Your Exercise Equipment – How to Clean it

Anyone who’s ever been to a gym and put in a seriously good workout can understand what we mean when we say the last thing anyone wants to do is clean exercise equipment. It’s sort of a catch-22 situation, right? Exercise equipment needs to be cleaned the most immediately after use, but that’s when the people who used the equipment are the most fatigued, and therefore may not possess the energy or will power to clean (which most people already don’t enjoy doing).

If you’re in the business of exercise equipment, you don’t have much of a choice anyway. Chances are, also, that your exercise equipment cleaning responsibilities aren’t coinciding with your workouts. Whatever the case is, here’s how to clean your exercise equipment:

The Standard Cleaning Cycle

The entire cycle of cleaning equipment – every step on the process including the actual cleaning of equipment, the preparation before, and the steps taken after – is accepted as follows: wash your hands, wear appropriate PPE, clean (disinfect, sanitize or sterilize) by wiping in the same direction, leave surfaces wet for recommended time, and once finished, dispose of PPE and wash your hands again.

Floors

Floors can and should be considered exercise equipment because they’re often used for various exercises. Plus, they receive the same contaminants stemming from the use of other exercise equipment. Vacuuming through the day and wet mopping once a day is critical. Also, for mats and other portable flooring material, disinfecting after each use is necessary.

Cardio Machines

Cardio machines, including treadmills, cycling bikes, ellipticals, and more, can be tricky to clean because of their size, shape, and difficulty of access to certain parts especially including inside the machines. Like every other type of exercise equipment, you need to clean (disinfect, sanitize and/or sterilize) the entire surface area. Because cardio machines are so big and bulky, it’s important not to fall victim to only performing your cardio machine cleaning duties on high touchpoint areas. The use of such equipment guarantees that sweat and other bodily fluids, as well as the circulation of air mixed with heavy breathing, will spread not only all over the machine, but in the areas surrounding each cardio machine.

Free Weights & Benches

Because of the variable size, weight and shape of free weights and benches, cleaning these types of exercise equipment can be difficult. One thing is for certain, though: they need to be disinfected immediately after each use, and more comprehensively at the end of the day after the exercise equipment is no longer available for use.

The good thing is that the process is simple and you don’t need many supplies. Whether you prefer disinfecting by way of wet wipes or the traditional spray bottle and paper towels, or to invest in and use new electro disinfecting technology devices, all you need to do is apply and wipe the entire surface area of each piece of equipment.