Testosterone-maxxing — also known as T-maxxing — is a social media-driven trend, encouraging mostly young men to “maximise” their testosterone levels in a bid to build muscle, confidence and masculinity.
If we’re characters in a game, “maxxing” might make sense. The term “maxxing” comes from ‘min-maxing’ in role-playing games that have scores for categories like strength, dexterity, intelligence and wisdom. In a game, optimisation by dumping wisdom for greater strength can help win battles, but min-maxing takes things to extremes that don’t suit every scenario. Other forms of min-maxing in games, like creating a character with a perfect combination of powers, can mean some players spend all of their time trying to min-max instead of playing and enjoying the game.
In the real world, maxxing trends that arose from the manosphere — like T-maxxing, looksmaxxing and gymmaxxing — have the same problems as min-maxing in games, but with unlimited and unpredictable real-world consequences.
Here’s what T-maxxing really involves and why this trend is so troubling.
Firstly, what is testosterone?
Testosterone is the main androgen (sex hormone) in men. It drives the physical changes that happen during male puberty, and it is needed to help regulate things like sperm production, bone health, muscle mass and sex drive. It’s important for normal development and overall wellbeing, so you need a healthy level of it.
Testosterone levels are measured with a blood test (along with other hormones that might affect those levels). In adult men “normal” testosterone levels range from eight to 30 nmol/L (nanomoles per litre).
Having higher testosterone levels isn’t necessarily healthier. You can think of it like height — perfectly healthy men can be 165cm or 205cm, they just sit at different positions on the scale of what is normal.
What is T-maxxing?
“Maxxing” has been applied to everything from incel-inspired attractiveness measures like looksmaxxing and jawmaxxing to dietary trends like fibremaxxing and proteinmaxxing, and parodies like unmaxxing.
Just like looksmaxxing’s range of behaviours to optimise appearance, ranging from softmaxxing (e.g. grooming, skin care) to hardmaxxing (e.g. surgery, self-harm), T-maxxing practices range from lifestyle hacks (e.g. a good night’s sleep) to useless (e.g. ice baths, eating raw onions) and dangerous things (e.g. to self-injection of experimental drugs).
T-maxxing is based on the misguided beliefs that high testosterone levels are optimal, and that physical characteristics like muscularity and a chiselled jawline represent ideal masculinity. It’s yet another internet trend that exploits insecurities and encourages harm in young men.
What are the risks of T-maxxing?
For most healthy young men, low testosterone or low T is not a problem. In fact, testosterone levels in men peak during adolescence and early adulthood. Increasing testosterone is not only unnecessary, but some methods for doing so can be harmful.
Gaining artificially high testosterone levels by using unprescribed testosterone can have serious impacts on your health. It can cause cardiovascular disease, liver damage, brain damage and infertility. In teenagers, steroids have effects ranging from extensive acne to stunted growth.
In Australia, testosterone replacement therapy for androgen deficiency (low testosterone) must be prescribed by a medical practitioner, usually a GP in consultation with a specialist physician in sexual medicine, endocrinology or urology. This involves a number of assessments, including a full medical history, physical examination and other tests. Testosterone replacement therapy returns the testosterone level in the blood to a normal level, not a “high” level. Once started, testosterone therapy is usually continued for life with constant monitoring by health professionals.
Taking testosterone doesn’t add to what your body is producing. Instead, your body recognises that it’s got high levels, so it shuts off natural production and increases conversion to estradiol (the predominant female sexual hormone). When you stop taking testosterone, it takes your body weeks to months to get back to making its own testosterone.
You can become dependent on steroids, especially when they’re relied on for confidence and self-esteem. Withdrawing from steroids is like withdrawal from nicotine, opiates or other drugs, and the effects include headache, tiredness, nausea, muscle pain, restlessness, poor sleep, low mood, low sex drive, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts.
As a subtrend of looksmaxxing, T-maxxing can expose followers to demoralisation, harassment and racism, with substantial negative effects on mental health.
So what should I do instead?
There are simple things you can do to ensure your body has its optimal testosterone level, which are far better for you than T-maxxing. Get enough quality sleep, lose weight if you need to, eat a balanced diet, manage stress, do resistance training, limit alcohol and manage long term health conditions like diabetes or obesity.
Obsessing over your appearance, workouts, diet or testosterone level can be signs that you need some help. Just like min-maxxing in games, maxxing in the real world can have consequences for other aspects of your life, like your romantic and social relationships, school or work. Unlike in-game min-maxing, there’s no reset, restart or simply turning off and walking away.
If you’re concerned about low testosterone, go see your doctor. They’ll discuss your symptoms, general health and habits, do a physical examination and order further testing if needed. An accurate diagnosis will help you find the right treatment if it’s needed.
If you’re struggling with your body image or feeling pressure to look or feel more masculine, talk to your GP. They can help you to make healthy physical and mental changes, and refer you to other specialists who can help.
