For as long as MMA has existed, blood, sweat, and tears have been poured out onto
the training mats as athletes strive to become the best in the world. Training hard is
crucial, but what often goes unspoken is how important it is to stay clean and healthy
and on top of your hygiene.
MMA is a closer-quarters sport. Grappling, wrestling, sparring; it’s all centred around
being inside the pocket. But what comes with being inside that very pocket is a different
world altogether. As uncomfortable as it can be against an adversary, there’s a bigger
opponent at hand altogether.
That opponent is bacteria, and it can often go unbeaten. It’s ruined lives, it’s ruined
careers, so here are our lessons on how keeping on top of your hygiene can keep you
on top of your game
Cleaning The Mats
In many gyms, cleaning the mats after a hard day’s work is often seen as a way to keep
a combatant humble. It’s honest work. It’s the last thing you want to be doing after hard
rounds. But above all, you’re doing yourself and your training partners a huge favour.
Locking up and heading home with sweaty, stinking mats only allows germs to fester,
grow, and become much more prevalent for your next training session, and that’s how
diseases spread.
More specifically, this is how diseases such as impetigo and staph infections form, and
they often go unnoticed until far too late. Staph infection has held a strong presence
around the MMA scene. It’s debilitated MMA legends such as Mark Hunt and Ben
Askren, and it can creep up on you if you aren’t doing your due diligence.
Many MMA gyms are clocking on to the importance of hygiene from all combatants,
novice or professional. They’re even clamping down on members training with any open
wounds. If you are training with an open wound, it’s very easy to spread the disease to
training partners and you’ll enhance the chances of your wound becoming infected with
other people’s bacteria. So be smart, stay home, and stay hygienic.
Simple Hygiene Habits You Should Follow
Showering: It shouldn’t have to be said, but the quickest way to kill bacteria is to
shower as soon as possible after training. This eliminates all microbacterial from your skin, keeping you clean, and keeping you far away from skin infections that could cost
you precious time in the gym.
Always Use A Clean Towel: By using a fresh clean towel, that prevents you from
scrubbing yourself with the same dirty towel you used the day before, putting all those
germs back onto your body. You wouldn’t scrub yourself with a dirty sponge, so don’t
use a dirty towel.
Keep Your Nails Trimmed: In daily life, our fingertips go through so much. From
opening doors to itching our face, long fingernails can trap bacteria underneath them.
That clean lead to spreading vicious bacteria to your teammate when you’re training
hard, and can also lead to nasty scratch marks.
More to the point, long toenails are how legendary trainer Mike Winkeljohn lost sight in
his right eye after a high kick sliced it while holding pads. It’s a freak accident, sure, but
you’d rather be safe than sorry. Stay on top of your nails.
Keep Your Gear Fresh And Clean: Just because you might not have had a tough
session doesn’t mean your gear is clean. There are still millions of microbacteria
embedded in the threading of your clothes, so that doesn’t justify a second use. The
same can be said for your equipment.
Washing your gloves and shinpads keep germs from breeding and getting back into
your skin. Keep your gear fresh, and be safe in the knowledge that you’re doing your
best to protect yourself and those around you on the mats.
Footwear In The Bathroom, Always: The quickest and easiest way to avoid any and
all illness to avoid using the bathroom barefooted. Many gyms are on top of this, but all
it takes is a minor slip up for someone to fall victim to it.
We all know how dirty bathrooms get, even inadvertently. Germs are everywhere. If you
enter the bathroom barefoot then step back onto the mats, you’re spreading lethal
germs where fellow training partners are going to put their hands and – horribly – their
face. That’s all it takes to spread disease. Our solution? Have sliders readily available
next to the mats.
Fight clean, fight hard! Check out our full range of fighter approved training gear to stay
safe when training hard.
Preparing for your first class? check out our beginners MMA Guide
