COLLINGWOOD midfielder Dane Swan has admitted he was "pretty beaten up" before last month's altitude training trip but says he is already feeling the benefits of the 12-day Arizona journey.

The 27-year-old, who travelled to the US with Darren Jolly, Nathan Brown and Brent Macaffer for a mid-season fitness top up at altitude - a training technique designed to increase the body's mass of red blood cells - has played two matches since his return.

In those two appearances - the Pies' round 14 six-point win over the Sydney Swans and last Sunday's 41-point win over Hawthorn - Swan has averaged 33 possessions.

Although the players have been told it could take up to three months to see the full effects of the trip, Swan says he can already see some positives.

"My body is as good as it's felt since the start of the year," he told afl.com.au this week ahead of the Magpies' clash with North Melbourne.

"My running patterns are a lot better and I just feel stronger through my legs and my running power, so that's probably the main effect it's had.

"I was pretty beaten up by [the time we left]. I had a couple of things that were really holding me back a bit.

"I was still out there and putting my hand up to play so I had no excuses, but I should have been going better. I just wasn't at full capacity in my running.

"We worked really hard over there and had time to focus on weights and specific needs, and it's certainly had an immediate impact on me."

Swan said he was sceptical when told about the mid-season Arizona camp, and wasn't sure if he wanted to be part of the first trip of its kind.

He changed his mind once he realised how much benefit he could get out of it, especially when he considered the Pies' effort to win back-to-back premierships for the first time since 1935-36.

"As the weeks went on, I realised they had my best interests in mind and they weren't doing it for any other reasons than to get the best out of me in the last half of the year," Swan said.

"I didn't know what would happen over there, and I don't really like hiking - actually, I hate it - so I wanted to make sure we wouldn't be walking up mountains or the Grand Canyon, and once they assured me that wouldn't happen, it eased me a bit.

"They thought this would be the best way to get the best out of me in the second half of the year, and then I was happy to go - and hopefully it has an effect come September."

Having now had one match off and the two club byes, Swan says he won't need another break before the end of the season but expects some of his older teammates might.

"I don't personally think I will, unless I start to get sore again," he said.

"I won't risk playing sore again because I don't want to make things any worse, but the body feels really good now, and touch wood I've had reasonable success in staying injury free over the last four or five years.

"As long as that happens and I don't get any little niggles again, I don't think I'll be rested.

"That's not to say a couple of the older players won't.

"We're not going to rest players for the sake of it because we can; it's going to be if you're sore, there's no point in taking a chance."