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  <create-date type="datetime">2009-08-05T22:46:00-04:00</create-date>
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  <intro>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "&gt;I spent the last 5 weeks before training camp going back and forth between Chicago and New Jersey. In NJ, I worked out at Joe DeFranco&amp;rsquo;s gym, working on strength, power and explosion, using weights and rubber bands. In Chicago I worked out at Attack Athletics with Tim Grover, the guy who trained Michael Jordan, working on quickness, agility and balance, side-to-side, lateral movement. In both places I did conditioning.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;!--StartFragment--&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;!--EndFragment--&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "&gt;I feel like I&amp;rsquo;m in the best shape of my life right now.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;!--StartFragment--&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;I&amp;rsquo;m excited that we&amp;rsquo;re back in training camp. There are always some little butterflies heading in, though. I got here a day early so I could check in, get my keys, get settled in my dorm room and get in the locker room so I didn&amp;rsquo;t have to rush the first day of camp. That day I woke up, had breakfast and relaxed before camp officially started.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;By 1 p.m. the first day of camp you had to have a weight/body fat test right away. There are certain goals everyone has to make after having 5 weeks away from the team. Then we have the conditioning test, which is 10 half-gassers, up and down each sideline and back, under a certain time.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;I did the test before camp last Tuesday to make sure I could, just to ease my mind, and I felt great afterwards.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;I know I&amp;rsquo;ve done everything I can to make myself a better football player and help the offense.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s just one of those things, every year you have to come back to training camp and reestablish yourself, who you are, reestablish your identity, regardless of how many years you&amp;rsquo;ve been in the league. This is my 7&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; training camp and I still feel that way. I want to show how hard I&amp;rsquo;ve worked in the last 5 weeks away from the coaches, that I&amp;rsquo;ve done everything in my power to come in in the best shape I can be in and show that I&amp;rsquo;m willing to work again to earn my position. Even though I&amp;rsquo;ve been a starter for 6 years, nothing is ever given to you in this league.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;Don&amp;rsquo;t get me wrong, I took some breaks, too. I love Chicago-style pizza and I made sure I got some. You have to splurge sometimes, even though you&amp;rsquo;re working hard, because before you know it summer is over and look, it&amp;rsquo;s time for training camp.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;The way I look at it, each year is more important than the year before. Each season is completely different. As a team, you come to training camp and set the standard for how you&amp;rsquo;re going to compete, how you&amp;rsquo;re going to prepare. What we do now reflects on what we&amp;rsquo;re going to do the rest of the year. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;Heading into last season we were Super Bowl champs, now we have a chip on our shoulder. We didn&amp;rsquo;t play a good enough game our last game of the season to move forward, and that still lingers in my mind. That&amp;rsquo;s the type of thing you use as motivation to push yourself in the right direction.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"&gt;Dave Diehl is an offensive lineman for the New York Giants. His blog for &lt;a href="http://www.playerpress.com/"&gt;www.playerpress.com&lt;/a&gt; runs at &lt;a href="http://www.davediehl66.com/"&gt;www.davediehl66.com&lt;/a&gt;. Find him on Twitter as davediehl66.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;!--EndFragment--&gt;</intro>
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