When Will Fishenden took his first fertility test, he assumed everything down there would be fine. But the results were a bit of a shock to the 39-year-old man from the UK and his male pride. Will had just started trying for a baby with his wife Mahulenka, 34, and was disappointed to learn his swimmers looked rather lacklustre. He stated that like a lot of men, he was far more invested in his wife fertility health, but when he had his first tests to assess his sperm health, the results weren't where they should have been for a man of his age. He added that finding out his sample was in the lower percentile dented his male pride.
Will, co-founder of Prep Kitchen, a healthy meal prep business, was already eating well, regularly exercising, and living what he considered a fit, balanced lifestyle. But he still vowed to overhaul it to boost his chances of becoming a dad. After doing extensive research, he came across an unlikely new trend, known as spermmaxxing. It is the latest maxxing trend which has seen Gen Z and Millennials push certain lifestyle choices, such as eating more fibre and tracking sleep, to extreme lengths for optimal results. The jury is still out on whether man sperm quality can be maxxxed too, but Will decided to follow the rules and see where that got him. Will noted that he did not realise sperm takes around three months to develop, so he treated that period as a full reset. Several months later, his results had moved into the high-optimal range, including volume, motility, and shape.
Charlotte Grand, fertility nutritionist at www.proceive.com, stated that sperm take approximately 74 days to develop, so the 12 weeks before conception or fertility treatment are a real opportunity to optimise the environment in which sperm cells are developing. She added there is a lot men can do during that time to support sperm health, and the encouraging thing is that they can then see whether those changes are reflected in a follow-up semen analysis. Dr Ahmed El Muntasar, GP, aesthetics doctor, and owner of The Aesthetics Doctor, said it is important to remember spermmaxxing is a social media term rather than a medical concept.
Supp support
Zinc and selenium supplements have both been shown to improve the motility, concentration, and overall quality of sperm by reducing oxidative stress and supporting testosterone production. So Will focused on eating more of the nutrients, which can be found in seafood, meat, poultry, eggs, whole grains, seeds, and nuts. He also started taking a male fertility supplement, adding that he was already very conscious of nutrition through Prep Kitchen, but this was the first time he really thought about what he was eating specifically in relation to his own fertility.
Dr Ahmed noted that zinc and selenium are involved in normal reproductive function, but more is not necessarily better. If somebody has a deficiency, correcting that is important, though that does not mean taking large doses will make healthy sperm dramatically better. He stated there is a huge market for male fertility supplements, but the evidence that antioxidant supplements meaningfully improve pregnancy or live-birth rates is much less convincing than social media sometimes suggests. He would not recommend taking multiple high-dose supplements without checking what they contain because excessive amounts of certain vitamins and minerals can themselves be harmful.
Teetotal
Will was not a heavy drinker, noting he would have a few beers a couple of nights a week, the odd cocktail, maybe a tequila or two. But he went teetotal for three months. Dr Ahmed said heavy alcohol consumption is associated with poorer reproductive health, so reducing alcohol is absolutely sensible when trying to conceive. For example, one study showed that more than 15g of alcohol a day, the equivalent of two units or one low-strength pint every day, was linked to an increase in abnormal sperm. However, this is still within the NHS-recommended 14 units of alcohol per week. Dr Ahmed stated the evidence is clearer around heavy or excessive drinking, adding that for someone who drinks moderately, they cannot promise that three months of complete abstinence will transform their fertility.
Smoke and mirrors
Will mentioned he also found himself socially vaping and decided to go completely teetotal on this for three months as well. Dr Ahmed stated stopping vaping is something he would support, particularly when somebody is trying to conceive. He explained they have much stronger evidence for conventional cigarette smoking, which is associated with reductions in sperm concentration and motility and potentially poorer morphology. The evidence specifically around vaping and human fertility is newer and much more limited, so they should not pretend they know exactly how much vaping affects an individual fertility. However, e-cigarette aerosols can contain nicotine and other potentially harmful substances, and early evidence raises concerns about effects on reproductive health. Therefore, he would not describe vaping as harmless simply because somebody is not smoking cigarettes, and avoiding it while trying to conceive is sensible.
Fighting fit
Will was already conscious of his diet and exercised, but he lost 10kg, going from 125kg to 115kg, thanks to viewing his nutrition through a completely different lens. Dr Ahmed called this one of the more sensible parts of his approach, noting that obesity and low levels of physical activity are associated with poorer sperm quality, so achieving a healthier weight and exercising regularly can be beneficial for men trying to conceive. Will added more cardio, including the StairMaster and assault bike, to his existing weight training programme on the belief that some research shows moderate cardio exercise can improve sperm quality by lowering oxidative stress and reducing inflammation. Dr Ahmed said there is nothing magical about Zone 2 or VO2 max training specifically for sperm, meaning low-to-moderate aerobic training. The important message is regular physical activity, good cardiovascular and metabolic health, and avoiding extremes, the GP added.
Bedhead
Will made sleep a priority, using the health tracker WHOOP to monitor his hours per night and recovery. Hoping to improve his sleep routine by influencing the body clock, he stated he started making more of an effort to get natural sunlight first thing, wind down properly in the evening, switch screens off, and keep his sleep and wake times consistent, even at weekends. Dr Ahmed said that alone, these are not proven fertility treatments. However, he noted that good-quality sleep is important for overall physical and hormonal health, so prioritising regular sleep is sensible advice regardless of fertility. One study assessed 840 men sperm and their sleep behaviour, finding that sleeping poorly, too little, or too much was linked to reduced sperm count, lower concentration, and decreased motility.
Don't sweat it
Will, who often used the sauna to switch off, cut down on his use after finding out that some studies link regular use to a temporary drop in sperm count and motility. He did not give it up entirely, but he sat there with ice packs down his shorts. He claimed he looked ridiculous, but many men started copying him once he explained what he was doing. Dr Ahmed said there is some biological basis to this because the testes sit outside the body partly because sperm production functions best at a slightly lower temperature than core body temperature, and repeated or prolonged exposure to significant heat may temporarily affect sperm production and quality. He added that using ice packs does not have good evidence, and simply reducing excessive heat exposure would be the much more sensible approach.
Will also started having an ice bath most mornings to counteract his sauna use. Dr Ahmed stated this is where he thinks spermmaxxing starts drifting into wellness trends rather than established fertility medicine, noting there is not convincing evidence that taking an ice bath every morning will improve sperm count, motility, or morphology.
The Verdict
Will saw improvements within three months, but Dr Ahmed cautioned that it does not prove his methods work. Though he added it is fantastic he got results, he noted he actually welcomes anything that gets men talking about fertility because historically so much of the pressure and attention has fallen on women, and male factors are an important part of fertility assessment. He stated spermmaxxing makes fairly straightforward health advice sound like a biohacking regime, and men do not need ice baths, gadgets, complicated supplement stacks, or ice packs down their shorts to optimise their fertility. He advised not smoking or vaping, avoiding excessive alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, eating a balanced diet, and getting adequate sleep. He also said that if someone is struggling to conceive or has an abnormal semen analysis, they should speak to their GP or fertility specialist rather than relying on TikTok. He stressed there is not a special fertility hack that suddenly produces super sperm, and while several lifestyle factors are associated with semen quality, they must be careful not to suggest that every lifestyle intervention somebody sees online will dramatically increase their fertility.
Charlotte added that one potential danger with a trend like spermmaxxing is that it can be misleading if men believe they can improve every fertility problem through nutrition and lifestyle alone. Poor sperm parameters can have an underlying structural cause, such as a varicocele, or a genetic cause, which clearly needs appropriate investigation. Therefore, while she encourages men to optimise their nutrition and lifestyle, she would always see this as something to do alongside fertility investigations, not instead of them, to avoid spending months trying to improve sperm quality only to discover later that there was an underlying issue that needed investigating.
