Gym equipment, as we know, can sometimes be covered in sweat.

You might get some beefed-up goon who's drenched in sweat who doesn't bother to wipe down the thing when they're done or, worse still, is the a-hole who bangs weights down after lifting them. Hey, pal, if you have to throw them down like that, it means you're not able to lift them. Seriously.

Anyway, if you need an excuse to stay away from gyms permanently, we have you covered. A new swab-test study carried out in US gyms found that almost all gym equipment are literal nightmaries of germs and bacteria. The study, which was conducted across three gym chains in the US, found that free weights in a gym had THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO times more germs than a toilet seat.

That works out at 1,158,381 colony-forming units (cfu for short) on a weight in a gym as opposed to 3,200 cfu on the seat in the jacks.

That's right. Putting your hands on a free weight is three hundred and sixty two more likely to give you germs and bacteria that putting your hands on the loo.

It's not all about weights, either.

Hate cardio? Don't worry. There's something for you here too. The study found that an exercise bike had thirty-nine times more bacteria than a plastic tray in, say, a carvery or a cafeteria. The study found that free weights, exercise bikes and treadmills all tested positive for "gram-positive cocci (a common cause of skin infections and other illnesses); gram-negative rods (which can prompt many types of infections and sometimes resist antibiotics), and gram-positive rods (which can – but don’t often – cause various types of infections)."

Gram-positive cocci, the most common cause of skin infections, was found in 41% of all gym equipment tested. Gram-negative rods, meanwhile, which can be harmful to humans and known to be resistant to antibiotics, were found in 31% of gym equipment tested. The remainder of the results were made up of bacillus and gram-positive rods, which aren't all that harmful.

So, what does it all mean? Stay away from the gym. Enjoy that packet of crisps. Your body and skin will thank you for not exposing it to harmful germs.

 

Via FitRated.com