From Taiwan to Cape Town, by way of a squat rack
With 145 creators under the Gym Bro label here, the men at the busy end are scattered about as widely as a group of lifters could be. taipeimuscle trains in Taiwan, Tony in Milan, Rey Kong in Buenos Aires, SUSUMU runssm in Tokyo and MuslimMuscle in Cape Town. With Japanese ballads as his soundtrack, 歌う筋肉ふーた lifts, DrewMenning sets off from Iowa each festival season, and Nik Petriv is home in Portland between flights.
The label means something different to almost every one of them. For the competitors it is a sport with judges and placings. For the trainer it is a day job, and for the Milanese otter it is a single word in a list that also includes kinky and outdoorsy. Elsewhere it is the backdrop to a tent, a guitar or a paddleboard. The gym is the only thing they all share.
Singers, squatters and a man with a Vulcan salute
#1
taipeimuscle: The Competitor Who Borrowed Spock's Blessing
Mandarin, Japanese or Korean, depending on his mood, carries his motto of live long and lift heavy, along with a Vulcan salute. taipeimuscle is a competitive bodybuilder living in Taiwan, flying both the American and Taiwanese flags, and patient about his craft: train steadily, he reckons, and the results arrive by themselves. Recovery days mean a beach or a pool. His OnlyFans page covers flexing, mid-exercise work, the sweaty shower afterwards and frank solo material, which is the unfiltered side of that discipline, and he takes messages any time. He is clean-cut, with a competitor's eye for detail.
#2
DrewMenning: The Festival Camper Who Sides With the Gnomes
Summer, for DrewMenning, is a run of bass festivals: Electric Forest, a first Infrasound, then a road trip from Iowa through Montana and Washington to Shambhala, with Lost Lands to follow. The Electric Daisy Carnival ranks among the best he has ever attended. Between tents he studies artificial intelligence, on top of an agriculture degree and an MBA, and keeps an eye out for garden gnomes with an attitude problem. Loud, goofy and hard to embarrass.
Summers at a private house in Texas, collaborations and recorded live sessions all feature in his 6 full-time years on OnlyFans, his other career, which moved from raw amateur footage to polished films. Clean-cut, smooth and muscular by label, and blunt about how explicit it gets.
#3
Tony: The Deadpan Otter Who Did Halloween in Brussels
Deadpan is his manner. Tony will threaten you with a meow, complain that March has gone on far too long, and mean neither. He is Italian, lives in Milan and is training in massage, and last Halloween took him to Brussels for a party weekend. His verdict on the previous year was satisfying, and he pledged more effort for the next. On OnlyFans he sums himself up in a handful of words: gay otter, gym, kinky, outdoorsy, exhibitionist. Bearded, tattooed and plainly happiest with an audience.
#4
歌う筋肉ふーた: The Gold Medallist With a Ballad for the Small Hours
The name translates as the singing muscle guy, and both halves are meant. 歌う筋肉ふーた took gold at the APF First Impact contest this year and went straight back into preparation for the next show, yet the guitar comes out as often as the dumbbells. He covers Japanese pop ballads, favours songs meant for late-night listening, and has been writing originals of his own for years. The stated ambition is to become the most muscular singer-songwriter going. His myfans page, set up because people kept asking, holds the photos and everyday moments he shares nowhere else, and he takes requests by message, down to the camera angle. Earnest, sweet and quietly determined.
#5
Nik Petriv: The Portland Lifter With Reiki Hands and a Paddleboard
Base camp is closer to how Nik Petriv sees Portland, his home. His summer went on paddleboarding, a blue pool deep in the Northwest forest and hot nights in Las Vegas, and he would happily have it never end. He has 16 years of lifting behind him and still trains daily, then balances the iron with reiki and a quiet spell of meditation. His page on OnlyFans promises flexing and the side of him most people never see, and the rule he spells out in capitals is complete non-judgement. Bearded, tattooed and gentle with it. He suits anyone who finds big men intimidating.
#6
Rey Kong: The Porteño Rascal Who Rates a Smile
Ask Rey Kong who he is and the answer comes fast: porteño to the hilt, respectful with it, a rascal and a bit naive, and a personal trainer by blood. Good vibes always is his policy, which suits an Argentinian who trains in Buenos Aires gyms and is fond of people who smile all the time. Nobody argues with his self-description as a gym addict. On JustForFans he keeps what he calls his secret place, for the uncensored photos and videos he shows nowhere else, solo and with company, added to daily.
#7
SUSUMU runssm: The Tokyo Squatter Who Works the Club Stage
Deep squats, every day, until next year's competition: that is the current vow from SUSUMU runssm, a Tokyo bodybuilder who made his name at 75kg and has a shelf of city and regional medals to show for it. He is disarmingly modest, calling his physique still underdeveloped and his training a matter of trial and error, with small daily discoveries that keep it fun. Weekends are another matter, when he performs at Tokyo's muscle club nights. Winter in the city leaves him longing for summer. His myfans page belongs to the competitor: muscular, smooth and lean bulking.
#8
MuslimMuscle: The Cape Town Powerbuilder With House Rules
House rules first, because MuslimMuscle states them plainly: he is straight, glad of gay fans and friends, and not on the menu himself, so kindly stop asking. With that settled he is easy company. He lifts natural, cycles between bulking and cutting and calls himself an average rear delt spammer, a Muslim gym buddy from Cape Town. His OnlyFans page is solo only, muscular and smooth by label, with sexting on offer and a promise of the time of your life. Cheeky, direct, and funnier than the rules suggest.
The busy end is bigger, and either bearded or bare
Muscle is the obvious thread, as 78% of the most popular Gym Bro creators are labelled muscular, against 71% in the tag. The more interesting pattern is in the grooming. Commitment to a lane looks to pay off, as the favourites include proportionally more bearded, smooth and clean-cut men than the wider list. Tattoos edge ahead only slightly. Hunk, oddly, slips back a touch, perhaps because on a page full of lifters it describes nearly everybody and distinguishes nobody. This group shows the split neatly: Tony and Nik Petriv bearded and inked, SUSUMU runssm and MuslimMuscle smooth, taipeimuscle clean-cut.
Frequently asked questions about Gym Bro OnlyFans creators
SUSUMU runssm is the most decorated, with a run of Tokyo and regional placings and another competition in his sights. 歌う筋肉ふーた won at APF First Impact this year, and taipeimuscle bills himself as a competitive bodybuilder. For the rest of the group, the gym is a habit or a job, never a judged event.
No. Each of them needs its own login, with Rey Kong on JustForFans and 歌う筋肉ふーた and SUSUMU runssm on myfans. taipeimuscle, DrewMenning, Tony, Nik Petriv and MuslimMuscle are on OnlyFans. No sign-up is needed to see which is which on each card.
Rey Kong sees his work as a Buenos Aires personal trainer as a calling. Tony is training in massage in Milan, and Nik Petriv practises reiki alongside his lifting in Portland. Readers who enjoy a man who knows anatomy from the working side have a choice of temperaments here: exuberant, wry or serene.
Tony has the driest wit, all mock threats and complaints about the calendar. DrewMenning is the loud sort, a festival storyteller with a soft spot for rude garden gnomes. MuslimMuscle prefers to send himself up, playing down his own build. They work in different registers, and none of them takes the gym too solemnly.
Nik Petriv divides his summers between a paddleboard and Northwest forests. Tony lists outdoorsy among his defining traits, right beside exhibitionist. DrewMenning camps his way through festivals for most of the warm months, and taipeimuscle takes his recovery days by the water. The gym built all of them, but none of them lives in it.
MuslimMuscle does, and is emphatic about it: he is straight, friendly to gay fans, and keeps his page to himself alone. At the other end, DrewMenning makes collaborations with other male creators a selling point, and Rey Kong includes duo material alongside his solo work. taipeimuscle keeps the camera on himself and his training.