Editor 's note : upwave is Turner Broadcasting 's new lifestyle brand designed to entertain the health into you ! Visit upwave.com for more information and follow upwave on Twitter , Facebook , YouTube , Pinterest and Instagram @ upwave . ( upwave.com ) -- Every year , we like to celebrate St. Patrick 's Day by indulging in some quintessentially Irish things , such as stout beer , strong whiskey and/or corned beef and cabbage . Cabbage aside , those are n't exactly the cornerstones of a healthy lifestyle -- but the good people of Ireland do know a few things about staying fit . According to data collected by the Irish Sports Monitor in 2013 , 47 % of Irish men and women aged 16 and over participate in some form of regular exercise . While some choose common activities ( gym-based workouts , swimming , running , cycling ) , others enjoy singularly Irish ones like dancing ( think : Riverdance ) and the sport of hurling . Want to celebrate St. Paddy 's Day ( or any day ) in a healthy way ? Here are a few Irish-themed workouts that 'll help you earn a Guinness or two . upwave : 7 awesome things beer does for your body . Good : Exercise like a lumberjack . During the Irish potato famine of the 1840s , many citizens of the Emerald Isle immigrated to the United States and Canada and found employment as lumberjacks and loggers in the booming timber industry . Today , there is an exercise known as the `` Irish Lumberjack , '' which builds the arm and core strength needed to chop down trees . Sure , you probably wo n't have to hew gargantuan trees anytime soon , but great arms , abs and balance always come in handy . Here 's how the exercise works : Execute a few sets of one-armed dumbbell rows while balancing on one leg with the knee slightly bent . Be aware of your posture and try to keep your back from rounding . Your non-weight-bearing leg should be fully extended behind you with your torso parallel to the floor , so your body makes a `` T '' shape . Repeat until you feel like an Irish lumberjack . upwave : Quick 5-minute upper body workout . Better : Give hurling a whirl . Believed to be the world 's oldest field game , the Gaelic sport of hurling is a mixture of soccer , hockey and lacrosse , with two teams of 15 players squaring off to put a small ball into the opposing team 's net . Since you need 30 people for a full game , it can be hard to get one going on a whim ( unless you join a club team ) . Luckily , though ( and the Irish are full of luck ) , reaping the physical benefits of the sport can be accomplished without heading to the field . Personal trainer Paul O'Brien recommends mixing aerobic and anaerobic conditioning to train like a hurler athlete . Some days , run two to three miles at a steady pace to build up endurance . Other days , do a series of 50-meter sprints to hone in on your explosiveness . That way , if you do ever make it onto the hurling field for a game , you 'll have the speed and the strength to play hard until the final whistle blows . upwave : Increase your stamina in 5 days . Best : Leap like you 're Lord of the Dance . Dancing has always been an integral part of Irish life , comprising everything from traditional Irish folk dances to the vigorous step dances and jigs popularized in modern times by `` Lord of the Dance '' creator Michael Flatley . It 's also excellent exercise -- especially step dancing , which requires the dancer to execute intricate and rapid movements with the feet ( making it a powerful workout for both the legs and the lungs ) . Another perk of Irish dancing is core development , since the body and arms are mostly kept still as the dancer performs the elaborate footwork . upwave : Quick 6-minute core workout . The benefits of getting footloose also extend beyond the physical . A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that dancing keeps your brain nimble and can help to ward off dementia as you age . And because you 're listening to music while you dance , it feels like less work than comparable exercises . `` Music reduces your perception of exertion by about 10 % , '' says Costas Karageorghis , a sports psychologist at London 's Brunel University . To get started , see this basic Irish dance routine created by the lovely people from Riverdance . upwave : Try it now ! Take the Irish workout challenge . This article was originally published on upwave.com . & COPY ; 2013 upwave , All Rights Reserved .
Nearly half of Irish athletes engage in some form of regular exercise . ` ` Irish Lumberjack '' ' builds solid , core strength . Does aerobic and anaerobic exercises to act like a hurler .