Every player in the NFL spends countless hours strengthening their legs and improving their footwork, but few of them elect to do so in quite as whimsical a fashion as Baltimore Ravens running back Alex Collins, who swears by traditional Irish dancing. Watch this man glide jauntily around the studio and try not to grin uncontrollably in delight.

X content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

Collins was introduced to the sport by his high school football coach's daughter—that's her in the video kicking up her feet alongside him—who dared him to give it a shot while he was preparing for last year's NFL draft. Despite his initial reservations about the usefulness of Riverdance to a professional football career, this has proved to be a profoundly good decision.

After one lesson at the Drake School of Irish Dance in Florida, hefell in love with it. Collins even has a dancing nickname, Mitch Finn,which was inspired by Michael Flatley, a well-known performer from“Lord of the Dance” fame.

“I have my own little routine. I have my own hard shoes andeverything,” Collins proudly said Wednesday before pulling up thevideo above on his phone. “People made fun of me, and I’m like, ‘Ithelps with my footwork and my conditioning.’”

In a story for SI last year, Collins elaborated, extolling the virtues of both the cardio workout and the strength training that results from repeatedly jumping and landing on his toes during each number. One of the more unique aspects of Irish dance is that it places a premium on minimizing body movement, so the power for every jump has to come only from the legs, without the help of swinging arms or other sources of momentum generated above the waist. (This is, apparently, a weakness of Collins' technique, albeit one that he readily acknowledges.)

“The hardest thing is trying to jump without using my arms, because infootball we jump and use our arms to help us,” Collins says. “I'm likea chicken running around trying to keep one arm down and my other armis flapping around.”

Indeed, clips of Michael Flatley and company on YouTube—which are, incidentally, a great way to accidentally spend an hour staring mesmerized at your computer—feature a lot of the types of high kicks and rapid-fire steps that would look not the least bit out of place on Sunday. Irish dance might not be a skill that you can break out at, say, very many wedding receptions, but it is a hell of a workout.

When Collins scored his lone career touchdown last season for the Seahawks—which, incidentally, required a deft lateral cut to avoid a tackle for loss—the celebration that ensued was disappointingly bereft of jigs. (Maybe it's harder in cleats?) Don't let us down next time, Alex. Give the people what they want.

Watch Now:Allyson Felix and Team USA Play 'QWOP'Jay Willis is a staff writer at GQ covering news, law, and politics. Previously, he was an associate at law firms in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, where his practice focused on consumer financial services and environmental cleanup litigation. He studied social welfare at Berkeley and graduated from Harvard Law School... Read moreRelated Stories for GQNFL