When motivation is lacking, how about exercising for a better … and cleaner world?
Perhaps you have come across a plogger in a park or running along a path in your area. You will recognize him because, in addition to good shoes and suitable sportswear, he is wearing work gloves and a garbage bag.
The plogging has been practiced for almost two years and are increasingly emerging groups in social networks to get to practice. What does it consist of? In running and cleaning.
Specifically, it is a new way of running or, rather, jogging (which is its softer and more bearable version). Its name comes from the contraction of two words: “plocka” (to pick up from the ground, in Swedish) and jogging (to run smoothly).
The thing is easy: you go jogging through a park, path, or beach and you pick up the garbage that you find on the ground.
A very motivating sport
Admittedly, it is quite motivating. Sometimes, when you don’t have sport as the center of your life, it is difficult for you to join the more conventional such as swimming or Nordic walking but perhaps you do enjoy the idea of dancing or fencing in the open-air Picking up trash while you walk is something so different (and useful) that it may be what gets you off the couch.
We know that the movement was created by a Swedish trail runner named Erik Ahlström and that, through the Internet, it has spread throughout Europe and has reached Spain.
Coastal cities such as Malaga, Alicante, Ibiza, Barcelona, or Gerona have been the first to follow this movement ridding the beaches of that hateful garbage that is destroying the oceans, their fauna, and flora.
An advantage over jogging without more is that when you stop, bend over to pick up, and continue, you introduce more movements than with a simple jog Also, it is more motivating. The usual ploggers who come to collect kilos of garbage at each outing have on Instagram. The emission of endorphins is double when giving your sport meaning.
“If you feel like joining a group, search with the hashtag #plogging. Surely there are people near you willing to form a group.
The promoter in Ibiza of this global movement, Kris Caro Cortés (who is also the artistic director of Recicl-ARTE and promoter of Sustainable Ibiza), says that there are already more than 25,000 people in a hundred countries who collect garbage while doing physical exercise
“Attention! For this trend it is not necessary to run; it can be done walking. Anywhere, even on a surfboard with the family, at night … The point is to do it.
Kris Caro Cortés also points out: ” When I saw the news of Stockholm in some international media, it caught my attention and, as a lover of sports and nature, I found it very interesting to promote it.
We started in Ibiza but we will go to other Spanish cities to spread it out ”. The plogging is interesting especially in those areas where reach no cleaning services, such as hiking trails or some beaches.
