Five-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady is considered one of the best NFL quarterbacks of his time. He has long spoken about his training style, nutrition and, diet. He states that those three elements are the key to his “sustained peak performance.”
Now, all that information can be found in a book titled The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance.
The TB12 Method consists of 12 principles which were created together with Alex Guerrero. Guerrero is Brady’s longtime friend, “body coach,” and business partner.
1. Pliability
The central theme of The TB12 Method is muscle pliability. Brady defines pliability as a “training regiment” that” targets, deep-force muscle work to lengthen and soften every muscle of my body.” He says this reduces the chance of injury.
2. Holistic and Integrative Training
The TB12 Method stresses that in order for it to be effective, the stated principles must be practiced in conjunction in order to “achieve a lifetime of sustained peak performance.”
3. Balance and Moderation in All Things
Even though Brady’s habits might seem extreme and lack balance and moderation, it appears that the balance and moderation referred to is at a personal level.
4. Conditioning for Endurance and Vitality
According to Brady, The TB12 Method has not only made him a great football player but it has improved the overall quality of his life. This should be the goal of any great training program he says.
5. No-Load Strength Training
The majority of Brady’s training is done with resistance bands as opposed to weights. To explain why he sites his body coach Alex Guerero.
According to Guerero, “lifting heavy weights and moving fast at the same time is not very sustainable. And it’s certainly not sustainable if you want to maintain optimal pliability. Maybe younger athletes with natural pliability can—but they’ll be sacrificing durability and longevity. Lifting heavy and moving fast is counterintuitive and counterproductive.”
6. Promote Anti-Inflammatory Responses in the Body
Football takes a toll on the body so Brady follows an anti-inflammatory diet to minimize the effects of inflammation that his body experiences so that it does not interfere with his performance over time.
7. Promote Oxygen-Rich Blood Flow
To maintain pliability and decrease inflammation cell oxygenation is key, says Brady. As one grows older, muscle pliability decreases. Older athletes like himself must, therefore, pay more attention to increasing oxygen-rich blood flow.
One way Brady does this is by sleeping in special TB12 bioceramic pajamas. “Bioceramic is a material created by heating up a combination of 20 different ceramics and mineral oxides to three degrees. The material is then inserted into the sleepwear. Far infrared rays from the vibration frequency of the bioceramics penetrate the skin 1.5 inches. The infrared rays then stimulate the bones, muscles and, tendons to increase cell oxygenation and muscle repair while decreasing inflammation and pain.”
8. Proper Hydration
The TB12 Method talks about the importance of hydration which is known but also focuses when and when not to drink water.
For example, Brady says that one should “Try not to drink too much water during a meal, as it can interfere with digestion. Wait an hour or so after you’re done eating before you drink water, since water washes away the body’s natural enzymes, which break down your food. Rule of thumb: Drink more water before and after meals than during meals.”
9. Healthy Nutrition
The TB12 Method focuses on eating as local as much as you can, eating a plant-based diet and, avoiding refined carbohydrates, dairy, salt, caffeine and, alcohol. It also emphasizes a balance between alkaline or anti-inflammatory foods and acidic or inflammatory foods.
Bady writes that alkaline foods lower his pH level which can help in areas such as boosting low energy, preventing bone fractures, enhancing athletic performance and, helping speed up recovery times.
10. Supplementation
The TB12 Method says you should supplement your diet with proteins and vitamins and conveniently offers their own protein powders, probiotics and, electrolytes.
11. Brain Exercises
Brady advocates not just training the body but training the mind as well to build mental toughness and a positive mindset.
12. Brain Rest, Recentering, and Recovery
Brady has a rigid sleep schedule, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. as the importance of rest cannot be overlooked if one wishes to have “sustained peak performance.”
He says that one should “Create a good pre-sleep routine to relax. Train your body to get into a rhythm by going to bed at a regular time, and turn off all your electronic devices a half hour before you go to sleep. If there’s a TV in your bedroom, consider putting it somewhere else. It’s a bedroom, not a tech cave. My wife doesn’t even allow cellphones near the bed when we sleep.”
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