No sane NFL player likes training camp. But at least four Dolphins can think of two years with longer days, less food, almost as much continuous activity and more physical deterioration that threatened their football careers.

After high school or early in college, Beck, long-snapper/defensive lineman John Denney, fourth-round draft pick Shawn Murphy and undrafted free agent linebacker Kelly Poppinga went on an unpaid two-year LDS Church mission, which LDS men can do anytime between ages 19 and 27. And they couldn't be prouder of those two years or how it helped them grow as people, and even as football players.

''People always talk about testing yourself to find out what you're made of,'' Beck said. ''Dolphins coach Tony Sparano talks about, 'I want to find out what this team is made of, I want to put challenges in your face to see how you're going to react.' Those of us guys who have been on missions, that's a difficult time. It's not easy. It's kind of like training camp for two years.''

Said Murphy, a guard, ''It's two years where you put your life on hold and help out with the church and spiritual things. Also, in the community, you walk around and try to help people out. You try to spend two years in service of other people instead of yourself.''

That also is two years of starting the day studying the Bible and The Book of Mormon rather than playbooks.

Two years of 12-minute runs and wind sprints replaced by 12 hours (at least) of walking and biking; two years of living on pre-mission savings and maybe family or local church assistance; two years of sneers and public ridicule for ministering or just standing out in a white shirt, dark slacks and a tie; and two years without TV, movies or contact with home, except letters and Mother's Day and Christmas Day phone calls.

That is six or seven days a week. On an off day, missionaries took care of laundry and errands. Even then, it couldn't be all about them.

''We'd do service every day, but that was the day we'd specifically find somebody that needed maybe some work done in their home or issues going on in the community,'' Poppinga said. ''We'd help out with floods, earthquakes, any of that kind of stuff.''

Said Denney: ''Could be doing janitorial work for a local old folks home. Could be working with a school, helping the teacher out.''

And, as Poppinga and Denney are quick to point out, going is a decision. No edict requires young LDS men or women to go on a mission.

The NFL's most famous Latter-day Saint, Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, a direct descendant of Brigham Young, didn't go on one. But he is heavily involved in charity and church in the Bay Area and has been quoted as saying he wants to be a missionary someday (seniors can go on missions once they have an empty nest). And, as Denney points out, you can leave early if the mission becomes too much.

Missionaries can't choose where they are assigned. All four Dolphins spoke only English when they left. Now, Denney (sent to north New Jersey) and Poppinga (Ecuador) speak Spanish fluently. Murphy (Brazil) and Beck (Portugal) could converse in Portuguese if they desired.

As they plugged into the local language, they unplugged from football.

Beck knew he had been away for a long time when, after his mission, he was watching the 2002 University of Miami-Pittsburgh game on ESPN and thinking, ''This sport looks weird. It looks weird to me.''

The only football Murphy heard about was futbol - the 2002 World Cup would have been ubiquitous in Brazil even without the Brazilians winning their fifth title. He had left as a 285-pound defensive end for Ricks College. He came back in 2004 as a 240-pounder without a position or a team - Ricks' football program was eliminated after Murphy's only season.

Nobody comes back in football shape. Denney tried to time his mission to maximize the preparation period for the following season at BYU. Beck and Poppinga woke up a half-hour early on their missions, at 5:30 a.m., to work out. Poppinga fashioned a crude barbell out of concrete for curling and had push-up bars.

Still, it is not pounding food and pumping iron the way college football coaches prefer.

Poppinga said the potential physical disintegration was a problem for Oregon State. The recruiting period required Beck to establish how badly he wanted to go on a mission.

''That's when I really had to put my decision to work, because I had Pac-10 schools who offered me scholarships where they were saying, 'We're only going to give it to you if you don't go on a mission,' " Beck said. ''And I told them, 'I always planned on going on a mission.' ''

Dolphins Coach Tony Sparano talks about, 'I want to find out what this team is made of, I want to put challenges in your face to see how you're going to react.' Those of us guys who have been on missions, that's a difficult time. It's not easy. It's kind of like training camp for two years.''

JOHN BECK, Dolphins quarterback