10 Gym Hygiene Tips

Sure, some people go to the gym to ogle hot bodies working out. The rest of us, however, don’t come up with lame excuses to avoid exercise and actually go there to get in shape and keep our bodies healthy.

But then again, you can get sick at the gym. Gyms, after all, are a virtual hotbed of germs, bacteria and viruses, what with all the sweat from a myriad of strangers dripping all over the floor, the equipment, and in some cases, all over you, especially if the really sweaty woman working the treadmill beside yours has this habit of whipping her hair around to get it off her face.

But since we’re not all millionaires who can afford a gym of our own, and therefore have to share gym equipment with perfect strangers, the best that we can do is to be vigilant about our gym hygiene. Listed below are some tips:

1. Unless you’ve washed your hands, never touch your face after using gym equipment. The human hands are especially good at carrying germs, and you don’t want any of that coming into contact with all the openings on your face.

2. Wiping down dumbbells, barbells and exercise machines before and after you use it is not only good gym hygiene, but good gym etiquette as well.

3. It would be great if your gym provides alcohol-gel dispensers that kill germs on contact, but if doesn’t, bring your own and use it before touching equipment.

4. Exercise mats are generally drenched in sweat, so it would be wise to wash them down before using. But you can do one better and bring your own mat instead.

5. Unless you’re absolutely certain that your gym’s drinking fountain has been through an effective and safe sanitation process, bring your own bottled drinking water.

6. Don’t just throw or hang the towel that you’ve just wiped your sweat with on any spot inside the gym. Doing that means you either spread your own germs, or your towel would pick up other people’s germs.

7. If you don’t want rashes or boils popping up all over a most inconvenient spot in your anatomy, be sure to sit on your towel when using the sauna.

8. It is advisable to always shower after a workout to wash off the sweat and therefore feel clean and refreshed afterwards.

9. When using the shower, be sure to bring and your own wear flip-flops, since shower stalls, with all the people using them, harbor more germs than you can possibly imagine.

10. If showering after a heavy workout is not your thing, at least get out of those sweat-drenched clothes and change into something fresh before heading home. Some people drive home from the gym wearing their sweat-soaked gym clothes, and that is without a doubt very unsanitary.