Being Fit vs. Looking Fit

How we define success differs for all of us. For some, it’s about achieving long range goals after years of making incremental steps. For others, it’s about overcoming daily challenges. For most athletes — from the professional, to the aspirational, to the dedicated weekend warrior — it’s not about looking your best, it’s about playing your best.

Every client who walks through the door of the TB12™ Sports Therapy Center has a performance goal in mind. Their one common objective? Each wants to achieve, and then sustain peak performance. There’s no MVP of the gym, and physical fitness is about more than just bulking up. The TB12 Method focuses on creating the conditions for success: starting with muscle pliability and extending to the customized programming our Body Coaches develop for each client.

At TB12, we focus entirely on you. How you perform, how you feel, and how you live — and making constant progress in all of those areas — is the foundation of our Method.

“Athleticism has something to do with speed and strength, but not everything,” says Tom Brady, TB12 Co-Founder. “It also requires coordination and mental toughness. At TB12, our approach to exercise isn’t about having the biggest muscles, but it’s about having the most functional muscles.” Our mission isn’t maximum strength, it’s optimum strength and functionality. We believe in preparing your body for the task you’re asking it to do, and then allowing it to sustain that action in the long-term. Endurance without injury is the winning combination.

We’ve all heard that “practice makes perfect.” Practicing a task helps you get better at it. It helps you more readily react to conditions out of your control. The same principle applies to exercising. Methodically lifting heavy weights might create bigger muscles, but bigger isn’t always better; it can mean too dense and too strong, and susceptible to a lifetime of injury. Bulky muscles can be stiff and resistant to movement, which slows down the coordinated efforts most athletes need to perform at a high level. Gaining the right type of muscle, and priming your body to be its best self, requires a more holistic approach. Long, lean, and pliable muscles react faster, and most of the time sports, and life, demand fast action.

“To do my job — throwing a football — there’s no need to bench-press 300 pounds,” says Tom. He focuses on optimizing his performance as a quarterback, not as a bodybuilder. “It’s not even about diminishing returns — lifting heavy weights is actually detrimental to my performance,” he says.

If you’re still not convinced, consider exercises that mimic the movements you do every day — instead of a typical lifting routine. Focus on optimizing your performance for that activity, whether it’s swinging a golf club or biking to work.

The TB12 Method can jumpstart your journey to sustained peak performance. It encompasses everything you need to live a life of health and vitality. With pliability, sport-specific workouts, hydration, nutrition, and cognitive work, Tom’s able to live that life…and so can you.