The early difficulties left tackle Bryant McKinnie went through in training camp appear to be over.
After reporting to camp overweight, missing the first session and unable to finish practice on the second day, McKinnie has found a groove, having spent the majority of the practice reps with the first team in the last few days.
"I'm back in the swing of things," McKinnie said after Thursday's practice. "I was a little over the weight I was assigned. It wasn't the conditioning, I was just overweight from the assigned weight. We wanted to spend that first day doing cardio to get that down. I'm 10 pounds over my weight. My assigned weight is 346."
McKinnie didn't practice when everyone reported to camp and instead participated in individual cardio workouts inside the Ravens' training facility.
McKinnie said he gained the weight due to lifting weights.
"Lifting kind of bulks me up and makes me heavy," he said. "I haven't been lifting this camp, just doing cardio. My strength was never an issue. I did lifting because that's what we were supposed to do. I stopped lifting to get down to weight and focusing mainly on cardio."
McKinine's weight was an issue in the past. He was released from Minnesota before the 2011 season, which featured a lockout during the offseason, after reportedly showing up to camp at 386 pounds.
McKinnie admitted he couldn't keep up with the rest of the team on day two of camp, fatigued due to the extra energy spent after a cardio-heavy day with less to eat than he was used to. But he's quickly gotten back into the routine of training camp. After a rocky start in 2012 that led to his benching for 16 regular season games, McKinnie appears on track to start the season-opener against Denver.
"I'm better this year," McKinnie said. "The first day, I was inside. I did cardio the whole time. I was kind of drained the second day. I was kind of catching up. That kind of set me right. I'm good now."
Follow me on twitter: @JasonHButt