I sometimes work out at home, sometimes work out at the gym (depending on time). However, particularly at this time of the year, I worry about diseases on the equimpment at the gym. The gym, even though it looks fairly clean, just has to be a breeding ground for every type of communicable disease.
I know it’s gay to wear gloves but I have started doing so to keep my hands from touching the equipment (when at the gym). Any other tips somebody wants add to avoid gym funk?
If you were to contract any of these bugs you’re worried about it would have to be through contact to a mucus membrane. I don’t think you’d get anything merely from skin contact. With that being said, gloves would not do anything because you’re just as likely to touch your face with gloves while in the gym as you would be without them. So, it makes no matter whether or not you do wear gloves, because either way you can’t touch your face, so gloves really wouldn’t make a difference; assuming that you would wash your hands either way after your workout.
So in closing, just don’t rub your face on any machines and keep your hands away from your face and you’ll be fine.
Gloves are a good idea. I’d say don’t touch your face if you have to wipe off sweat. And of course, wash your hands when you are done lifting. I forget this and it is probably why I just took 2 weeks off from the gym to recover from a virus. Lost 10lbs too.
I have an immune system that takes care of it. So far it’s been working pretty well.
how much more of a germaphobe can you be?
I sincerely doubt a gym has any more germs than a public restroom or any other public place for that matter.
Plus more exposure to germs boosts your immune system (thats why they give us vaccines and why kids eat dirt). I’ve never gotten sick from a gym, just wash your hands after you’re done lifting before you eat.
Take a can of those disposable wipes with you and wipe down the handles and such before you start lifting. My gym even has a couple buckets of these for the members to use.
[quote]Octane wrote:
how much more of a germaphobe can you be?
I sincerely doubt a gym has any more germs than a public restroom or any other public place for that matter.
Plus more exposure to germs boosts your immune system (thats why they give us vaccines and why kids eat dirt). I’ve never gotten sick from a gym, just wash your hands after you’re done lifting before you eat.[/quote]
Ok, so exposure to germs boosts my immune system (PLEASE, nobody cite Nietzche’s “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”…I like Nietzche but that expression has become overused to the point of losing its potency and now sounds like an advertising jingle).
In that case, maybe I should start wiping my ass with my hands
or eating my food off the floor. For that matter, I will save a lot of time by never washing my plates…I’ll just reuse them dirty. Anybody want to shake hands with me or come over to my place to eat? 
I’m not THAT much of a germaphobe. I dont wear surgical masks or spend ten minutes scrubbing my hands 'til their bleeding.
[quote]entheogens wrote:
Octane wrote:
how much more of a germaphobe can you be?
I sincerely doubt a gym has any more germs than a public restroom or any other public place for that matter.
Plus more exposure to germs boosts your immune system (thats why they give us vaccines and why kids eat dirt). I’ve never gotten sick from a gym, just wash your hands after you’re done lifting before you eat.
Ok, so exposure to germs boosts my immune system (PLEASE, nobody cite Nietzche’s “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”…I like Nietzche but that expression has become overused to the point of losing its potency and now sounds like an advertising jingle).
In that case, maybe I should start wiping my ass with my hands
or eating my food off the floor. For that matter, I will save a lot of time by never washing my plates…I’ll just reuse them dirty. Anybody want to shake hands with me or come over to my place to eat?
I’m not THAT much of a germaphobe. I dont wear surgical masks or spend ten minutes scrubbing my hands 'til their bleeding.
[/quote]
Perhaps you can invest in a portable plastic bubble?
[quote]downsouthnick wrote:
Gloves are a good idea. I’d say don’t touch your face if you have to wipe off sweat. And of course, wash your hands when you are done lifting. I forget this and it is probably why I just took 2 weeks off from the gym to recover from a virus. Lost 10lbs too. [/quote]
Are you sure it was from the gym? Judging by your handle, I’d place the blame on some girl…
People can make fun of me all they want. I wash my hands before I go to the gym, never touch my face, spray down equipment if it looks sweaty and after I use it(it will be sweaty ha). Put a towel down on the bench before I lay on it etc. A couple of my buddies were lifting with me for a short while and wouldn’t use towels, rub their eyes and shake hands with people in the gym and it would drive me nuts. How many people do you think touch the 20-50 lb dumbbells in a day? How many of those people probably didn’t wash their hands after they took a shit? I’m not a germaphobe, but I’m also not an idiot and put myself in a extra vulnerable position to get sick.
My tip, use a towel, don’t touch your face or shake hands with people(unless they follow the same rules) in the gym.
[quote]Scott M wrote:
People can make fun of me all they want. I wash my hands before I go to the gym, never touch my face, spray down equipment if it looks sweaty and after I use it(it will be sweaty ha). Put a towel down on the bench before I lay on it etc. A couple of my buddies were lifting with me for a short while and wouldn’t use towels, rub their eyes and shake hands with people in the gym and it would drive me nuts. How many people do you think touch the 20-50 lb dumbbells in a day? How many of those people probably didn’t wash their hands after they took a shit? I’m not a germaphobe, but I’m also not an idiot and put myself in a extra vulnerable position to get sick.
My tip, use a towel, don’t touch your face or shake hands with people(unless they follow the same rules) in the gym. [/quote]
Lol no, you ARE a germaphobe. How many of those people who touch the 20-50 lb dumbells get sick as a result of touching them?
I guess I am in the gym, but when I look at how often I’m sick compared to my friends it’s a joke. They can laugh at me for spraying equipment or giving a pound instead of handshake etc, but I’m not the one who 1-3 times a month is saying “dude I feel like total crap today, can’t get out of bed”.
Do I know if they get sick from the gym? No, but we go to the same places, live in the same general area, have the same friends, I am precautious at the gym, they aren’t. Draw your own conclusions.
I can’t afford to be sick since I go to school full time and work full time as well, so germaphobe or not, I’m not taking my chances.
Well, drug-resistant staph has been floating around in elementary and middle school gymnasiums in recent years. But when it comes to adults, I haven�??t seen much about these diseases outside of the gay bathhouse gyms in some of the big west coast cities and New York.
As long as you work at a gym where everybody keep their shirts on and the staff is wiping stuff down after hours, you should be ok.
Just wear gloves when you are in the gym. I never used to cause I though it wasn’t cool.
Then I started wearing full gloves and it protected my hands and nobody cared. If you think someone will really care or means anything that you wear gloves-it won’t.
[quote]entheogens wrote:
…
I know it’s gay to wear gloves …[/quote]
It is gay to have sex with another man.
Ronnie Coleman wears gloves.