Tom Brady's Fitness Guru - Innovator or Charlatan?

   How can Tom Brady be so durable? This super human NFL football player is 41 years young. He has been to 9 Super Bowl Championships and won 5 of them. He was a Super Bowl MVP at age 39 and a league MVP at age 40. He is arguably the greatest football quarterback of his era, possible the greatest quarterback ever and ranks as one of the world''s all time top athletes! How can he keep playing so well and stay so healthy at that age in a sport that is infamous for destroying athletic bodies? Here are some possible explanations for such longevity of excellence.

• Brady's team, the New England Patriots, have been a superbly coached football dynasty for decades.
• The Patriots offensive line is one of the best at protecting the quarterback. 
• The team medical and strength and conditioning staff must also be models of excellence. More on that later.
• Tom Brady eats a special diet that avoids junk food, and processed cuisine.
• Brady is smart enough to avoid dangerous situations on the field of play. 
• He is likely a genetic physical specimen that borders on freakish.
• He is fanatical about his fitness and employs a fitness guru, Alex Guerrero, who obviously gets results but is no stranger to controversy. 

Tom Brady: a study in longevity and durability.

   Brady and Guerrero have actually gone into business together marketing Guerrero's diet, strength, and fitness principles known as the TB 12 method. I think the TB stands for Total Body and the 12 stands for the 12 Principles. Then again, maybe it stands for Tom Brady and his football number 12. With the help of  Askmen.com, the strength and bodybuilding website, I was able to find the TB 12 principles without having to buy the book for $23.00 (American funds no doubt). Here it is, Tom Brady and Alex Guerrero's TB 12 principles of strength, fitness and health and some critique.

1. Muscle Pliability: According to Guerrero, muscles are to be soft and pliable. Soft is supposed to be different than flexible. So far exercise research has not ventured into the realm of soft versus flexible to really define what TB 12 means by 'pliability'. One prominent exercise physiologist referred to the 'pliability' concept as balderdash'!  Could it be that hand pliability makes for a more secure grip on a deflated football?
2. Holistic and Integrative Training: This could be another way of describing functional fitness.  Training totally on machines or just distance running will not prepare somebody for the demands of the football field. 
3. Balance and Moderation: This is mostly common sense. However, I would argue that many world class athletes push hard on the upper boundaries of moderation.
4. Conditioning for Endurance and Vitality: This principle is also a common fitness theme. This principle seems more for the everyday clients of the TB 12 business than for a professional quarterback. Pro football plays rarely last more than 10 seconds if even that long. Explosive speed and power would be more specific to the sport than cardiovascular endurance.
5. No Load Strength Training: The TB 12 program eschews traditional weight lifting with barbells or machines. Instead strengthening is done using body weight exercises as well as using resistance bands. This is not that outrageous a concept. Barbells are not the only means to achieving strength. Besides, it obviously works for Tom Brady.
6. Promoting Anti - Inflammatory Responses: The TB 12 diet avoids certain foods that Guerrero claims cause inflammation. The client is also to avoid exercises that cause inflammation. This is a problematic theory because inflammation is a required process of muscle repair and growth. Inflammation is also part of the healing cycle.
7. Promoting Oxygen Rich Blood Flow: The TB 12 program promotes sleepwear designed to improve blood flow. There may be some substance to wearing compression garments for certain conditions but this principle seems more like a marketing ploy.
8. Proper Hydration: It is a known fact that drinking plenty of water is important. However, the TB 12 advocates drinking half of your body weight or more of water per day.That seems like over kill. Over hydration has been known to cause a condition called 'water intoxication' in which the body becomes too diluted and the percentage of electrolyte levels can become dangerously low. The TB 12 program recommends buying their electrolyte kits to drink with the water. Marketing rather than health seems to be the goal here. 
9. Healthy Nutrition:  As stated previously, the TB 12 diet eliminates foods that they say cause inflammation such as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and fruit. Nutritional science does not support this theory. Coffee is also forbidden. Give me a break! I need a cup of java beans before I can even blink in the morning! Otherwise the TB 12 diet is a healthy one. Certain types of meat are allowed but all food should be local and organic. if you have a pro football salary and your wife is a highly paid supermodel, I suppose that can be affordable.  Once again, if it works for Tom Brady that's good for him. Tom Brady also rarely drinks alcohol.
10. Supplementation: The TB 12 diet promotes its own brand of costly food supplements. Medical science supports the view that a healthy person with no deficiency conditions should be able to get sufficient vitamins, minerals, healthy fats and proteins from a sensible diet. Then again, if you ban fruits you may need to get the right vegetables or else you will be lacking in  vitamin C. 
11. Brain Exercise: The TB 12 program recommends and sells games that challenge the thinking process. Science is on board with this one. However, I refuse to play a rousing game of Monotony (or is it Monopoly?) or spend free time doing puzzles in order to improve my athleticism. Then again, that's just me.
12. Brain Rest: No arguments from me on this one.







Alex Guerrero(left) and Tom Brady resistance running

13. 
    

   Tom Brady's Fitness Guru, Alex Guerrero is an interesting and controversial character.

• Guerrero claims to be a doctor with a medical degree in Chinese medicine. 
• In reality, he has a Masters degree from a California school that no longer exists.
• Guerrero was once reprimanded from the Food and Drug Administration for using infomercials to peddle a supplement that  he claimed could cure cancer and prevent ailments such as arthritis, Parkinson's disease and AIDS.
• The FDA banned him from selling supplements or referring to himself as a medical doctor. He gets around the selling supplement ban by using Brady as his business partner.
• Guerrero worked with a number of professional athletes.
• In 2006 he was introduced to Tom Brady and has been his fitness guru ever since.
• Guerrero was also censured for selling a supplement that supposedly sped up the recovery time for concussion victims.
• Guerrero and Brady opened a TB 12 fitness facility at the New England Patriot's football stadium.
• Some Patriots's players fitness train at TB 12 while others fitness train with the football team staff. 
• This has led to some conflict with the football team's own medical, fitness and physiotherapy staff. Guerrero once inferred that the Patriots staff was doing a sub par job of preventing injuries.
• Guerrero has had on and off privileges with the team regarding travel and attending games with employee status. 
• Despite rumors of  a divided team with split allegiances, the Patriot's keep on winning.
• Surprisingly, there has been no hint of any performance enhancing drug use in this partnership.....unless there is something strange and undetectable in the water... or in the supplements.  

  Is Alex Guerrero a snake oil salesman or a new age innovator?  Is he both? Would Tom Brady be as durable without this fitness guru? Exercise science is not stagnant. More knowledge and improved methods lead to evolution.and revolution. Is TB 12 based on science or on pseudo-science? Tom Brady's success and longevity is a great argument in Alex Guerrero's favor!  No doubt, the controversy and debate will continue. Tom Brady says he wants to play until he is 45.

P.S. Patriots won again on Sunday. That is six Super Bowl rings for Tom Brady. Also yesterday a reporter for the NFL network blamed 'Brady's quack trainer' for Patriot's tight end Rob Gronkowsi's recent spate of injury issues. Supposedly since training with Guerrero, Gronk has lacked strength and explosive power. Winning doesn't always solve controversy. 

Until next time,    Keep Fit

Little Bobby Strong


References:
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/nfl/report-the-patriots-blame-tom-bradys-quack-trainer-for-gronks-injuries/ar-BBT7HGB
https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/the-secrets-of-tom-bradys-personal-trainer-w479755/
https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2018/08/29/who-is-alex-guerrero
https://wThis ww.menshealth.com/nutrition/a19548371/tom-bradys-crazy-diet/
https://ca.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding/the-tb12-method-review.html

Links

www.fitnwell.com

www.rabbitview.com