Tom Brady faced the toughest test of his career when he tore his ACL in 2008, but with help from Alex Guerrero, he battled back better than ever. Following a disappointing ending to the 2007 season where Brady and the Pats missed out on a perfect season, the next year started disastrously. Playing against the Chiefs in Week 1, Tom Brady took a hard hit from Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard which tore his ACL and subsequently knocked him out for the season.
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It’s the only major injury Brady has sustained in his career, and after that injury, Brady has never had troubles with his knee. Many people don’t come back well from an ACL injury, and the knee is weak and vulnerable. Brady played 15 more years in the league after that injury, and the incident never bothered him again. He worked hard with his trainer Alex Guerrero to come back, and it was that recovery system that ensured that Brady long after his injury, and that it would never creep back up and bother him again.
Tom Brady and Alex Guerrero Implemented Their Own System For Brady’s Recovery
Brady recalls that the road to recovery from his ACL tear wasn’t easy. In his book, The TB12 Method, the former quarterback discusses the problems that went into recovery.
Brady was told that he would need surgery which required a 9-12 month recovery time frame. Aside from that, Brady faced other complications. He writes, “On top of that, after the surgery I developed an infection in my knee that made my rehab even more of an uphill battle.”
Brady was treated by doctors and trainers from the Patriots staff, and he described how they all had the same set recovery method.
“No matter how old you are, how much you weigh, or what your level of athletic ability is, the procedures are really pretty similar: This is what we want you to do during Week 1,” Brady writes. “This is what we want you to do during Week 2, and so on.”
However, he came up with a smart way to recover based on his body type.
“But Alex and I decided to complement what the doctors and trainers were telling us with our own methodology,” Brady explains.
“Before long we were doing more than was recommended, plugging suggestions from, say, Week 6 into Week 4, and seeing how well my body felt and responded. More important, we resumed practicing the movements I make on the football field, those things I was rehabbing for—dropping back, handing the ball off, play-action passing, and throwing on the run.”
Clearly, the method worked. Brady wrote in his book, at the time, “Since my ACL recovery—nine years ago—my knee hasn’t bothered or limited me a single day.”
Brady Became the Definition of Longevity in the NFL
Brady’s body survived the test of the time better than any athlete the NFL has seen. The legend made it to three Super Bowls past the age of 40, winning two of them.
He played 23 long, hard-fought years in the NFL, and he was wildly successful. That’s something you can’t say about anyone else. Playing till 45 years old always seemed like a pipe dream, something that Brady said just to say it.
However, he actually did it. Brady is the model for longevity in the NFL, and he made it happen through rigorous training and dieting regimen, all outlined by his TB12 method.
