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A Day In The Life
Boxer Paul Reyes, Part 2
by Claire Matheson
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 Last month, we told you about Paul Reyes, an out-of-shape, former amateur boxer, who’s determined to enter the ring again and emerge a winner. He’s given himself three months to prepare for his comeback fight and austin FiT magazine is tracking his progress. This month find out how the first part of his training went.
Fried chicken and french fries aren’t exactly the ingredients for a healthy post-workout meal, but after spending almost two hours at the boxing gym on a recent Saturday morning, Paul Reyes doesn’t feel too guilty.
Reyes has just finished one of Coach Bruce Acuña’s grueling group boxing classes. After hundreds of sit-ups, a set of exhausting outdoor sprints, countless minutes jumping rope, back-breaking lunges holding a medicine ball and at least a dozen three-minute rounds pounding the heavy bag, Reyes is drenched in sweat, exhausted and famished.
“I must have burned like a thousand calories and sweated out all the beer I drank last night,“ he says with a sense of relief and accomplishment.
During the last month, Reyes has dropped close to 10 pounds and reduced his body fat from 20 percent to 16 percent. He’s also cleaned up his diet considerably and his workouts have become less erratic.
“My diet has really improved in the last couple of weeks,“ Reyes says. “I eat a lot of egg whites, fish, chicken, protein powder, oatmeal, vegetables and fruit.“ Nevertheless, his eating habits still need some tweaking. Reyes admits that on more than one occasion he’s feasted on high-fat, high-calorie foods such as fried calamari, fettuccini alfredo, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, fried chicken and potato chips. “Because of my lapses I feel a little behind schedule,“ Reyes confesses. He needs to lose at least 15 more pounds to get to his ideal fighting weight.
Fortunately Reyes has kept up with his workouts and averages four visits to the gym each week. He divides his exercise time between weight training, running and riding the stationery bike, in addition to practicing boxing drills. Reyes says he enjoys his running regimen most of all, but hates jumping rope and doing lunges.
All in all, he’s seen a vast improvement in stamina and footwork over the last month. He credits constant encouragement and constructive criticism from Acuña and Johnny Casas, a professional fighter who trains at Acuña’s gym and sometimes assists with coaching during classes.
A weekend spent at a friend’s wedding out-of-town and another weekend devoted to entertaining relatives hampered Reyes’ progress last month. This month, he’s determined to manage his time better and stick to his exercise and diet regimen. His main goal for the next four weeks is to continue to lose weight and improve his cardiovascular fitness level. Reyes says getting into competitive shape is key to building the confidence he needs to dominate his opponent. “For me, the more fit I feel, the more confident I am,“ he says.
Be sure to find out how Reyes’ daily training
is going at http://backinthering.blogspot.com.
Also, check out Part 3 in the August issue of austin FiT magazine.
Photo:
Paul Reyes training for his next fight.
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