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Alternative headline: "MOAR PONDER!"
As a rookie, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder spent a great deal of time on his backside. . .and, as a result, a great deal of time on the Vikings' sidelines as well. One of the knocks on Ponder coming out of college was that he was a bit injury-prone, and he's taking steps to attempt to remedy that in 2012.
According to Tom Pelissero, Ponder weighed in at 212 pounds when the off-season started this year. At this week's mini-camp, he was tipping the scales at 233, and hopes to play this season at about 230.
"I've gotten bigger. I'm stronger. I'll try to keep my flexibility," Ponder said. "There's a lot of different things we can do flexibility-wise with the yoga. Just trying to keep my body in the right condition and getting stronger."
Just goes to show the benefit of having an actual off-season program to be able to work with the strength coaches and trainers to have a proper, NFL-caliber plan in place. Neither Ponder nor anybody else had that last off-season, and they may have suffered as a result.
Hopefully #7 will be better able to stay on the field this season as a result of the work he's putting in.