Tom Brady

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

At age 39, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is an MVP candidate and is having one of the best seasons of his career. He's throwing the ball as well as he ever had, and he's scrambled as well (if not better) than he did a decade ago.

In the context of the rest of the NFL, it makes no sense. Brady is currently the oldest non-kicker in the NFL, but hardly looks the part -- especially when compared to the scrap heap that was Peyton Manning last season (at age 39).

In the past couple years, Brady has become a vocal proponent about rethinking the way athletes train, eat and recover. His current physical state is the ultimate expression of that belief.

As much flak as Brady gets for pushing things like avocado ice cream and biodynamic sleepwear, he gets respect for the sheer volume of work he puts in to get his body for the season.

Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report explored the depths of Brady's preparation in a feature this week that focused on Brady's diet, workouts and "body work" with his trainer and business partner Alex Guerrero.

According to Pompei, Brady sticks to a vegan diet most of the year, but works in lean meats like chicken during the winter months. As a result, a typical daily menu for Brady in the winter "might include a breakfast smoothie--made with almond milk, a scoop of protein, seeds, nuts and a banana--a midmorning homemade protein bar, sliced up chicken breast on a salad with whole grains and legumes for lunch, a second smoothie as a snack and a dinner of quinoa with greens."

In terms of workouts, Brady is reportedly atypical among football players. Instead of focusing on power and strength, Brady's workouts revolve heavily around using resistance bands for high-resistance workouts -- up to three times per day during the season, according to Pompei.

Then there's the "body work" that Brady (and a number of Patriots teammates) get at the TB12 Performance Center at Patriot Place, where Guerrero performs a deep massage.

As Julian Edelman put it in the feature, the amount of work that goes into keeping Brady's arm in condition is immense.

From Bleacher Report:

"I think that arm gets rubbed and milked more than the entire cow population in the state of California," Edelman says.

Brady's commitment to Guerrero and his training methods have reportedly drawn some concerns from the team, and been picked apart in the media. But at least for now, the results appear to be worth it.