Disclaimer: These thoughts are my own and are not reflective of those of EliteFTS.

I have a lot of rambling thoughts at the moment. Wondering if I should break my own rule about posting anything outside of Strength and Conditioning on Elite's website. I can justify it with a quick story about training my son yesterday when I blew out my calf muscle.

Like I said in yesterday's post, I'm in a HUGE Prowler module. For hockey, the first three steps are vital to obtaining top-end speed. Squats, Deadlifts, and Plyometrics that focus on acceleration of muscle are best to facilitate that goal.

We were using a moderately weighted Prowler and performing SIX acceleration steps and then maintained the speed for the remaining distance of about 200 ft, which is the length of a hockey rink.

Hunter (my son) performed flawlessly, while his old man popped a gastroc on rep number four.

Basic 1st aide was ice for 8 minutes with a voodoo band as a compression wrap. Then I got off my feet the best I could do, which wasn't very good as I am an "ACTIVE" coach and need to be "hands on".

I got home riding my bike, which is a huge challenge when you can balance, with the traffic around here regardless. But I made it.

Some analgesic rub and multiple compression wrapping through the day got it feeling good enough that I could take a light beating from the "Thera-gun". (that shit HURT)

I'm letting it rest today and that's why the long(er) post. "I ain't got no place to go" ~Richard Geer from "An Officer and a Gentleman"

How tough it was for our Forefathers had it back in 1776?

When they wrote the "Deceleration of Independence" they actually had to put pen to parchment. They had to do ALL of the revisions by hand and probably by candlelight. (remember they all had day jobs)

Once they all agreed that it was PERFECT, because "good enough" didn't cut it with this bad boy, they had to hand-carry it to the next person for his signature. No convenience of email or fax at the time.

They had to take the time and physically get the job done. (just like lifting. if you don't put the effort in, nothing happens)

Just how rugged and convicted these people were! They didn't hem and haw and change their opinions. They STOOD strong in their beliefs.

Which brings me to how mentally and morally weak we have become.

You have read where I have written, Getting stronger requires you to remove even weak thoughts?

When asked "where are you from?" My answer is always "I'm from my previous address".

When asked "what is your heritage?" My answer is always, "I'm an American".

I'm not saying to forget your Heritage. My Russian, Polish, German, English ancestors paid a price that I never take for granted. However, I was born in the United States. I own property in the United States. I pay taxes in the United States. Therefore I am an American when asked.

I also believe (remember this is only MY OPINION) that if you add anything to being an American, you are holding onto your lineage and not reflecting where you are from.

For example, I have asked the question of my participants, "where are you from?" meaning I want to know if they are from the town my gym is in, so I can count on them staying a while and they answer me..."I'm Spanish-American, I'm African-American, I'm Asian-American, I'm Martian-American", I will give them my "look" and tell them, "that's not what I asked! And if you add anything to American, you might as well tell me your what ever you added and NOT American"

Here's where we are touching those feelings, YEA?

Hear me out, please. This is MY opinion. You certainly don't have to agree with me, and THAT'S OK, because THAT makes us AMERICAN!

If you were born in the United States of America, or you have become a "Citizen of these United States" in my mind, you are AMERICAN...

I grew up at the end of what I thought was segregation. I played sports with guys I didn't know were, Black, Indian, Asian, or anything other than my TEAM MATES! It didn't matter what lineage MY FRIENDS had. We sweated together, we won together, we lost together. More importantly WE were ONE TEAM.

Expand on that and we are ONE in the Nation of these United States of America!

I don't give a shit about anyone's political beliefs, or anyone's religious beliefs. I only care about when that SHIT hits the fan, what are you going to FIGHT for?

When a lifter misses, it doesn't matter what gym he/she is from, WE spot them!

When an AMERICAN misses we have to be there to SPOT THEM TOO.

Like I said...I'm injured with a lot of time on my hands right now. This post is much longer than what I normally write, but hey..."I bleed Red, White, and Blue"

I love this country and those that stand up for it too!

Have a Happy 4th of July and make sure the world knows WE are still the GREATEST Country on Planet Earth.