FROM THE FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
MARCH 17, 2004
AUTHOR: Michael Cunningham
To David Boston, working out isn’t just about his body.
“It’s part of his psyche,” said his father, Byron Boston Sr., an NFL line judge for nine seasons.
So when San Diego Chargers strength coach Dave Redding questioned Boston’s workout habits last December, he wasn’t just criticizing what Boston does. He was, in a way, criticizing a big part of who Boston is.
It’s little surprise then that those questions, which included Boston’s desire to work with a personal trainer in the offseason, led to an argument with Redding. That led to a one-game suspension for Boston and was a catalyst for the Chargers’ decision to dump him. He was traded to the Dolphins on Monday night and is to be introduced today.
Soon the Dolphins will see for themselves that Boston has one of the most impressive physiques in the league. Charles Poliquin, Boston’s strength coach in Tempe, Ariz., has Olympians and NFL and NHL players as clients. He said Boston’s dedication to working out is among the best he has seen.
Keith Pyne, Boston’s chiropractor, said he has numerous professional athletes as clients, including about 100 NFL players.
“And his body is the best of any guy in any sport I have ever seen,” Pyne said. “I have got 350 guys, and they all say they want to look like David Boston.”
That body, recently maintained by a twice-daily workout for four out of every five days and a strict diet, has colored many of the perceptions about Boston. It’s the reason for much of his success but seems to be at the center of many of his controversies.
Observers marvel at Boston’s body but then wonder if he achieved it through natural means. Poliquin dismissed such speculation; Boston, who did not return a message left with his assistant, also has said he has never used illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
When Boston followed a sensational season with Arizona in 2001 with an injury-plagued campaign in 2002, critics wondered whether he was too big in the upper body. They pointed to his seemingly diminished speed and injuries to his lower body.
That season followed a rough offseason for Boston. In 2002, Phoenix police said he tested positive for marijuana and cocaine in connection with a traffic stop. Boston later pleaded no contest to DUI charges.
It was an embarrassing episode for Boston, a native of Humble, Texas, near Houston. His mother is a retired teacher, his sister a lawyer and his brother a police officer involved with drug enforcement in Dallas.
Byron Boston Sr. said that incident and others received undue attention because of Boston’s celebrity, and that his reputation isn’t based on complete information. He noted that Boston is only 25 but that many people believe him to be older because he has been in the spotlight since starring as a freshman at Ohio State.
“He is a youngster, and we don’t give up on kids when they are 20-something years old,” Byron Boston Sr. said. “People who have kids understand that when kids do something you wish they didn’t do, you learn from the situation, grow from it and move on.”
Boston has stayed off the police blotter since 2002, but his reputation was further damaged by the Chargers suspension. At the time, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that one reason Boston argued with Redding was that the coach wondered whether Boston was more concerned with his physique than football.
Pyne said Redding chafed at Boston’s unconventional training techniques. Boston’s father said only that Redding “made some comments about [David’s] weightlifting regimen that he didn’t like.”
Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer doesn’t allow his assistants to do interviews.
Those close to Boston said his body also could be part of the reason teammates have described him as aloof and a loner. They say Boston’s attitude and personality are just aspects of his single-minded seriousness about pumping iron.
“If you are into working out, then you will be his friend. If not, then you probably won’t,” Byron Boston Sr. said.
Poliquin said it’s not uncommon for top athletes to be considered “weird” by teammates. He said people tend to misunderstand their drive, which in Boston’s case manifests itself in a focus on working out.
He has been working with Poliquin in Tempe since Feb. 2. Boston lifts weights in the morning, followed twice a week by an intravenous drip designed to speed his recovery, and then works out again in the afternoon. The routine is four days on, one day off.
Boston’s diet is high in protein and low in carbohydrates, Poliquin said. He said Boston, who has put his yearly fitness tab at $200,000, recently hired a chef to prepare meals.
Poliquin said he wants Boston to trim 20 pounds after swelling to 258 last season. When Boston had 98 catches for 1,598 yards and eight touchdowns for Arizona in 2001, he weighed 238 pounds, had 4 percent body fat and ran 40 yards in under 4.2 seconds, Pyne and Poliquin said.
Boston worked with Poliquin in the offseason before 2001 and now is back with him after a couple years away. He’s working on his lower-body strength and speed, and Poliquin wants Boston to be the strongest person on the team, regardless of weight.
“He can do it,” Poliquin said. “He is a really hard worker. That is the difference between him and a lot of [other players]. How many guys show up Feb. 2 for workouts?”
Boston’s focus on his body isn’t limited to pushing weights. He has been known to borrow books on anatomy, physiology and even philosophy from staff members at the Poliquin Performance Center.
Pyne, who considers Boston a close friend, said he has given Boston texts he used in medical school and had Boston has return the next day reciting detailed information from them.
“He is a very, very interesting and enigmatic person,” Pyne said. "If you are a knowledgeable guy and you can explain things in a knowledgeable way, he will respect you. But if you are old-school and just say, `Do it because this is the way it is’ and don’t know what you are talking about, then you are done.
“If you can stimulate him intellectually, he responds to that.”
That Boston’s workout regimen was the subject of a disagreement that led to his departure from San Diego suggests it will also be an important issue when he gets to South Florida. The Union-Tribune reported that the Chargers agreed to allow Boston to work out on his own in the offseason when they signed him, but then later required that he spends two days each week at the team facility.
Poliquin said Boston told him Dolphins wide receivers coach Jerry Sullivan and head coach Dave Wannstedt plan to visit Poliquin’s facility soon. Sullivan was Boston’s position coach for two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and is a major reason Boston wanted to play for the Dolphins.
Poliquin said it’s his understanding that the coaches want to meet with him and examine Boston’s weight-training techniques at the center.
“If they tell me they want more of this, more of that, I’ll give it to them,” Poliquin said. “I am very open-minded. I have always cooperated with coaches. I think Jerry knows the quality of work that I do.”
The rest of the Dolphins soon will find out when they get a close look at Boston’s body.