Workout Wednesday: Caring for Your Gym Gear

There are several bodily fluids that come along with exercise and the pursuit of a physically fit lifestyle.

The number one secretion? Sweat.

But salty sweat isn't the only culprit.

Exercise will often leave you and the stuff around you slicked with a layer of bodily fluids the likes of which most people have never seen.

There's mucus; there's spit; there's blood; there's even - gasp! -fecal matter.

Trust me, you don't want to know what they find when they take a Q-tip swap to those commonly used handles on your gym's elliptical machine.

Suffice it to say, it ain't pretty.

And I wouldn't eat off 'em, if you know what I mean.

So, what to do?

Because while you can't protect yourself from being exposed to every germ floating around your gym, you can keep your own person and your own gym belongings as sweat-and-snot free as possible.

So here's what to do when cleaning your...

...Gym Clothes.

Your sports bras; your running tights; your T-shirts. After a workout, they are filled with tons of sweat and various other germs that you get from wiping your face on your sleeve or brushing your body up against other gym gear.

And because most exercise-wear is super-absorbent and designed to pull sweat away from your skin, they're going to retain a lot of water, even if they're made from quick-drying fabric (which allows the material to pull the sweat away from your skin and then dry up, while the sweat is still in the material.)

So, to get your gear clean, wash the pieces - in a load all by themselves - in cold water. Also, if you are anti-clothesline, and insist on using a dryer for your exercise clothing, make sure you set it to "delicates," or another low-heat setting.

This helps preserve the fabrics, while making sure the fabrics aren't exposed to excessive heat, which can help breed bacteria out of all that collected sweat.

And if they still smell like sweat and body odor after you wash them, throw them away. These clothes do have a lifespan, and when you can't wash the sweat out of the fabric, you know its expired. Using them past this point will just keep breeding bacteria in your workout clothes.

...Your Sneakers

These are probably the germiest piece of workout gear you own. After all, you walk everywhere in them. (Even on that gross gym locker room floor.)

That being said, they are also the safest, simply because most of us don't pick up our sneakers after a good, long workout and gnaw on them. Or, alternately, caress them against our cheek.

So, in reality, there's really no need to throw your tennis shoes in the washing machine. And whatever you do, NEVER put them in the dryer. Both machines will tear and breakdown the support and infrastructure of your sneaker.

So, if they get dirty or wet, simply wipe them down with a damp rag, stuff newspaper into their openings, and leave them to air dry outside.

Damp shoes, assisted along by sweaty feet and possible foot fungus, can grow mold, so if you're an outdoor runner, you may have to air dry your sneakers more frequently.

...Your Gym Towels

Gym towels breed bacteria like nobody's business. They're damp; they're covered in sweat (and whatever else you picked up when you used one to wipe down that machine,) and they're stubbornly absorbent, always holding onto liquid when they can.

Piles of damp gym towels, in fact, have often been linked to staph-infection outbreaks.

Still, a lot of that can't be avoided. But what you can do is properly care for your own gym towels.

First off, keep them separate and away from all other dirty laundry. They will encourage germ growth in other fabrics as well.

Second, make sure you never leave one in a gym bag or a closed car. That non-circulating, humid air is the perfect environment for those towels to grow bacteria and fester.

Third, when you get home from the gym, rinse the towels in cold water and allow them to air dry, especially if you don't plan on washing them immediately. That way, you can rid the towels of as much bacteria as you can before you leave them unattended.

Finally, wash a separate load of gym towels in cold water and allow them to dry on a low-heat/delicate setting. Again, make sure you're not combining these towels with your regular bath towels, kitchen towels, etc.

And don't wait too long to wash your gym towels. They're damp; they're filled with bacteria, and even a small basket of them will allow germs to live and multiply in your home.

...Your Yoga and Stretching Mats

Hopefully, if you attend classes that include yoga, stretching, or abdominal exercises, you own your own yoga mat.

Because the communally used ones are not washed often enough. Very often, you're using a mat that's been used hundreds of other times without nary a wipe-down.

And while they aren't like towels, which readily absorb and harbor sweat and germs, they're still crawling with some pretty gross stuff.

So, first rule of thumb is: Spring for the 15 bucks and buy yourself a mat at Target.

Now, what to do once you've got your mat? How do you clean away your own gunk from it?

Simple: Check and see if it's washing machine safe. Most are. And you can simply put it in the washer, with a diluted soap mixture, on the gentle cycle. Allow it to air dry after.

If you're unsure, though, you can also wipe down the mat with diluted laundry detergent, then again with clean, cool water.

Go ahead and squeeze out all extra water before hanging it in a dry, well-ventilated place so it can air-dry.

***

I know that a lot of these tips seem like common sense, but you can never be too careful in a world where gyms are open 24-7, and there's always tons of people traipsing in and out at all hours of the day, with germs falling from them galore.

So here's to happy, healthy, germ-free workouts! (And thank you, Happy Dash, for being the inspiration to write this post.)

I'll see you next week for more Workout Wednesdays! I'll be doing another Q&A post next week, so feel free to post questions below.

Happy Exercising!