Are you frictionmaxxing? Getting enough nutrients with proteinmaxxing and fibremaxxing? Are you being frame-mogged?
The phrases “maxxing” and “mogging” have been repurposed by creators to describe ways for consumers to optimise their lives. It’s a new form of grind hustle that’s tied to individualism and unrealistic beauty standards, and the origins of these terms are from the manosphere.
Maxxing and mogging
When someone using the term maxxing it means they are getting the most out of whatever practice or habit they are referencing (such as sleepmaxxing to get the most optimal sleep). It started with looksmaxxing, in which people tried to improve their appearances for the male gaze, going to extremes such as breaking bones with a hammer for a strong jawline or cheekbone, while softmaxxing focused on skincare and fitness. It’s coined by incel culture.
Meanwhile, mogging is trying to outperform someone and dominate them in terms of appearance, fashion or lifestyles. It comes from the incel phrase “alpha male of the group” (AMOG).
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Both of these phrases entered the mainstream due to controversial US streamer Braden Peters (Clavicular), who has detailed his extreme attempts to improve his physical features. Podcaster Benedict Townsend broke down Peters and the manosphere for Scroll Deep’s TikTok.
A cultural understanding is crucial for being aware of how and why these words are part of TikTok’s vernacular. Marketer Todd Needle explained: “When a brand borrows the language, it borrows the association. This is the Origin Trap™. We drop these terms into copy because they signal we’re online and they drive engagement. But the meaning behind them doesn’t disappear because they’ve been recontextualized for a meme.”
Maxxing as a wider trend cycle
Maxxing and mogging are now regularly used across the internet on news websites, creator channels and Substacks. People are documenting healthmaxxing, hobbymaxxing, whimsymaxxing, cutemaxxing, boredommaxxing and lifemogging. TikToker Tegan Beeson’s video about being outmogged by a ponytail has 2.1 million views. Many siblings use the term mogging to discuss trying to “out-mog” each other.
Influencers are incorporating these words into their captions. Vlogger Olivia Neill’s photo dump was about Januarymaxxing (4.4% engagement rate with 44,000 likes) and lifestyle creator Aishat has been joymaxxing (2.9% ER). Journalist Zing Tsjeng explained the rise of Chinamaxxing and Chinese culture for The i Paper (2.6% ER). Lifestyle creator Beth McCreadie has been gratitudemaxxing (2.4% ER) and fashion creator Mikah Chay has been questmaxxing.
These phrases are becoming far removed from the incel culture in which they were coined and most people are unaware of their dark origins. However, this wider adoption means manosphere references will increasingly become part of our lexicon.
Frictionmaxxing is a key term for 2026 and has been popularised by The Cut. It’s about having a tolerance for inconvenience in a world where everything is quick and accessible. New York-based creator Tyler Donohue has been doing a frictionmaxxing challenge after reading the article.
Brands have a responsibility to understand the origins of internet phrases and the subcultures they come from when including these into social trends. While they may seem like a shortcut to digital culture, the manosphere continues to exert negative influence and being linked to this is ultimately bad for business.
By Caroline Edwards, trends editor for CORQ.
Creator or influencer: The only explainer you’ll ever need on both terms and when to use them