Chris Pilgrim has been using the home of LA Galaxy in a bid to get up to speed ahead of a gruelling pre-season at Kingston Park.
The 26-year-old scrum-half, who is set to embark on his fourth season with the northeasterners, was based at Athletes’ Performance, a state-of-the-art facility used by the likes of David Beckham and Landon Donovan.
“You get a lot of American athletes training there, and this year there were a lot of professional basketball and soccer players,” said Birkenhead-born Pilgrim.
He added: “The Everton striker Victor Anichebe was there at the same time as me, and it is a nice change of environment to work with guys from different sports and backgrounds.
“You learn a lot from them and their experiences, and from a physical point of view I have spent a lot of time on my glute and power strength.
“Once that is set, pretty much everything else can lead off from there, and I feel like I have come back in good nick.
“It was a really nice place to go especially with the warm weather and I just set the foundations on which to build on going into pre-season.”
The 85-acre complex at The Home Depot Center is one of the most advanced facilities in the world and is used by top athletes from across the globe.
Now into his second week of pre-season, Pilgrim spent four weeks of his summer break at the sun-kissed facility.
It was whilst on his break that the ambitious Falcons snapped up Scotland international scrum-half Rory Lawson from Gloucester.
Pilgrim is relishing the prospect of competing for a starting berth with the former Cherry and Whites man.
He said: “There is always going to be competition for places and it just drives me on to get better and better. I have heard that Rory is a really nice guy – he is similar to Peter Stringer and he has a wealth of experience.
“Hopefully I can pick up a few things from him.”
The Falcons continue their pre-season programme with a session at Tynemouth beach later this week. And Falcons TV will be there to see all the pain as the lads are put through their paces ahead of the new campaign.
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