Triple Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Stephanie Rice is back in the pain game.

The 21-year-old Brisbane swimmer has resumed hard training, and not just in the pool.

She's been lacing up the joggers and sweating off the extra kilograms training on a suburban Brisbane football field for the past month almost unnoticed.

"I'm loving it," Rice told AAP at the end of one of her torture sessions this week.

Swimming's glamour girl tends to stand out - whether its in her bathers, an evening gown or modelling underwear for one of her sponsors.

Her training usually consists of hours staring down at a thick black line, lap after lap in the pool in the early hours of the morning.

But in a new move, Rice has turned to Brisbane Broncos fitness guru Dean Benton to help her shed some post-world championship kilos and prepare for the Australian championships in March which double as selection trials for next year's Pan Pacific championships and Commonwealth Games.

"I'm really enjoying the change and I think it's really benefiting my swimming," said Rice.

"I'm seeing the gym benefits translate into the pool which is really positive and I'm noticing a difference already."

Rice is pushing herself through 15 gruelling training sessions a week.

Six are on dry land under Benton at the Broncos' Red Hill training complex.

The other nine sessions are in the pool with coach Michael Bohl who has already noticed the fire is back in his stable star.

Bohl said Rice was a "pain queen" who would eat up the work as she prepared for next month's Queensland championships.

"She's the best worker I've ever coached," he said.

"When Steph is on her game, nobody I've coached in 22 years can hold a candle to her.

"She's not in the best shape, and she knows it, but Dean is one of the best in the business at what he does and Steph knows what she wants."

Benton, who works with some of the best athletes in the NRL including Darren Lockyer and Israel Folau, has been amazed by Rice's capacity for work and her ability to train through pain which would put many of his highly paid footballers to shame.

Rice is being driven by her desire to erase a disappointing 12 months in which she was beaten into the bronze medal in her pet 400m individual medley by Hungarian Katinka Hosszu at the controversial "swimsuit" world championships in Rome.

She struggled with the out-of-pool distractions following her golden feats in Beijing, swimming below her best at the worlds.

"My focus at the moment is not so much on time but I definitely want to get back in the shape and fitness I was at when I was in Beijing," she said.

"Because of the swimsuit controversy, the world champs was not a competitive meet for me and I think you've got to look past all that.

"I just want to get back to the top of my game again and see what times I can swim."