The following is a short training montage from TSS and a little rant I recorded while walking down Jana Pawla II Blvd in Warsaw. It's funny how people look at you when you're talking to yourself like a crazy person in public.

"There are two big forces at work, external and internal.  We have very little control over external forces such as tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, disasters, illness, and pain. What really matters is the internal force. How do I respond to those disasters? Over that I have complete control."

-Leo Buscaglia, American expert on love, lecturer, author

Sometimes I am a real baby when things don't go my way. But we all know that it's impossible to always get everything you want, exactly how you want it and when you want it. It seems that some kids are always given everything to make their lives easy and comfortable, while others seem to always get the shaft. If your life has been made easy by your parents or your surroundings, your ability to deal with stress with by retarded. If you have always had to make hard decisions or grew up in a tough environment, then simple stresses, and even major problems, won't present such a disastrous dilemma to you. It isn't always the actual problem at hand that creates the pain and stress, but it is how we deal with said problem that is ultimately going to affect your behavior and the ultimate outcome of the situation. Not sure the exact source, but I recently saw an experiment that showed how some soldiers at war, in the mist of bullets and bombs, actually had lower stress levels than some housewives in Beverly Hills. We all know that seeing your best friends leg get blown off right in front of you is nothing compared to having to park your brand new special edition Escalade in front of your diminutive 15,000 square foot mansion and call the help to carry in the groceries. The point is, some people simply learn how to deal with stress, while others let their stress eat them alive. 

Truly happy people find a way to be happy no matter what the situation, while others are always in a bad spot regardless of how good or bad their position is. Last Saturday I suffered a grade 3 MCL tear, which sucks because I was hoping to have a dominating football season. While that is impossible now, everything is not over and destroyed. I still have an amazing opportunity to have a great time in Poland and help a lot of people out while I am here. I have to take it easy on the leg for a few days which means my training has taken a nap temporarily, but now I am super hungry to get rockin again. I will be forced to put a bigger emphasis on particular areas of training that I may have overlooked before I busted up my knee. I was in pain, I was pissed and stressed, wondering how I was going to fulfill my duties as an athlete, a coach, a teammate, etc. But I shall do my best, with a smile and the type of charisma that gets people fired up and ready to kill shit!  Hobblin', wobblin', or sprintin', here we go, guys...

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Here is some of the training I have been doing lately, just part of one day actually. My battery died in the camera, so this was all I got. I have a particular affinity for the Olympic lifts because I feel I can do them satisfactorily enough to get results without injury. I took the time to learn them and now reap the rewards. It did take years of training and diligence to get to this level. While my form is nowhere near perfect, it will continually get better because I work hard and seek the help of other coaches. You simply can not reach your maximal potential on your own. You need a quality support system of knowledgeable people around you. People that want the same things as you. Success that is goal driven is extremely important. A medium term goal of mine is a 350 clean and jerk. I have a plan and I will adjust it accordingly. But the short term goal right now is football preparation. While weightlifting isn't the only means to be completely prepared for a football season, it sure does play a big part for me. I'm throwing in tons of calisthenics and sprinting. Add in lots of mobility work and specialization work for the ankles, neck and grip, and you have yourself a pretty damn good training protocol. Check the video and post a comment about your goals for the coming year.