CINCINNATI -- If there's a word Margus Hunt wants to use to define his fourth season in the NFL, it has to be "power."

Simply put, athletic power is required to play the game of football at every position, but it is a downright necessity for defensive ends like him. That's why as he enters his final year under contract with the Cincinnati Bengals, Hunt has gotten creative with his offseason training regimen.

OK, maybe it isn't creative for him. After all, he has worked out this way before. But it's still an unconventional routine for most American football players.

Defensive end Margus Hunt, a second-round pick in 2013 who hasn't lived up to expectations, will need to prove himself in 2016. AP Photo/Gail Burton

"I went back this offseason to more of my Olympic style of training," said Hunt, who was a shot-put and discus thrower long before he ever put on a football helmet. A 2006 World Junior Track and Field Championships gold medalist in both events, Hunt earned a track scholarship at SMU. The Mustangs' track team quickly disbanded after his arrival, though, forcing him to join the football team and learn a new sport.

Olympic-style training means that instead of primarily doing presses, curls, or other muscle-isolating exercises, Hunt has been doing more cleans, jerks and snatches. Those exercises work the entire body, and cause lifters to use their hips and legs to generate power with each rep.

The Estonia-born lineman has seen positive results from his tweaked lifting sessions. He has bulked up, watching his weight climb from 290 pounds in January to about 300 now. The goal will be to get back closer to 285 or 290 pounds by the time training camp arrives in July. Once the Bengals begin doing more regular cardio sessions -- something he hasn't done much of this offseason -- he's confident the weight will fall off. At that point, he'll have the mix of size, quickness and power he thinks he needs to be a more dominant pass-rusher.

"This is just something I know that works for me," Hunt said. "We got the team workout from [Bengals strength and conditioning coach] Chip [Morton] and everything, so I still utilized that, but day to day I inserted some of the stuff I knew would benefit me. It helped."

This season is an important one for Hunt, although he didn't want to discuss that much Monday. A former second-round pick, his career has been viewed as a relative bust to this point. While he has been a superstar on special teams, he hasn't gotten on the field regularly as a defender. Why? Just take a look at the Bengals' defensive end depth chart the past three seasons. He has been behind the likes of Michael Johnson, Carlos Dunlap and Wallace Gilberry.

Hunt's health also has been a factor. Although he didn't miss any games due to injury in 2015 (an ankle injury forced him to miss a chunk of the end of the 2014 season), he did spend last offseason recovering from a back injury that was caused by weightlifting accident.

"I know I can play," Hunt said. "Looking at the film from the preseason ... I still had what I felt was a solid time playing. And I felt good. It’s just trying to stay healthy during this offseason and just capitalizing during camp."

With Gilberry's free-agency departure to Detroit, Hunt has perhaps the best chance of his career to regularly contribute to the Bengals' defensive end rotation.

Hunt hasn't been working out alone this offseason. He has been accompanied by former SMU track teammate and French hammer thrower Jerome Bortoluzzi. The 33-year-old competed for France in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and is preparing for this summer's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.