How To Properly Maintain Gym Equipment

Sure, you can get a great workout from simple bodyweight exercises. But most people join a gym to utilize the equipment to help them meet their fitness goals. When that gym equipment isn’t working, not only do member lose the main reason for joining in the first place, but staff can get demoralized, expenses can increase and liability issues can arise.

In order to run a high quality profitable gym, you must maintain your gym equipment properly. Here are some of our tips and suggestions:

Test Your Gym’s Relative Humidity And Temperature
Most gym equipment manuals will suggest ideal ranges of relative humidity and temperature for where you’ll be keeping your gym equipment. Too high or too low of either can cause your equipment to degrade faster than usual. The International Fitness Association combined suggestions from OSHA and the American College of Sports Medicine to come up with their suggested ranges of temperature and relative humidity for a gym:

“The aerobics, cardio, weight training and Pilates areas should be at about 65 to 68 degrees F. Yoga areas should be somewhat warmer at no higher than 80 degrees F. Pool areas should be in the 70 to 80F range. Humidity levels for all areas should be around 40% to 60%.”

We suggest finding the right balance between your equipment manufacturer’s suggestions and the IFA’s suggestions and monitor your levels frequently to ensure you remain consistently close to those targets.

Keep Cleaning Sprays Away From Cardio Equipment
Keeping a gym clean and sanitary is important for keeping members happy and for avoiding things like MRSA outbreaks. While high-quality gyms keep gym wipes thoroughly stocked throughout their premises, some gym opt for cheaper options such as sprays.

The biggest drawback of using a cleaning spray instead of gym wipes is that members tend to drench equipment with spray. While this may be fine for cleaning a gym bench or cleaning pilates reformers, it’s definitely not fine for the fragile electronic components within most cardio equipment. This is why we encourage providing your members with gym wipes instead of cleaning spray to keep your treadmills clean and functioning properly.

If your gym does opt to use a cleaning spray instead of gym wipes, at least consider stocking your cardio area with gym wipes instead of spray to avoid costly damage to your cardio equipment.

Keep Gym Wipes Available
Better yet, avoid cleaning sprays altogether and stock your gym with gym wipes instead. It’s much easier for your members to grab a pre-moistened gym wipe rather than grabbing a bottle, grabbing a towel, spraying the equipment, wiping the equipment, and then putting everything away. Many people can grab a wipe and clean their equipment simultaneously, but only one person can use a spray bottle at a time.

Because gym wipes are easier and more streamlined than using a spray system, people will clean gym equipment before and after use more frequently, which will result in a cleaner gym and happier members.

On top of that, people will actually see others cleaning equipment, giving everyone peace of mind that the gym is clean and sanitary. Otherwise with a spray, most people will simply choose to not clean the equipment and everyone will perceive the gym as being unsanitary-- and nothing is worse for member satisfaction then having them think the gym is unsanitary.

We recommend Vapor Fresh® Gym Wipe Refill Rolls because they are the best value on the market, will fit in all wipe dispensers, and can save your gym a lot of money. If you don't have the need for large rolls and dispensers but still want to use disinfecting wipes, consider our small canister of disinfecting gym wipes. And because we avoid harsh ammonias found in other brands, they are greener, safer and more effective.

Examine Gym Equipment In Regularly Scheduled Walk Throughs
Have someone perform regularly scheduled walk-throughs of the entire gym to ensure all gym equipment is structurally sound and in good working condition. Keep a close eye out for broken parts, loose connections, fraying cables, anything wobbling or normal wear-and-tear. These walk-throughs are the first line of defense against broken gym equipment and should give you a reasonable lead-time to schedule maintenance requests when needed before things get bad (and expensive).

Follow Recommended Maintenance Schedule Of Your Gym Equipment
All gym equipment will come with the manufacturer’s recommendations for how often regularly scheduled maintenance should be performed by a qualified technician. The manufacturers make these recommendations for a reason! Not only could you potentially void warranties and open yourself up for liability if you don’t follow these recommendations, but your members won’t get the best, safest, most effective workout possible with equipment that’s not well-maintained.

These regularly scheduled maintenance procedures need to be performed by an expert. Be sure to either have a staff member properly trained to perform these procedures or hire a qualified technician.

Schedule A Cleaning Crew At Least Once Per Day
Of course you couldn’t and shouldn’t rely on your members for cleaning your gym from top to bottom. That’s why it’s very important to have a dedicated cleaning crew clean every inch of your gym, from the machines to the floors, at least once a day but sometimes more depending on your daily traffic. This will keep your gym equipment fresh and clean and lengthen the life of your gym equipment by extending the time needed between things like re-upholstering benches and re-finishing metal structures.

There you have it, six tips from your friends at Vapor Fresh on how to properly maintain your gym equipment! Be sure to browse our products, which will help you keep your gym looking and feeling clean in the safest and most effective way possible.