I'm curious what other gyms want the members to do as far as cleaning the exercise equipment. I'm a member at a pretty basic gym. I'd say half the floor space is occupied with cardio machines. The rest is taken up by weight machines and free weights. The reason I'm posting this is some old dude reprimanded me for not wiping down the equipment when I'm done working out. It's not a written rule that I see anywhere but this gym has spray bottles and cloths for people to wipe down the equipment when they're done working out. I don't do it for a few reasons: 1) I'm not paying a monthly fee to clean equipment. That being said, I'm very good about not wearing street shoes in the gym and I always put away my weights when I'm done. 2) Where do you draw the line? Are we expected to wipe down every free weight plate we touch? Do we have to wipe down the button on the water fountain after we touch it? How about the door handle of the bathroom? 3) I'm not working out on the cardio equipment where people sweat buckets for long periods of time. I'm circuit training, going from one station to the next. Do I need to clean the barbell at the squat rack when I'll just be going right back to it in another 5 minutes? I think if people are concerned about getting germs at the gym, they should take care of their own hygiene by washing their hands when they're done working out. I don't see how cleaning some of the stuff I touch but not all is going to prevent someone from catching my germs. It just seems kind of pointless. Your thoughts?
Nobody cleans shit at my LA Fitness, unless they're drenched in sweat. I've never gotten sick in five years from germs, but I'm also not a hypochondriac and I never get sick in general.
I always wipe the bench or machine when I'm done with it. I don't bother wiping the weights/dumbbells though. You can easily get infected if another dudes sweat gets in an open cut, or even a fresh tattoo. And as someone who often gets little cuts (metalworker), I try to be as safe as possible
No one at my gym will reprimand you for it....but it's common courtesy I wipe down machines and benches after using them, and sometimes before. I take good care of my skin so I'd be pretty pissed if I got something from the gym. Also I live in NYC, so germs are amplified. If everyone wiped down half of the machines they use, there'd be less people getting the damn flu.
They have like a spray bottle that you use if you sweated out this equipment, and chalk that people manage to misuse regularly. That's about it
Ha! I was at work for a few days and just got back to town. Grabbed my gym gear and lo and behold, my key-card no longer works! Ironically, there's a sign on the door telling people to make sure they wear clean shoes because treadmills are breaking down due to rocks and shit getting stuck in them. But let's pick on the guy that ALWAYS wears clean shoes and puts his weights away but doesn't wipe down the treadmill.
My previous gym did have it as a clause that you were responsible for wipeing down the equipment. no sprays or anything, I just always took it as if you get up off the bench and youve left a sweat print you wipe it down with your towel (or they provide blue roll). I wouldnt take it to extend to the weights themselves. My current gym dosnt have anything like that written anywhere. some people do, some people dont. Not sure Iv seen a blue roll dispenser anywhere, but theres a sign in the toilet about not flushing it so i guess either there is one or there used to be one. Iv always got a towel so I havnt been looking ,.
I work in a gym (I'm from the UK btw lol) we clean the equipment ourselves because there's not much to do most of the time apart from sit in the office or clean equipment Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I not visit commercial gym .Me and a couple of friends were sick of being pestered by the employees at the commercial gym here, not being allowed to use chalk, to do Oly lifts, not even having a power rack or a squat rack, so we left all that behind us. We then started a strength/power club in a tiny bomb shelter in the basement of our university. All of us studying Industrial mechanical engineering, it wasn't really a problem to produce what little equipment we needed. Welded up a Power Rack, a prowler, a dip rack, weight racks, made a simple lifting platform. All from metal and materials that were donated to us, or given to us as payment for a bit of manual labor. Its completely free to join us, and use our equipment, but out of 1800 students, we are only 5 who actually do! Now my father consider to buy home gym , treadmill and dumbbells we have already))
If cleaning up after yourself is to much to ask, your not going to have many friends in this world. Like.. I do not even remotely understand why an individual would not want to clean up after themselves, unless their hygiene was just so bad that they did not care.
the best thing i ever saw in a gym were wipe dispensers, so that when you are done you grab a wipe and clean the machine
Man, nobody wants to lay in your nasty sweat. I used to work out at Planet Fitness where they have spray bottles and paper towels for you to use. Don't be a slob and clean up after yourself.
if you are leaving behind a puddle of sweat on the machine.. then wipe it down with a towel. simply common sense and courtesy to others.