Some of the best fitness trends are those that involve the great outdoors or a sense of community. Lately, another trend that’s been gaining momentum is plogging, and it turns out, it’s good for the environment as well as your health and fitness. It’s a simple concept that could make a big difference if enough people give it a try. When a fitness trend benefits your health, environment, and local communities, we at The Manual want to know about it. Here’s the down low on plogging.

What is plogging?

Plogging is an exercise and fitness trend where friends, family, co-workers, individuals, and entire communities take part. The idea is to go jogging while picking up trash to help clean up your town, city, or neighborhood. People take sanitary precautions by wearing gloves and carrying hand sanitizer and bags to put the trash in.

What are the benefits?

You’ll get all the benefits of jogging along with the added bonus of a cleaner and healthier environment. Helping your local community could also lift your mood and give you much-needed time outside to breathe in the fresh air. Plus, when you bend over, stretch, and squat down to pick up that litter, it’s like interval training, where you’re also working your major leg muscles more and fine-tuning your balance and overall stability.

The benefits of jogging include:

To plog or not to plog?

Most fitness trends don’t involve improving your local area, but plogging is changing the paradigm. If you’re already planning on going jogging, why not do your part for the environment while you’re at it? Even if you only go plogging here and there, every little helps, and you’ll be thankful as you set off into cleaner surroundings. A study published in The Journal of Social Psychology concluded that doing thoughtful, kind tasks for others fills your soul with happiness and increases life satisfaction.