The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance

I am not a Patriot fan, nor a worshipper of Tom Brady. I am a middleaged female yoga teacher. But I like Tom Brady's TB12 program very much and I think this book is worth reading. Especially for aging athletes--whether in sports or yoga, Tom and his trainer Alex Guererro have developed some key strategies for improving fitness, notably muscle pliability, which I've taken to the yoga studio with good success. I add this technique of self-massage to my stretching in yoga class. I also respect his nutritional plan, his supplement list (although mine is more sophisticated than his, and each person should personalize his or her supplements, especially using blood tests to target deficiencies like the common deficiency Vitamin D) and his concern about hydration, sleep and mental focus. To scoff without testing his program in your own life is just prejudice, not science. To dismiss the whole because Tom Brady sells merchandise based on his program is also illogical. You can do his program, as I do, without buying a thing. You don't buy muscle pliability. You use intelligence & hard work to heal your injuries and improve mobility. Just do it. Namaste, Tom.

This book is a summary of Brady's healthy life style and exercise routine. As a nurse practitioner trained as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, I found his beliefs to be pretty well grounded in science and commonly accepted practices and enjoyed the content. It is comprehensive and well-thought out. It's his way of telling his story and then thoroughly covering all aspects of life that lead to achieving a lifetime of sustained peak performance that makes it unique. If we all did what he suggests, we'd all be fit, healthy, and happier. If coaches followed these guidelines, we'd have less injuries nation wide. It should be required reading of all high school athletes and especially the coaches who still don't get it. It's totally worth the money because the concepts apply to all people, not just those who exercise or are athletes. His main point of adding pliability (lengthening and softening muscles) to your strength and conditioning routine is not a new concept but it is rather new to see a professional athlete embrace it so thoroughly. It really is one of the main secrets to his athletic longevity and all of us should add pliability exercises to our routines as well as follow his 12 principles. To discredit an earlier review - Brady does NOT say you have to go to one of his centers to achieve pliability. He discusses self pliability exercises, partner pliability exercises, and then professional therapists at his centers (which would probably be for the amateur and professional athletes or those who are really into this). There is a bit of a sales pitch tone to it though with some annoying repetitious phrases - but maybe the athletes need it drilled into them. It seems it was written so that you'd get the same couple messages with each page. He could have said the same stuff in less pages. I highly recommend starting this book with the conclusion on page 284 for a summary of what's to come. Move on to the middle and if you haven't had enough, then hit the verbose beginning chapters. There are a ton of good pictures to help with understanding the exercises and if you are a Brady fan you'll like his personal touch. I'm glad I got it and highly recommend it. If I had a kid in sports, I'd buy it for them no matter how young and read it with them. I'm ordering my husband his own book and I'm recommending it to all my friends. It's really that good.

Tom Brady stays fit, just like I would like to be. The difference between us is that he has a personal fitness guru who basically is at his beck and call every minute of every day. Before doing anything he gets a deep tissue massage for a couple hours form his trainer. After physical activity he gets a deep tissue massage from his trainer. Of course, he doesn't call it a deep tissue massage, but that's basically what it is.He also has a personal chef that prepares every meal for him.I think it takes a lot of nerve to sell a book that's advertised as a way to stay fit like Tom Brady, when there's no way to do what he does without being a millionaire with plenty of spare time on your hands. He should be ashamed. The book is a waste of time and money.

I'm glad I got this book. Lots of info for the price and a different slant than a lot of "exercise" books. The first two chapters explain why Brady discarded traditional training methods, e.g. lots of weightlifting, for his new methods. The "why" helps. Then he explains pliability, there are 120 pages of exercises, then stuff on hydration, diet and getting proper rest. Some of it is basic, e.g. avoid salt, but some of it is rather unique in my experience, e.g. avocado ice cream. And some I found surprising, like seeing salmon on the list of acidifying foods.Whether or not you buy into Brady's ideas, if you are interested in personal health, from an exercise or nutrition standpoint or both, I think this book is worth a read. I figure for the $24, or whatever it was, there are more than enough interesting ideas to make me glad I bought it.

Life changing -- and I am 76 years old

Have a kid who plays sports who you want to eat a healthier diet?? Buy this book! My 8 year old son is loving this book and it has opened up lots of discussions about health, healthy eating, and hard work. Be annoyed by Tom Brady’s “perfection” all you want, but in a world that’s becoming more and more difficult to find good influences for your children this book lays a decent foundation.

Interesting book. A bit repetitious at times but the knowledge is valuable. I bought a Physix gear sports stick $11 on Amazon to massage my muscles and it works well to put Tom's plan into action. Also began using bands to work our with at the gym. Was very suprised to see how fast my muscles reponded and became more "pliable".

Tom Brady is not coming from a scientific background. My boyfriend and I joke about how he "wouldn't dare touch a peanut out of fear of upsetting his precious alkaline balance". I am a nutrition student and find his opinions false and amusing. He forgets about the body's natural ability to buffer and maintain homeostasis. He doesn't even drink sparkling water because it is too acidic for his teeth - this is simply not true and has nothing to do with sports nutrition.

The pliability concept is interesting and makes sense, but the rest of the book is a waste of time and an advertisement for all his products and services. His nutrition advice revolves around the concept of keeping your body in an alkaline state through eating primarily alkaline foods - it’s been proven that the food you eat can’t influence your pH. But even if you wanted to follow his nutrition advice, you’d need a pretty big budget, as you can only eat organic, local produce. He recommends drinking in excess of 3 litres of water a day, but obviously it can’t be tap water, it has to be the highest quality mineral water. He claims that getting stronger makes you less flexible and prone to injury - you only need to look at gymnasts and Olympic lifters to realise this is also false. Basically, his advice is either untrue or impossible for the average person to follow.

Brady arguably one of the best athletes in the world, describes in this book how he obtains peak performance on and off the field. The book centres on pliability, which is the daily lengthening and softening of the muscles as a way of injury prevention and longevity for not only athletes but everyone. Brady's method also describes how maintaining balance is crucial whilst making sure nutrition and hydration are maintained to reduce inflammation. I was drawn to this book as I am interested in learning new physical training programmes and I like Brady's emphasis on using resistance bands to supplement strength and conditioning. The book promotes his products at numerous times, and it felt that I wasn't reading an educational book but more an advertisement. For fitness fanatics, there might be some value in the book, but for everyone else, I suggest typing in resistance band training and nutrition into google and learning that way. I rate this book three stars.

Firstly let me start by saying there is probably only one or two things I am sceptical about in the theory, however, I have only received the book and only read the introduction, but the book is already so promising that I had to write a review, I'm confident this book will better inform myself and others about misconceptions or any doubts they may have about some aspects of the method. The book itself is huge, the photo quality is absolutely outstanding, the level of detail is astounding and from what I have read and flicked through so far this book could prove myself and many others wrong about scepticism. It is well worth the price and I'm actually surprised it didn't cost more for the sheer weight of it.

I'm a massive Patriots and Tom Brady fan so I was always going to love this book :-)The things I liked most about this book was the insight it gives you into Tom Brady's lifestyle and daily routine and the suggestions about how to adapt some of his routines into your own lifestyle.