The contingent of five Lions leaders over in Arizona have survived a difficult first week of high altitude training and are preparing for their final five days abroad.

Jed Adcock, Simon Black, Jonathan Brown, Daniel Merrett, Tom Rockliff have all had their eyes opened to some extreme conditions and new training methods in what has proven a useful trial pre-season venture for the Lions at the renowned Flagstaff facility.

Speaking exclusively to lions.com.au from Arizona, Lions full-back Daniel Merrett said that the training had been among the hardest he had ever experienced, but believed it was a worthwhile and rewarding exercise.

“The sessions have been incredibly hard and gruelling,” Merrett said.

“There have been some periods when I thought I should just pack it all up and head back home, but it has just been so rewarding and to share it with some of my team-mates is unbelievable.”

“The first week was absolutely amazing. The experiences we had climbing Mt Humphrey and mountain biking in Sedona are probably two of the most unbelievable days of my life.”

“I feel so thankful to have been given the opportunity to come here to Arizona to improve my fitness - which is one of my goals this pre-season.”

“So far we’ve had some really tough sessions and our fitness base is constantly improving. We had a really hard running session yesterday which I rated a 9.5/10,” he said.

“But I also have no doubt the boys are working just as hard back home.”

Merrett also admitted that one of his greatest challenges so far was figuring out how to operate the ‘foreign’ mountain bikes.

“On our trip to Sedona, I was actually in the car park trying to show off to the boys by doing some skids,” Merrett explained.

“But over in the US, the front and back brakes are switched around, so as I attempted my skid, I actually hit the front brakes by mistake, went over the handlebars and took a bit of skin off.”

“Worst part was, it was before we’d even started our ride.”

“We’ve got another bike session this week, so hopefully I can get the brakes the right way around this time.”

CLICK HERE to read Daniel Merrett and Tom Rockliff’s regular Twitter updates from Arizona.