Winnipeg cardiac patients are helping with some outdoor spring cleaning by ‘plalking’ – a combination of walking and picking up trash along your path.
"Plalking" actually comes from the more common word “plogging,” which blends the word jogging with the Swedish phrase “plocka upp," translated as “pick up.”
"For people who have had heart attacks or heart conditions, maybe they can't jog yet. So let's just walk and pick up litter, which we want people to do anyways,” Tom Ethans explained to CTV Winnipeg.
In the past, Ethans organized thousands of volunteers to pick up trash each spring. But last November, he had a heart attack and was told to have a healthier diet and reduce his strenuous activity.
Shortly afterwards, Ethans, executive director of Take Pride Winnipeg -- a group which helps clean up the city -- began working out at Winnipeg’s Reh-Fit Centre. It’s there where he heard of “plogging” and tweaked it to be less demanding.
On Thursday, he helped officially launch the “Heart Winnipeg 'Plalking Club” at the Reh-Fit Centre.
Ethans and other cardiac patients will now meet up each week to walk and pick up litter. He said because “plalking” has several added benefits.
"You're going to be using more body parts as you're walking and then you're stopping and you're bending down to pick up litter,” he said. “You’re actually going to use more calories so it's better for you."
Since beginning to “plalk,” Ethans said he’s slimmed down 20 pounds and hopes to improve his health even more all while improving the city.
Reh-Fit Centre certified exercise physiologist Kailey Evans applauded Ethan’s efforts. She said “plalking” is ideal for people recovering from a cardiac event because it’s low intensity and easy to manage.
She told CTV Winnipeg, "you're working on your physical health, your social health and you're helping the environment at the same time.”
