Did Brian Johnson (Liver King) confirm steroid use?

Yes. In December 2022, after leaked emails detailed his protocol, Johnson posted a video admitting to using testosterone, trenbolone, growth hormone, hCG, and other compounds. He stated "I lied" regarding his prior claims that his physique came solely from an ancestral diet and lifestyle.

Is trenbolone ever prescribed by doctors?

No. Trenbolone is a veterinary drug with no FDA approval for human use. No legitimate prescribing indication exists for it in human medicine. Its use in bodybuilding is entirely underground and unmonitored.

What is a normal TRT dose vs. a bodybuilding dose of testosterone?

Therapeutic TRT typically ranges from 100 to 200 mg/week of testosterone cypionate or enanthate, targeting serum levels of 500 to 700 ng/dL. Bodybuilding doses often range from 300 to 600+ mg/week, sometimes exceeding 1,000 mg/week in competition contexts. The side-effect risk scales with dose.

Is growth hormone safe for anti-aging?

The FDA has not approved hGH for anti-aging. Studies in healthy older adults show increased rates of fluid retention, joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and insulin resistance. Federal law prohibits distributing hGH for anti-aging purposes.

What monitoring does legitimate TRT require?

The Endocrine Society recommends CBC with hematocrit, lipid panel, liver function, PSA, and serum testosterone/estradiol checks every 3 to 6 months during the first year, then at least annually. Dose adjustments are triggered by hematocrit above 54%, rising PSA, or persistent symptoms.

What Brian Johnson (Liver King)'s Reported Protocol Might Look Like Clinically

By HealthRX.com Medical Team

Published May 25, 2026Updated May 25, 2026Last reviewed May 25, 2026

Clinical image for What Brian Johnson (Liver King)'s Reported Protocol Might Look Like Clinically Image: HealthRX.com clinical image

The Public Record: From Denial to Disclosure

For roughly two years, Brian Johnson built a massive social media following around a simple premise: eating raw organs, training with primitive equipment, and following nine "ancestral tenets" could produce a physique that looked superhuman past age 40. He repeatedly denied using performance-enhancing drugs in interviews and on social media.

That narrative collapsed in December 2022. Fitness YouTuber Derek (More Plates More Dates) published leaked emails between Johnson and a coaching service that detailed monthly spending of roughly $11,000 on a cocktail of anabolic compounds. The list included testosterone, trenbolone, human growth hormone (hGH), hCG, IGF-1, and other agents.

Johnson responded with a video apology in which he confirmed the substance use. "I lied, and I'm sorry," he said on camera. He did not dispute the specific compounds named in the leaked correspondence.

This confirmed disclosure makes the Liver King case distinct from most celebrity-hormone stories. There is no ambiguity about whether he used these drugs. The clinical questions worth answering are: what do these compounds actually do in the body, what does responsible medical use look like for the ones that have legitimate prescribing indications, and which ones sit entirely outside accepted clinical practice?

Testosterone: The Foundation Compound

Testosterone is the only compound on Johnson's confirmed list that carries broad FDA approval for therapeutic use. The agency approves injectable testosterone cypionate and enanthate for male hypogonadism, a condition defined by serum total testosterone consistently below approximately 300 ng/dL combined with clinical symptoms such as fatigue, reduced libido, or loss of lean mass (FDA prescribing information, testosterone cypionate).

Standard TRT dosing ranges from 100 to 200 mg per week of testosterone cypionate or enanthate, administered intramuscularly or subcutaneously. At these doses, the goal is restoring serum testosterone to the mid-normal physiologic range (roughly 500 to 700 ng/dL). A 2016 meta-analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine confirmed that TRT at replacement doses improves sexual function, mood, and body composition in hypogonadal men while carrying a manageable side-effect profile when monitored properly.

Supraphysiologic doses, often 300 to 600+ mg per week in bodybuilding contexts, push serum levels well above the normal range. At these levels, erythrocytosis (elevated hematocrit), hepatic lipid changes (suppressed HDL, elevated LDL), and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis suppression become expected rather than rare. The Endocrine Society's 2018 guidelines explicitly recommend against testosterone use for performance enhancement and emphasize that supraphysiologic dosing falls outside evidence-based medicine.

The HealthRX.com Medical Team take: Testosterone itself is a legitimate medication. The difference between therapy and abuse is dose, monitoring, and medical indication. Johnson's leaked protocol reportedly placed testosterone as one agent in a multi-compound stack, which is categorically different from physician-supervised TRT.

Trenbolone: No Human Approval, Significant Toxicity

Trenbolone is the most pharmacologically aggressive compound on Johnson's confirmed list. It is a 19-nortestosterone derivative originally developed for veterinary use (specifically, cattle implants marketed as Finaplix). It has never received FDA approval for human use.

Trenbolone binds the androgen receptor with roughly five times the affinity of testosterone. It also binds strongly to the progesterone receptor and does not aromatize to estrogen, which changes its side-effect signature compared with testosterone. Users report rapid increases in lean mass and reductions in body fat, but the clinical cost is steep.

Animal and limited human observational data link trenbolone to cardiovascular toxicity including left ventricular hypertrophy, systolic dysfunction, and accelerated atherosclerosis. Hepatotoxicity is well-documented in case reports. Night sweats, insomnia, tachycardia, and pronounced aggression are commonly reported in user surveys, though controlled human trials do not exist because no ethics board would approve them.

The HealthRX.com Medical Team take: There is no clinical scenario in which a physician would prescribe trenbolone to a human patient. Its presence on Johnson's protocol places the entire regimen firmly in the category of unsupervised polypharmacy, not hormone optimization.

Human Growth Hormone (hGH): Gray-Zone Prescribing

Recombinant human growth hormone (somatropin) carries FDA approval for a narrow set of indications: pediatric growth hormone deficiency, adult growth hormone deficiency confirmed by stimulation testing, AIDS-related wasting, and short bowel syndrome (FDA approved indications for somatropin). Prescribing hGH for anti-aging or body composition in adults without documented deficiency is off-label and, under federal law, explicitly prohibited for distribution with anti-aging intent.

Therapeutic doses for confirmed adult GH deficiency typically start at 0.1 to 0.3 mg/day, titrated by IGF-1 levels. Bodybuilding protocols often use 2 to 5+ IU/day (roughly 0.7 to 1.7+ mg/day), which is several times the replacement range.

Risks at supraphysiologic doses include fluid retention, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthralgias, insulin resistance progressing to type 2 diabetes, and theoretical acceleration of occult malignancies. A 2007 systematic review in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that healthy older adults using GH experienced higher rates of edema, arthralgias, and glucose impairment compared with placebo.

The HealthRX.com Medical Team take: Growth hormone has real clinical utility for patients with documented deficiency. Used alongside trenbolone and supraphysiologic testosterone, it becomes part of a performance stack, not a medical intervention.

hCG: Fertility Preservation or Protocol Accessory?

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) mimics luteinizing hormone and stimulates testicular Leydig cells to produce endogenous testosterone. In clinical practice, hCG is used during or after TRT to maintain intratesticular testosterone and preserve spermatogenesis in men who want to retain fertility while on exogenous testosterone.

Typical prescribing is 500 to 1 to 500 IU two to three times weekly, subcutaneously. It is a rational adjunct in physician-supervised TRT. Within a multi-compound bodybuilding stack, hCG is commonly used to prevent testicular atrophy and maintain some degree of endogenous hormone production between cycles.

Side effects include gynecomastia (via aromatization of the intratesticular testosterone it stimulates), headache, and injection-site reactions. Long-term unsupervised use carries a risk of desensitizing the Leydig cells, potentially worsening hypogonadism over time.

The HealthRX.com Medical Team take: hCG is the most medically defensible compound on Johnson's confirmed list after testosterone. Its presence suggests awareness of fertility and testicular function concerns, but within an unsupervised polypharmacy stack, that single rational choice does not make the overall regimen safe.

What a Medically Supervised Protocol Actually Looks Like

For context, here is what an endocrinologist or urologist would prescribe for a man Johnson's age (mid-40s at the time) with confirmed low testosterone:

Testosterone cypionate: 100 to 160 mg/week, adjusted to target serum total testosterone of 500 to 700 ng/dL
hCG (if fertility preservation is desired): 500 IU three times weekly
Monitoring: CBC with hematocrit every 3 to 6 months, comprehensive metabolic panel, lipid panel, PSA, and serum testosterone/estradiol at trough (Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline, 2018)
Dose adjustment triggers: hematocrit above 54%, PSA velocity >0.75 ng/mL/year, symptomatic estradiol elevation

That protocol does not include trenbolone. It does not include supraphysiologic growth hormone. It does not cost $11,000 per month. The gap between legitimate hormone therapy and what was described in the leaked emails is not a matter of degree. It is a difference in kind.

At a glance

Brian Johnson confirmed using testosterone, trenbolone, growth hormone, and hCG in a December 2022 video apology after leaked emails exposed the protocol.
Testosterone is the only compound with broad FDA approval for hormone replacement in hypogonadal men.
Trenbolone has zero human medical indications and carries significant cardiovascular and hepatic risk.
Growth hormone is FDA-approved only for specific deficiency states, not for body composition enhancement in healthy adults.
hCG is a rational fertility-preservation adjunct in supervised TRT but does not legitimize the surrounding stack.
A responsible TRT protocol for a man in his mid-40s costs a fraction of what was reported and includes regular lab monitoring.

Why the Denial Mattered More Than the Drugs

The clinical risk of Johnson's confirmed protocol is real, but the public health damage of two years of denial may be worse. By attributing his physique to diet and lifestyle alone, he set a body-composition expectation that is pharmacologically assisted yet presented as naturally achievable. Young men who attempted to replicate his results through raw liver and sledgehammer workouts were chasing an outcome that required thousands of milligrams of anabolic agents per month.

The Endocrine Society has noted rising rates of anabolic steroid use among young men, driven partly by social media physique standards. Johnson's case is a textbook example of that pipeline: aspirational content, implied natural attainability, and hidden pharmacology.

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