Pat Manuel, Los Angeles-based U.S. female boxing champion and queer, poly Brown Boi has recently launched an online fitness resource for the masculine of center community. Get into it.

Who is the Buff Butch?

For those of you who may not know who I am, allow me to introduce myself. Hi, I’m Pat the poly butch queer boxer.

Other names I have been known as are: Patricia, Tish, Trish,Tricia, Patty, and  Peanut/Cacahuate (I’ll explain this nickname at another time). I chopped my name down to Pat officially almost a month ago because I decided to fully embrace my queerness and shed the final outer visages of my femininity. Why? I just didn’t give a fuck anymore if I confuse people. Hell, I like to confuse people. But this is a topic for another day soooo back to a little about my journey into the world of fitness.

I started out as an awkward, pudgy teenager who just wasn’t happy with the way they looked. I had done sports before,mainly softball (surprise,surprise) but it had been a minute since I was physically active and I had ballooned in weight during my high school years. Christmas rolled around after my 17th birthday and my Grandma went with me on the blue line metro to downtown LA. She took me to LA Boxing Club (not the franchise of the same name) and signed me up.

[pullquote3 quotes=”true” align=”center” textColor=”#000000″]After my first week of training, I could hardly move as my muscles were so sore. I was addicted. Three months later, I dropped 30 lbs and began to feel my confidence swell. I needed more of this feeling.[/pullquote3]

Ten years later,I am still a hardcore addict. I never imagined I would invest so much of my life into the sport and how much it would shape who I am today. I’ve won multiple national titles, travelled the world representing team USA, beaten world quality opponents and made history as one of the first participants in the USA Olympic Boxing Trials.

With boxing, it’s more than just the competition I love–it is the awareness of my own physical power. It is empowering to know the limits of your body and then work to prove those limits wrong. This is the magic of training. Almost a decade ago, I became obsessed with learning more of this magic.

These past couple years, I have re-tooled my training to include a strength & conditioning program courtesy of Coach Aaron Vasquez of Outlaw Sports Performance. Not only did my athletic ability improve, but I started really enjoying the side effects strength training had on my appearance. Who doesn’t like to look buffer, am I right?

I’ve since become addicted with gaining knowledge of how the body works beyond just working hard. Intelligent programming, exercise selection, and proper nutrition have been vital in forging a body that expresses my own gender identity.

I want to share the knowledge I have attained. I want to give each of you the tools to craft a body that reflects to the world who you are. This is a call to arms against the status-quo. Let’s start a revolution of defining our bodies on our own terms.

Help me push this movement forward. Tell a friend or three or 20 about buffbutch.com. Sign up for our newsletter, “Like” our facebook page or follow me on instragram. I needed to know that others feel the same way I do!

Your Brother in Arms,
Pat, Buffbutch.com