Do you clean your home gym? I’m guessing if you do, it’s probably not enough. There could be germs lurking on your weights, machines and mats that can give off foul odors or make you sick. Here’s why you should keep your home gym equipment clean and how to clean your fitness equipment.

The importance of cleaning your home gym

It may seem silly to clean your own gym equipment because you, and the people you live with, are the only ones that touch it. Even if you’re not sharing your equipment with a stranger’s germs, it’s still important to clean.

Say one day you somehow got Staphylococcus aureus on your hands while you were on the subway home. Then, you hopped on the treadmill for a quick workout without washing your hands. That bacteria on your hands is responsible for staph infections and now it’s on your treadmill handles and buttons.

Guess what? That bacteria can live there happily for three days, spreading to everyone else who uses your treadmill, and back to yourself during later workouts.

This isn’t the only bacteria that lives on your home gym equipment either, so it makes sense that you need to not only clean your equipment, but sanitize it. What is the difference between cleaning and sanitizing home gym equipment? Sanitizing kills bacteria that can make you sick while cleaning just removes surface dirt.

What supplies do you need for sanitizing fitness equipment?

Many people make their own cleaning solutions from vinegar or bleach to clean their gym equipment. Don’t do that. Rubber floors, rubber handles, wood floors, resistance bands and other fitness items can be damaged by these DIY cleaners.

How to clean your home gym

Cleaning your home gym isn’t too difficult, but there are several different surfaces you need to pay attention to. Here’s each area and how to clean it.

Floors
One place people overlook when cleaning their home gyms is their flooring. You get down there to stretch, do sit-ups or do yoga, so it should be clean, too. The cleaning you do depends on the type of floor.

Wood floors are tricky surfaces to clean. There’s a lot of argument online over what you can use to safely disinfect wood floors without damaging them. Skip the home remedies you may find on the internet and go with a disinfectant cleanser specifically made for hardwood floors and follow the directions closely.

Also, be sure to clean the floor with a dust mop before going at it with a disinfectant solution.