Plogging: the eco-friendly fitness trend
Collect garbage as you jog instead of running past it: plogging keeps us fit and at the same time it makes our world a better place. The combination of sport and environmental protection has in the meantime become a global trend among runners. Whether you are on your own or in a group: get into those running shoes, get those gloves on, a rubbish bag in hand and off you go!
The term Plogging is a combination of the word „Jogging“ and the Swedish verb „plocka upp“, which means to pick up or collect. So the fitness trend is basically self-explanatory: when running in the fresh air, waste discarded and lying on the wayside is collected and disposed of.
Sporty battle against plastic waste
The trend has its roots in Stockholm: the environmental activist and outdoor sportsman, Erik Ahlström, was the initiator behind this vision to clean up the Swedish capital. Together with several groups of joggers he put his plan into action, donned his gloves and a garbage bag and founded the „Plogga“ brand. Only a few months after the start of the plogga movement, more than 100 plogging activities were announced.
Thanks to organized events, slowly the trend began to spread reaching beyond the borders of Scandinavia around the world. In the meantime there is even a separate Website including a Facebook- and Instagram-Account. Every day new stories of success can be read and found on the social networks under the hashtags #Plogging and #Plogga: photos of shining faces in the middle of mountains of garbage bags bring it home: Plogging has the power to unite us!
Sustainable all-round training for the body
Anyone collecting waste when they are jogging is not only helping the environment but also their own body. Plogging reinforces the health effects of jogging. The constant bending, stretching forwards and bending at the knee trains additional groups of muscles in the upper thighs, back, stomach, bottom and shoulders. To this, we can add the garbage bags which get heavier and heavier as time progresses and therefore train the arms. In groups in particular, the joint search for garbage and the competitive element of who gathers the most, can be a lot of fun. And now there are even plogging strategies. Some people pile small mountains of waste along their running route and collect them all on the way back, others add additional fitness exercises into bending for the garbage, to make the workout particularly effective.
Nevertheless, this is not just something for our physical wellbeing. Cleaning up is mentally refreshing as well. And you can add the feeling of satisfaction of actively doing something for the environment. This aspect alone would appear to be inspiring lots of people to go running who would otherwise have never donned their running shoes.
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