7 Things You Need to Stop Touching at the Gym

Last Updated on January 7, 2021

You should wash your clothes as soon as you get home from the gym and don’t forget to launder your bag as well at least once per week.

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Exercise Mats

Stretching is extremely important, but you may want to skip doing it on the mats at your gym. The dangerous part about communal mats is that they can transfer various health issues, such as warts, staph infections, and even cases of diarrhea.

The Associate Director of Athletics for Sports Medicine at Lehigh University, Jack Foley, explains that individuals in gyms have higher chances to get a bacterial infection, like staph, if they came in skin-to-skin contact with someone who is infected or by touching constantly used things, such as weight or cardio equipment, mats, mirrors, walls, countertops, and benches, especially in case they have an abrasion, scrape, or cut on their skin.

The primary reason why you can get infected is poor day-to-day facility and personal hygiene. In fact, sometimes, even if you use your towel as a barrier between your skin and germs, it still won’t be enough, particularly if you used the mat-touching side to wipe your body down later on.

You should make sure that the mats at your gym are often disinfected. When in doubt, your best bet is to bring your own mat.

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The Basketball

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, conducted a study on the presence of the bacteria that cause staph infections (called Staphylococcus aureus) on volleyballs and basketballs. The results of the study showed that the bacteria are able to survive for as much as 72 hours on the surface of a basket- or volleyball.

Admittedly, the quantity of disgusting stuff that can make you sick and which is living on your favorite ball depends on how often the ball is disinfected. This doesn’t mean that you should stop playing though!

But it’s really important to be aware of what kind of germs and how long they can stick around on the things you frequently touch at the gym. Wash your hands as much as needed and use disinfecting wipes to wipe down the ball before playing.