Smelly gym gear in bag all day? 5 January 2016 at 11:49AM in Sports & fitness MoneySaving 19 replies 6.6K views

ktcoil

Hi guys


Any idea of how I can keep my gym gear smelly free, I go to the gym at 6am in the morning and have a shower, my gym gear gets swetty as working out hard, I have started taking my trainers out and putting them on the floor in my car and keeping my gym gear separate in a plastic bag then taking the shower towel too, is there anything you could suggest to keep them from smelling my car out as I have to drive straight to work from the gym and do a full shift, also takes almost 1 hr each way to work?


thanks

w211

Those little bags of silica gel you find when you buy shoes, electrical equipment etc., may help. They soak up the moisture.

Throw a few of those in your gym bag.

You can buy them off eBay, or look around (or any relatives), Xmas presents, hopefully not yet thrown away.

heartbreak_star

Odour-Eater soles in bag as well

HBS x

Starlet

I havent had this problem, but have you thought of just throwing away your current gym clothes and buying new ones? Maybe it smells a lot because it is getting old and has seen better days. I dont know if you're a man or woman, but a basic t-shirt should only cost you a few pounds from primark and leggings are really cheap as well.

If you absolutely love your gym clothes for whatever reason and dont want to throw it away, then have you thought of washing them at 60*C, long wash, using a strong-smelling laundry detergent, and strong-smelling fabric conditioner? That's what I do to clothes that I love and I've had no problem...However, I dont know what your gym clothes are made of, e.g. they might be made of that plastic-y lycra material so it might shrink if you wash it at high temperatures.

Bicarbonate of soda is supposed to be a very good odour remover...but I dont know how you would use that to your advantage because it might not be a good idea to sprinkle that in your trainers (The last thing you want is to mess up your shoes, and then feel horrible crystal things between your toes while youre running...haha!)

I hope this helps!

cazs

Starlet wrote: »

I havent had this problem, but have you thought of just throwing away your current gym clothes and buying new ones? Maybe it smells a lot because it is getting old and has seen better days. I dont know if you're a man or woman, but a basic t-shirt should only cost you a few pounds from primark and leggings are really cheap as well.

If you absolutely love your gym clothes for whatever reason and dont want to throw it away, then have you thought of washing them at 60*C, long wash, using a strong-smelling laundry detergent, and strong-smelling fabric conditioner? That's what I do to clothes that I love and I've had no problem...However, I dont know what your gym clothes are made of, e.g. they might be made of that plastic-y lycra material so it might shrink if you wash it at high temperatures.

Bicarbonate of soda is supposed to be a very good odour remover...but I dont know how you would use that to your advantage because it might not be a good idea to sprinkle that in your trainers (The last thing you want is to mess up your shoes, and then feel horrible crystal things between your toes while youre running...haha!)

I hope this helps!

Yeah a hotter than usual wash is good. When I do my gym gear at 40 degrees sometimes taking it out of the machine, it doesn't smell clean because I think the bacteria have set up permanently in the fibres or some such but doing it on a hotter wash and adding extra detergent and doing a long wash does help.
Also you might find a can of Oust handy to cover it up at least.

prosaver

i use to sweat in the gym and you only get bad smell from old sweat meeting new sweat, same with you body ...fresh new sweat doesnt smell .
there i go again, im i saying sweat too many times?

ktcoil

Hi guys


The clothes are newish, they smell fine when I wash them and wear to the gym its just once I have done a crazy workout and there sopping wet with sweat and there sat in my car they just make my car then smell and unsure what it will smell like when its hotter getting into summer.

heartbreak_star

Can you air them out at work? A few of our lot cycle in and hang their stuff up in the loo.

HBS x

the_camanachd_kid

Dead simple. Put one of those fabric conditioner sheets for tumble dryers in your bag. The moisture from your kit will be enough to activate it and your kit and bag won't stink

jenniewb

OP have you ever thought what could be causing the sweat smell? I agree that sweat doesn't smell great anyway but if the smell is especially bad it could either be because the gym kit isn't being cleaned properly enough (there are products which are designed for sports such as Halo) or because the clothes aren't being washed at a high enough temperature.


Also, consider what you eat; sweat isn't what smells bad, it's the bacteria it comes in to contact with that smells bad. Try looking at foods which are very spicy or "hot" as these often add to the sweat smell. Things like currys or chillis or with added flavors to food you'd otherwise eat (eg curry flavoured crisps and so on). Also foods high in sugar which can affect hormones and so how you smell when you do sweat.


Added to this, make sure you wash with a shower gel which actually works. Some just smell OK but don't actually do a lot to clean off all the bacteria on your skin. Clear washes will do more than creamy based washes most of the time IME and exfoliation is helpful once or twice a week for deeper cleaning (if you then follow up with a shower gel in the same shower it gets rid of any debris scrubbed at by the exfoliation). Don't overuse shower gels when you do use them but remember to wash/scrub for long enough and to be using enough product when you do. Water alone wont really get the bacteria from your skin and though anti-bacterial products have been proven to not get rid of all bacteria the way they used to boast, they are going to do something rather than a watered down shower gel which I've seen in many gym shower rooms!


If you can get your skin to a position where there is less bacteria, and be in a position where your hormones are producing less of the hormone-by-products which make sweat smell, your going to find your clothes don't smell as bad as they usually do and though it wont eradicate the sweat smell it is going to help with a gym kit making an entire car smell bad.


And try not to store your stuff in a plastic carrier bag. This is going to be great for helping the bacteria grow. If you can get a cloth bag and wrap your stuff tightly in your shower towel before putting into the fabric bag it's going to help more.

rach_k

If you're sure the clothes are getting clean enough in the wash and that the sweat is normal sweat, why not get a wetbag designed for cloth nappies? They will keep any sweat and moisture safely inside so it won't escape to the car. I'd go for a zippered bag rather than a drawstring one. You can get them really cheaply from places like tinynippers.co.uk or tjsclothnappies.co.uk (I'd go for XL for adults' clothing; my kids use the medium ones but I couldn't fit my stuff and shoes in them). Sometimes they aren't completely air tight around the zip but you can fold that underneath and it would be better than a standard gym bag.

If you don't want your clothes stuck in an airtight bag all day while sweaty, you could rinse them out in the shower (just leave them on the floor and stand on them!) and wring them out before bagging them up. Most wetbags won't hold free liquid all day but are fine for damp fabrics, especially if you wrap them up in your towel.