liver King isn’t the only clown that’s claimed natty when he looks like he could be doing open bodybuilding at the pro level. Most seasoned bodybuilders know better and that goes for most hardcore bodybuilding news outlets as well.
Liver King was smart not to go on too many bodybuilding sites out of fears of being put on blast . Guys like Dave Palumbo or Ron Harris would have called out Liver King in two seconds. One look at the amount of muscle he was carrying, coupled with the look of his skin, and the muscle hardness he was exhibiting and they would have known right away. This is why LK avoided these types of pages. Instead he opted for mainstream podcasts with skinny hosts who probably never stepped foot in a real gym. He capitalized on their limited knowledge of PED’s and supplements, as well as their loose understanding of training. Even a guy like Joe Rogan could be fooled. And it has nothing to do with intelligence, rather, it has to do with exposure to what’s otherwise a niche sport. Very few people know enough about physique-based sports to be able to confidently call out a fake natty.
There is a point in which true natties can make even the most keen fitness journalists wonder. For example, there are natural bodybuilders coming off a contest prep, where if slightly bulked and full, they can look enhanced. This is when they retain their shape but have a heavier look. This is usually where natties and enhanced athletes meet. A gearhead will look shredded and huge, whereas a true natty will either look huge or small/shredded. If LK was full, with visible lines but not shredded and not hard as nails, then he could have pulled it off. The problem with “the king” is that he sported an ultra-shredded look, with a tan no less, and then had the audacity to say all he did was eat raw meat and train all day. Between his age and his alleged propensity for overtraining this would likely have made him way smaller.
Another major red flag was that Liver King didn’t have 15, 10, or even 5 years in the muscle game. He basically came out of nowhere and that’s highly suspect for someone claiming to have invested years into building a physique on this level and at his age. Where were the photos and videos from all the years of him in the gym, competing, and at expos? He didn’t have any. All he had was a lot of big talk backed by nothing. How did he even get to have the credibility to make the claims he was making? Who vouched for him? No one. Again, it goes back to the naivety of countless natty adherents that want to believe in fairytales. They’re a gullible bunch that make easy prey for a con man like Liver King.
What I want to emphasize now, however, is that everyone who wants this guy to go away – STOP GIVING HIM ATTENTION. Granted, I’m writing an article so I’m basically defying my own plea but I feel like it needs to be said. So many people think that by shaming him, you’re affecting him. You’re not. He’s ready for it and he’s even made a joke out of his apology. He knows that as long as he’s in the press and as long as his name is trending that his products will keep selling. Whether they love you or hate you, as long as you’re being talked about some people will buy.
Most people don’t read articles and they don’t watch videos. They just see someone like this clown all over the net and they want to be a part of the movement. What’s worse is that some of the podcasts and shows that got duped are now challenging LK to see what he can do naturally. It’s like Milli Vanilli all over again. Even after they duped the world, people still wanted to see if they could sing. How many times does the public need to get played before it moves on?
As I said in last week’s article discussing the fact that Liver King got exposed, here I am reiterating a point from that story, and that point is that this guy won’t be going anywhere at least for a while. By the time people in the cheap seats figure out they were played, this dope will have sold another million dollars worth of powders and pills. He’s clearly a bum but he knows how to play the game. He has that demeanor of shamelessness and he knows that so long as he can fool a few and keep the rest angry at him, he can still carve out a place for himself in the fitness industry.
What’s your take on Liver King? Is he a deer caught in headlights or a shrewd conman five or ten steps ahead of the industry? I personally vote for the latter, though, many probably have opted for the former and already started to feel bad for him. Even though we have a lot of alphas in bodybuilding, no one likes to abandon their heroes. Even when the people we look up to are nothing but frauds, it seems to take a while for people to move on. Only time will tell how long The Liver King continues to be the subject of conversation. He may still be a fad – or – he may become a staple. Whether as a fraud or a real hero, the clicks will come.