Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Original poster

To think you shouldn’t stink of sweat at the gym?

200 replies

Allthestarskendrick · 03/05/2018 13:38

At the gym this morning, finished my workout on the treadmill and there was a man there that smelt so badly of BO, he wasn’t even that close to me.

Fresh sweat doesn’t smell. Stale sweat does.

OP posts:

eggsandchips · 03/05/2018 19:07

I also think fresh sweat can smell if the person has had a spicy meal or whatever the night before. I don't mind fresh sweat. But stale BO is nauseating. 🤮

BitOutOfPractice · 03/05/2018 19:10

eggsandchips (I want to eat egg and chips now!) I know what you mean. I look around at some of my classes, everyone is 40+ yet they insist on playing Kanye or such like. Drives me mad!

ProperLavs · 03/05/2018 19:35

I knew a bloke who refused to wear deodorant because he said it was toxic and of course he stank to high heaven. That was way more toxic IMO. So glad i don't ever have to go to a gym again.

BitOutOfPractice · 03/05/2018 19:39

I realise I haven't exactly been effusive in my praise for my gym on this thread but I do actually love it and most people are lovely and the trainers are all great

Nakedavenger74 · 03/05/2018 19:44

Oh god. I'm a bikram yoga regular. In that room everyone sweats until it is pouring off.
Clothes you have worn could be literally wrung out. They are as wet with sweat as if you'd ducked them in a bucket of water.

I can tell you now. Fresh sweat doesn't smell. It does start to smell once bacteria get to work. Couple of hours after maybe.

Have to get my gear in the wash that night or the laundry room will start to Ming.

Sometimes I've popped them on a low temp cycle or forgotten laundry powder and the gym gear is pretty honky

Idontdowindows · 03/05/2018 19:46

Fresh sweat doesn't smell.

That is NOT true for everyone, for goodness sake.

MrsJBaptiste · 03/05/2018 19:56

I'm all for looking after the environment and keeping washing to a minimum but my gym clothes are usually dripping after I've been and definitely need washing every time! Saying that, some people just don't sweat (my mum for one) and others do the bare minimum in the gym so probably don't need to wash their clothes or shower!

IbizaLovesSundays · 03/05/2018 19:59

I regularly wear gym clothes more than once before washing. I regularly wear my leggings 2 or 3 times a week before washing. Sports bras I will wear twice or more if I've just been doing a stretching workout. Tops I will wash after each go unless it's been a not very sweaty session. I also regularly wear my jeans for a week or two at a time without washing. If they get something on them I clean the area. People wash clothes far too much, the chemicals in washing powder are bad for your skin, running the washer is bad for the environment and washing gym clothes made of synthetic fibres every day would mean that every day I would be washing plastic microfibers into the sea. I already have a Cora ball to catch microfibers but it only grabs 30-40% of them.

Its a myth that you need to wash every item of clothing after every use.

eggsandchips · 03/05/2018 20:55

@bitoutofpractice glad its not just me! Argh! I hate it if I forget my earphones and I have to listen to the stuff they play...and sometimes its turned up really loud - even in the changing room!!!

Nowt like a bit of chips with fried or poached dippy egg btw ;)

BitOutOfPractice · 03/05/2018 21:00

Its a myth that you need to wash every item of clothing after every use

I agree in general. But I think clothes that are literally wet with sweat are an exception to that rule

megletthesecond · 03/05/2018 21:13

I'm not at all sweaty but even my yoga top smells when I've left it on a hook to wear running (outdoors) a couple of days later. It's the bacteria kicking in that makes it smell.

Nakedavenger74 · 03/05/2018 21:31

We get people coming to bikram who smell sweaty from their day. The smell goes as soon as the sweat starts running like a tap. It literally washes off the old ming!

Original poster

Allthestarskendrick · 03/05/2018 23:16

One of them was about me I think. I'm vile apparently.
I'm not too worried because I'm fairly sure that I'm not actually vile.

I didn’t say you were vile. But your habits of wearing gym clothes three times in a row is vile. But you seem quite happy with your rankness, I just feel bad for the people that workout next to you.

OP posts:

FASH84 · 03/05/2018 23:21

The only piece of gym clothing I wear more than once is a zip up hoodie I wear there and take off once inside, before working out. I have noticed that if I've just gotten over a cold I smell like onions when I sweat and I don't usually at all. I made DH sniff me he confirmed and said I was gross. It's happened twice both times just after a cold.

user1473256244 · 03/05/2018 23:38

Soak your gym clothes in diluted white wine vinegar to get rid of any lingering sweat smells. Cheaper than special sports wash and probably the same ingredients/chemical reaction

DuchyDuke · 03/05/2018 23:43

Generally the more healthy bacteria you have in your body, the more your sweat will smell. It’s normal. Nothing to do with stale vs fresh.

PlainOldJosephineMary · 04/05/2018 00:34

OP you come across like a right twat, just FYI

CaptainCabinets · 04/05/2018 00:48

Just get on with your workout and mind your own business!

He might run/cycle to the gym or do a class prior to using the main gym so be sweating already. He might’ve eaten something oniony/garlicky the night before. He might be hairy so is trapping sweat in his body hair (my DP is very hairy and he hums after a busy day at his very physical job or after a gym session!)

If you’re so concerned, why not tell a member of gym staff that a man is working out and sweating in the gym and wait for their reaction

CurlyWurlyTwirly · 04/05/2018 00:58

I shower before I leave the house even if I am going to the gym.
Quick 2 min shower after workout and into clean clothes or straight home in workout clothes to shower.

Yanbu. Whatever source of the sweat, fresh bo, dirty clothes etc. It is just good manners to not smell in the presence of other people.

Fwiw, my pt & owner of the my gym is showered wearing after shave and in workout clothes every day. He works out before lunch, then is in fresh clothes for the afternoon session.

LadyLoveYourWhat · 04/05/2018 01:09

My husband wears clean exercise gear every time he runs, but he still smells rank when he gets back. Some people's "fresh sweat" does smell.

LadyLoveYourWhat · 04/05/2018 01:11

It is just good manners to not smell in the presence of other people.

😂 You might as well ask people to stop being human.

TheOriginalEmu · 04/05/2018 01:18

news flash....people don't owe you anything, if he wants to wear clothes without washing them between gym visits, then he can. there might be a million reasons why he can't/won't wash them. mind your own business.

imweirdandcool · 04/05/2018 08:44

I agree some people absolutely stink at the gym I don't get it

Original poster

Allthestarskendrick · 04/05/2018 09:13

Just get on with your workout and mind your own business

It’s my business when my nostrils are getting invaded by someone’s lack of hygiene.

OP posts:

Original poster

Allthestarskendrick · 04/05/2018 09:16

OP you come across like a right twat, just FYI

aww was that suppose to hurt my feelings?

You come across as uneducated, for the fact you had to resort to name calling.

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8