10 Tips to Ensure a Germ-Free Gym Workout
Routine trips to the gym for exercise can help boost your health and fitness, but you might leave the facility with a nasty infection by not guarding against germs.
Infectious disease experts warn that from barbells to cardio machines, more gyms are hotbeds for the much-dreaded antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA infection, as sweaty people share equipment, exercise mats and locker rooms.
Dr. R. Doug Hardy, a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, says MRSA, a staph infection, is transmitted when skin contacts contaminated surfaces.
MRSA is difficult to treat because it can attack bones and blood, thus becoming a potentially deadly disease. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that MRSA causes 90,000 serious infections a year and 17,000 deaths.
Although 80 percent of the MRSA infections occur in hospitals, federal health officials say they’ve found MRSA in the inside seating area and outside seating areas of steambaths.
In 2004, an MRSA outbreak occurred among football players at Western Carolina University, and doctors trace it right back to the locker room, shared towels, equipment and mats.
But gyms also are breeding grounds for fungi, protozoa, viruses and other bacteria, surviving on the surface of shared gym equipment or towels, just waiting to infect the body through an open wound, causing red, swollen, painful, and even fatal, skin infections.
To avoid carrying MRSA and other bacteria home with you, try to follow these tips:
• make sure the gym staff keeps all of the facility clean and dry, and that the air is property ventilated;• bandage any skin that have cuts or abrasions;
• do not share personal items, such as towels;
• use a barrier, such as clothing or a towel, between your skin and equipment;
• wipe surfaces of equipment before and after use;
• wash your hands before and after workouts;
• bring and use your own clean towel only for mopping your sweat rather than drying your hands;
• avoid touching your mouth, eyes or face, since most germs are transmitted this way;
• wear sandals in the locker room, shower and sauna;
• Sit on a towel in the sauna to avoid contact with the seat.
Source: Nubella
(by Marcela Vanharova)
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[…] Reading through I’m seeing some great articles with solid references. If you work out at the gym you’ll especially want to read the one on having a germ-free gym workout. There are plenty of really nasty bugs you can catch at the gym if you aren’t careful, such as antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus aureus. And yet avoiding such bugs is a relatively simple matter of being careful. […]
Pingback left on December 17, 2006 @ 6:38 pm
[…] So, do you want to hear my latest excuse for why I haven’t done my little Walk Away the Pounds DVD? Our DVD player is broken. And it has been for like, two months now. So the kids have also been without Baby Einstein, which has been all kinds of weird. And it’s cold out, so I’m not walking anywhere outside either. I seriously, for real, no, I really do mean it, need to start exercising and really stick with it. I’ve been so frustrated that I’m not losing any more weight on WW, and I know it’s because I’m not working out! Did you watch any of the Biggest Loser this season - those people dropped ridiculous amounts of weight, and it was mostly due to them working out like crazy! I really, really, really want to make fitness more of a priority in my life. I was just reading this blog by a personal trainer, and she had an entry about how to ensure a germ free workout - haha! Like that’s a concern for me. I need a blog entry all about how to motivate myself to quit being a lazy slacker. It was interesting to read about the Top 5 Weight Loss Trends in 2007. Except for the past week or so that we’ve been stuck in the house (thanks, blizzard!) and had Christmas fudge sitting in a tin on the counter, I’ve been doing pretty well with my diet all month. I’m glad I’m going to be entering the new year already “in the mode,” so to speak. […]
Pingback left on December 23, 2006 @ 2:23 am
[…] Have you ever thought about personal training? Check out the No Excuses Gym blog. I love the post about germ-free gym workouts and the 20 Ways to Squeeze Exercise Into Your Life list is good. […]
Pingback left on December 26, 2006 @ 7:02 am
[…] Anyways. A blog interested in fitness women [sic] is nothing to sneeze at. The posts so far are pretty basic, and a lot of common knowledge but I’m sure that once it gets going it will be lots of really great info. I particularly like the reminders for a germ free workout which just proved all my concerns regarding the gym I was at to be absolute idoits when it came to their removal of towel service, since most people just didn’t end up using towels on the equipment which was disgusting. Gross. Seriously. […]
Pingback left on December 26, 2006 @ 12:44 pm