When a Fertility Test Shocks Your Pride: Inside One Man’s Experiment With “Spermmaxxing”
When 39-year-old Will Fishenden took his first fertility test while trying for a baby with his 34-year-old wife Mahulenka, he expected a clean bill of health. Instead, the co-founder of the healthy meal prep business Prep Kitchen discovered his sperm count sat in the lower percentile. Stung in his male pride after living what he considered a fit, balanced lifestyle, the business owner decided to dive headfirst into the internet’s latest wellness craze: “spermmaxxing.”
Popularized largely by Gen Z and Millennials across social media, the broader “maxxing” trend involves pushing everyday lifestyle choices to extreme lengths for optimal results. For Fishenden, that meant embarking on a strict three-month reset designed to target volume, motility, and shape before his follow-up analysis.
The Viral Hacks Put to the Test
Sperm takes approximately 74 days to develop, creating a vital window just before conception to optimize the cellular environment. Fishenden set out to alter that environment by tackling lifestyle adjustments, ranging from dietary supplementation to cooling techniques.
His protocol included increasing intake of zinc and selenium—nutrients found in meat, poultry, eggs, whole grains, seeds, and nuts that support testosterone production and reduce oxidative stress—alongside male fertility supplements. He also went teetotal for three months, cutting out the couple of beers and occasional tequilas he normally enjoyed each week. Alongside quitting vaping, he shed 10 kilograms, dropping from 125kg to 115kg while adding cardio like the StairMaster and assault bike to his existing weight training regimen.
Several months later, Fishenden’s follow-up semen analysis showed his results had moved into the high-optimal range.
Medical Experts Weigh In on the Viral Trend
While Fishenden saw improvements in his numbers, medical professionals emphasize that “spermmaxxing” is a social-media term rather than a medical concept. Dr. Ahmed El Muntasar, a GP, aesthetics doctor and owner of The Aesthetics Doctor, notes that while lifestyle factors influence reproductive health, internet-driven “spermmaxxing” packages medical advice as a trend.
Addressing the supplement routine, Dr. Ahmed explains that correcting a deficiency is important, but taking large doses will not necessarily make healthy sperm dramatically better. On the topic of alcohol, he notes that heavy alcohol consumption is associated with poorer reproductive health, so reducing alcohol is sensible when trying to conceive.
Similarly, the evidence specifically around vaping and human fertility is newer and much more limited. On the physical side, achieving a healthier weight and exercising regularly can be beneficial for men trying to conceive, though Dr. Ahmed points out there is nothing magical about specific aerobic training specifically for sperm.
When it came to ice baths and ice packs, Dr. Ahmed noted: “Men don’t need ice baths, gadgets, complicated supplement stacks or ice packs down their shorts to optimise their fertility.”
Fertility nutritionist Charlotte Grand adds a critical warning regarding underlying medical conditions. While optimizing nutrition during the developmental window is beneficial, men should see this as something to do alongside fertility investigations, not instead of them, to avoid missing structural or genetic issues—such as a varicocele—that require professional investigation.
