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

by Tom Brady

Twenty seasons of playing professional football have shown me that peak performance isn’t about luck. It’s about hard work, dedication, discipline, and the support of my great team. You can’t do it alone.

A simple way to think about it is that strength training, playing sports, and working out create denser muscles. And the denser the muscles are, the more pliability they need.

John Wooden, the famous UCLA basketball coach, once defined success as “peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming.”

And the lesson was, when things don’t go your way—or, rather, what you don’t think of as your way—there can be a variety of opportunities that may not be obvious in the moment but that through hard work, preparation, and persistence can present themselves over time and make you better.

If I don’t treat practice like a game, there’s no way the coaches will let me play in an actual game. So I’m always going to treat practice like a game. It’s a rule I still live by today.

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

By rhythmically contracting and relaxing your muscles in a lengthened, softened state through pliability sessions, you make connections between the brain and the body, which is known as neural priming.

Holistic means only that your health and performance are integrated.

Why would a body be chronically inflamed? Simple: Dehydration, poor nutrition, poor recovery, and tight, dense, stiff muscles.

More important than formal meditation is developing a positive mind-set that allows you to achieve everything you want to achieve.

You don’t strain or tear a muscle because it’s too weak. You strain or tear a muscle because it’s overloaded. Don’t mistake muscle soreness, or a muscle tear, for muscle weakness. You need to lengthen and soften that muscle in order to restore balance and efficiency.

To repeat, most of what you train for should be focused on making your muscles work appropriately for the actions you’re asking them to do.

your strength workouts should follow the function of your sport or activity. We focus too much on maximum strength—and not enough on optimal strength.

the chemicals in some industrial foods stimulate natural chemicals in our brains that block leptin, a protein that governs our metabolism and that creates a feeling of “fullness” during meals.

Let food be thy medicine. —HIPPOCRATES

John Wooden said—that “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming.”

What does it mean to be the best at what you do? Being the best at anything requires discipline, focus, and hard work.