Saturday Magazine

26 May 2025

Saturday, 24th May, 2025: Extreme Online Masculinity Fitness, Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate in Public Health, UNSW Sydney

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Saturday, 24th May, 2025: Extreme Online Masculinity Fitness, Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate in Public Health, UNSW Sydney

Nevena and Osman talk to Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate in Public Health, UNSW Sydney, ‘Extreme Online Masculinity and Fitness”

Some of the topics covered are:

How have figures like the Liver King and ultramarathon runners reshaped young men’s understanding of what it means to be “strong”?
To what extent do social-media algorithms amplify extreme fitness content, and what impact does that have on viewers’ behaviour and self-image?
What are the most common physical and mental health risks associated with pursuing “pain as proof” in the name of masculinity?
How do influencers balance -or hide – their use of performance enhancers, and what should viewers know about the authenticity of these extreme routines?
What healthier or more sustainable models of strength and resilience might offer young men alternatives to the all-or-nothing “toughness” that today’s fitness influencers promote?

They also discuss Sam’s latest article for The Conversation

“A new Netflix documentary about a shirtless supplement salesman who claimed to be “natural” and was exposed as a fraud might seem like a punchline.

But Untold: The Liver King is more than just a character study of a well-known fitness influencer; it’s a case study of performative masculinity in the world of social media.

Brian Johnson, better known as the Liver King, built a brand on extreme workouts, eating raw organ meat, and evangelising about masculinity. He preached “ancestral living” and radical self-control, all while secretly using steroids.

And his rapid rise to popularity reveals how social media rewards the spectacle of hypermasculinity – especially when it leans into extreme behaviours.

Extreme self-discipline, extreme exercise, extreme eating and extreme “wellness” have all become forms of public performance on social media”

https://theconversation.com/from-the-liver-king-to-ultramarathons-fitness-influencers-are-glorifying-extreme-masculinity-where-pain-is-the-point-256817