Exercise is a sweaty routine for most people, and if you work out in a gym, you’ll be

using gym equipment that other people have also used. Therefore, your sweat and

other people’s sweat provides an ideal environment for bacterial growth, and the

spread of harmful strains of bacteria – even if the equipment is wiped down after

each use.

Luckily, there are many new and exciting developments in technology, designed to kill bacteria and keep the conditions of the gym less vulnerable to the spread of germs.
Here’s a quick list of new technologies and why they’re useful.

• Moisture Wicking Clothes: this is a new fabric designed to wick sweat away from the body by drawing the sweat away from the skin and to the surface of the material, where it evaporates.
• Antimicrobial Clothes: this is a development on moisture wicking clothes. Here, the material is embedded with products that naturally kill forms of bacteria – making less body odour and potentially killing any harmful microbes.
• Bacteria-killing paint: this is a new type of microbicidal paint that kills 99% of bacteria within two hours of exposure on paint surfaces. This could have many potential uses, and would be very helpful in gyms and changing rooms

However, exercising in a gym is always going to be more susceptible to disease causing bacteria, and the main thing is to ensure that exercise equipment is always clean and disinfected. New technologies are advancing and hopefully the environment in a gym will improve over time.