Robison ready to give it a shot

Vikings DE Brian Robison is keeping in shape this offseason by continuing his pursuit to make the Olympic team in shot put. He’s ready for competition this week in Texas.

Brian Robison continues to work out and stay in football shape, but he is also keeping his Olympic dreams alive. Robison is back in his native Texas preparing to throw the discus and shot put competitively in a few days.

The Texas Relays are being held this week and Robison is planning to participate in the discus for fun and the shot put as part of his Olympic aspirations.

“Discus for me is more of just a fun thing, just go out and just have fun. I’m not too worried about that. Shot, I’ll be happy with anything around 60 feet or over,” he said. “Anything in that range I’ll be happy with because it will be my first meet of the year. Last year I didn’t hit 60 feet until almost May, so if I can hit it this week I’ll be a month ahead of where I was last year.”

He will be throwing discus on Friday afternoon with his main event, shot put, taking place on Saturday, the last day of the Texas Relays.

Robison was the 2006 NCAA runner-up in shot as a junior at the University of Texas and won the Big 12 shot title in 2005 and 2006. He won conference titles in both events in 2006. He holds the school record in shot at 68-4.25 and ranks third in school history in discus at 195-10.

“By the time July 2012 rolls around, I’ve got to be throwing somewhere probably around the upper 60s at least. That’s the goal to get to,” he said. “This year I want to get somewhere around 66, high 65. If I can do that, then I think I’ve got a pretty legit shot (at the Olympic team). I got to 64 last year, so I figure if I can pick up two more feet this year, or even a foot and a half, and hit mid-65 to 66 feet, I think I’ve got a pretty legit shot.”

He said his training for the shot put gets a little more challenging once the Vikings’ offseason conditioning program starts, but he trained for both last year during the summer as well. The Vikings’ younger players started their offseason program this week, but Robison and other experienced veterans don’t start for more than a week, which is later than it has been the last few years.

Vikings coach Brad Childress pushed back the start of the offseason program last year and moved it even further back in the schedule this year and implemented a staggered start between the younger players and veterans. Part of the later start has to do with the Vikings advancing to the NFC Championship Game, but Robison said the players also understand that they are expected to report in shape.

There is little doubt that Robison’s shot-put routine, as well as some martial arts training this offseason, will put Robison right on track when he reports.

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