Tom Brady has a new book out this week. The book is called The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance. I sometimes wonder if Tom Brady is like the football-dude version of Gwyneth Paltrow – he seems to have a similar belief in quack science and harsh elimination diets, and I personally don’t believe that either Tom or Gwyneth really ever sat down and wrote a book. Over the past few days, Tom has been promoting the book and giving interviews, talking about how he’s managed to maintain himself and maintain his elite-quarterback athleticism at the age of 40. Some assorted quotes and pieces of information from his promotional tour:
His diet restrictions: He gets up at 6 in the morning and drinks 20 ounces of water first thing—that’s just two and a half cups, but he can drink anywhere from 12 to 25 cups every day. He adds electrolytes to everything he drinks, including lemonade and smoothies. Another favorite drink? Protein shakes—he downs one at least four times per day, especially after working out.
His snacks: Shockingly, “I never go long without snacking,” he writes in the book, according to the Boston Globe. He’s not going to McDonald’s for fries though. His self-branded snacks cost—this is not a joke—$50 for a pack of nuts. For lunch, he has fish, and “lots of vegetables” of course. More of his favorite foods include “cold cuts, pineapples, and yogurt…[and] Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and dandelion greens.”
No coffee, but sometimes he’ll have ice cream: Brady, all business, does not eat dessert, has never tried coffee, according to new an interview with CBS, and will not touch diary unless “it’s really good ice cream.” He only has “a little bit” of sugar and salt. “I enjoy how I eat, and what I eat, and never feel like I’m missing out,” he writes.
He plans to continue playing into his 40s: “I think we go back and forth. [Gisele will] always say to me, ‘Ten years ago you said it was only going to be another ten years. Now it’s ten years, and now you’re saying another five years.'”
How he maintains his body at his age: He maintains a very restricted and regimented diet. But more than that, he does what he calls “pre-hab,” doing preventative workouts and treatments to help protect his body for whatever happens during a game.He doesn’t put too much emphasis on injuries like concussions. “I don’t worry about them, no. But I’m not oblivious to them. I understand the risks that come with the contact sports and the physical nature of our game. I try to take these preventative approaches to limit whatever ramifications those may cause…I take this proactive approach to it, and I do feel like they’ve really worked. Some of my idols had to retire because of head injuries. So I thought, ‘How do I think about these head injuries in a preventative way if I still am going to continue to play the sport that I love?’ I love the sport so much that I want to keep playing, and I’m going to do everything that I can to take care of my body in advance of the hits that I’m going to take on Sunday.”
This is a real question, because I don’t follow the ins and outs of football and football medicine, but are there really “preventative measures” players can take to avoid concussions? I’m really asking. Obviously, the helmets aren’t doing much for the rash of traumatic brain injuries in football, and I’m struggling to understand what other preventative measures could be undertaken? I’m guessing he’s talking about taking care of his body and health so that when he does get concussed – which Gisele claims is happening frequently – his body will be able to “handle” the concussions better than other players. Which is bullsh-t, frankly. No amount of dandelion greens will stop your body from feeling the effects of a traumatic brain injury.
As for the $50 pack of nuts… a fool and his money, etc.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty.
I know that’s his job and all but he sounds as exciting as dish water. Not sure about the concussions how does one prevent being knocked down. He’s lucky as he’s a QB instead of LB I suppose.
Good luck with that. I was just reading a long article in The NY Times magazine about CTE, and how boys who play football before age 12 (which Brady most likely did) are at much greater risk. They studied 111 brains of deceased NFL players who had donated their brains, and 110 ending up having CTE. Really scary.
I told my son he’s too damn smart to play football. We watched the Frontline special on CTE and he agreed it wasn’t worth the long-term risk. Not a popular decision as we live in the south and football is HUGE here. Our town tried to start a flag football league for younger kids, but it crashed and burned quickly. Parents actually want their kids to play full contact football.
My son is 6′ 4″ and big, perfect football physique. He’s 25. I’m so glad he showed no interest in football…he played a little basketball but he’s really a computer geek. If he were starting out now I would not allow him to play football.
Just a note on that study – all the donated brains were from people/families who already suspected they had CTE due to symptoms they were experiencing prior to death. It’s an important study but it should be noted that the results are a bit SKUed due to that.
He’s just a dumb guy and inarticulate. But I begrudgingly think he is the greatest quarterback ever.
With the number of vicious hits he’s sustained over his long career he most certainly has some degree of CTE. I hope it won’t be devastating.
I’m not a football fan, and count me in with those who do not find Giselle beautiful, but, whatever Brady’s doing works for him—including the nuts. He makes a boatload of money, so why not spread it around?
No. No. I had the curiosity to check the products online – the snacks packs. 50 US dollars for a pack that weighs less than 2 oz or 50 grams. He could say and explain what works for him. And I do understand that he markets his image to make money. But 50 bucks for 1.4 oz or 1.7 oz of some nuts and raw cocoa? Even organic? The nerve.
Gisele is a model not a beauty queen. She is fantastic model, her walk is amazing, Naomi level.
I cannot believe she married him… Damn you Leo.
I don’t get that sport at all, I mean it’s barbaric af.
Tom Brady is a dumbass.
This. And while his level of play is still impressive at his age…. he’s not the only QB that’s been out there at 40. So shut up snowflake.
P.S. Kaiser – these pictures are my favorite. So dumb.
I’m not a Patriots fan, I’m a Tampa fan, but I admit that he’s not just a 40 year old who’s impressive, not a dumbass in anyway. There have been other QBs playing at 40, but Brady has broken all of their records and set new ones.
I LIVE for the pictures of Tom Brady looking derpy that always accompany posts about him on this site. He is insufferable and ridiculous. My all-time favorite is the one that Michael K always uses on the D that shows Tom going “wheeeee!!!” down the big-boy slide. The pictures here are hilarious and they made my cold, black heart smile. 😀
LOL, of course he has a restrictive and regimented diet. He’s a pro-athlete and his wife is/was a couture model. Their chef probably plans that shit out weekly.
I mean, his diet doesn’t really sound all that bad. I like a lot of the foods he listed. I just can’t eat most of them anymore thanks to a GI disorder.
I remember when Tiger Woods was climbing the ranks, was big news and an anomaly for a golfer to have a regimented diet and workout routine, including weights and cardio. Now it’s the norm. Not sure how you can prevent CTE, but whatever else Brady is doing is certainly working (and he’s getting paid well to do it!).
Watched Brady interact with fans a couple of times during open sessions at training camp and he’s professional, pleasant, seems happy to engage, just does his job well. And I’d rather hear stories that he isn’t bright or articulate than stories that he’s a major tool, fighting a suspension due to DV, is a poor teammate, etc. as you do with so many other NFLr’s in the news.
Preventative approaches can not limit concussions. Concussions are simply severe hits on / againt the head.
Brady might be using something to “repair” the consequences of the concussions. The consequences of severe and frequent concussions are brain damage.
I have no idea if brain damage by concussions can be repaired or treated. But I am suspicious that Brady doesn’t give any details. And I am suspicious that apparently there doesn’t seem to be research available to doctors. Because if there were any it would have been BIG on the news. And ALL football players and all boxers would use these preventative approaches.
So I am suspicious.
As for Brady’s concussions: the damages of concussions tend to show in later life. So wait about 10 years and observe if Brady develops any symptoms.
I think he and his wife come across as smug a lot of the time (and his politics are certainly nothing to sing home about), but in comparison to the charges of domestic violence, animal abuse, rape, homo/transphobia, drug abuse, and outright murder from players in other years, he comes off smelling like flowers. I can deal with him.
His diet is very similar to what my doctors put me on after chemo caused my metabolism to go haywire. And my primary care doctor believes caffeine is the root of all evil healthwise.
Well, it is a fairly powerful stimulant drug, despite it’s popularity. Too much of it can be legitimately dangerous, so I’m not surprised more doctors are cracking down on it. I actually had to severely cut back on my caffeine intake recently because my doctor pretty much laid down the law and told me to take better care of myself GI-wise. I drink about two cups of tea a day, max, and everything else is decaf. I always drank coffee decaf, so that wasn’t a big deal, but I do miss my diet Coke – which was my one big indulgence drink.
My metabolism was never great, but it’s really gone to sh*t after I developed thyroid disease. I’m really struggling to lose the weight I gained before diagnosis because I need a low-carb diet, but my GI disorder actually makes processed foods significantly easier to digest. I really miss things like apples and cheese. 🙁
Yeah the CTE is really scary. I told hubs our son is not playing contact sports after reading up on it. Not just limited to football, they are testing soccer etc. The brain slides were terrible. No surprise though. We treat modern athletics like gladiator theater. Pay the big men big money to battle for our entertainment.
Four protein shakes a day? Yikes. His poor toilet.
There’s no way to prevent a concussion besides not getting hit, but Tom Brady has figured out a way to remain elite in a brutal sport at his age so who knows.
The brain “swims” in the skull bone in body fluid (water) literally. That is a safety buffer construction because this way there is a (watery) buffer between the soft brain tissue and the hard skull bone.
When a concussion happens due to a strong force then the brain bumps into the hard skull bone nevertheless. This happens when you get hit on the head or when you have a car accident or during football games. The “buffer” can’t buffer really heavy impacts. So a heavy impact causes a concussion.
There is no way to prevent the immediate consequences of your brain bumping into your skull bone (“bruising” of brain tissue). It is similar to this: if you hit your leg hard against a column then you develop bruises (or you even may break your leg- don’t try this out). There is no way to prevent these bruises.
(I am no medical professional but that is what my martial arts coach explained to us when he emphasised the importance of protecting your head in a fight and when you fall down. Self-defense for women, great stuff! I recommend it!)
But maybe there is something that helps repair the brain’s damages after a concussion occurs. Though I wonder why Brady doesn’t give the details of his preventative approach. If he had found something that worked it would be a big sales hit in the medical / pharmaceutical business especially if he would advertise it.
Though if Brady’s preventative approaches really exist and work then I wonder why doctors still haven’t heard about that and why they don’t recommend it to football players and boxers and people who had car accidents or who fell down from considerable heights?
So far I suspect that Brady doesn’t really know nor understand what he is talking about.
Wasn’t there a story a while ago that he had some unreported concussions?
Giselle mentioned something about them in an interview- there was an awkward pause and then she changed the subject pretty quickly.
The NFL & NFLPA did investigate after that interview aired and Tom & The Pats were found to have followed all concussion protocol.
What’s up with the cold cuts? I can’t think of anything worse, from a nutrition standpoint. Unless he is referring to cold cuts of kale. To not eat tomatoes, but reconstituted, nitrate-loaded ‘meat’?
I was wondering about this too! He says he doesn’t have much salt but what about the sodium in those things! I am so confused!
“Will not touch dairy unless it’s really good icecream”
….
“More of his favorite foods include “cold cuts, pineapples, and yogurt…[and] Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and dandelion greens.”
Last time I checked, yogurt was dairy.
Yep, but some people believe that the bacteria which turns milk into joghurt does somehow elevate joghurt from filthy dairy into a holy grail of eternal blessings.
Don’t ask me. I am not religious about food.
If the reason he avoids dairy is lactose-sensitivity or intolerance, yogurt has significantly less than milk, but it does depend on what kind you’re eating. There are, however, lactose-free yogurts on the market now. Silk’s soy yogurt is actually quite good.
Based on the ‘no one home’ look on his face it may be too late for him to worry about being concussed.
Tom Brady is a moron that makes a lot of money for & from the NFL, and the NFL makes a lot of money by not giving a crap concussions. I’ll stick to believing science.
He looks as if his head is made of playdough. How many concussions did Mr.Bill get? How’s Gumby doing these days?
Kaiser’s selection of Tom Brady photos is priceless
To answer the Q on what type of preventative measures – I do not think he’s referring to anything medical/diet wise but instead his style of play.
Tom has taken multiple paycuts the past to get better players on the team. Better players including offensive lineman that protect him from getting hit. He also does not hold the ball long (averages .36 seconds to release, fastest int he NFL) which limits the amount of times he gets hit vs other QBs who will hold the ball/not throw it away and get sacked much more often (see Aaron Rogers and Ben Roelisberger)
He’s not a wide receiver getting slammed by the defense on every play or a lineman – those are the positions that have higher head injury.
Keep drinking your water Tom. He’s on my fantasy football team (it sucks this year). He’s my only hope, even if I can’t stand him.
But what is he actually doing in terms of “preventative measures”? Of course healthy people recover quicker, I just don’t understand what he’s referring to. I always thought a lot of his food exclusions came from Giselle, but maybe that’s not the case.
Sauv – please read my comment two above yours. I do not believe he means in terms of diet, exercise or treatments but instead in terms of adapting his playing style to minimize getting hit.
Joe Montana retired at about 40, largely due to “yet another concussion.”
“When he retired, Montana said, he thought he’d done so early enough to live an active physical life with his wife and their three children. He has discovered otherwise, having been reduced to spectator when his two grown sons surf or ski.”
The USA Today interview goes on to discuss multiple neck surgeries, an eye that doesn’t function properly thanks to head/spine injuries, and many other physical issues.
Peyton Manning, holder of almost all the key passing records, retired AT forty having supposedly never had a concussion. However, he also had multiple neck/spine injuries requiring some horrific surgeries
He also admitted to deliberately underperforming on pre-season baseline tests in order to avoid a concussion diagnosis, for what it is worth.
The NFL claims enhanced protocols, but they seem focused on catching the injuries when they happen and not letting players return to play, rather than avoiding the events altogether.
Tom Brady won’t even admit how many concussions he has had (though I have read either one or two) and continuing to play has to be like rolling dice at this point. But more than that, it may send a message to those that see him as a role model that head injuries are really no big deal.
“The Patriots are the least forthcoming when it comes to information on injuries, including their severity. Brady may have had absolutely nothing happen to his head in 2016 — or he could have been concussed at the highest grade. We were never going to know either way, and not knowing is what hurts the cause. Gisele Bundchen’s claim that her husband had past concussions might as well have never been said.”–Sporting News.
Just a note on your last part/quote – the NFL and NFLPA investigated Tom & The Pats after Gisele’s interview and were found to have followed all proper concussion protocall.