How to Clean Your Gross Workout Gear (Published 2018) (2024)

Gym traffic spikes at two times during the year: first in January, for obvious reasons, then again in late spring. By then, the consequences of a winter spent hibernating and indulging in comfort foods become all too stark, and one must face the sad fact that last summer’s cargo shorts are a tad snug.

Whether you’re heading back to the gym after lying fallow during the winter months, or anticipating new problems as outdoor exercise season gets underway, you may also be turning your attention to the sometimes sorry state of your workout clothes.

As a full-time cleaning expert, this is a topic I hear about constantly and voluminously, so I’ve rounded up four of the most common questions I get about cleaning exercise gear to get you through your new summer workout routine.

(If you read no further, please, please take this in: Rinse out those protein shakers immediately after using them, otherwise you’ll have an otherworldly mess on your hands.)

Question: My favorite workout T-shirts come out of the laundry smelling good, but then after being worn for a couple hours they start to stink like a wet dog. What’s up with that? How can I get them really clean so the smell stays gone?

You have a product buildup situation going on. This happens when you use too much detergent, or when you use products, like fabric softener, that trap odor-causing bacteria. So you need two things here: a fix for the buildup followed by a few tweaks to your gym clothes laundering routine.

To reverse buildup, wash the clothes using half a dose of detergent, and add half a cup to a full cup of white vinegar — depending on the size of the load — to the rinse cycle. The vinegar will eliminate lingering odors, as well as break down the buildup of detergent and laundry boosters.

Your next task is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Workout clothes have different needs from most laundry, both because of how they’re used and because of the fabrics they’re made of.

Turn workout clothes inside out

Odor-causing bacteria, because they come from body soils like sweat and dead skin cells that rub off us, form on the inside of clothes. Turning workout clothes inside out before washing allows water and detergent better access to the source of the smells, leaving the clothes cleaner.

Get your detergent dose right

Using too much detergent is probably the biggest mistake people make when it comes to laundry, and if there’s one place where I can encourage you to kick the habit, it’s when washing sweaty, smelly exercise apparel. Using more detergent won’t leave your clothes cleaner; instead, it leaves a buildup of soap residue that traps odors in clothes after going through the wash.

Use a laundry booster or sports detergent

Boosters are used in laundry in addition to regular detergent. For eliminating odor, try adding a quarter-cup to a half-cup — again, depending on load size — of white vinegar or baking soda to the wash. A product like Zero Odor Laundry works, too. You can also try a sports detergent, like Tide Sport, Sport Suds or HEX Performance Detergent, which are formulated to address odors.

Wash like fabrics together

Avoid washing athletic gear, especially if it has stretch in it, with towels, fleece and other linty items, as well as with very heavy garments, like jeans and sweatshirts. Athletic clothes with stretch in them will pick up stray lint in the wash, and heavy items can lead to pilling and damage to more delicate athleisure-wear.

No fabric softener

Fabric softener leaves a coating on clothing that can lead to odor retention, even in clean laundry. That coating, especially when it builds up, makes it harder for water and detergent to fully penetrate the fibers, trapping odor-causing bacteria.

Avoid heat

Elastic clothing doesn’t love being exposed to high heat, and that heat will also amplify odors. Wash workout clothes in cold water, stick with the low- or no-heat dryer setting or, better yet, allow exercise clothes to air dry.

Question: I regularly practice Bikram yoga, and while I love it, it turns my yoga mat into a sweaty mess. I don’t want to think about what happens when all that sweat gets in there, and I’d really love to know how to clean it.

There are two tasks to cover when it comes to cleaning exercise mats: deep cleaning vs. daily, weekly or ad hoc maintenance.

If you practice Bikram, or are just a heavy sweater, regularly deep cleaning your mat will help to eliminate bacteria that can lead to a smelly mat — or worse, that can cause infections if it comes in contact with an open wound.

Deep cleaning an exercise mat can be done in the washing machine, though if you have a top-loader with a center agitator, machine washing isn’t recommended, as the agitator’s fins can leave nicks in the material.

Washing an exercise mat by hand is fairly straightforward, provided you have a space, like a bathtub, that’s roomy enough to wash the mat flat:

1. Fill the tub with enough cold or lukewarm water to submerge the mat and a small amount of a mild detergent.

2. Soak the mat for 5 to 15 minutes before scrubbing it with a sponge or rag.

3. Drain then refill the tub with clean water and press down using a CPR-pumping motion to release the soap.

4. Hang the mat to dry. (Rolling it in a clean, dry towel before hanging will speed up drying time.) Nota bene: A yoga mat can take 12 to 48 hours to dry completely.

Between washings, mat wipes or sprays (or even an all-purpose cleaner) can keep smells and bacterial buildup at bay. Recipes for DIY mat sprays abound on the internet, or you can opt for a commercial mat spray, or even a gentle all-purpose cleaner.

Question: Can you help me clean the bottle I use for protein shakes? There’s some vanilla flavored protein powder around the sides that won’t come off, and it has a musty, bad breath smell that is just unpleasant enough that I haven’t used it in weeks. Aside from the protein powder, what are the clean person rules for regular water bottle maintenance? How, and how often, must it be cleaned?

If you do nothing else to maintain the cups and shakers you use to drink your protein, let it be this: Rinse it out as soon as possible after the protein drink has been drunk.

That’s all! Just a rinse! Surely you can manage that! Doing so is as critical as it is simple, because protein powder, like all other proteins, turns cement-like when left to sit and dry up. But if you rinse the cup when the protein shake is still in liquid form, the protein won’t have a chance to turn into glue. Then, when you’re able to, you can wash your protein shakers as you would a regular drinking glass, either by hand with hot, soapy water or in the dishwasher.

If you haven’t rinsed and have ended up with the dreaded protein sludge clinging stubbornly to your blender bottle, the right tools are going to be the key to salvaging it. A bottle brush, Dobie Pad, or even an old toothbrush, will help to scour away dried-on protein powder. If the cup has gone smelly, try swapping Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Soap for your regular dish soap — it’s especially effective at eliminating stubborn odors.

Question: What’s the best way to clean dirt and earwax off earbuds? I’m specifically using the Apple EarPods, but really any advice on cleaning headphones would be appreciated!

This is so simple you’re going to think it’s too good to be true: Rubbing alcohol is all you need to clean a pair of earbuds or headphones. Alcohol prep pads are a great choice, since they’re individually wrapped, so it’s easy to toss a few into a gym bag for cleaning on the go. A rag, paper towel or cotton swab damp (not soaking) with rubbing alcohol works just as well.

Jolie Kerr is a cleaning expert, advice columnist and host of the podcast, “Ask a Clean Person.”