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As the COVID-19 pandemic shut down fitness centers around the U.S., many exercisers scrambled to build a home gym that would suffice for a (hopefully) short period of time until they reopened. But a funny thing happened: Many of us began to prefer working out at home versus a gym — even as fitness centers in some parts of the country opened their doors — and plan to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
Whether you've created a complete garage gym, purchased a few pieces of essential equipment like dumbbells and resistance bands, or just use a mat and your own body weight, you've probably wondered at some point: How often do I really have to clean my own workout equipment? After all, you're not sharing it with a bunch of other sweaty gym-goers, so it's probably a lot safer... right?
Not so fast. "You probably need to clean your home workout space a lot more frequently than you think," says Dr. George Nelson, MD, an epidemiologist and infectious diseases physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. While there are many reasons for cleaning your home gym like controlling odors and simply having a tidy, presentable area, it's also essential from a health perspective to control the spread of germs, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. These bugs are the culprits for a range of health issues such as staph infections, the common cold, athlete's foot, and more.
While the length of time bacteria, viruses, and fungi can survive on surfaces varies, their hardiness might surprise you. Bacteria can survive on hard surfaces for days and even months under the right (or in this case, wrong) conditions, Nelson says. Common cold viruses can last several hours to days, and the virus that causes COVID-19 has been shown to live on metal surfaces for up to three days.
How often do you need to clean your home gym?A general rule of thumb would be to wipe down "high-touch surfaces," such as dumbbells, mats, or a bench, after every use, Nelson recommends. The reason: "You can serve as an unwitting courier for bacteria from anything you've come in contact with during the day — think: subway rail, grocery cart, your coworker's desk," he explains.
If you share equipment with someone else, even if they live in your household, you'll also want to disinfect surfaces in addition to wiping them down after each use, Nelson adds.
Ideally, you should do a deep clean at least once a month, and potentially more often. The frequency depends on how often you use your home gym as well as the conditions of the environment — if the circulation is poor or if it's a damp space, for instance, you might need to deep clean more often, Nelson says.
Deep cleans should include soaking mats, letting disinfectants sit on surfaces longer, and cleaning items used less frequently that aren't cleaned as regularly as high-use items. Note that disinfectants have a "dwell time," meaning the time the solution has to be in contact with the bacteria for a certain length of time to do its job, Nelson says. In other words, if you wipe off disinfectant right away, you can compromise its effectiveness, so be sure to take a look at the directions before using a disinfectant, he recommends.
How to clean your home gym equipmentBefore using disinfectant, start with plain old soap and water, a damp cloth, or a dry dust cloth depending on what your equipment can handle, Nelson recommends. Be sure to unplug all electronics first, and avoid drenching anything with electrical input or output, like the display on a spin bike.
First, you'll need to remove visible dirt and particles, because those will "serve as a barricade to protect any resident bugs," Nelson says. Then, choose a disinfectant that kills bacteria and viruses. In addition to the recommendations below, check out the CDC's official guidelines for disinfecting your home here.
A note of caution: "Many clear plastic displays and housings are made from polycarbonate, which has low chemical resistance to base alcohol solutions found in cleaners such as Lysol, Windex, and bleach," explains Alex Davis, a fitness expert and former plastics engineer. You've likely seen the effects of hard cleaners on credit card checkout kiosks and the like, with cracked panels and erased number keys. For polycarbonate equipment, wash displays with only mild dish soap and water with a soft material, as sponges can also scratch displays, Davis advises.
During your monthly deep clean, take extra care to clean areas that might get overlooked, such as the floor, handlebars, chairs, foam rollers, resistance bands, and yoga blocks. Don't forget about your phone and headphones, too.
Finally, think about wearables: "If you wear the same watch for exercise and daily use, consider taking it off after vigorous exercise to let your skin breath and give it a quick wipe down so sweat and bacteria aren't trapped up against your skin," Nelson recommends.
These recommendations and precautions are only half the battle — you'll also want to make sure you have the right products on hand. To help, I've rounded up a selection of the products I've used (and enjoyed) the most in keeping my gym equipment, workout space, and clothing clean.
Here are the best products for cleaning home gym equipment