Plogging: the popular new eco-friendly workout

The workout burns more calories than regular jogging

Plogging is the new eco-friendly workout (Getty Images)

A new workout trend from Sweden may be capable of keeping you in-shape and saving the planet.

Plogging, a combination of jogging and the Swedish term “plocka upp,” meaning pick up, is sweeping the globe - and the streets clean of garbage.

The concept is simple. Rather than jogging on by the garbage littered on the street, ploggers pick it up and dispose of it correctly instead.

To plog even more effectively, some ploggers fit in some additional exercises as they bend to pick up litter - to keep their heart rate pumping.

And it turns out the exercise really pays off - for the environment and your body.

According to fitness app Lifesum, which allows users to input and track calories burned while plogging, the eco-friendly work-out is significantly more effective than just jogging.

As plogging requires some bending and arm strength to hold all the garbage, a half hour of plogging will burn 288 calories on average - compared to just 235 calories from regular jogging.

On social media, the plogging craze is also gaining popularity as people share photos of the trash they’ve collected - or realise that they’ve actually been plogging all along.

On Instagram, the exercise has been tagged in over 3,000 posts and various Facebook groups dedicated to the workout have popped up.

So the next time you go for a jog, try stopping to gather any garbage while you are at it - as your body and the environment will thank you.