Thoren Bradley’s journey to internet fame is a unique blend of brawn and know-how. Now 33, he grew up in rural Northern California near Yosemite, where chopping firewood was just a part of everyday life. With a master’s degree in exercise physiology, Bradley was working as an NCAA Division I strength and conditioning coach when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Facing gym closures and uncertain job prospects, he started filming snippets of his outdoor lifestyle in early 2020 – fishing in mountain streams, swinging an axe, and lifting weights in the woods.

Within a few months, Bradley’s follower count exploded. By early 2022, he truly felt his fame when pop star Doja Cat,one of the best-selling female rappers of all time,  duetted one of his axe-swinging videos – an overwhelming moment that literally sent him running to throw up from the shock.

Today, Bradley boasts over 10 million TikTok followers and counting. Fans around the world (many of them women) swoon over the sight of a bearded, muscle-bound man cleaving logs in a single swing. In fact, the reactions have been wild: people post video responses “screaming and biting their lips” as he splits logs, some joke they’ve spontaneously gotten pregnant, and others even use tree-stump video filters, pretending to “wait for their sweet turn under his blessed axe”. Bradley has essentially become TikTok’s “preeminent trapper of thirst” – a role he wears with a sense of humour and surprising thoughtfulness.

Fitness Credentials Behind the Fame

It’s not just theatrics and thirst traps – Thoren Bradley has serious fitness chops to back up the show. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Exercise Physiology (even being named student of the year in both programs), and after grad school he spent years training D1 college athletes as a strength coach. He even led tactical fitness programs for police SWAT teams and wrote articles for the renowned fitness site T-Nation. In other words, Bradley isn’t just an “Instagram fitness model” – he’s an educated strength expert who initially hesitated to embrace the influencer title. “I do have a master’s degree in exercise physiology…and I used to work as a strength and conditioning coach,” he notes, describing his training style as “bodybuilding responsibly”. That ethos means building an impressive physique without extreme or unhealthy methods. In fact, Bradley emphasizes training for functional strength, health, and enjoyment rather than chasing an unattainable, Photoshopped ideal. This grounded approach has endeared him to male fans who appreciate real fitness advice as much as the entertaining content.

So what’s the secret to the “Fitness Lumberjack’s” physique? A lifetime of hard work and consistency. Bradley stands about 180cm and 92kg of solid muscle. He developed his passion for fitness young – in high school he even helped convert an unused classroom into a weight room so he could train, since his tiny hometown had no gym. By the time he was a grad assistant coach, he was also dabbling in fitness modelling on Instagram (circa 2017) as a side gig. Little did he know those camera skills would later help turn him into a TikTok phenomenon.

Training Like a Lumberjack

Bradley’s daily routine is a mix of disciplined training and rugged outdoor labor. “Monday through Friday I wake up around 5am,” he says – sleeping in past sunrise isn’t really an option when you live in the mountains. He kicks off most mornings with a light breakfast (often an egg-white omelette for protein) followed by fasted cardio. If weather permits, he’ll strap on a 20kg weighted pack and jog rough trails for about 30 minutes – literally taking his cardio off-road in the Sierra Nevada foothills. This isn’t city treadmill work; Bradley’s cardio doubles as a scenic adventure, as he hikes, explores, and even takes “wild swims” in mountain lakes to stay in shape.

After cardio and some hours of physical “chores” (like chopping wood for his and his neighbors’ use), Bradley separates out time for weightlifting later in the day. He trains with a classic bodybuilding split but with a sensible twist – focusing on form, injury prevention and longevity over ego lifting. “Bodybuilding responsibly,” as he calls it, means you might see him doing heavy squats and deadlifts, but also mobility work and functional moves that complement his outdoorsy lifestyle. Thanks to his background as a coach, he programs his workouts intelligently. And yes, for anyone wondering, all that axe-swinging itself is a killer workout – it builds power, core strength, and high endurance. Bradley jokes that he often has to saw and split logs just to keep his property running, so he might as well film it and break a sweat for content at the same time.

Bradley also stresses the importance of mental health and balance in fitness. He advises followers to find intrinsic motivation for exercise (beyond just “looking good to attract a mate”) and to be cautious about social media fitness comparisons. This down-to-earth mindset resonates with many men: he’s showing that you can be a tough, strong guy while still prioritizing health and wellbeing over vanity. It’s fitness for real life, not just for thirsty comments.

A Hunter’s Diet – Fueling the Machine

When it comes to diet, Thoren Bradley keeps it simple, hearty, and effective. He isn’t into fad diets or ultra-strict meal plans, but rather eating whole foods in line with his active lifestyle. Unusually, Bradley consumes the bulk of his calories in the evenings – not because of any trendy intermittent fasting scheme, but because that’s when he can relax and enjoy a big meal. After a day full of activity, he’ll settle down at night with a large dinner to recharge. “I actually eat the majority of my calories after about 5pm… That’s when I’m resting, relaxing, digesting,” he explains.

His food choices are straightforward and unprocessed. For carbohydrates, he favors staples like rice and potatoes, often alongside “a giant bowl of zucchini and stir-fried vegetables” to fill up on fiber. For protein, Bradley leans toward lean wild game meats – think venison, wild boar, or elk – which he often hunts himself. Growing up in the mountains taught him to source food from the land ethically; he notes that California has an overpopulation of wild hogs, so harvesting one for the freezer is both ecologically responsible and nutritionally smart. The result is a diet high in protein and micronutrients but low in junk. And yes, he still enjoys treats in moderation. As he once shared, “All food is ok in moderation, unless it desensitizes you” – meaning he doesn’t demonize any particular food, but he avoids anything that would sap his energy or health in the long run.

To stay ripped year-round, Bradley emphasises consistency over any secret trick. He drinks plenty of water, gets quality sleep (early to bed for that 5am alarm), and even credits his outdoor chores for keeping him burning calories. Splitting logs for an hour, after all, can torch hundreds of calories – and judging by his physique, it’s working. It’s a no-nonsense nutrition approach befitting a man who literally earns his meals by the sweat of his brow.

Turning Viral Popularity into a Fitness Empire

Bradley’s online fame isn’t just for show – he’s managed to turn millions of TikTok views into a thriving business. In 2021, riding the momentum of his exploding follower base, he launched his own fitness app originally called Ōhk (pronounced “Oak”), later rebranded to Dōse, which delivers workout programs and nutrition guidance to his fans. The name “Oak” was a clever nod to the long-burning oak firewood and Bradley’s goal of helping people achieve sustainable, long-term fitness results. Subscriptions from die-hard followers, along with sponsorships and merchandise, created multiple income streams that soon dwarfed his old coaching paycheck. By mid-2022, Bradley revealed he was grossing about $150,000 a year from a combination of his lumberjack side-work and influencer earnings – triple what he used to make training college athletes (his strength coach job paid around $50k). Once his digital income hit about double his salary, he felt secure enough to leave the 9-to-5 gym job and focus on content and entrepreneurship full-time.

And that bet paid off. As his following grew, so did his revenue. Bradley’s TikTok (@bradley.thor) now sits around 10.7 million followers, and he’s expanded on Instagram and YouTube as well, giving him a broad platform to monetize. Some analytics sites estimate his annual earnings are now in the high six figures – possibly reaching $750,000 to $1 million per year by 2025 across all his ventures. That’s an average of tens of thousands of dollars per month coming in from app subscriptions, ad revenue, brand partnerships and more. (One data analysis even pegged his recent monthly social media income in the $50K–$90K range.) It’s an impressive ascent for someone who, just a few years ago, was selling cords of firewood on the side to make ends meet.

Despite the financial success, Bradley hasn’t lost touch with his blue-collar roots. In interviews he’s shared that he often donates firewood he chops to local elderly folks who need it, rather than selling it, now that he’s earning comfortably online. He’s effectively turned a humble manual labor into internet gold, all while maintaining the down-to-earth ethos that attracted followers in the first place.

Personal Life – Marriage, Twins, and Keeping It Real

For all of his online charisma, Thoren Bradley tends to keep his private life relatively low-key. Sorry to break some hearts: he is not single. In fact, he’s married to his long-time partner, Angelique – a former special-ed teacher turned real estate agent and interior designer. The two even collaborated on a side project Instagram account showcasing their home renovation adventures in 2021, playfully titled @behindthebradleydoors. Angelique is widely believed to be the unseen camera operator behind many of Thoren’s wood-chopping videos, capturing those slow-motion axe swings that TikTok loves. Bradley, however, is protective of his wife’s privacy; he rarely features her on his main platforms, preferring to let the spotlight stay on the content rather than his family. Still, he’s openly appreciative of her, and together they’ve built a home life in the California mountains that looks as idyllic as you’d imagine (yes, their property has plenty of trees to fell and logs to stack).

Another fun fact that many fans might not know: Thoren Bradley has a twin brother. That’s right – there are actually two of these lumberjack lookalikes running around. While his twin stays out of the public eye (unlike Thoren, his brother isn’t an internet star), Thoren hasn’t shied from mentioning him in passing on social media. In one cheeky post, he even teased thirsty fans with a caption along the lines of, “I’m taken, but I have a twin brother…” – suggesting there might be another Bradley out there for the ladies to swoon over. It’s all in good fun and fits the tongue-in-cheek way Thoren interacts with the flocks of admirers in his comments.

At the end of the day, what makes Thoren Bradley stand out – especially to a male audience – is that he’s not just a posed pretty-boy flexing in a mirror. He’s a genuine guy who chops wood to heat his home, hauls meat out of the forest to feed his family, and still finds time to squat heavy and share fitness tips with his followers. He represents a modern masculinity that blends old-school toughness with educated wellness. As he puts it, “People look to you as a picture of masculinity, and you can turn that on its head a little bit.” In his case, that means showing that a man can be strong and sexy but also empathetic, thoughtful, and respectful. He openly supports mental health awareness and even ventured into hot-button issues like women’s rights, unafraid to lose a few followers by staying true to his values.