Clean Yourself Up…

Cleanliness is important, especially as it relates to physical fitness. This means cleaning yourself, as well as cleaning the equipment you use. When you work out, you sweat. That’s no big secret. So, what happens if you don’t clean up properly? Believe it or not, it can be quite important to your overall health. It sure as hell affects the people around you, when you don’t.

Sweat is your body’s main function to control overall body temperature. You get too hot from working out, you sweat. Pretty simple, right? There are a few problems with that. Your body has pores, and that’s usually where your sweat comes from. Over the course of the day, your pores fill up with dirt, dust and bacteria. Part of your body’s sweating function is to eliminate all of that. You know, along with the elimination of a bunch of other nasty stuff. But it’s the bacterial content that usually makes sweat smell bad.

There’s nothing worse than an unwashed body. I know a lot of guys who go to the gym, then sit in their own sweat for the remainder of the day. The thing is, sweat is composed of ammonia, salts and urea. In case you’re not familiar with that last one, it’s one of the main components of piss. That’s right… Sweating is basically pissing out of every pore in your body. If that doesn’t gross you out enough, think about laying on a piece of gym equipment that hasn’t been wiped down!

If you don’t shower or clean yourself up, your pores will tend to clog as the sweat dries. Not only does that lead to some pretty nasty “B.O.” but it can also lead to rashes, infections and illness. Even if you don’t work out regularly, you can potentially face these issues if you DON’T wash your body on a regular basis. When you don’t bathe regularly, it can lead to a build up of dirt, sweat and bacteria. That’s where you’ll start to notice increased acne and sores, rashes and skin issues.

This might seem like a pretty obvious post, and I don’t think I’m sharing any new information. But I’ve trained in enough gyms and dojos to know that a lot of people don’t take personal hygiene to heart. And the big clue is when someone has an extreme level of funk BEFORE working out. And there are those, and those are they, who make the gym all the more difficult for others. Don’t take wiping down gym equipment for granted. Not only for yourself, but for other users. Launder your damn karate gi or gym gear and for the love of all the light, shower or bathe daily! Ax Body Spray is not a substitute for soap! ☯