Tom Brady's Offseason Training: An Obsessive Diet, Vitamin Water And Skiing In Montana

Fresh off a Super Bowl victory and somewhere in the mountains of Montana, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has already begun thinking about the next season.

A profile of Brady written by Peter King in Sports Illustrated's MMQB revealed the MVP was as obsessive as ever, his strict diet still in place, his mind still consumed by football. The MMQB article detailed how Brady, in the course of a single conversation, knocked back some 45 ounces of Vitamin Water laced with the contents of a bottle labeled "TB12 Electrolytes." Even as Brady was relaxing in an undisclosed location the Treasure State and taking some time to ski with his kids and supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen, every move was considered with the success of his football career in mind. For the 39-year-old with five Lombardi trophies, that meant assuring he can play for at least another half-decade or so.

"I'd like to play until my mid-40s,” Brady told MMQB. "Then I'll make a decision. If I'm still feeling like I'm feeling today, who knows? Now, those things can always change. You do need long-term goals too. I know next year is not going to be my last year."

Most elite athletes are dedicated, but Brady was singular in focus. "Other than playing football,” Brady said to MMQB, "the other thing I love to do is prepare to play football. I've worked hard to get a system in place that really works for me and I know could work for everybody else if they just did it... Football to me is more than just a sport. It has become my life. Every choice that I make … what I have for breakfast, how I work out, all of those things."

Brady has a notoriously odd diet. He completely eschews white sugar, MSG, white flour, dairy and nightshade vegetables like peppers, mushrooms or eggplants. The quarterback has said he's never eaten a strawberry or taken a sip of coffee and he doesn't plan on changing those facts.

He has coupled that diet with regular workouts that are assuredly a part of the offseason routine. During the season, Brady has typically worked out three times per day, every day. He has mostly avoided weights, instead opting for resistance bands, according to a Bleacher Report article last month.

Folks said a clock can be set by Brady's routine.

"It's unbelievable to see the consistency, how level-minded he stays and how he manages to raise the bar every year," Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman said to Bleacher Report. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone like him — no one even close."

During the offseason Brady cuts back to just two workouts per day, but that didn't mean he lets up. Men's Fitness asked him if he relaxes in the offseason and the answer was unsurprising.

"As you get older, [the game] becomes a little more challenging," he said. "So in the offseason, I do, I try to do a lot of the things I do in the season. I always believe that if you want to be good at what your job is — my job is being a quarterback — that's what you have to do."