Active discussions

Help end medical misogyny. Sign our petition.

Help end medical misogyny.
Sign our petition.

Sign the petition

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you shower before going to the gym in the morning?

171 replies

Soontobeoutnumbered3 · 10/01/2022 20:47

For those of you who get up and go straight to the gym; do you shower at home beforehand?

I always jump in to the shower for a quick freshen up before leaving the house and heading to the gym. I then have a “proper” shower, including hair washing, after my gym session before getting in with my day.

There are some people at the gym who I actively avoid standing near as they have a “musty” smell and I don’t like to be around it.

So, AIBU to assume that it’s polite (can’t think of a better word) to shower before the gym even if it is the first thing you’re going to do that day?

OP posts:
LuckyMeISeeGhosts · 11/01/2022 01:47

24 hours?? That’s gross - I’m pretty sure I’d stink and would be sticking to the furniture 🤮

Must just be you.

Omicrone · 11/01/2022 07:25

24 hours?? That’s gross - I’m pretty ; I’d stink and would be sticking to the furniture

Really? Perhaps a trip to your GP is in order?

JustDanceAddict · 11/01/2022 07:28

No way! I stick a bit of deodorant on.

MakeUsACuppa · 11/01/2022 08:42

I have a shower every hour on the hour & can't believe no-one else does Wink

The world or possibly just Mumsnet has gone mad, if you have to constantly shower you clearly have issues.

Frymetothemoon · 11/01/2022 08:46

No way, my skin would never forgive me!!! It's also a total waste of water. I think you'll find the musty smell is coming from the clothes, or their bags, or the lockers, rather than the people

blobby10 · 11/01/2022 09:08

Why do people put deodorant on to go to the gym? Isn't it healthier to let your skin sweat properly? And how close to you get to people at the gym that they would be able to smell a bit of sweat?!!

I am in my gym by 5am - up at 4.45am two pints of water, clean teeth then dressed and out, brisk walk there (1.2 mile). I do just over an hour and sweat --- lots. Then walk home and into the shower to get ready for work. Never occurs to me to put deodorant on.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 11/01/2022 09:28

why are people getting up in the middle of the night to go to the gym?

This! 4.45? Shock

If I go to the gym I’d usually go in the evening and the shower before bed. I’m an evening showerer anyway.

Or if I went on the weekend, in the middle of the day, I’d have my shower straight afterwards but not before. Surely that’s a massive waste.

There’s some extremely excessive showering going on on here!

FirewomanSam · 11/01/2022 09:31

I just am such a slattern compared with these standards, and yet our washing machine is never off, we wash stuff every day and never catch up, so I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong if everyone else is successfully doing three or four times as much as me and getting through the laundering, folding and putting away too.

Me too! I feel like I’m obsessed with laundry. My wash basket is constantly full and I feel like I’m forever doing household laundry (towels, cloths, tea towels, sheets and all that) and I don’t wash my sheets or towels nearly as much as people here seem to claim to. How do they have time for anything else?! I don’t even have kids, it’s just me, husband and the dog!

As for this thread… honestly, the ever-growing list of things that MNers will proclaim ‘grim’ and ‘vile’ is getting beyond ridiculous. It’s basically a competitive sport now.

Unless you have a very physical job or a medical condition there is no reason why you should wake up less than 24 hours after your previous shower ponging so badly that you need a shower, lest you offend the nostrils of someone standing metres away from you in a gym class! It’s not grim or vile or minging or disgusting to wait until after the gym for a shower in the morning, it’s completely and utterly normal.

(And this is coming from someone who my husband says has the ‘nose of a bloodhound’)

If you personally feel better having a shower before your gym class then crack on, but please drop the faux-horror at the thought of anyone else not doing the same. It’s extremely silly and a bit sad that so many people here seem to get off on feeling superior to others because of their ridiculous ‘hygiene’ standards.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 11/01/2022 09:58

Why why why are people getting up to go to the gym at 4:45?

This is the middle of the night! What time do you go to bed?’

Dontsayyouloveme · 11/01/2022 10:38

ArseInTheCoOpWindow shift workers

CounsellorTroi · 11/01/2022 10:46

No. I went to a few spin classes starting at 6.45 and just put on deodorant, brushed teeth and went. Haven’t been for a while as I’m retired and just couldn’t face the dark cold mornings!

coogee · 11/01/2022 10:53

Unless you have a very physical job or a medical condition there is no reason why you should wake up less than 24 hours after your previous shower ponging so badly that you need a shower

Medical conditions apart, diet can also make some people extra stinky.

That could explain why some posters feel the need to shower every five minutes.

FunnyMummy2214 · 11/01/2022 10:56

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

PattyPan · 11/01/2022 12:06

No I only shower afterwards. If I showered beforehand as well my skin would be like the Sahara!

DynamiteFilledRadish · 11/01/2022 12:08

FFS no. The obsessive showering on here is something to behold.

DynamiteFilledRadish · 11/01/2022 12:12

ALSO: can we cross reference this thread with the ones about towel washing, as many people on those wash their towels after every use

As a wise man (Nick Miller) once said. I don't wash the towel, the towel washes me.

waterlego · 11/01/2022 12:16

No. I do two classes most days, sometimes three. I shower (very briefly, no hair washing) after each one. Showering before each one as well would be ridiculous.

To clarify: I do wash my hair, but only once a week or so.

PattyPan · 11/01/2022 12:41

@Gardeniafleur

ALSO: can we cross reference this thread with the ones about towel washing, as many people on those wash their towels after every use.

Does this correlate with the three times a day showerers, as in do you find yourself washing 21 bath towels a week? Do your family do similar to you?

Plus then clean clothes each time…?

I just am such a slattern compared with these standards, and yet our washing machine is never off, we wash stuff every day and never catch up, so I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong if everyone else is successfully doing three or four times as much as me and getting through the laundering, folding and putting away too.

I always think we should cross-reference these threads with the ‘wah my energy bill is so high’ threads!
Justcantdeal · 11/01/2022 12:44

I go to the gym in the evening and always have a quick shower before it.

eyeseeyou · 11/01/2022 12:57

Don't you have to wear masks? Maybe your masks smell?

dementedpixie · 11/01/2022 12:59

@eyeseeyou

Don't you have to wear masks? Maybe your masks smell?
No you don't wear masks while working out
eyeseeyou · 11/01/2022 13:05

Yes, but OP said she smelt the people before working out.

PurpleDaisies · 11/01/2022 13:06

No.

3dogsnorth · 11/01/2022 13:06

I would, I like to feel fresh before I leave the house. And I totally get what OP says about the "smell". Years ago I used to get an early bus to work and it stank of unwashed people. Turned my stomach 🤢

inheritancetrack · 11/01/2022 13:17

A wash of course, but shower after.