I’m a gym bro and ate dog food for the gains

Bone appétit. 

Henry Clarisey, 21, scored 2.8 million views last month as aghast TikTokers watched him choke down dog chow “for the gains.”

“I tasted the dry dog food kibble, and [it] tasted like little pieces of rocks,” the Buffalo resident told The Post, recalling the gag-inducing nosh. “[It was] not comfortable at all to eat, and it was super hard to bite down on.”

The gym bros of TikTok will do anything to consume more protein — and their latest indulgence is even more disgusting than a chalky smoothie.

These workout warriors have posted what appear to be satirical clips of themselves feasting on slop meant for pups. Others have joked they would nibble on kibble if it meant being ripped.

“I definitely wouldn’t do it again,” Clarisey admitted, because “even if dog food has high protein content, it’s definitely not worth it.”

Clarisey initially discovered dog food is rich in protein after watching a TikTok in which a user warned fellow gym rats not to be “tempted” to try it.

He didn’t follow that advice. Clarisey, who boasts over 171,000 followers on the platform, pledged to taste the bitter bits if his own video reached 15,000 likes.

To his surprise, the clip consumed 21.2 million views and 2.5 million likes.

“I said if I get 15k likes I’d try it, but it ended up getting 2.5 million, and I felt like I had to try it for the video,” he told The Post.

He said he thought the colossal protein concentration of 666 grams in 200 grams of Pedigree was a “glitch” on the popular dieting and fitness app MyFitnessPal, but he decided to humor his followers anyway.

The supposed miscalculation on the diet tracker would mean a single cup of kibble would have a much higher protein content than even bodybuilders need in a day.

For reference, adult men need only about 56 grams of protein a day. Over-consuming protein can actually be harmful to human health, resulting in complications such as kidney damage.

“PEDIGREE dog food is formulated for dogs. While the food would not be harmful if a human consumed it, we do not recommend pet food for human consumption,” a spokesperson from Pedigree told The Post in a statement Friday.

Clarisey isn’t the first person to lap up dog delicacies. Tennis star Serena Williams even dared to munch on her pup’s room service meal in 2016, getting “really sick” afterwards. Food blogger Sihan Lee was duped into taste-testing food for dogs as part of a Furry’s Kitchen stunt in 2020.

For those who do bark-take, short-term consumption of the chow isn’t likely to cause too much harm — though it’s not recommended.

“While most ingredients in dog food are similar to human food, they are meant to meet the needs of dogs, not humans, who have different nutritional priorities,” Melissa Majumdar, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told BuzzFeed News.

According to Healthline, many pet foods are made with unappetizing ingredients, such as meat scraps, ground-up bones, organs, skin and other animal parts that are “unfit for human consumption.”

Aside from the possibility of food-borne illness from contamination, certain brands of dog food also contain a synthetic form of vitamin K — vitamin K3 — which can be “toxic to humans in high doses,” per Healthline.

While the concentration of the vitamin is low in pet grub, people shouldn’t be gorging on it regularly, as research has shown it can be toxic to humans in high doses.

Clarisey certainly doesn’t have a problem leaving the Purina to the pooches.

“I would totally rather [have] a nice steak,” he said.