Last night was rough for me as a Chiefs fan. I really thought the Chiefs would have it together and be back to back Super Bowl champions. Lucky for me not too many people took me up on my push up bet from my pre-Super Bowl newsletter.
Tom Brady is an absolute legend. There is no denying it, and at age 43 shows no real sign of being close to done. Many people are looking at his super restrictive eating style and workout plan to figure out exactly what is his secret sauce.
While on the surface it may seem complicated, really it isn’t. His secret sauce isn’t in the details like whether or not he eats nightshade vegetables or the specific ratio of electrolytes in his branded water.
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Tom Brady Is Great At The Basics First.
The things that garner the most attention for being somewhat extreme are extreme things that a person like Tom Brady might do to gain an extra tiny advantage. Because in elite level sports teeny tiny advantages can make a difference.
Instead of looking at the extreme details of Tom Brady’s diet and training we should be looking at the other bigger picture exercise, nutrition, and recovery skills that he is great at.
It’s In The Water.
The man stays super hydrated. By some reports he drinks 2 gallons of electrolyte water everyday. He also trains and exercises multiple times daily so his hydration needs are going to be much higher than ours.
The TB12 recommendation of half your bodyweight in ounces of water is much more reasonable for most of us. The special part about that is not enhanced branded electrolytes. It’s the water. You need water to survive and you need water to thrive. That's the priority. Drink the water everyday.
Eating lots of veggies is key for everyone. Most of us don’t need to be overly concerned with which ones are more inflammatory because they’re all full of excellent vitamins way less inflammatory than processed foods.
He Consumes Lots Of Vegetables.
Tom Brady doesn’t eat nightshade vegetables. Or gluten. Or whole host of other healthy foods that are considered to be somewhat inflammatory.
In the lives of you and I, the minor inflammation from healthy foods like tomatoes, mushrooms doesn’t amount to much. Especially when those whole foods are replacing more processed food choices that likely cause way more inflammation.
It’s a win for us normal folks, because they are super healthy and help us reduce other unhealthy foods. Tom Brady is already doing that though, so he may feel that eliminating that small amount of inflammation helps him to recover faster from his multiple daily workouts and practice sessions.
Eat all the vegetables and fruits. Don’t stress about which is the absolute best. They’re all good for you. Get that 4-5 cups of fruits and vegetables consistently everyday. Then when you’re good at that, you may want to consider which options are the best of the best for you.
Tom Brady talks about what “pliability” is. But really, we all know its a buzzword to mean good mobility and joint health.
Build Muscle and Fitness Then Maintain It.
The workouts that Tom Brady engages in now seem to be all about bands and pliability. Pliability by the way is just the marketing buzzword that TB12 uses when they mean mobile and flexible. There’s nothing wrong with that, but let’s not pretend it’s something different than what it actually is.
Tom Brady has been an elite level athlete most of his life and spent years building the muscle mass, bone density, motor skills, and energy systems that support the sport. He’s doesn’t need to improve his deadlift or get better at push ups.
Working with bands is a great option for him because he doesn’t need to build more muscle and strength. He already has it and bands are a good exercise tool to help him maintain it.
Us normies on the other hand need to focus on building more muscle and strength so that we don’t lose what little we have in our normal day to day lives. Pushing harder with more traditional resistance training tools like dumbbells and barbells makes more sense, because you may not already have decades of resistance training and muscular development.
Working out with exercise bands is a great way to add resistance to your training. They can be really versatile and help you train the shoulders from a variety of angles.
As for pliability, Tom gets professional bodywork done 3 times a day with his private trainer. A professional massage can go a long way for anyone is a great way to keep your body feeling supple and “pliable”.
You don’t have to think this is a luxury reserved only for the millionaire athletes, though. Get yourself a foam roller and make daily appointments with it. A single foam rolling session done daily would go a long way to make everyone feel good and move better.
Even basic stretching exercises throughout a workday would go a long way. I think we’d all be happy to have someone on call to give us massages and bodywork everyday, but don’t ignore what you can do for yourself in 5-10 minutes each day. Get a Foam Roller or a Theracane and make appointments to see them everyday.
Sleep Is A Performance Enhancer.
Sleep is an enormous factor that no one really wants to linger and talk about with regards to the quarterback’s self care. Tom makes sleep an absolute priority. He wears special thousand dollar Under Armour pajamas for goodness sake.
The man ALSO shuts down screens and electronics by 8:00pm every night. He supposedly gets in bed at 8:30pm.
Whether your goal is weight loss, muscle gain, athletic performance, or health and wellness, prioritizing the quantity and quality of sleep you get is going to have a synergistic effect on everything else you do to improve.
I learned this lesson when I was competing in strongman and attending grad school. The difference between 8 hours of sleep and 6 hours of sleep was often the difference between improving my performance each week or not. And as a dutiful grad student I stayed out late with friends to test that hypothesis many times. The result was always the same and I didn’t perform my best, even if I didn’t consume alcohol.
Getting sleep helps your body to recover from all types of stress. Getting adequate sleep improves your hormone balance to focus better, make better decisions, and perform better all around with your exercise and nutrition. It’s not about fancy pajamas. It’s about getting adequate sleep consistently.
He Does It With Help.
Yes there are extreme and quirky details to the lengths an obsessive elite NFL quarterback will go to get an extra edge over others. That stuff is interesting and fun to poke at. But Tom Brady might very well be the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) at nailing the basics of his health and wellness. He has been crushing it with the basics that give him the most impact for his efforts. He’s been doing that a long time. And since he’s got those nailed down so well, he can adjust the smaller details to see what helps him get that extra little bit.
An interesting point that can’t be ignored in all of this is that Tom doesn’t do all this on his own. Yes he is known for having great determination and willpower, but that is not the only thing he relies on to be so consistent with his self care.
He doesn’t keep junk food in his house and he has a private chef that shops and prepares his food according to his dietary preferences. He’s not doing the grocery shopping himself staring down the chips ahoy and potato chips as he moves through the aisles toward the produce section.
Create Your Own Systems.
You can set yourself up for your own nutrition success by having a system of having healthy groceries delivered. This way you avoid buying foods you don’t want to have around tempting you, and you can have your healthy options set to repeat on schedule. Hello local CSA subscriptions, Amazon fresh, Instacart, or other meal delivery services.
He has a team of coaches and trainers that keep his training routine and practice a high priority. It’s basically part of his job, so it’s a part of the system and environment he is in.
You can get support from a coach as well. Wink wink. You can be a part of Strong Made Simple so that you have a system to support your efforts to be consistent in the things that matter most to your goals.
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James Clear’s book Atomic Habits has some awesome insights into how everyday people like you and I can create our own systems that help us shape our environment to achieve our goals. I highly recommend giving it a read for some insight into how you can create your own systems for being great at the most impactful basic habits that help you achieve your goals.
Be Great At The Basics That Support Your Goals.
Tom Brady goes to some extremes because he is expected to operate at an extremely high level where 1% can be the difference between a Super Bowl and not. The TB12 secret sauce is not in the details of his electrolyte drinks or the absence of nightshade vegetables. The secret sauce is getting the basics right. He has been extremely consistent in his ability to do the things that have the largest impact on his performance and recovery. That’s how his lifestyle supports his longevity and success.
You can also do the hard things by focusing on your performance of the basics that give you greatest results for your efforts.
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