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LANDON JOHNSON'S WEB DIARY

Time to get down to business

It's that time of the year again. Just a few days into training camp and I already feel like I've been here for a month. Don't get me wrong, I know how important the time in Georgetown, Ky., is to our team.

Training camp is a time to get down to business. We spend the off-season working out in the weight room and maintaining

our conditioning, but it's here in Georgetown in the heat that we really lay the groundwork for our season. It's not always fun, but it's very necessary.

For me, this year shapes up a little different than my first two with the Bengals. Last year, I came to training camp after spending the entire offseason rehabbing my shoulder after surgery. My focus was on getting healthy and staying healthy. The year before that I was a rookie. Needless to say, that first training camp was a new experience and I was mostly trying to learn a new system and the names of my new teammates.

We come into this year with a lot of momentum from last year and the knowledge that we can be something special as a team. I had an entire offseason to work hard and focus on getting better as a player for the 2006 season.

A typical day involves waking up at 7 a.m. and getting breakfast. I then have about an hour to digest, stretch and get ready to be at the practice field for a 9 a.m. practice. After a couple hours on the practice field, we have lunch as a team. Before practice in the afternoon, I take time to prepare by watching film, going over plays and meeting with

coaches. After practice, we have dinner and then proceed to have more meetings. There is time for a snack before retiring to bed and doing it all again the next day.

If you play in the NFL, you accept that practicing in the heat in a remote location is the way to get better as a team. It's a necessary grind, and one that I'm happy to have to go through.

Landon Johnson is a third-year linebacker with the Cincinnati Bengals. His Web site is www.LJ59.com.