Gym clothes still not fresh after being washed - any advice?

[coffeeandcream]

Evening all,

DH and I work out quite hard and we both, ahem, 'perspire' quite a lot. I wash our gym kit every time it is used, quite often on 60 degrees but even then, afterwards it still smells a bit, well, sweaty.

Any tips?

C&C.

Is it wicking material - fairly renowned for retaining an odour sorry!

I wash several times and run alone in the fresh air

Check your washing machine filter - my machine gets less efficient if it's getting bunged up with fluff. Cut the load size too, to give it more room to zwizz.

Change to a biological washing powder/liquid - should let it munch up the straggling sweat proteins a bit.

May even be worth a boil wash occasionally to keep it under control.

Then dry properly either on a line or tumble so not staying claggy and getting musty after use.

Next time you restock, either go for the fancy fabrics that wick sweat through and dry quickly or really cheap stuff that you can chuck out when it gets too bad!

Soak in a mix of white vinegar and cold water before washing. I do about 50/50. Then dry outside if you can.

You can also get special sports wash stuff in Tesco but to be honest, I find ordinary non-bio plus the vinegar/fresh air treatment works best (this is for DP's running gear by the way, man-made fabrics that come back sodden - boak)

Thanks, I'm going to try the vinegar thing.

My absolute favourite running capris have started to smell like an old dishcloth

A second vote for vinegar (although I'm a cheapskate and use good old malt). I use vinegar on DH and DS's sweaty squash gear, I also add a tbs of washing soda.

Thanks everyone - will give these tips a go xxx

Ooh, I have this problem too. I tried giving the underarms of my running top a good rub with a Vanish stain stick before washing, and that does seem to have helped. I'll try vinegar next time.

Fortunately the only time I wear my sweaty running gear is when I am doing sweaty running, so I'm not too concerned.