Weight Training Blog

So the two words “gym” and “sanitation” have probably never been used together in the same sentence before. I’ve seen some pretty dirty gyms in my time – from my old high school’s weight room which looked like it was stuck in the 1970s, or the YMCA back in New Jersey where I used to live that looked like the weights haven’t been touched in 10 years.

A buddy of mine recently got pretty sick and had to take a long break from lifting because of something he got from the gym. He was so sick in fact that doctors actually had to cut stuff out of him. It turns out he had MRSA, but has sense gotten better.

So that got me thinking, what could people do to lessen their chances of getting sick while at the gym? So here it goes:

• Wash your hands
  Probably the most obvious, but also the most over-looked: Wash your hands after you’re done working out!
  Also, be nice to others and wash your hands after using the bathroom. Besides, by washing your hands really well, you’ll also be getting rid of any lotions and oils that may have been on your hands – This will give you a better ability to grip the bar when things get heavy.
• Wipe down equipment after each use.
  I know I might get a lot of crap for saying this, but after you’re done using a piece of equipment, make sure you wipe it down afterwards. Most gyms will supply mild soap solutions to use, or even give you baby wipes to wipe equipment down with.
• Don’t eat in between sets.
  This should be common sense, and it goes hand-in-hand with the first bullet point, but don’t eat in between sets. Not only is it nasty, but what the heck are you doing? Are you that hungry that you can’t wait to get out of the gym? Did you forget to eat before coming to the gym? Why are you even lifting if you didn’t eat anything?
• If you have a fever, stay home.
  As a rule of thumb, if your body temperature is 100 or more, do everyone a favor and stay home. At that point your body needs more than just some extra fluids and chicken soup to get better. You need a decent amount of rest and the only way you’re going to get that is by staying out of the gym. You’ll make everyone else happy by doing so too. Look on the bright side, by taking a few days off from the gym your body will feel better rested and able to move more weight when you return.
• Wear different clothes
  This is something I only really see done in the gym that I frequent in my home town and I don’t know why it’s done or even allowed for that matter. But when going to the gym, wear appropriate attire and change out of it before leaving and going home.  Don’t go into the gym wearing a long-sleeved button down dress shirt (What?) and jeans and then leave wearing the same thing.

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