How To Keep Your Commercial Gym Equipment Clean & Functional

Keep your fitness business up and running optimally with proper equipment care. Your gym relies on your workout machines to attract and serve your clients. Without operating equipment, your facilities provide very little use to those looking for effective fitness training. Keeping your commercial gym equipment clean and functional maintains your business, creates safe workout conditions, and enhances client experiences. Learn how to maintain your gym equipment to offer clients improved cleanliness and functionality to reap the benefits of top-quality exercise machines.

Deep Clean at the End of Every Day

A consistent workout routine guarantees you better-quality fitness results. Similarly, a regular cleaning regimen leads to many rewards. Consistency is key to success.

Your gym and its machines collect many impurities, such as dust, germs, and sweat each day. Over time, these contaminants build up, harboring bacteria. Not cleaning your gym equipment is unhygienic, and allowing guests to use dirty equipment increases health and safety risks. Additionally, dust and debris can clog up machine parts, causing malfunctions, and pooling sweat can leave stains and lingering, unpleasant odors.

A consistent cleaning routine prevents contaminants from building up and escalating into further causes of concern. Before you close up shop, give your equipment and space a deep clean. A closing cleaning routine keeps you accountable for consistency and ensures you end and begin each day with a spotless gym and clean machines.

Encourage Clients To Wipe Down After Themselves

Get everyone involved to further increase your gym’s cleanliness. On top of training your staff to routinely clean machines at the end of the day, get your clients in on the action. Offer sanitation wipes near the equipment and at accessible locations around the gym, and encourage your clients to wipe down machines after they use them.

Cleaning the machines between clients prevents the spread of diseases and stops contaminants and gunk from accumulating on the equipment throughout the day. Immediately cleaning equipment after use contains messes and makes the end-of-day cleanup involve a lot less work. Promote machine wipe-downs with posters and provide easily-accessible cleaning supplies to encourage your clients to help keep the space clean.

Avoid the Use of Harsh Cleaning Supplies

Cleaning your gym equipment keeps your machines in top shape. In today’s market, you can find various cleaning products from multiple brands. Although effective at disinfecting and scrubbing away markings, some cleaning products contain chemicals and abrasive textures that can do more than irradicate germs. Some cleaning product ingredients are highly corrosive—rusting machine parts and damaging gym equipment structures. Cleaning cloths, scrubs, and formulas with abrasive textures can also scratch your equipment.

Next time you’re shopping for cleaning supplies, look out for these harsh chemicals and avoid the following items.

Wire Scrubs

Wire scrubs and brushes are excellent for removing tough stains and rust as they scratch and scrape off the surface layer of items. However, they also cause micro-abrasions. Wire scrubs can scrape your equipment’s actual structure, marking up metal parts, tearing fabrics, and roughing up any other materials. Instead of wirey abrasive scrubs and brushes, opt for gentler cleaning tools like microfiber cloths.

Bleach

Bleach is an effective disinfectant that breaks down contaminants with ease. However, those same properties also work well to corrode surface materials. Exposing your gym equipment to too much bleach can damage your machines’ structural integrity by corroding their protective layers and weakening their material surfaces. Bleach also increases rusting and cracking. Diluting bleach or using more natural alternatives allows you to clean your machines without causing considerable damage.

Ammonia

Like bleach, ammonia is alkaline with corrosive properties. Using ammonia ]on your gym equipment can lead to cracking and discoloration, especially on your machine’s fabrics.

Exfoliants

Scrubs and exfoliants use granules to rub against surfaces, buffing away thin surface layers. Like wire brushes, cleaning products with exfoliants cause micro-abrasions that wear down and compromise your equipment’s structural integrity. They can also leave scratches and unappealing markings.

Perform Maintenance Checkups

Failing to tend to maintenance issues causes a snowball effect of risks:

• Loose equipment parts lead to uneven wear and tear.
• Torn treadmill belts can further deteriorate.
• Rusting gears can limit machine functionality.
• Broken and bent equipment can collapse.

Regular maintenance checkups ensure you don’t leave any issues unnoticed and unattended. Determining the regularity of inspections depends on your machine’s design and purpose. Strength machines endure a lot of wear and tear due to the weights’ strain on the equipment’s mechanisms. Plus, strength training is a popular exercise form. Weight machines receive a lot of traffic as they are in high demand, increasing their wear.

TRUE’s commercial selectorized strength equipment features advanced durability, making them less prone to wear and longer lasting. Compared to other machines, TRUE’s highly-durable fitness equipment requires fewer maintenance checkups. However, double-checking everything is in order is still a beneficial best practice, regardless of your machines’ durability.

Whether you inspect your machines daily or monthly, occasional maintenance checkups prevent equipment malfunctions from escalating into bigger issues.

Cater to Each of Your Machines’ Specific Needs

Gym equipment comes in many forms, and your machines will feature various structures and mechanisms. The different designs offer varying purposes, but they will also require unique maintenance methods. Treadmill maintenance greatly differs from how you look after an elliptical. One requires belt greasing, while the other doesn’t even have a belt to oil up.

Different brands and equipment quality also generate varying maintenance requirements. Maintaining a low-quality generic leg developer differs significantly from taking care of TRUE’s SPL-0100 Seated Leg Extension. The latter requires fewer checkups and is easier to repair due to its material durability and advanced structural design. No gym equipment is ever exactly alike. Cater to each of your machines’ specific needs to ensure you provide them with the best care.

Prevent the Use of Outdoor Shoes Indoors

Shoes are designed to protect your feet, acting as a barrier between you and external environments. However, many things your shoes protect you from can stick around on the bottom of your shoe and accompany you to your destination.

Walking down the street, your shoes pick up some dirt, mud, and grime on the ground. You then track any lingering residue with you wherever you go. Not allowing outdoor shoes in your gym and asking your clients to change out of their walking shoes prevents mud and outdoor grime from getting on your equipment. Enforce using clean or gym-only shoes in your facility and keep your machines from getting dirty and breaking down due to debris clogs.

Invest in Multifunctional Machines

Multifunctional machines such as TRUE’s SPL-0400, which provides both inner and outer thigh exercises, equip your gym with multiple workout options. Multifunctional machines also reduce the number of machines you need to clean and free up space in your gym. Two-in-one machines are efficient and streamline gym maintenance.

Keep your commercial gym equipment clean and functional with these tips, and invest in TRUE’s commercial fitness machines to make the maintenance process much easier on yourself. Check out our gym equipment and enhance your facility today.