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Michael Butler is an Upper Limit Athlete! And, if you think for one moment that he was born to play basketball, you re dead wrong. Like many others before him (yes there was basketball before Michael, he worked very hard to get where he was. Yet, he did not stop working hard after he earned his way into the NBA. Let s face it. Nothing in life that is worth anything comes without a price. We even have to work to earn our own sweat!<br>I feel that it is important to note that I am not without my faults. I bleed like you, I hurt like you, and I can cry like you. And like you, I too, have made many mistakes in my life. But, I realize that I have only two choices: I could sit around and wallow in  could have  or I could rewrite my map (the creed) for life and change my current negative circumstances to reflect the  real me. I said a prayer or three and chose the latter.<br>I would like to leave you with these final thoughts: Whatever it is that you are doing well, do it bigger, faster, stronger and wiser the next time. And never wait until you get sick and tired of being sick and tired before you decide to change a negative situation into a positive one. Think it, Dream it, Become it, <br>Live it - Just Do It! <br><br><br>___________________<br><br><br> When I first saw the National African American Creed, I was deeply touched. I contacted author Terry Harris and got his permission to share it with our BFS readers.<br>I also went to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Visitor s Center in Atlanta to gain further insight. The center is a place where all can be both proud and inspired. The following three statements from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. touched me the most:<br> There is nothing in all the world greater than freedom. It is worth paying for; it is worth losing a job for; it is worth going to jail for. I would rather be a free pauper than drug testing.<br><br>BFS: Do you think Olympic lifting will ever shake the common perception that all the good Olympic lifters are taking drugs?<br>Hamman: I don t know. It s really starting to clean up, and they have formed the World Anti-Doping Association, which is doing some international drug testing. It will never be totally clean no sport is ever going to be totally clean but as for the top lifters in the US, there s absolutely no way that we can take drugs because of how often we re drug tested. Most other countries don t have the random tests like us, so it would be possible for them to still take drugs although I m not saying that they are.<br><br>BFS: What s the training atmosphere like at the Olympic training center?<br>Hamman: Everybody is here to be better, so in the gym there s always kind of a psyched feeling. When I m home I train by myself, and I find I cannot lift as much weight.<br><br>BFS: Was it tough for you to leave your home to come to Colorado Springs?<br>Hamman: I had never been away from home until I moved here. I ve got two older brothers and they re married and have kids, so I have all these nieces and nephews and it was hard for me to move off and know that I wouldn t see them except maybe twice a year. But overall it s been good they re all really supportive of me.<br><br>BFS: What did your new coach Dragomir Ciorosian do for you when you moved to Colorado Springs?<br>Hamman: My lifting was going pretty well already, but Dragomir made some little changes, like keeping more upright on my pulls.<br><br>BFS: What parts of your lifting are you currently emphasizing?<br>Hamman: My biggest concern in the past was jumping under the bar, but I ve gotten over that now. My problem lately is that I haven t had the opportunity