A FIERCE wind drives the rain almost horizontal as a group of sodden men stagger along Dublin's Dollymount Strand, their knees buckling as they try to run while clutching a beer keg each. Beside them, three wheezing young women push a jeep through the wet sand.

"Are you doing this for a bet or what?" asks a worried-looking driver as he pulls alongside the group, shouting the question from the warmth of his car, his young daughter peering through the rain hammering the windscreen.

"No, we're paying for this," we call back. He drives off shaking his head as his car is buffeted by the wind swooping along the beach.

Welcome to outdoor fitness, Irish-style, where devotees don't let a small thing like the foul weather interrupt getting in shape. Out in the elements, getting fit can be as much about having the craic as improving your health.

And even in this soggy summer, with record rain levels, training outside can be, well, a breath of fresh air.

Popular fitness trainers David Mulqueen and James Swan run a tough outdoor training session every Saturday on Dollymount Strand, whatever the weather.

"We've never advertised -- we did one class on St Stephen's Day, and people just kept turning up every Saturday. It's a big success. And do those push-ups on your knees," says Mulqueen during a recent session.

The soaking wet trainer manages a cheeky grin of encouragement, even as his face is chafed by the stinging rain.

Across the other side of Dublin Bay, at Sandycove, swimmers say that their daily morning dips in 14-degree water banish any worries.

"It's all about life," grins Monica Kirwan Uzell, as she leaps into the sea to cheers from her fellow swimmers. And her own cheer certainly sparkles in the eyes of the 50-something Docklands resident.

This zest for living is reflected in the camaraderie shared by Elaine Caul, 37, and Brendan Early, 80, who often keep each other company on jogging sessions with one of Dublin's oldest running clubs at Phoenix Park.

These outdoor fitness fans, and thousands like them, say this is the real thing, and beats all the indoor gyms, with their stuffy air and rows of automated exercise machines.

The Athletics Association Of Ireland has recorded a big increase in people joining its outdoor programmes, says association development officer Ryan Montgomery.

For example, more than 9,000 people turned up for a day of family fitness at Farmleigh recently.

And the association's Fit4Life scheme of outdoor exercising has jumped from 50 programmes to 150 in just a few months, says Montgomery.

"The best thing is that everybody can get involved -- all ages and levels."

So if you want to get healthy by heading to the great outdoors, here are three options to get you in shape -- and hopefully keep you that way.

THE KEG PARTY

"Run that keg up the beach," yells fitness instructor David Mulqueen, shouting to make himself heard through the wind and rain on a soaking Saturday morning at Dollymount Strand.

But there's no beer at the end of this keg's trip. It's half full of water (well you couldn't waste good ale), and it's thrown down on the sand, ready for the next diehard to carry it up the beach.

It could be worse. You could be the one ordered to shove a four-wheel drive up and down the strand. And no, the engine isn't on.

But the training session is packed, despite the lousy weather. Mulqueen and fellow fitness instructor James Swan, both 23, from north Dublin, give plenty of encouragement along with their instructions as the group of about 20 perform 'farmer's walks' (staggering along the sand like no farmer in his right mind, holding 40kg dumbells in each hand), sled pulling (if you believe in reincarnation don't come back as a husky), and a tough series of push-ups and jeep hauling.

"I've been coming every Saturday for the past couple of months," says Darren Doherty, 29, from Donnycarney. "I was a bit daunted at first, but once you get stuck in, it's great. And the people you train with are pretty supportive, so you can go at your own level."

Doherty also does some weight training, but finds the beach sessions, which cost €20 each time, are more of an all-round challenge.

"You can do all the weights in the world. But this gives you true strength," he says, pumping out a few push-ups between 4x4 hauls. "And I'm not lying in bed on a Saturday morning with a hangover like most of my mates."

Catherine Smith, a mother of three from Clontarf, has been going along to the Saturday sessions since they started. And this long-timer has some good tips: drive to the beach, don't walk or run there.

"You need to save yourself," she grins. "There's only a few girls, so we give each other good encouragement. And it's a real buzz."

Smith is fighting fit and proud of it. She credits Mulqueen and Swan's techniques and nutritional advice for helping her lose a couple of stone and achieve a body-fat level of 11.5 per cent, down from 23.

As we slug through the wet sand, hauling our sleds, one of the women in the group smiles philosophically: "At least our skin is getting exfoliated," she says. "But next time I might try and get the cheer-leading gig."

THE DAILY SWIMMERS

Cheered on by her mates, Monica Kirwan Uzell (cover pic) takes a chilly plunge towards fitness.

"This is the best part of my day," she says as she jumps into the bracing water at Sandycove's Forty Foot. Her friends are ready with hot tea and a biscuit when she emerges.

"It keeps you in shape. Amn't I lovely?" she quips, striking a pose in her red swimsuit.

"But I'd do a bit better without the Mikados," she admits.

Uzell, pal Mary Connolly, 68, and their friends are members of the Sandycove Bathers' Association, a hardy group of about 300 people who swim most days, whatever the weather.

Doctors, judges, lawyers, politicians and famous folk, they all come to the Forty Foot. "But we're all equal in the water," says Uzell, who is in her fifties and believes her daily swims help keep her alive.

"I take 17 pills in the morning and I suffer from angina," confesses the mother of three children and four grandkids. "I'm the pride and joy of my specialist. And my GP. They're so thrilled with me, but I can't get either of them in the water."

Pat Cribbin, 62, from Leopardstown, is chairman of the swimmers' association.

"They're a great bunch. It's as much about the camaraderie as the swimming," says Cribbin, who helps make sure the Forty Foot is cleaned up each morning and the changing stations are painted regularly.

"Gurriers come down and urinate and smash glass, so we'll clean all that up," he says as he heads off for his 20-minute ocean trawl with about a dozen others. A few minutes later the swimmers yell with delight as a seal pops up in the middle of the group.

"We often get seals and jellyfish," says Cribbin. "We get bitten by both, but we don't worry about it too much."

Unlike the temperature, which hovers around 14 degrees in summer and can drop to seven degrees in winter, the numbers of swimmers stays steady through the colder months. And Christmas Day is popular.

"We get about 10,000 people coming along all throughout the day," Cribbin says.

Like Monica and Mary, he is part of the "11 o'clockers" group. As they start packing their tea flasks and Mikado biscuits to make way for the 12 o'clock crowd, Monica can't resist one last dive.

"If you've any worries or cares, this'll make them vanish," she says.

She's right -- once you leap into the water, you'll be too cold to worry about anything else. You just have to swim to warm up.

RUNNING COMMENTARY

When Elaine Caul, a 37-year-old Dublin office worker, sets out for her daily lunchtime run, even in heavy rain, her deskbound colleagues tell her she's nuts.

"They say I'm mad, but I don't care. I'm the one who is less stressed at the end of the day," says Caul, from Cabra.

It wasn't always so. This self-proclaimed former couch potato admits she "couldn't run to catch a bus" 14 years ago.

Overweight and unhappy, she decided something had to change. But she hated gyms, so a local running club provided a good alternative. Now it's a way of life.

"I run every day at the cricket pitches in Trinity with a lunchtime running group," says Caul who puts in 50 miles a week and can run 10km in 37 minutes.

"I have to have my daily fix and I go out whatever the weather."

Caul, who works at the Department Of Foreign Affairs on Stephen's Green, says most of her colleagues eat lunch at their desks. She's the exception.

"They shake their heads at me, especially when it's the middle of winter and lashing rain."

Her lunch-time runs keep her in shape for the weekends, when Caul jogs with her home club, the Civil Service running group, a 200-year-old group open to all, based at the Phoenix Park.

"We've great camaraderie and because I run regularly I can eat like a horse," says Caul, who reports running has taken her from a size 14 to an eight. "The best part of the run is the coffee and cream buns afterwards in the Phoenix Park café."

Caul's running mates include club president Charlie Cruise, Brendan Early and former Olympian Dessie McGann. Membership costs €90 annually, and includes use of the club and weekday and weekend runs.

The group agrees that fitness and the social atmosphere make running all year round a joy.

"We're open to people of all ages and abilities, whoever wants to come along and have a go," says Cruise.

Contacts: Strongman training: davidmulqueen19@ hotmail.com

Civil Service Harriers and Athletic Club (Phoenix Park) contact: Elaine Caul 01 8389598

Forty Foot swimmers. Go any day, ask for Pat Cribbin, phone: (01) 288 2788

Fit4Life running, cycling and hillwalking groups nationally: www.athleticsireland.ie