Stay Clean Before and After a Workout

It might seem like common sense to thoroughly wash up after a workout, especially since any credible gym worth their salt will have full showers and other ways to clean off after a workout. However, according to an article from The New York Times entitled, "Be Sure Exercise Is All You Get at the Gym", it seems as if more and more people aren't washing up after a workout, the reprecussions of which one Philadelphia resident found out the hard way.

Apparently after wrestling in order to work out, Kyle Frey got what looked like a pimple on his arm. Thinking that's all it was, he tried to ignore it...and ended up in the emergency room with MRSA, a possibly fatal staphylococcus infection that is resistant to many antibiotics once the infection grew to the size of his biceps. Mr. Frey ended up being in the hospital for five days and had to have the infection surgically removed and cleaned.

According to Jack Foley, athletic trainer and director of sports medicine at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, one in three people in the United States has a skin disease that can be spread to others. Given how often people touch the equipment at gyms, and how quickly these germs can spread, the article suggests liberal hand washing as well as thorough self-cleaning in the shower after a workout.