Jake Paul, a professional entertainer and YouTuber, has transitioned into the world of boxing and acting. Having amassed a staggering 5.3 million followers and billions of views in 2013, he then launched his YouTube channel, which ranked high on the Forbes list as one of the highest-paid YouTuber content creators in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2023. Between 2016 and 2017, Disney hired Paul to play Dirk Mann in Bizaardvark. Jake Paul has also tried his hands in music. From 2017 to 2020, he released several singles and launched his media company, TeamDot, with one million in funding from investors. He also collaborated with different artists from 2017 to 2020. 2022 started another phase of Jake Paul’s career. That year, he earned about $38 million from streams and three boxing matches, making him one of Forbes’ highest-paid athletes. Later that year, Paul also appeared in a WWE main event, WWE Crown Jewel. Recently, he faced retired boxing legend Iron Mike Tyson, who hadn’t fought in 19 years. The match lasted the complete eight rounds, with Jake Paul emerging victorious. Jake gained a staggering 40 pounds for the bout. But how does an internet personality who began by posting prank videos with his brother on Vine rise to compete at the highest level? Beyond sheer determination, Jake Paul’s success is rooted in his unwavering commitment to training and nutrition.
From Social Media Star to Boxer
Jake Paul says he discovered his love for boxing when he realized his passion wasn’t living on social media. His boxing career started in 2018 when he booked a fight with an English online personality and YouTuber, Deji Olatunji. Jake Paul later booked other boxing fights with MMA fighters and pro boxers Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, winning by technical knockout and knockout, respectively. Jake Paul has been in a few fights with other athletes and has consistently won via technical knockouts.
Jake Paul's Rigorous Workout Regimen
Jake Paul’s workout approach involves a lot of resistance training, boxing, cardio, and core exercises. These days, Jake Paul’s cardio routines involve sprints, long runs, jogs, and jump roping. He does his jump ropes for 15 minutes before starting his cardio exercises. Jake Paul also does sparring boxing sessions five days a week, where he learns a new move and adds to his boxing bag of tricks. Jake Paul skips for 15 to 20 minutes as warm-ups before doing his resistance training. This study shows performing warmups before exercise can help improve exercise performance (1). Paul works on his explosive power by lifting weights. He starts with a three to seven-mile jog, some stretches, and has an ice bath before resting. In the evening, he does 20 rounds of shadow boxing, heavy bag, speed bag, noodle drills, core exercises, and neck exercises. He does wind sprints on the football field and follows it up with an ice bath, cupping, cryotherapy, and stretches. This is Paul’s day for strength and conditioning exercises. After an intense weekly workout session, he takes time to rest and recover. Recovery is as important as training.
Daily Routine
To warm up for all that exercise, Paul walks on the treadmill for 10 minutes, followed by various dynamic stretches (including unorthodox moves like handstands and cartwheels). “Injury is always a lingering [thought],” Paul says, “but thankfully, knock on wood, I have a body that doesn’t typically injure.”
Paul also works to fortify his mind. In addition to frequent meditation sessions, he’ll walk down to the beach twice weekly for what he calls “salt water cleanse boxing” to express himself and release his energy and anger. Leading up to a bout, Paul collaborates with author Lucas Mack and Onnit founder Aubrey Marus, who he calls his mediation coaches, to visualize the outcome of his coming fights.
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The Importance of Nutrition
Jake Paul typically eats a clean and balanced diet, consuming around 3,800 to 4,000 calories of whole foods daily to bulk for the Tyson fight. He drinks a lot of water to help with hydration, which allows him to stay in shape. To help with his gains, he takes pre-workout drinks, multivitamins, protein shakes, and BCAAs.
Jake Paul's Diet: A Closer Look
To achieve his fitness goals, Jake Paul has adopted a protein-rich diet, which is essential for muscle building and repair, especially for an athlete undergoing intense training. Among the foods that are part of his diet are:
- Eggs: an excellent source of protein and essential nutrients, eggs are a staple in the diet of many athletes.
- Potatoes: Rich in carbohydrates, potatoes provide the energy needed to support long training sessions.
- Red meat and chicken: these sources of lean protein are essential for muscle development and recovery.
- Yogurt and fruit: These foods not only provide protein, but also vitamins and minerals that are vital for overall health and athletic performance.
Despite his disciplined approach to eating, Jake Paul does indulge in fast food from time to time. This occasional indulgence can be seen as a way to maintain balance in his diet, allowing him to enjoy his favorite foods without compromising his fitness goals. However, it is important to note that these occasions are the exception rather than the norm in his eating regimen.
What's in Jake Paul’s Fridge
“I’m naturally a fat kid at heart,” says Paul. “I grew up eating Hamburger Helper, Burger King, all of that stuff, in Ohio. That’s what I was used to and that’s what I kept on eating when I moved to Los Angeles.”
Since starting competitive boxing, however, Paul revamped his eating habits to fuel his 10 to 12 weekly workouts and keep him within 15 pounds of the cruiserweight weight limit (200 pounds). Now he mainly eats whole foods such as eggs, potatoes, steak, chicken, yogurt, and fruit. Here’s a quick rundown of Paul’s favorite things in his fridge.
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- So. Much. Protein: As an athlete who routinely cuts weight, Paul needs protein to keep himself full and maintain muscle mass as he cuts.
- Japanese Wagyu Beef: “This is what really keeps me going,” says Paul. “I look forward to eating this every night.”
- Smoked Salmon: There are 18 grams of protein and 115 calories in three-and-a-half ounces of smoked salmon, making it a great high-protein, low-calorie snack for folks in a calorie deficit.
- Angus Beef Tenderloin: Each three-ounce serving packs 20 grams of protein and 275 calories, as well as 15 percent of your daily required iron intake.
- Shots! Ginger and ketone shots, which are advertised as helping to induce ketosis (where your body burns fat for fuel). Ketone shots may also potentially reduce lactic acid production.
- Fruit: “The fruit is a good pre-workout snack,” Paul explains. “If I’m feeling low on sugar and glucose, which is what your muscle burns when you’re working out, I’ll have a fruit bowl before practice.”
Diet leading up to Mike Tyson Fight
After gorging himself on lavish cuts of Japanese wagyu beef and tables full of burgers and pizza, Jake Paul has pumped the brakes on piling on the pounds for his fight against Mike Tyson. The YouTuber-turned-boxer will square off against 58-year-old legend Tyson on November 15 in a controversial clash that's set to make each man tens-of-millions of pounds.
Previously a cruiserweight, where the maximum weight allowed is 200lbs, the 27-year-old has beefed up to new levels, sparking accusations he used steroids to achieve his hulking new physique, while he insists it's all down to protein, yogurt and fruit. Meanwhile, Tyson has given up his vegan diet but has backtracked on his own claim that he was eating raw meat to get in shape.
Heavyweight fighters must weight a minimum of 200lbs, but there is no upper limit and Paul and Tyson are expected to weight in at 220lbs and 235lbs respectively. Ahead of his match, Jake revealed how he was able to bulk up so much to fuel his new-found hobby. His diet consists of mainly eating whole foods like eggs, potatoes, steak, chicken, yoghurt and fruit. It fuels his training sessions, which he does twice a day, five to six times a week. And in pictures on social media he has been seen tucking into burgers and pizzas. Some fans have been alarmed to see him dancing around tables full of junk food, with a rather large gut. But he's confirmed he was wearing a prosthetic belly as a joke.
Paul, who has an estimated net worth of $80million (£62million), instead regularly dines on Japanese wagyu beef - famed for being one of the most expensive cuts of meat in the world. 'This is what really keeps me going. 'My old coach used to say it's all about portion sizes and if it doesn't run around, swim around or grow from the ground, don't eat it. Jake Paul's 'caveman diet' is spot on, I think.' The boxer, who has 142 competitive bouts to his name, losing just 22, claimed it would have been easy for Paul to yoyo his weight. 'Slashing 20lb is not that difficult if you're full-time training and you're getting the right fuel going into the body and you're cutting out all your snacks,' he added.'And it's hard to put this weight on. If you get a personal trainer and nutritionists, it's easy enough to do… And Jake Paul has the money to do this.'
Meanwhile for Iron Mike, preparation has been focused on getting him fight fit once again to take on the man 31 years his junior. Tyson, famed for his ruthless brutality in the ring, is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, battering his way to 44 wins by knockout during his career. At 22, his body was a mass of brawn and muscle, making him one of the most powerful hitters the sport had ever seen, weighing in at around 218lbs at his peak.
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Tyson retired from the sport in June 2005 - having been handed a 10-year jail sentence in 1992 for raping an 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington. In the years since, the boxing star ballooned in weight. By 2009, it was reported that weighed up to 27 stone and was labelled clinically obese, amid an ongoing battle with drug abuse, and was now some 170lbs heavier than his prime.
But Iron Mike took up veganism in 2010, ditching meat altogether, and revealed just what an impact his dietary switch had: 'I was so congested from all the drugs and bad cocaine, I could hardly breathe.'I had high blood pressure, was almost dying and had arthritis. Turning vegan helped me eliminate all those problems in my life.'
Over the next 11 years Tyson began to shed the weight he had gained thanks to a combination of his new diet and more time spent exercising and in the gym, and by 2020 he was in an incredible state for a 53-year-old. That year, Tyson stepped back into the ring in an exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jnr, which ended in a draw by WBC scoring, but Iron Mike was backed to his regular ripped physique. Ahead of the previously scheduled date in July, Tyson revealed he was eating raw meat in preparation for the clash - in a huge change from his vegan diet. 'Raw meat. I have to eat it now because my opponent is going to be raw meat,' he said when asked why he looked so good on the Damon Elliott Show.
However, the former heavyweight champion of the world rowed back on that claim in a recent sit down with Netflix.'I would never eat no damn raw meat.' He replied when asked if he was still devouring uncooked meat. 'My wife eats raw meat, but I don't eat raw meat. The Japanese stuff, sushi' Tyson is pictured in a recent social media clip showing off his new physique ahead of his fight with Jake Paul "I wanna die in the ring" Tyson told Netflix during a recent documentary on the fighter Tyson has recently shared new images of his new ripped physique, appearing noticeably more bulky than back in December 2023. But despite seemingly getting back into shape, boxing expert Quinton Shillingford said Tyson would be plagued by health issues his younger opponent wouldn't have. 'Tyson is my age,' he said. 'Your bones and muscles don't work the same… It will be difficult. 'He has brilliant muscle memory and he has been boxing all his life, so it's not about that. It's about his joints.'Giving his take on the fight, Quinton added: 'Jake Paul is delusional. I’ve had 142 bouts and I wouldn't want to go in the ring with Mike Tyson. Tyson is a lot older but watching him train, he still looks quite vicious.'I can't see Jake Paul winning - I don't think he hits hard enough.'
Pre- and Post-Workout Nutrition
The ideal pre-workout nutrition strategy includes caffeine, fast-digesting carbohydrates, and a small amount of protein. This combination boosts glycogen storage for both immediate and long-term energy while supporting muscle protein synthesis and recovery.
Post-workout meals are all about balance. A combination of complex carbs, proteins, and healthy fats forms the foundation of Jake’s recovery meals. This approach replenishes glycogen stores, supports muscle repair, and provides sustained energy between training sessions.
Weight Cutting Strategy
Jake Paul’s weight-cutting strategy avoids the extremes of eliminating macronutrients. Instead, he creates an energy deficit by slightly reducing carb portions without fully cutting them. This measured approach prevents performance declines while helping him hit his target weight.
The Mental Game
“If you’re truly committed to what you want to accomplish, that’s how you stay focused because motivation comes and goes,” says Paul. “Some days I’m excited to go to the gym, but most days I don’t want to go to the gym. But because I want to be world champion, that’s what I focus on."
Conclusion
Jake Paul’s journey from a social media personality to a legitimate boxer is a testament to the power of dedication, strategic training, and disciplined nutrition. His workout regimen, combined with a carefully planned diet, allows him to compete at the highest level. Jake Paul’s nutrition plan is a testament to the importance of strategic, evidence-based approaches in sports performance. From hydration to weight management, his regimen focuses on optimizing energy, recovery, and results.