Most people know what they are. They have been around since the beginning of time. Some are good but many can kill if untreated. Germs, if you do not already know, lurk in every nook and cranny, so a given gym is no exception. People can sit there and hide in their bubble and use germs as one of many excuses of why they don’t go to the gym.
Don’t be one of those people! Granted, the gym can be a breeding ground for germs due to warm, moist surfaces and also people not cleaning off the equipment they just used! Following four easy (what I call duh) steps when in the gym will allow you to have a more enjoyable workout experience.
You will spend more time concentrating on your workout routine and less time working around machines that look like micro-organisms are building their own town and country. Nasty!
Don’t blow off the free tour
A lot of gyms offer free tours of their facility to simply sell you on how much better their facility is to the gym next door. Use this time to see if they have spray bottles or wet wipes, dusty or dirty floors, dirty mirrors (a lot of spit flies out of those who count very loud),and sweaty or smelly machine. If you see any number of these things, you probably should just put this gym in your back pocket and advise it to someone you do not like.
Bring your own water bottle
Most gym’s water fountains are fairly clean. Actually allow me to revise that…most gym’s water is clean. The fountains can be another story. People like to spit, sneeze, and cough around the fountain. Now, depending on your gym, that bacteria may not be taken care of until the next day (depending when the custodian swings back around to disinfect that fountain). So, please just take your own water. It will save you in the long run.
You might want to think twice about showering bare foot
I know it is tough to wash your feet when you are balancing on one foot, washing the other, and quickly placing that foot in your sandal before it touches that shower floor. It’s a shame, but that is probably the only way to do it if you are trying to prevent catching a little extra on your feet. Going shoe-less in the gym is equivalent to not wearing sun tan lotion in the Sahara dessert. You are just asking for something unpleasant to happen. You can surprisingly catch The Human Papillomavirus (hpv)! And you thought athlete’s foot was bad!
Band-Aids are not only for the weak
That little scrape on your arm can be just big enough to allow nasty bacteria to seep into the wound and use your lovely little body as host. If you are lucky it may only take a few days to be out of your system. If you are unlucky, maybe you will be out of the hospital in a couple of days. Staph (staphylococcus, say that 10 times fast!) can be readily available in some gyms, especially the back alley gyms that feel cleaning is taking away the true grittiness of the gym. Idiots! For the most part you should be alright, but I like to take extra precaution. Before I head into the gym, I take a quick look at unclothed areas of my body. I am mostly checking for open or unhealed wounds and potentials scrapes that I may have not noticed during the day. When in doubt, I always use a Band-Aid. Don’t play the tough guy by not covering your wounds. No one is very tough when they are calling their mother to bring them ginger ale and crackers as they lay sick in bed.
-Phil