Marvin Wüzner and I connected on Zoom. I was trying to better understand the online world of “maxxing,” and Wüzner, who goes by the username Marv.Maxxed online, is an expert. He has more than 54,000 followers on TikTok, where he offers young men advice on how to “lifemaxx,” optimizing all areas of their existences from looks to relationships to wealth, when he is not personally lifemaxxing in Ibiza over the summer.
As we talked, screen-to-screen, Wüzner told me about “softmaxxing,” subtle and low-effort ways to improve one’s appearance. Softmaxxing, he explained, relies on “jaw exercises… hold your cheek.” On my screen, Wüzner demonstrated, moving his jaw in an up, down, and circular motion. Softmaxxing also includes “debloating, nutrition-wise, but also training-wise,” he said, which means to make your face or body less puffy.
Hardmaxxing, on the other hand, Wüzner explained, relies on “for example, injections that make you look better, or bone smashing… or hunter eyes and stuff… basically surgery, a lot of costs, and it’s really ridiculous.” Bone smashing is repeatedly hitting the jaw or cheek to create microchips in the bones in an attempt to be more chiseled. I learned from Wüzner that hunter eyes are typically achieved through surgery, but he demonstrated the look using two fingers to pull around his eyes outwards and slightly upwards.
Welcome to the world of Looksmaxxing, which is exactly what it sounds like. Maxxing out the potential of one’s physical appearance in pursuit of hypermasculinity.
Adding the suffix “maxxing” to words has gone viral on TikTok. There’s brainmaxxing, improving mental abilities, lifemaxxing, maximizing overall quality of life, slaymaxxing, focusing heavily on sexual activities, and jestermaxxing, acting overly silly to get attention.
The plethora of terminology could be its own language.
“Men who lookmaxx find it scientific,” said Nic Kuzmochka, a doctoral student researching the manosphere and looksmaxxing at Dalhousie University in Canada.
The face of the looksmaxxing community is Braden Peters, commonly known as Clavicular. In the New York Times, Peters has discussed his extreme appearance enhancements as a hardmaxxer and his almost daily livestreams on Kick. From taking testosterone supplements to bone smashing, Calvicular is the ultimate looksmaxxer, devoting much of his life and efforts to being, in his view, the ultimate male specimen.
The precursor to Clavicular and MarvMaxx’s TikTok stardom is a collection of old websites with forums that, when in their prime, garnered over 7 million monthly visits from users, mostly young men, looking for ways to maxx their way to happiness.
The forums, losing popularity as social media dominates over traditional websites, are where the “incel” trend began, involuntary celibate men. Conversations consist of men venting about their lack of sexual activity, complaining about what they think women want in men, and seeking ratings of their looks.
The rankings vary, but generally, the term Chad is a white man with a ranking of 9/10, or a rare 10/10. Chadlyte is just below a Chad. Normies are 5/10. Subhumans, 3/10. Wüzner, after looksmaxxing for six years, ranks himself as a Chad.
Those in the looksmaxxing community say they are victims of lookism, discrimination in favor of attractiveness, which has intensified the pressure to “maxx” all aspects of men’s appearance.
Looksmaxxing.com is the latest generation of online forums.
The site was founded in 2018 by someone identifying himself as Dean Robertson, although there is speculation from users on the website that he uses an alias. Robertson declined to comment over the phone when I reached out, asking to speak with him about the website, and never followed up when I emailed him a few questions.
With more than 71,000 members and 2 million messages posted, the clunky website offers a free membership to weekly looksmaxxing tips “to help you stay motivated on your self-improvement journey.”
“The way you present yourself to the world matters immensely,” Lookingmaxxing.com explains on its “About us” page. The site has a bolded “DISCLAIMER” advising users to consult medical supervision before taking any “treatment”, as many users share their advice on ascending, having a significant transformation, but it is not always reliable.
Kuzmochka dove into the forums himself and discovered threads of men who had “permanently disabled themselves.” Many users who had followed the trend of taking testosterone supplements had “reduced their sexual function,” and one user who had made eyedrops documented his experience in a state of “temporary blindness.”
Kuzmochka remembers reading a forum user brainmaxxing describe a concoction of supplements they took every morning, including an antidepressant. The user reported to the website, “When I take this, it makes me think maybe I am not okay.”
Viewing the forums’ “Must-Reads” and “Ratings” requires registration and approval from moderators. I registered for the forum and wrote a required reasoning for why I wanted to join, but three weeks later, I am still waiting for approval.
Without a membership, users can still read Main Forums and Niche Forums, which have Looksmaxxing, Female Looksmaxxing, Lifemaxxing, and Mewing threads. Mewing, the act of pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth in an attempt to sharpen your jawline, has particularly gained interest from mainstream media such as TikTok.
In October, User Idec posted “Guide: In-depth Mewing/Orthotropics guide (High IQ users only),” under Niche Forums and Mewing. The thread provided an extensive discussion about jaws, debloating, teeth, and muscular development. In-depth essays packed with “advice” are a cornerstone of looksmaxxing.com.
User Anna captioned their post “How to bonesmash?” and wrote, “I’m scared of brain damage but I want to look like Jordan Barrett,” and attached a picture of the Australian supermodel, in February. Most of the responses recommended implants, while user MoggingMuhammad suggested “jackhammer it and take a chisel once finished.”
In a 2025 article on looksmaxxing published in the journal Society of Health & Illness, researchers wrote that the trend “resembles an echo chamber of masculine demoralisation rather than a self-improvement community.”
Caroline Hayes, a digital strategist at Equimundo, a nonprofit that promotes gender equality, says looksmaxxing is a trend that advises men how to change their appearance, but it also bonds those in the community together.
“There’s the media narrative… bone smashing, and the extreme versions of some looksmaxxing axioms,” she said, but “more interesting than anything else in this server was a deep sense of accountability that these men felt for each other.”
Hayes said that most men had developed some self-awareness from what they were consuming through these forums. Yet “the bandwagon effect” of following a norm that other people adopt even if individually you don’t agree, prevents genuine measures to disconnect.
“As human beings, we are simple. If you look good, I want to treat you better,” said Wüzner.
