New England Patriots: What makes Tom Brady, Tom Brady?
By Marin Gang
At this point it’s evident that, at 38 years old, Tom Brady will be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. With four Super Bowl wins, he is tied with Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the most Super Bowl wins as a starting quarterback. However, the latter two only went to four Super Bowls while Brady has gone to six and is on the path now to potentially go to his seventh.
Brady also has the best playoff record in NFL history (21-8) — he has won five more playoff games than the next man behind him (Joe Montana) and has also been to six more games in total.
Let’s take a deeper look at what allows Brady to continue his success at his current age so late in his NFL career.
A recent article by boston.com has been circling the Internet as of late. In the article, Brady’s personal chef Allen Campbell discusses the quarterback's and his wife's, Gisele Bundchen, particular diets and eating habits. In sum, with regard to the couple’s diet, he claims that 80 percent of what the Bradys eat are vegetables — if it’s not organic he doesn’t use it — and whole grains. The other 20 percent is lean meats, such as grass-fed organic steak, duck every now and then, and chicken.
“It’s very different than a traditional American diet. But if you just eat sugar and carbs — which a lot of people do — your body is so acidic, and that causes disease. Tom recently outed Frosted Flakes and Coca-Cola on WEEI. I love that he did that. Sugar is the death of people.”
Campbell goes on to discuss how Brady rarely even eats tomatoes because they cause inflation, and he further states that there is no coffee, no caffeine, no fungus, no dairy, and that Brady prefers not to eat fruits.
Considering the above, it’s a little bit comical that Peyton Manning is the new face of Papa John’s Pizza; do you think Brady would ever endorse such a meal? I think not…
This isn’t the first instance where Brady’s intense off-field routine has been discussed though. In a nytimes.com article from January of last year, it’s mentioned that throughout Brady’s career he has preached about taking care of his body, preparing for football, and leading a life that would optimize his ability to endure an NFL season at peak performance. Specifically, the biggest story regarding Brady and the lengths he has gone to ensure longevity includes his personal body coach Alex Guerrero. As the article states, Guerrero is his spiritual guide, counselor, pal, nutrition adviser, trainer, massage therapist and family member. He is also the godfather of Brady’s younger son, Ben. He accompanies Brady to most games, works with Brady’s personal chef Alex Campbell, and even plans Brady’s training schedule months in advance.
In traditional football training, there is more of an emphasize on muscle building, while Guerrrero focuses on pliability, which is more about sponginess and elasticity. Brady explained it as, “If there’s so much pressure, just constant tugging on your tendons and ligaments, you’re going to get hurt. Like with a kid, when they fall, they don’t get hurt. Their muscles are soft. When you get older, you lose that.”
Brady and Guerrero are co-owners of the TB12 Sports Therapy Center, one of the many stores at Patriot Place, which is adjacent to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. It’s a hard establishment to describe, but Brady would discuss things such as re-educating muscles and prehab (preventing injuries, rather than dealing with them after they happen).
The relationship between the two started back when former teammate Willie McGinest suggested Brady meet Guerrero. Brady, after the 2006 season, was suffering from a pain in his groin and had an adductor muscle that was pulling very tightly on a tendon. The team suggested surgery to relieve the pain, but Guerrero told him not to do it and invited him out to California where he was living at the time. The two worked on lengthening and re-educating the tendon; the pain was gone in a matter of days. Since then, Brady has sworn by Guerrero and even got the late Junior Seau to believe in the man, whom Seau called “Mr. Miyagi.”
This article took place last year when Brady was 37, and he was quoted then as saying, “I just know that I’m sitting here at age 37 and I feel perfect at the end of 16 games, my arm doesn’t hurt, my legs don’t hurt. My teammates, they’re hurting.”
Maybe this guy actually is Mr. Miyagi?
In his 16th season in the NFL, Tom Brady has been successful year after year and, along with Bill Belichick, has been apart of one of the most successful and prominent sports franchises in history. A ton of faces have come and gone, but No. 12 has stayed and has continuously found ways to win. His desire to win and the amount of time that he puts into the game is unparalleled around the rest of the NFL; I mean how else would a sixth-round, 199th overall draft pick end up becoming one of, if not the greatest, quarterbacks of all time?
He clearly treats his body in ways most people would never think of. As well, most people probably would never want to give up some of the foods he has for a simple game. Football is not just a simple game to Brady though. It’s not like he has a ton of hobbies or other talents to keep him occupied; besides his family, football is his life — it’s his greatest passion. People still question whether or not he is the greatest, I personally believe he is, but if he were to get just one more ring it would be cemented for sure.
His desire to win is stated in the simplest of ways:
Whenever he is asked to name his favorite Super Bowl win, his reply is “the next one.”
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