The gym is a haven for germs.

Members are sweating and breathing hard over the equipment, only wiping it down quickly with a strip of paper towel — if they remember to wipe it down at all. To make sure you stay healthy every time you go for a workout, you should read these tips to protect yourself.

Wash Your Fitness Gear

Before you worry about the treadmills and locker rooms, you need to take a look at your gym bag. You could be harboring bacteria and germs in your athletic gear.

Moisture and bacteria will build up in your gym shoes, especially if you only wear one pair. This situation can lead to powerful foot odor, along with frustrating problems like foot fungus, toe fungus and blisters. Swap your shoes after every use to let them dry out. If you’ve been using the shoes for a while, you should replace the old dirty insoles. Click here to see where you can get custom orthotics in Toronto so that you can get the perfect fit for these supportive accessories.

Don’t re-wear clothes after a workout. Even if you think you didn’t sweat much, you should clean them. When you put those dirty clothes into the washing machine, toss your gym bag in there, too.

Wipe down Gym Equipment

If you think your equipment is dirty, just imagine what lies on the gym’s equipment. People have been touching it and sweating on it day-in and day-out, and you can’t be sure if they’ve been kind enough to clean up after themselves.

If you’re worried about getting sick, the microbiologist Jason Tetro recommends that anyone using gym equipment follows these simple rules to avoid bacteria and viruses:

• Shower before and after the workout
• Take 15 seconds to wipe down equipment before and after using it
• Wash your hands often
• Don’t touch your mouth or face

Don’t Go Barefoot

You need to wear shower shoes when you go into damp areas like the swimming pool deck, the locker room, the sauna, and, of course, the showers. These floors are covered with germs. The protective footwear will keep you from picking up an embarrassing infection like athlete’s foot or plantar warts.

You can get the same foot conditions from a borrowed yoga mat because people like to practice in their bare feet and they often forget to clean the material when they’re done using it. You should wipe down a borrowed mat before and after your yoga classes and use grippy socks as protective barriers. Better yet, buy your own mat and bring it from home.

Avoid gym mat germs.

These are all ways that you can protect yourself from germs at the gym. Luckily, they’re also ways that you can stop everyone else from catching a virus or bacterial infection. By cleaning up after yourself, you’ve given other members a better chance of staying healthy, too.

You should always avoid the gym when you’re not feeling well. Don’t push yourself to go for a jog or to do a round of sun salutations when you have the sniffles. Your determination to fight your illness and fit in a workout can make other members sick.