SparkPeople advertisers help keep the site free! Learn more

5 Dirty Secrets about Your Workouts: SparkPeople SlideShow

SparkPeople advertisers help keep the site free! Learn more

1 of 7

5 Shocking Health Risks for Gym Goers

Written by Jennipher Walters, Certified Personal Trainer

We normally think of a health club or the gym as a healthy place to be. After all, working out boosts your immune system, burns calories, builds strength and helps you feel great! You may not have thought about it, but just like any public place, your gym can be a breeding ground for germs, dirt and other icky things that can take the funâ€”and the healthâ€”out of your workouts.

With many people coming in and out, touching multiple surfaces and sweating in close proximity to one another, these exercise environments can are the ideal breeding ground for all sorts of bugs. Here are 5 "dirty" situations you may find yourself in at the gym and some tips to protect your body.

Yoga and Exercise Mats

Most of us spray down our yoga or exercise mat before or after use, but that may not always keep skin (which is usually exposed at the gym) from coming in contact with bacteria. In 2006, the New York Times reported that podiatrists were increasingly diagnosing athlete's foot and plantar warts among patients who practiced Pilates and yoga.

Protect Yourself: This may seem like common sense, but don't be afraid to bring your own mat when you go to a mind-body class or are exercising your abs at the gym. When you use your own mat, you know exactly where it's been and who's been on it. And be sure to clean your mat regularly with a mat cleaner to help kill germs. If you prefer to use the mats at the gym, wipe yours down with cleaner before you use it--not just after you're done.

Dirty Buds

No, I don't mean your buddies who like to crack jokes in group cycling—I mean your ear buds! A recent study published in the Online Journal of Health and Allied Sciences found that using your ear buds regularly can increase bacterial growth in your ear, which can result in painful ear infections. Yuck!

Protect Yourself: The number one way to reduce ear bacteria on your ear buds is to never share them with others. When you do swap ear buds with a friend, you can transfer bacteria to each other's ear canals. So be sure to wear your own ear buds at all times! After each use, store them in a cloth bag to keep them dry and clean. You should also regularly clean your ear buds with a drop of alcohol on a cotton ball or swab (or follow manufacturer's instructions). If you have trouble remembering to clean your ear buds, try making it a habit. For example, I clean mine each week when I launder my workout clothes.

Communal Equipment

While there's nothing inherently gross about sweat, it is a mechanism for bacteria to move from hand to dumbbell to BOSU to elliptical handles. So, where there's been sweat, there are probably germs. In fact, a study of sports equipment at two fitness centers in a military community published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine in 2006 found that benign bacteria and the rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, were on 63% of equipment surfaces that had contact with hands. Weight equipment was significantly more contaminated than aerobic equipment, according to the study. (After all, how often do you see people wiping down dumbbells after each use? Ew!)

Protect Yourself: Be sure to wipe down any equipment you use before and after use. All health clubs should have a disinfecting spray or wipes that you can use. And ask your club's staff what their cleaning protocols are. Take your business elsewhere if they can't tell you.

Locker Room Floors

Most of us know to wear flip-flops in the shower to prevent picking up foot fungus, but did you know that bacteria lurks on almost all floor areas of the locker room floor—tiled or carpeted? Even if your health club looks immaculate, athlete's foot (called tinea pedis), Onychomycosis (causes yellow and brittle nails) or human papillomavirus, which causes plantar warts, could still be on the floor.

Protect Yourself: Don't let your bare feet hit the ground at the health club. Period. Keep wearing those flip-flops in the shower and all around the locker room. Always wash and dry your feet thoroughly, consider using anti-fungal powder in your workout shoes and wear synthetic socks that you change often. Also, be sure not to dry off with a towel that dropped on the floor, especially if you have an open cut. Just a brief bit of contact can transfer bacteria to you, so the five-second rule does not apply here!

Bottom of Your Gym Bag

Back in 2006, ABC News ran an investigative report that found fecal bacteria and other dangerous germs on the bottom of women's purses. Although gym bags haven't been studied by scientists (yet!), many of us who frequent the gym treat our gym bags like a purse—lugging it here and there, from the club bathroom to the locker to the car. So it's not hard to see how the purse research applies, right? The ABC News report found bacteria that can cause skin infections along with other germs like cold viruses and other viruses that cause not-so-fun things like diarrhea.

Protect Yourself: Always be aware of where your gym bag lands. Try to always keep your bag off the floor, especially in the bathroom and locker room, as often as you can. Most bathrooms and lockers have a hook—use them!

Your Hands and Clothes

Be sure to wash your hands for at least 15 seconds before and after workouts, and do your laundry often. Wet, dirty clothes can be a breeding group for germs! Follow these tips to be safer and more protected in the gym. And, remember that regular exercise keeps your immune system strong! Just be smart, safe and sanitary about it!

You will earn 3 SparkPoints

Pin It

Member comments on this slideshow

(scroll to end to leave a comment)

NUTRITIONISSUES

5/30/2011 9:15:45 AM

Thanks for the information. It is an eye opener!

HAPPY_KNEES

1/10/2011 8:04:55 PM

I had this jerk follow me around at the gym. I cleaned the equipment before and after I used it. THEN, he'd use it and move on leaving it nasty and sweat covered.

MONCHAT

12/27/2010 5:26:44 PM

Gross! I take these anti microbial mats with me http://www.blockoutstore.com every time I go to the gym. I can not trust that other people wipe down the equipment properly.

MONCHAT

12/27/2010 5:26:28 PM

Gross! I take these anti microbial mats with me http://www.blockoutstore.com every time I go to the gym. I can not trust that other people wipe down the equipment properly.

CHAUNEENJ

12/6/2010 8:58:29 PM

Thankfully at the YMCA there are sanitary stations that include cleaning spray and paper towels and anit-bacterial wash for your hands! I use it to clean before and after using the machines! Whats crazy is that alot of people don't even bother to use them! yuke!

NEEDMICROPHONE

11/12/2010 1:37:48 PM

I agree with BOBF15... and I think this article overdoes it. It is when we shelter our bodies from bacteria and viruses that we really hurt ourselves. If we don't allow our immune systems to build up, how can we expect them to ward off illness? Think about those hand sanitizers that claim to kill 99.9% of microorganisms... there are a whole lot more beneficial microorganisms in the natural flora of the skin than potentially harmful ones. Those microorganisms keep the bad ones under control too. But, if you kill 99.9% of them in one fell swoop, you leave only that 0.1% that *can* resist your sanitizer. Those are the ones that will grow and multiply, and eventually your hand sanitizer won't be doing anthing at all. I actually think it's better to get exposed to as many "germs" as possible... most of them are pretty harmless and will in a way teach your immune system to battle bigger and badder things should you encounter them in the future. With the extreme malinformed germ-phobia that seems to be taking over normally reasonable people, it's not surprising they claim to get a cold supposedly from a piece of cardio equipment... your body really ought to be able to fight that off pretty easily, but maybe it just doesn't know how.

CAT95814

11/8/2010 11:39:21 AM

Nothing drives me crazier than people who do not wipe down the machine they just used! It's just common courtesy. I wipe down machines before and after I use it. I can't believe people go barefoot at the gym either. Oftentimes when I'm using the bathroom, I'll look down and the person in the stall next to me is barefoot! WHY???!!!

SHAWNABURGESS

9/22/2010 3:44:35 PM

thanks!

MERRYMARY42

9/17/2010 11:41:24 AM

yes I do not believe the bare feet

THESURVIVORR

9/14/2010 3:06:55 AM

thanks

THINAGIN2

9/13/2010 11:34:44 AM

Although I do not go to a gym this is an interesting article. Thanks

TSUNFIRESE2001

9/13/2010 6:53:47 AM

It drives me up a wall when I work out and watch a person use a machine and NOT wipe it off. I blame the cold i got last week on you!! I'm not one to ever be sick and to be the first one to get sick has to be due to the gym.

RAINEY231

9/12/2010 4:43:36 PM

Recently, I returned to an exercise club and I've been wearing gloves when exercising on machines.

DENJS66

9/10/2010 5:23:59 AM

Every gym should be required to have "steam stations", similar to a central vacuum, where patrons can easily access a steam-vapor machine and do a 1-minute 250 degree sanitize, odor eliminate, kill germs, virus, bacteria, etc. without harsh chemicals or toxic residue.
This alternative clean method should be required by all public facilities, restrooms, restaurants, on tables, bars, chairs, booths, DRINKING FOUNTAINS, doorknobs, schools, etc. Check out the steamers at sargent steam. I have one for my home and its fabulous.

GOSTEPHY

9/8/2010 11:01:34 PM

I go to the gym. Its just a few block away I'm in and out and alway take a bottle of water with.. As alway procausion should be taken at all times .. Must people forget about washing hand and the machines.. So I would whip before and after my uses of it.. And Colds, either sinus or others anytime you have a measure of people in a place.. You are going to have germs.. I guess people just need to be reminded.. dua..

Comment Pages (7 total)

[3]

Report Inappropriate Comment